Fosse Collective - an alternative represenation

[Fosse Collective]

Hi there, my name's Fraser.

 

I've recently been finding myself increasingly frustrated, like many of you, at the lack of transparency and engagement from our Football Club.

 

Over the last 18 months, or slightly longer, there has been a growing sense that the club, or at the very least, the people in charge of it, are out of touch with the regular match going fan, oversaw a relegation from the Premier League which could have been avoided with direct action much sooner without any consequence to board members, and have been treating their supporters more as customers and with increasing lack of respect and disdain.

 

Whilst both Union FS and the Foxes Trust do an excellent job of lobbying for the fans, amongst many other good things (charitable work, overall improvement of atmosphere etc), for many supporters it can be hard to find a way to get their voices heard amongst these platforms, either because they feel they may not identify entirely with UFS (not through lack of engagement on their part may I add), or because of the paywall and representation from the Foxes Trust. On my part, I have felt that the statements, action, and in some instances transparency, from the Foxes Trust to be frustrating and not go far enough.

 

As a result, I have decided to found the Fosse Collective. This is an entirely free, open to all supporters group which aims to provide an alternate representation of fans view to add to the overall discourse in holding the club to accountability, and engaging the club on topics which matter to supporters. 

 

The idea is simple. There's strength in numbers. For those that want their voices heard, join together, find unity in the topics which matter and present view points to the club alongside voices which are already existing. If you are part of either UFS or The Foxes Trust, your points of view are still welcome. The intention isn't to divide, but to join alongside, and offer a firm, fair and balanced view to the club, chasing accountability and engagement with the shared views of the collective.

 

To view more, please visit: https://fossecollective.co.uk/

 

Our statement on the recent price changes for 2024/25 season tickets and the physical ticket fee can be found here: https://fossecollective.co.uk/f/statement-2425-season-ticket-prices-physical-card-charge

 

The short term aim is for as many people as possible to sign up (for free) to the mailing list, and contact with issues which are important to them. As often as possible, we will send out requests for views relating to specific areas of the club, so we can put these back to the club appropriately.

 

The medium term aim is to hold events for like-minded supporters to share their views in person, whilst maintaining dialogue with fellow supporters groups for an aligned approach where relevant.

 

The long term aims are to lobby for better fan representation across the board at the football club, whilst engaging in community projects, holding revenue raising events, electing roles within the collective more formally with voting process, and charity fund-raising.

 

I am happy to answer any questions.

 

This may not be my area of expertise - forgive me if you have any feedback (hopefully constructive!), but I feel like if you want change you have to start somewhere. 

Edited 25 April by Fosse Collective

[Fosse Collective]

STATEMENT: 24/25 Season Ticket Prices & Physical Card Charge
 

The Fosse Collective would like to add their voice to the statements already issued by supporters groups in expressing their concern and disappointment in both a price increase above the current levels of inflation, the lack of consultation with supporters regarding the aforementioned price increases, and the veiled move to an all digital ticketing service which has been hidden behind unjustifiable fees to obtain a physical season ticket.

 

2024/2025 Price Increases

Whilst noting that Season Ticket prices at Leicester City Football Club were frozen for eight consecutive seasons, and acknowledging that inflationary price increases are commonplace across all industries in the UK currently, the Fosse Collective expresses their disappointment that season tickets for the 2024/25 season have increased for the second time in three years, and by 5%, more than the current rate of inflation in the UK.

 

Fan Consultation

Perhaps more concerning than the above-inflation price increases, was the lack of fan consultation, or engagement in relation to the 2024/25 season ticket renewals. Previously there has been consistent engagement in the form of the Fan Consultative Committee (FCC), meeting up periodically to discuss and align (where possible) on specific topics such as the overall matchday experience, and ticket prices amongst others. We understand that prior to the press release informing supporters of this increase, there has been no such consultation, nor involvement from any of the existing supporters groups, following a concerning trend over the last 18 months of reducing supporter visibility, presence and most importantly engagement on the day-to-day operations of the football club. This shows a significant disregard for not only the supporters groups, who work tirelessly to campaign for their fellow supporters, but also for the overall supporter base in itself, who rely on groups such as The Foxes Trust and Union FS for information when the club is rarely forthcoming with information as of late.

 

Physical Season Ticket Fees (£25)

There is significant displeasure amongst supporters in general at the recently announced £25 charge for the printing of a new physical season ticket, in the pursuit of an entirely digital ticketing experience under the guise of sustainability and efficiency. Whilst the Fosse Collective notes that exemptions will apply for Seniors 65+, Under-12s and supporters with a registered disability, this does not alleviate concerns from Season Ticket Holders that they are being charged a deliberately high ostensible fee for a physical ticket which costs drastically less to produce and maintain.

 

The football club's premise of sustainability is equally questionable, given the sizeable and repeated wastage incurred by specific match-by-match printed clappers (however sustainably they are disposed of), and the thousands of fit-for-purpose physical season tickets which are already in use, and will now be disposed of for no other purpose than to move to a digital ticket.

The benefits of Ticket Forwarding and Ticket Resale which have been provided can also be considered to be slightly misinformed. Both of these benefits, whilst noted as positive step forwards by the football club, have been widely available feature for all Season Ticket Holders, regardless of which format their Season Ticket holds.

 

Whilst we support the clubs commitment to sustainability, and acknowledge that football clubs across the country are beginning to move to a more digital world, we suggest that the club thoroughly reviews whether the King Power Stadium is ready to accept such an increase in digital tickets in line with the concerns raised by many supporters as to delays in admittance to the stadium from consistent issues with this platform.

 

In Summary

 

We call on the football club to review their fan consultation processes in order to ensure there will not be widespread discontent across the supporter base when releasing season ticket information in future seasons. We ask that FCC meetings and wider fan engagement begins to become more transparent and minutes are readily available. We ask the club to review their season ticket pricing in line with inflation, and urgently require the club to reverse their decision to charge obscene pricing for retaining physical season tickets, whilst ensuring they are ready for such an increase in digital tickets without persistent issues for their users.

[CosbehFox]

Have you contacted the FSA to be registered? 

[urban.spaceman]

[Guest leatherhead32]

6 minutes ago, Fosse Collective said:

Hi there, my name's Fraser.

 

I've recently been finding myself increasingly frustrated, like many of you, at the lack of transparency and engagement from our Football Club.

 

Over the last 18 months, or slightly longer, there has been a growing sense that the club, or at the very least, the people in charge of it, are out of touch with the regular match going fan, oversaw a relegation from the Premier League which could have been avoided with direct action much sooner without any consequence to board members, and have been treating their supporters more as customers and with increasing lack of respect and disdain.

 

Whilst both Union FS and the Foxes Trust do an excellent job of lobbying for the fans, amongst many other good things (charitable work, overall improvement of atmosphere etc), for many supporters it can be hard to find a way to get their voices heard amongst these platforms, either because they feel they may not identify entirely with UFS (not through lack of engagement on their part may I add), or because of the paywall and representation from the Foxes Trust. On my part, I have felt that the statements, action, and in some instances transparency, from the Foxes Trust to be frustrating and not go far enough.

 

As a result, I have decided to found the Fosse Collective. This is an entirely free, open to tall supporters group which aims to provide an alternate representation of fans view to add to the overall discourse in holding the club to accountability, and engaging the club on topics which matter to supporters. 

 

The idea is simple. There's strength in numbers. For those that want their voices heard, join together, find unity in the topics which matter and present view points to the club alongside voices which are already existing. If you are part of either UFS or The Foxes Trust, your points of view are still welcome. The intention isn't to divide, but to join alongside, and offer a firm, fair and balanced view to the club, chasing accountability and engagement with the shared views of the collective.

 

To view more, please visit: https://fossecollective.co.uk/

 

Our statement on the recent price changes for 2024/25 season tickets and the physical ticket fee can be found here: https://fossecollective.co.uk/f/statement-2425-season-ticket-prices-physical-card-charge

 

The short term aim is for as many people as possible to sign up (for free) to the mailing list, and contact with issues which are important to them. As often as possible, we will send out requests for views relating to specific areas of the club, so we can put these back to the club appropriately.

 

The medium term aim is to hold events for like-minded supporters to share their views in person, whilst maintaining dialogue with fellow supporters groups for an aligned approach where relevant.

 

The long term aims are to lobby for better fan representation across the board at the football club, whilst engaging in community projects, holding revenue raising events, electing roles within the collective more formally with voting process, and charity fund-raising.

 

I am happy to answer any questions.

 

This may not be my area of expertise - forgive me if you have any feedback (hopefully constructive!), but I feel like if you want change you have to start somewhere. 

my heart aint in it now or dont have the energy mate  but good on yer and best of luck too , fantastic your trying something , that goes to ufs and foxes trust too . at least you all care.

[Fosse Collective]

2 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

Have you contacted the FSA to be registered? 

In progress - waiting to hear back!

[CosbehFox]

1 minute ago, Fosse Collective said:

In progress - waiting to hear back!

Have you gone for associate or affiliate membership out of interest? 

 

Having read into post joining the Foxes - it's an absolute headache 

[themightyfin]

5 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

Have you contacted the FSA to be registered? 

You have to be registered with the

 

Food standards agency?

 

That's weird 😕 

What's the world coming to? 

[Fosse Collective]

1 minute ago, CosbehFox said:

Have you gone for associate or affiliate membership out of interest? 

 

Having read into post joining the Foxes - it's an absolute headache 

At the moment associate as essentially it's a non-democratically run group until we have sufficient members to put in place a level of democratic process. The ultimate aim would be to move to affiliate should there be sufficient progress. 

[Ric Flair]

Good on you Fraser

[FOTS]

Good stuff. Good luck with it 👍🏻

[SemperEadem]

This is good, the fanbase badly needs to get itself more organised. 

[Nolucklcfc]

Really professional set up 👍

[Xen]

 

This classic XKCD springs to mind...

[Foxmeister]

I wonder whether the club will, understandably in my opinion, say they can only engage with a limited number of fan groups. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Brilliant stuff, the more voices like this the better. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

3 minutes ago, Foxmeister said:

I wonder whether the club will, understandably in my opinion, say they can only engage with a limited number of fan groups. 

We have a tiny number of fan groups, there's basically 3, and then 2 more single issue groups. 

[Fosse Collective]

3 minutes ago, Foxmeister said:

I wonder whether the club will, understandably in my opinion, say they can only engage with a limited number of fan groups. 

Understand the viewpoint, but we are actually in the minority. Leeds have 6 for example, West Ham have 17.

 

All listed below.

 

https://thefsa.org.uk/about/affiliates-and-associates/

[Skidmark]

I've always believed that we should have some sort of committee on here that get together as a supporters club. 

 

Foxestalk is without a doubt the largest collective of fans online of our club. We could do something great. (Happy to come up with something and help plan it if it got some sort of backing) 

 

[Nolucklcfc]

If the main 3 fan groups can come together it only makes it more difficult for the club to fob us off as well. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

7 minutes ago, Skidmark said:

I've always believed that we should have some sort of committee on here that get together as a supporters club. 

 

Foxestalk is without a doubt the largest collective of fans online of our club. We could do something great. (Happy to come up with something and help plan it if it got some sort of backing) 

 

Agree.

[sharpylcfc]

1 hour ago, Fosse Collective said:

Hi there, my name's Fraser.

 

I've recently been finding myself increasingly frustrated, like many of you, at the lack of transparency and engagement from our Football Club.

 

Over the last 18 months, or slightly longer, there has been a growing sense that the club, or at the very least, the people in charge of it, are out of touch with the regular match going fan, oversaw a relegation from the Premier League which could have been avoided with direct action much sooner without any consequence to board members, and have been treating their supporters more as customers and with increasing lack of respect and disdain.

 

Whilst both Union FS and the Foxes Trust do an excellent job of lobbying for the fans, amongst many other good things (charitable work, overall improvement of atmosphere etc), for many supporters it can be hard to find a way to get their voices heard amongst these platforms, either because they feel they may not identify entirely with UFS (not through lack of engagement on their part may I add), or because of the paywall and representation from the Foxes Trust. On my part, I have felt that the statements, action, and in some instances transparency, from the Foxes Trust to be frustrating and not go far enough.

 

As a result, I have decided to found the Fosse Collective. This is an entirely free, open to all supporters group which aims to provide an alternate representation of fans view to add to the overall discourse in holding the club to accountability, and engaging the club on topics which matter to supporters. 

 

The idea is simple. There's strength in numbers. For those that want their voices heard, join together, find unity in the topics which matter and present view points to the club alongside voices which are already existing. If you are part of either UFS or The Foxes Trust, your points of view are still welcome. The intention isn't to divide, but to join alongside, and offer a firm, fair and balanced view to the club, chasing accountability and engagement with the shared views of the collective.

 

To view more, please visit: https://fossecollective.co.uk/

 

Our statement on the recent price changes for 2024/25 season tickets and the physical ticket fee can be found here: https://fossecollective.co.uk/f/statement-2425-season-ticket-prices-physical-card-charge

 

The short term aim is for as many people as possible to sign up (for free) to the mailing list, and contact with issues which are important to them. As often as possible, we will send out requests for views relating to specific areas of the club, so we can put these back to the club appropriately.

 

The medium term aim is to hold events for like-minded supporters to share their views in person, whilst maintaining dialogue with fellow supporters groups for an aligned approach where relevant.

 

The long term aims are to lobby for better fan representation across the board at the football club, whilst engaging in community projects, holding revenue raising events, electing roles within the collective more formally with voting process, and charity fund-raising.

 

I am happy to answer any questions.

 

This may not be my area of expertise - forgive me if you have any feedback (hopefully constructive!), but I feel like if you want change you have to start somewhere. 

How do you join?

[Fosse Collective]

14 minutes ago, sharpylcfc said:

How do you join?

If you go to https://fossecollective.co.uk/, around half way down the page is a box to drop your email in - just drop it in and hit join now and you're in!

 

If you wanted to submit feedback or comments, then just underneath that is a box to send a more detailed response - either way we'll have your email and can then reach out when we need to gather supporter feedback!

[Fosse Collective]

Also thanks to @Union FS for dropping an immediate message over to say hello - much appreciated - once substantiated by the FSA will look to get over contact details to reach out. 

[sharpylcfc]

1 minute ago, Fosse Collective said:

If you go to https://fossecollective.co.uk/, around half way down the page is a box to drop your email in - just drop it in and hit join now and you're in!

 

If you wanted to submit feedback or comments, then just underneath that is a box to send a more detailed response - either way we'll have your email and can then reach out when we need to gather supporter feedback!

Thank you, appreciate it!