Drummers required...DRUMMERS

[Rick_Muller]

Sounds like club want ideas

IMG_2907.jpeg

Good old fashioned rattle
Song sheets
free Columbian marching powder for all (small sachet under each seat)
Cheaper beer
permit pyrotechnics and have smoke bombs every 10 minutes in claret and blue
not just a drum, but a trumpet too

that'll work

[vinrogue]

About 6 or 7 minutes before the teams came out at Luton we started singing "We are the Longside...." It got louder and louder, became repetitive and it was as if everyone of us were singing it to welcome our lads onto the pitch. I thought it was excellent support and I enjoyed being one voice in among our fans. That atmosphere did not require a drummer.

[PremierLeagueClass]

Massive own goal this from the club. Never ever go after the fans.

[Vegas Claret]

Massive own goal this from the club. Never ever go after the fans.

they aren't going after the fans, they are literally asking for their advice and ideas

[Woodleyclaret]

Attack attack attack. no back or sideways passing
Shoot on sight of the goal

[BleedingClaret]

they aren't going after the fans, they are literally asking for their advice and ideas

It’s called reading the room

A drummer ffs - if they’d made an effort previously to get to know their fan base they’d have only advertised this on the 1st April
If they hadn’t tried to clear out all existing staff then maybe they could have learnt something from them

And yes
YOU have to agree the atmosphere has fallen flat is saying it’s the fans fault
Vincent asked for a hostile atmosphere
(When you can’t be hostile in an English Stadium)
So YOU’VE let Vinny down
The players (paid very handsomely) deserve YOUR full support

Seemingly missing a few important facts
The fans pay (a lot relatively) to be entertained
The atmosphere is affected by
Poor player selection
Poor formations
Playing Players in the wrong positions
Repeating the same mistakes
Boring football - whilst getting beat by 3,4or 5 goals

As I’ve said previously
I don’t boo
I don’t groan at mis-controls etc
I don’t leave early

But I’m feeling a little hostile now, so they may get there wish

And as for the f@cking drummer, good luck with that

[MrTopTier]

they aren't going after the fans, they are literally asking for their advice and ideas

Aargh yes, however the perception in the way things have been interpreted appears to be critical of the fans in some peoples eyes. There are plenty of comments on the thread to back that up.
They are asking now for advice and ideas because on LinkedIn on here and perhaps to a lesser extent Twitter, there has been plenty of negativity towards the drummer idea which is what started all this.

[colner]

Unless i have missed something,what is the point of having the Fan Advisory Board? Surely this type of thing should be brought up at their meetings or are they ignored and the club just go ahead with some employees wild suggestion?

[MrTopTier]

Unless i have missed something,what is the point of having the Fan Advisory Board? Surely this type of thing should be brought up at their meetings or are they ignored and the club just go ahead with some employees wild suggestion?

With the greatest respect, fans are ignored in everything to do with the vast majority of football clubs. This nonsense that football is for the fans is just a slogan, a well trotted out cliche. It means absolutely nothing. Fans Advisory boards are box ticking exercise.

[Vegas Claret]

Aargh yes, however the perception in the way things have been interpreted appears to be critical of the fans in some peoples eyes. There are plenty of comments on the thread to back that up.
They are asking now for advice and ideas because on LinkedIn on here and perhaps to a lesser extent Twitter, there has been plenty of negativity towards the drummer idea which is what started all this.

doesn't matter how they go there, they are now doing it. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. They've done a lot of good over the last year, just seems certain people simply wet themselves when they have an opportunity to bash them. It's tiresome and short sighted - ask Man Utd fans if they'd like their owners to even try and communicate with them........

[Vegas Claret]

Unless i have missed something,what is the point of having the Fan Advisory Board? Surely this type of thing should be brought up at their meetings or are they ignored and the club just go ahead with some employees wild suggestion?

it was

[Vegas Claret]

But I’m feeling a little hostile now, so they may get there wish

whatever works !

[MrTopTier]

doesn't matter how they go there, they are now doing it. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. They've done a lot of good over the last year, just seems certain people simply wet themselves when they have an opportunity to bash them. It's tiresome and short sighted - ask Man Utd fans if they'd like their owners to even try and communicate with them........

Good points Vegas, especially the last one.

[Goody1975]

doesn't matter how they go there, they are now doing it. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. They've done a lot of good over the last year, just seems certain people simply wet themselves when they have an opportunity to bash them. It's tiresome and short sighted - ask Man Utd fans if they'd like their owners to even try and communicate with them........

The damned if they do issue, is that they have tried (or at least moved towards) implementing something without the knowledge of what that entails, the damned if they don't element is conversing with the fans BEFORE not afterwards. They appear from the outside to be asking an opinion because of the negative reception the drummer suggestion got.

This situation in isolation has nothing to do with what has gone before, whether peoples perception of the owners is good, bad or indifferent. The owners have got 99% of things right so far in my opinion but are out of touch on this.

[daveisaclaret]

"Damned if they do damned if they don't" doesn't really apply when the vast majority of people just think they shouldn't have tried to hire a drummer. They were not damned if they didn't.

[jdrobbo]

Think of a plastic club in the Premier League - Brighton - and then ask who our Director of Fan Experience supports.

If this post was a metaphorical dart, it just hit the very centre of the board.

[Vegas Claret]

The damned if they do issue, is that they have tried (or at least moved towards) implementing something without the knowledge of what that entails, the damned if they don't element is conversing with the fans BEFORE not afterwards. They appear from the outside to be asking an opinion because of the negative reception the drummer suggestion got.

This situation in isolation has nothing to do with what has gone before, whether peoples perception of the owners is good, bad or indifferent. The owners have got 99% of things right so far in my opinion but are out of touch on this.

Nobody wants a drum but as I posted pages ago (screen shot from a FAB member) they spoke with the fan board before announcing the drummer and said it was going to be a trial - people seem to be ignoring that part.

[IanMcL]

Nobody wants a drum but as I posted pages ago (screen shot from a FAB member) they spoke with the fan board before announcing the drummer and said it was going to be a trial - people seem to be ignoring that part.

A good idea is to not trial something loathed by the audience.

[k90bfc]

Alan Pace does not want OUR PLAYERS PORTRAITS,put back up around TURF MOOR,which WE ALL miss,if he wants a drummer,HE will have one,and ignore the Clarets Faithful,of old,forget the past,is his motto!UTC.

[BleedingClaret]

whatever works !

If the singing of you can stick your ******* drum up your arse -sideways gets the atmosphere they’re after then maybe you’re right

If as my mate put it
They’ve now put VK under pressure because the fans that are sitting quietly, somewhat bewildered, allowing VK time to play his way to some sort of competitive system start actually reacting as a traditional set of football fans would to what if you’re honest is absolute rubbish then they’ll get the hostile atmosphere that they crave but they’ll then cry about

[Vegas Claret]

A good idea is to not trial something loathed by the audience.

agree, now list your ideas on how to improve things

[BleedingClaret]

agree, now list your ideas on how to improve things

Pick a team sheet that an hour before has fans buzzing not miffed

Play a team and a system with the right players in the right positions that gives encouragement to the home crowd

[AlargeClaret]

One can only imagine the FAB is populated by slightly giddy modern insta type fans , who, through no fault of their own think something plastic like a drummer will noisily spur us onto to a shiny plastic flagged utopia ( no standing or swearing though please ). Little knowing the insipid dross we’ve turned out this season is a major factor .

[taio]

agree, now list your ideas on how to improve things

Win games

[JR1882]

It’s called reading the room

A drummer ffs - if they’d made an effort previously to get to know their fan base they’d have only advertised this on the 1st April
If they hadn’t tried to clear out all existing staff then maybe they could have learnt something from them

And yes
YOU have to agree the atmosphere has fallen flat is saying it’s the fans fault
Vincent asked for a hostile atmosphere
(When you can’t be hostile in an English Stadium)
So YOU’VE let Vinny down
The players (paid very handsomely) deserve YOUR full support

Seemingly missing a few important facts
The fans pay (a lot relatively) to be entertained
The atmosphere is affected by
Poor player selection
Poor formations
Playing Players in the wrong positions
Repeating the same mistakes
Boring football - whilst getting beat by 3,4or 5 goals

As I’ve said previously
I don’t boo
I don’t groan at mis-controls etc
I don’t leave early

But I’m feeling a little hostile now, so they may get there wish

And as for the f@cking drummer, good luck with that

This is accurate. Every game bar united has been a procession of goals by opposing teams with no sign of us doing anything different to stop it, I don’t think there’s a stadium in the country that wouldn’t be “flat” after this.

[Vegas Claret]

Win games

won plenty last year and nobody can suggest the atmosphere was great in all the games last season. I put some of that down to the away end not being full in plenty of games though

[JR1882]

won plenty last year and nobody can suggest the atmosphere was great in all the games last season. I put some of that down to the away end not being full in plenty of games though

I think last year was the other end of the spectrum, a case of the Etihad it’s also hard to create an atmosphere when you’re strolling to wins week after week with 70% possession, as city find, it’s not an easy balance!

[Vegas Claret]

I think last year was the other end of the spectrum, a case of the Etihad it’s also hard to create an atmosphere when you’re strolling to wins week after week with 70% possession, as city find, it’s not an easy balance!

absolutely

[taio]

won plenty last year and nobody can suggest the atmosphere was great in all the games last season. I put some of that down to the away end not being full in plenty of games though

Thought the atmosphere was much better last season for obvious reasons and without a drum.

[CrosspoolClarets]

One can only imagine the FAB is populated by slightly giddy modern insta type fans , who, through no fault of their own think something plastic like a drummer will noisily spur us onto to a shiny plastic flagged utopia ( no standing or swearing though please ). Little knowing the insipid dross we’ve turned out this season is a major factor .

Good point.

The club wrote in their Fan Engagement Strategy for 2023/24 that the FAB is 22 people with each age group represented as well as diversity in various categories such as gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and disability.

https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/1ff ... 4df0ed.pdf

That all sounds fantastic but the danger in this is obvious, which is that the diversity doesn’t go far include and may not include social diversity etc, in other words the thousands of young working class fans who we need to create a deafening din may not be represented at all (I’m obviously aware this is a generalisation but my point is valid nonetheless). The club whittled it down from 100s of applicants but in my experience (which is plentiful) organisations don’t tend to give that kind of diversity much thought and it leaves one set of the customers feeling unrepresented. I’ve seen this at board level and in sub-board working groups in many huge organisations.

The other compounding factor is that it is limited to those who applied, and as you say that takes a particular sort. I doubt any really successful people in their own right would have the time or energy.

Just speculating of course, hopefully this fear is misplaced, but I’d stake a bit of money on it if I were a betting man. Doesn’t mean the 22 aren’t good people but I doubt they would be fully representative, it feels a lot to expect. I bet UTC is in fact more representative of the broad demographic of match attending Clarets.

[Vegas Claret]

Thought the atmosphere was much better last season for obvious reasons and without a drum.

yes it was much better last season in loads of games, but there were plenty when it was very quiet. Either way I think it's pretty unanimous that a drum isn't the answer to any of it. I applaud the club for trying to do something rather than nothing though.

[Vegas Claret]

One can only imagine the FAB is populated by slightly giddy modern insta type fans , who, through no fault of their own think something plastic like a drummer will noisily spur us onto to a shiny plastic flagged utopia ( no standing or swearing though please ). Little knowing the insipid dross we’ve turned out this season is a major factor .

My understanding is the drum wasn't the idea of anyone on the FAB, they told the club it wouldn't go down well but the club decided they wanted to trial it anyway. I would imagine it's dead in the water now.

The FAB has a broad spectrum of people on it, you have it wrong on this particular thing.

[colner]

Unfortunately I don't think the drummer idea is dead in the water as the job advert is still on the official website. Rather than advertise it for some poor sod on minimum wage to get pelters,whoever suggested it should wear the damn thing and bang it to see what reaction he/she/they get

[IanMcL]

agree, now list your ideas on how to improve things

Crosses and shots.

[jdrobbo]

Good point.

The club wrote in their Fan Engagement Strategy for 2023/24 that the FAB is 22 people with each age group represented as well as diversity in various categories such as gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and disability.

https://media-cdn.incrowdsports.com/1ff ... 4df0ed.pdf

That all sounds fantastic but the danger in this is obvious, which is that the diversity doesn’t go far include and may not include social diversity etc, in other words the thousands of young working class fans who we need to create a deafening din may not be represented at all (I’m obviously aware this is a generalisation but my point is valid nonetheless). The club whittled it down from 100s of applicants but in my experience (which is plentiful) organisations don’t tend to give that kind of diversity much thought and it leaves one set of the customers feeling unrepresented. I’ve seen this at board level and in sub-board working groups in many huge organisations.

The other compounding factor is that it is limited to those who applied, and as you say that takes a particular sort. I doubt any really successful people in their own right would have the time or energy.

Just speculating of course, hopefully this fear is misplaced, but I’d stake a bit of money on it if I were a betting man. Doesn’t mean the 22 aren’t good people but I doubt they would be fully representative, it feels a lot to expect. I bet UTC is in fact more representative of the broad demographic of match attending Clarets.

The sad thing is that the supporters groups, of which there are many, started to get ignored, once the FAB came along. Now you might say, so what, but when you scratch beneath the surface you’ll find that these groups did an unbelievable amount to connect the club with the fans. That link is not there at present and it’s a shame.

[agreenwood]

Quite a lot of the FAB seem to have a strong social media presence. I’m not saying that was a factor in their selection, but having a few folk prominent in BFC social media circles towing the party line for fear of being replaced on the FAB, probably isn’t the worse idea from a corporate BFC perspective.

I suspect they were all vetted for previous views.

[CrosspoolClarets]

The sad thing is that the supporters groups, of which there are many, started to get ignored, once the FAB came along. Now you might say, so what, but when you scratch beneath the surface you’ll find that these groups did an unbelievable amount to connect the club with the fans. That link is not there at present and it’s a shame.

Agree.

The document I linked above, which is on the new club website along with a list of all 22 FAB names, also shows photos of the group meeting. Like I said, probably good people, fellow Clarets of course, but it seems a lightweight group to me. I struggle to imagine many members speaking “truth to power” which those of us in senior roles have to do regularly. In this case that “truth” may have been uttered but it obviously wasn’t done forcefully enough.

Many of those on the FAB won’t have been born when fans were invading the pitch and demanding “sack the board”. There is a bit of a lack of organisational memory to spot dangers of history repeating itself.

There are some very obvious candidates for the FAB, people who could have been headhunted. Supporters group long-term big hitters, the journos on the podcasts, season ticket holders who are known “captain’s of industry” etc. One wonders if the absence of these people means their presence was deemed undesirable?

I worry I’m being a tad negative. I support large parts of what the owners are trying to do. But this drum thing has made me worry they won’t have the experience to do it. It was very poor judgement, following on from the catering.

[timshorts]

I suppose if its limited to some sort of death march noise whenever the game stops for a var review but shuts the f up the rest of the time, I'd not moan too much.
Unless we get to play celtic, when it ought to be a big ass drum accompanied by tin whistles.

[timshorts]

And the reason there is less atmosphere is because the tippy tappy backwards and forwards possession is king football is mind numbingly boring. It wasn't particularly exciting when we were doing it last season and winning. Now we get both sides doing it (in some games). It was shyte to watch when Spain started doing it, and they were good. It only gets exciting when crud teams do it and get caught out under the press.

Let's face it, when it goes on along the back four, it's really only a variant of the old Liverpool tactic in Europe of going 1-0up away and then clemence rolling the ball out to some triangle involving smith, neal, hansen whatever and then back to clemence who'd pick it up again and fall on the floor for a bit - and that got banned because it was **** to watch.

[Devils_Advocate]

I've often noticed that fans really get behind the team and make a lot of noise when they get a player sent off. Im not sure if its allowed but instead of waiting for the ref to send one of our players off we could just start the game with 10 men and get the crowd behind us from the first whistle.

If the crowd start to go flat in the second half we could get the fans going again by throwing on an extra player to get us back to 11. Personally Id prefer the drum idea but as there seems to be a few on here dead set against that suggestion maybe this could be a different option for the club to try out.

I've already emailed Mr Pace eight times this week so those who agree with me can you send him an email suggesting it please?

[Swizzlestick]

Yeah, last season was really dull…

This international break has sent some of you pickled I’m certain of it.

[Spijed]

Has any club actually had any success in terms of improving the atmosphere by allowing fans into the ground with a drum?

Can't think of any.

[Vegas Claret]

Crosses and shots.

answer as expected

[Vegas Claret]

Has any club actually had any success in terms of improving the atmosphere by allowing fans into the ground with a drum?

Can't think of any.

I think that's one if the main reasons it's been met with "say what now" from everybody, it's deffo not the answer !

[Middle-agedClaret]

agree, now list your ideas on how to improve things

Pick a consistent team - one that excites, rather than puzzles.
Pick your best players.

[Vegas Claret]

Pick a consistent team - one that excites, rather than puzzles.
Pick your best players.

that's the obvious stuff that nobody other than the manager can control. The club is asking what we can do as a collective to the things we can control. Amazing how many people aren't grasping it.

[Anonymous Claret]

How many people on here complaining about the proposed drummers sit in silence on the game and don't join in with any singing?
I am not overly keen on the drummers either but I am not going to lambast the club for trying to come up with new ideas of trying to improve the atmosphere.
Even against Chelsea when we were leading most of the first half or the short time we were ahead against Spurs the atmosphere was dire. We had a very good first half against Man Utd under the lights and still it was very poor.
And while we are at it, a lot of the same people criticise the only area where fellow Clarets try to generate an atmosphere labelling them as speed singing cokeheads. About half a dozen of my mates go in the Cricket Field and none of them take coke.
Hopefully it will be a good day out at Brentford today with our fans in good voice enjoying a good old sing song and coming away with 3 points

[Bordeauxclaret]

Yeah, last season was really dull…

This international break has sent some of you pickled I’m certain of it.

During this international break we’ve had last season was dull and Dyche didn’t really get us qualifying for Europe. Plus many many more.

Roll on 3pm.

[Guitargeorge]

We could have a “Turn your back on the drum” protest. How’s that for a novel idea.

[Darnhill Claret]

We are 'unfortunate' in a few areas. At home we are low in numbers who want to sing or chant. We don't have a club song like Sheff U for example. We don't like change, so will always be resistant to new ideas. The ones that do start the 'songs' need their numbers increasing as there are too many long periods without any songs. The singing should not need to be reliant on player or team performance. When performances are poor the crowd need to lift the players (12th man). This is where the song starters show their influence, as in away followings. When a chant ends too soon it can be counter productive and deflating. Leaving huge gaps by a mass walkout during games is counter productive and trying to defend that is also poor. I'm not a singer/chanter myself, now that I'm in my seventies but I make a noise either in support of the team or by getting at the opposition players.

When Kompany said he wanted Turf Moor to be HELL maybe he meant in terms of volume and frequency, rather than throwing objects or invading the pitch.
If I'm generalising I'd also add that we as a group tend to be defensive and over sensitive whenever this subject comes up so there will never be any winners here. So yes, they didn't read the room. If they had, they would have said nothing at all.
In the summer a lot of fans were getting more and more excited with every signing. Now some posters are saying pick your best eleven and stick to it. So in other words if you don't get picked for the first game, forget it.
There have to be changes. We had an early red card. We have had injuries. We need to see players in match situations. Loss of form. We have to find the best combinations of players. We need to rotate. We have a lot of young players, a long way from home, from friends and family. We have to support them no matter what. Not complain that we aren't excited by sideways passing.
Of course our start has been disappointing but Vinnie did try and temper expectations but patience is not something football fans are renowned for, so no surprise there. Let's just try and accept that this is hard graft for players and fans alike and stick together to the very end.