West Brom boycott

[Enyoueffsea]

Hello all. Newcastle United supporter here. I came across this forum when looking at some of the recent **** ups publicised of not paying staff before Christmas/not feeding the stewards.

 

This thread is so remarkably similar to our movements when attempting to get rid of Mike Ashley. I thought I’d share our learning from this, which might be helpful.

 

Boycotts do work. Ashley was forced to give away season tickets, lock people into cheap 10 year deals and sell half season tickets year after year, along with giving away free tickets to schools and community groups to keep the ground looking full.

 

Our change of ownership was led through Rafa Benitez, who fully bought into the anti-Ashley narrative from supporters and linked Amanda Staveley into the club, who in turn bought the Saudi investment with her.

 

However, boycotts also split opinion. So many fans who have to attend that game to… get away from the wife/because they’ve paid for it/because they want to/because nobody will tell them what to do/because it’s what they’ve always done/because it’s the only chance they get to see their friends [delete as appropriate].

 

It’s all bollocks and the exact reason why people like Top, Chansiri, Ashley, Oyston get away with what they do. 
 

If people who didn’t boycott offered the team 100% support loud and proud throughout, fair enough, but you often find that the people who have to attend are the same people who arrive after 10 minutes, leave for half time on 35, arrive back on 55 and go home on 80 all whilst sitting in silence.

 

Unfortunately there is no way to change these people or their opinions and you simply have to continue without them. The best ways to drum up support are:

 

1. Publicise it across all social media, with the support of as many fan groups and channels as possible.

2. Set up a “King Power out” website with all of the terrible stats and figures, protest movements and events etc. the media and other fans will pick up on this.

3. If you arrange a boycott or protest, give out flyers/information cards outside turnstiles the games before to ensure those not online do not miss it.

4. Do not just boycott games, boycott all King Power products, including food and drink in the stadium and the club shop and any external investments they have.

5. Keep it peaceful. Those who have to attend will try to create conflict, shout abuse etc. but do not react to anything to prevent this creating the narrative that you’re trouble makers.

6. You’ll find King Power try to disrupt it by preventing banners entering the stadium, cancelling tickets of people involved and giving away free tickets. You have to continuously evolve to counteract these measures.

7. You must have a core group who lead all of the planning. If you try to get single ideas off the ground, they do not work as well. You need a good group of people who will coordinate, market and implement all of the above.

 

There is so much more, but I see it’s quite early days for you so I’ll leave it there. 

[The Year Of The Fox]

20 minutes ago, Enyoueffsea said:

Hello all. Newcastle United supporter here. I came across this forum when looking at some of the recent **** ups publicised of not paying staff before Christmas/not feeding the stewards.

 

This thread is so remarkably similar to our movements when attempting to get rid of Mike Ashley. I thought I’d share our learning from this, which might be helpful.

 

Boycotts do work. Ashley was forced to give away season tickets, lock people into cheap 10 year deals and sell half season tickets year after year, along with giving away free tickets to schools and community groups to keep the ground looking full.

 

Our change of ownership was led through Rafa Benitez, who fully bought into the anti-Ashley narrative from supporters and linked Amanda Staveley into the club, who in turn bought the Saudi investment with her.

 

However, boycotts also split opinion. So many fans who have to attend that game to… get away from the wife/because they’ve paid for it/because they want to/because nobody will tell them what to do/because it’s what they’ve always done/because it’s the only chance they get to see their friends [delete as appropriate].

 

It’s all bollocks and the exact reason why people like Top, Chansiri, Ashley, Oyston get away with what they do. 
 

If people who didn’t boycott offered the team 100% support loud and proud throughout, fair enough, but you often find that the people who have to attend are the same people who arrive after 10 minutes, leave for half time on 35, arrive back on 55 and go home on 80 all whilst sitting in silence.

 

Unfortunately there is no way to change these people or their opinions and you simply have to continue without them. The best ways to drum up support are:

 

1. Publicise it across all social media, with the support of as many fan groups and channels as possible.

2. Set up a “King Power out” website with all of the terrible stats and figures, protest movements and events etc. the media and other fans will pick up on this.

3. If you arrange a boycott or protest, give out flyers/information cards outside turnstiles the games before to ensure those not online do not miss it.

4. Do not just boycott games, boycott all King Power products, including food and drink in the stadium and the club shop and any external investments they have.

5. Keep it peaceful. Those who have to attend will try to create conflict, shout abuse etc. but do not react to anything to prevent this creating the narrative that you’re trouble makers.

6. You’ll find King Power try to disrupt it by preventing banners entering the stadium, cancelling tickets of people involved and giving away free tickets. You have to continuously evolve to counteract these measures.

7. You must have a core group who lead all of the planning. If you try to get single ideas off the ground, they do not work as well. You need a good group of people who will coordinate, market and implement all of the above.

 

There is so much more, but I see it’s quite early days for you so I’ll leave it there. 

Thanks!

 

There’s a lot of noise on social media from anyone opposing a boycott or who are still backing King Power saying that boycotts simply don’t work. It’d be nice for them to read this 

[ThurmastonFox]

3 hours ago, PaulW said:

Over 31.000 attendance for the match v. Derby hardly smacks of apathy.

Quite right and it was a buzzing lively atmosphere. Everyone loved the drums

[Katy]

22 minutes ago, Enyoueffsea said:

Hello all. Newcastle United supporter here. I came across this forum when looking at some of the recent **** ups publicised of not paying staff before Christmas/not feeding the stewards.

 

This thread is so remarkably similar to our movements when attempting to get rid of Mike Ashley. I thought I’d share our learning from this, which might be helpful.

 

Boycotts do work. Ashley was forced to give away season tickets, lock people into cheap 10 year deals and sell half season tickets year after year, along with giving away free tickets to schools and community groups to keep the ground looking full.

 

Our change of ownership was led through Rafa Benitez, who fully bought into the anti-Ashley narrative from supporters and linked Amanda Staveley into the club, who in turn bought the Saudi investment with her.

 

However, boycotts also split opinion. So many fans who have to attend that game to… get away from the wife/because they’ve paid for it/because they want to/because nobody will tell them what to do/because it’s what they’ve always done/because it’s the only chance they get to see their friends [delete as appropriate].

 

It’s all bollocks and the exact reason why people like Top, Chansiri, Ashley, Oyston get away with what they do. 
 

If people who didn’t boycott offered the team 100% support loud and proud throughout, fair enough, but you often find that the people who have to attend are the same people who arrive after 10 minutes, leave for half time on 35, arrive back on 55 and go home on 80 all whilst sitting in silence.

 

Unfortunately there is no way to change these people or their opinions and you simply have to continue without them. The best ways to drum up support are:

 

1. Publicise it across all social media, with the support of as many fan groups and channels as possible.

2. Set up a “King Power out” website with all of the terrible stats and figures, protest movements and events etc. the media and other fans will pick up on this.

3. If you arrange a boycott or protest, give out flyers/information cards outside turnstiles the games before to ensure those not online do not miss it.

4. Do not just boycott games, boycott all King Power products, including food and drink in the stadium and the club shop and any external investments they have.

5. Keep it peaceful. Those who have to attend will try to create conflict, shout abuse etc. but do not react to anything to prevent this creating the narrative that you’re trouble makers.

6. You’ll find King Power try to disrupt it by preventing banners entering the stadium, cancelling tickets of people involved and giving away free tickets. You have to continuously evolve to counteract these measures.

7. You must have a core group who lead all of the planning. If you try to get single ideas off the ground, they do not work as well. You need a good group of people who will coordinate, market and implement all of the above.

 

There is so much more, but I see it’s quite early days for you so I’ll leave it there. 

Thank you, this is some really useful info. A lot of us are already doing number 4, which is no great loss. 

[PaulW]

32 minutes ago, Enyoueffsea said:

Hello all. Newcastle United supporter here. I came across this forum when looking at some of the recent **** ups publicised of not paying staff before Christmas/not feeding the stewards.

 

This thread is so remarkably similar to our movements when attempting to get rid of Mike Ashley. I thought I’d share our learning from this, which might be helpful.

 

Boycotts do work. Ashley was forced to give away season tickets, lock people into cheap 10 year deals and sell half season tickets year after year, along with giving away free tickets to schools and community groups to keep the ground looking full.

 

Our change of ownership was led through Rafa Benitez, who fully bought into the anti-Ashley narrative from supporters and linked Amanda Staveley into the club, who in turn bought the Saudi investment with her.

 

However, boycotts also split opinion. So many fans who have to attend that game to… get away from the wife/because they’ve paid for it/because they want to/because nobody will tell them what to do/because it’s what they’ve always done/because it’s the only chance they get to see their friends [delete as appropriate].

 

It’s all bollocks and the exact reason why people like Top, Chansiri, Ashley, Oyston get away with what they do. 
 

If people who didn’t boycott offered the team 100% support loud and proud throughout, fair enough, but you often find that the people who have to attend are the same people who arrive after 10 minutes, leave for half time on 35, arrive back on 55 and go home on 80 all whilst sitting in silence.

 

Unfortunately there is no way to change these people or their opinions and you simply have to continue without them. The best ways to drum up support are:

 

1. Publicise it across all social media, with the support of as many fan groups and channels as possible.

2. Set up a “King Power out” website with all of the terrible stats and figures, protest movements and events etc. the media and other fans will pick up on this.

3. If you arrange a boycott or protest, give out flyers/information cards outside turnstiles the games before to ensure those not online do not miss it.

4. Do not just boycott games, boycott all King Power products, including food and drink in the stadium and the club shop and any external investments they have.

5. Keep it peaceful. Those who have to attend will try to create conflict, shout abuse etc. but do not react to anything to prevent this creating the narrative that you’re trouble makers.

6. You’ll find King Power try to disrupt it by preventing banners entering the stadium, cancelling tickets of people involved and giving away free tickets. You have to continuously evolve to counteract these measures.

7. You must have a core group who lead all of the planning. If you try to get single ideas off the ground, they do not work as well. You need a good group of people who will coordinate, market and implement all of the above.

 

There is so much more, but I see it’s quite early days for you so I’ll leave it there. 

Looking at your league position, that worked well.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

1 hour ago, Thefox81 said:

This boycott just wont happen or certanly not in the numbers required. You only have look at Leicester City divided on facebook to see why.

Again, they just need to be ignored. Hobbyists that have very little interest in the club outside of matchdays and virtue signalling on Facebook.

 

I guarantee there will be hundreds on the fence about boycotting. Like others have said anyone that's uttered the phrase king power/Rudkin out really need to jump on this boycott.

[Enyoueffsea]

17 minutes ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

Thanks!

 

There’s a lot of noise on social media from anyone opposing a boycott or who are still backing King Power saying that boycotts simply don’t work. It’d be nice for them to read this 

 

You have to ask what is the alternative, sit around and do nothing? Boycotts work from multiple angles, the most effective is bringing regular media coverage of the situation - no organisation (King Power included) wants exposure to regular negative coverage.

 

It also gets the interest out there from other groups, people are more likely to try and get a cheap deal at Leicester with fan discontent.

 

Secondly, starving the income might sound counter productive, particularly when your financial position is less than perfect already, but no businessman wants to sit on a depreciating asset.

 

5 minutes ago, PaulW said:

Looking at your league position, that worked well.

 

It has now, but it was a long slog over several years with two relegations in the middle. It’s not a quick solution but as already said, when the alternative is just to turn up in acceptance, it’s quicker than never.

[purpleronnie]

26 minutes ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

Thanks!

 

There’s a lot of noise on social media from anyone opposing a boycott or who are still backing King Power saying that boycotts simply don’t work. It’d be nice for them to read this 

I never really understand this attitude.  Those that say such things are the same people who've never stood up to anything in their lives.  Besides that why does it 'have to work'? no-one protests knowing it will have the desired result.

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

1 hour ago, Enyoueffsea said:

Hello all. Newcastle United supporter here. I came across this forum when looking at some of the recent **** ups publicised of not paying staff before Christmas/not feeding the stewards.

 

This thread is so remarkably similar to our movements when attempting to get rid of Mike Ashley. I thought I’d share our learning from this, which might be helpful.

 

Boycotts do work. Ashley was forced to give away season tickets, lock people into cheap 10 year deals and sell half season tickets year after year, along with giving away free tickets to schools and community groups to keep the ground looking full.

 

Our change of ownership was led through Rafa Benitez, who fully bought into the anti-Ashley narrative from supporters and linked Amanda Staveley into the club, who in turn bought the Saudi investment with her.

 

However, boycotts also split opinion. So many fans who have to attend that game to… get away from the wife/because they’ve paid for it/because they want to/because nobody will tell them what to do/because it’s what they’ve always done/because it’s the only chance they get to see their friends [delete as appropriate].

 

It’s all bollocks and the exact reason why people like Top, Chansiri, Ashley, Oyston get away with what they do. 
 

If people who didn’t boycott offered the team 100% support loud and proud throughout, fair enough, but you often find that the people who have to attend are the same people who arrive after 10 minutes, leave for half time on 35, arrive back on 55 and go home on 80 all whilst sitting in silence.

 

Unfortunately there is no way to change these people or their opinions and you simply have to continue without them. The best ways to drum up support are:

 

1. Publicise it across all social media, with the support of as many fan groups and channels as possible.

2. Set up a “King Power out” website with all of the terrible stats and figures, protest movements and events etc. the media and other fans will pick up on this.

3. If you arrange a boycott or protest, give out flyers/information cards outside turnstiles the games before to ensure those not online do not miss it.

4. Do not just boycott games, boycott all King Power products, including food and drink in the stadium and the club shop and any external investments they have.

5. Keep it peaceful. Those who have to attend will try to create conflict, shout abuse etc. but do not react to anything to prevent this creating the narrative that you’re trouble makers.

6. You’ll find King Power try to disrupt it by preventing banners entering the stadium, cancelling tickets of people involved and giving away free tickets. You have to continuously evolve to counteract these measures.

7. You must have a core group who lead all of the planning. If you try to get single ideas off the ground, they do not work as well. You need a good group of people who will coordinate, market and implement all of the above.

 

There is so much more, but I see it’s quite early days for you so I’ll leave it there. 

Thanks for this, really useful. If the people who were pro Ashley or not bothered were asked now, would they prefer your current owners? Surely they don’t get all soppy now about Ashley? I suspect our KP in crowd are just scared of the unknown 

Edited 1 January by Wasyls Pec Deck

[Enyoueffsea]

12 minutes ago, Wasyls Pec Deck said:

Thanks for this, really useful. If the people who were pro Ashley or not bothered were asked now, would they prefer your current owners? Surely they don’t get all soppy now about Ashley? I suspect our KP in crowd are just scared of the unknown 

 

Absolutely prefer the current ownership. The new ownership have already shown what could have happened if Ashley even put in 10% effort. They’ve invested minimally so far and used money the club generates whilst significantly expanding our commercial income.

 

Things were so toxic under Ashley that he would make decisions to spite the fans and the club at times. Like most multimillionaires he was incredibly thin skinned.

 

So many of them were “be careful what you wish for”. The reality is nobody knows who your next owners will be, but you can either accept mediocrity for the rest of your lives or roll the dice and bring about change.

 

It’s no different to managerial changes. Lots of fans constantly say the grass isn’t always greener but you’ll never find out unless you make the change. It might work, it might not, but if the current status quo is not working, what are you risking?

 

It’ll be even worse at Leicester, I would imagine, due to the success under Vichai. However, it’s abundantly clear that was Vichai’s success and Top is either incapable or unwilling to provide what is required. I would imagine a large number of your fans will dig in due to this and make it even more difficult. We had one 5th place finish under Ashley and that was trotted out time after time to justify his mismanagement of the club. 

Edited 1 January by Enyoueffsea

[JonnyBoy]

Bump

[The Year Of The Fox]

17 minutes ago, Enyoueffsea said:

 

Absolutely prefer the current ownership. The new ownership have already shown what could have happened if Ashley even put in 10% effort. They’ve invested minimally so far and used money the club generates whilst significantly expanding our commercial income.

 

Things were so toxic under Ashley that he would make decisions to spite the fans and the club at times. Like most multimillionaires he was incredibly thin skinned.

 

So many of them were “be careful what you wish for”. The reality is nobody knows who your next owners will be, but you can either accept mediocrity for the rest of your lives or roll the dice and bring about change.

 

It’s no different to managerial changes. Lots of fans constantly say the grass isn’t always greener but you’ll never find out unless you make the change. It might work, it might not, but if the current status quo is not working, what are you risking?

 

It’ll be even worse at Leicester, I would imagine, due to the success under Vichai. However, it’s abundantly clear that was Vichai’s success and Top is either incapable or unwilling to provide what is required. I would imagine a large number of your fans will dig in due to this and make it even more difficult. We had one 5th place finish under Ashley and that was trotted out time after time to justify his mismanagement of the club. 

Thing is, I genuinely believe the existence of our club is under threat under Top, and I KNOW it’s under threat if things continue on the same trajectory 

 

I never had that feeling regarding Newcastle under Ashley (from the outside looking in at least) It’s for that reason (call me naive) I’d regard Ashley as an upgrade on Top and KP.

[MattFox]

3 minutes ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

Thing is, I genuinely believe the existence of our club is under threat under Top, and I KNOW it’s under threat if things continue on the same trajectory 

 

I never had that feeling regarding Newcastle under Ashley (from the outside looking in at least) It’s for that reason (call me naive) I’d regard Ashley as an upgrade on Top and KP.

Ashley was crap and had no ambition but they were always on a solid financial footing

 

Aiyawatt on the other hand is  borrowing from the banks to keep the club going on the day to day 

Edited 1 January by MattFox

[john ridley]

After another shitshow today I'd  like to think afew thousand at least  would  stay away.

[alanf0x]

Boycott back on!! 

[The Year Of The Fox]

Just now, MattFox said:

Ashley was crap and had no ambition but they were always on a solid financial footing

 

Aiyawatt on the other hand is  borrowing from the banks to keep the club going on the day to day 

This is why I don’t understand the laughter on here when I’ve said in the past that I’d rather have Ashley

 

Made me think I was missing something 

[The Year Of The Fox]

1 minute ago, alanf0x said:

Boycott back on!! 

Was never off Big Al

[Enyoueffsea]

Just now, The Year Of The Fox said:

Thing is, I genuinely believe the existence of our club is under threat under Top, and I KNOW it’s under threat if things continue on the same trajectory 

 

I never had that feeling regarding Newcastle under Ashley (from the outside looking in at least) It’s for that reason (call me naive) I’d regard Ashley as an upgrade on Top and KP.

 

We were never under threat of going bust, absolutely. However, Ashley wanted to finish 17th in the PL every season, increase the club’s value through inflation and achieve **** all. Sport is about attempting success, that isn’t good enough. 

 

A banner we held up at Leicester funnily enough, “we don’t demand a team that wins, we demand a club that tries” neatly explains that. 

 

He also sold off many of our assets to himself/his own companies. For example, our club shop was entirely operated by Sports Direct and we saw none of the profits from it. Land behind the stadium (vital for expansion) was sold off at a cheap price. Sports Direct was the sole sponsor in the stadium, which we gifted them for free.

 

We were essentially an advert for Sports Direct, aiming to tread water every year and never have any success. What a life. 

 

Ashley would be an upgrade in the sense that you would break even every year but you would also assign yourselves to become a yoyo club for the rest of your lives. Some might be happy with that.

[MattFox]

Just now, The Year Of The Fox said:

This is why I don’t understand the laughter on here when I’ve said in the past that I’d rather have Ashley

 

Made me think I was missing something 

Cause most our fans think he’s personally bank rolling us and don’t realise how much of a shit show the whole thing is

 

In all honesty what we know is probably only scraping the surface of the shit considering how opaque KP are

[Blue ROI]

For anyone at the game tonight why not get the ball rolling now and head for home

[Claridge]

5 minutes ago, alanf0x said:

Boycott back on!! 

by the players by the look of them

[The Year Of The Fox]

2 minutes ago, Enyoueffsea said:

 

We were never under threat of going bust, absolutely. However, Ashley wanted to finish 17th in the PL every season, increase the club’s value through inflation and achieve **** all. Sport is about attempting success, that isn’t good enough. 

 

A banner we held up at Leicester funnily enough, “we don’t demand a team that wins, we demand a club that tries” neatly explains that. 

 

He also sold off many of our assets to himself/his own companies. For example, our club shop was entirely operated by Sports Direct and we saw none of the profits from it. Land behind the stadium (vital for expansion) was sold off at a cheap price. Sports Direct was the sole sponsor in the stadium, which we gifted them for free.

 

We were essentially an advert for Sports Direct, aiming to tread water every year and never have any success. What a life. 

 

Ashley would be an upgrade in the sense that you would break even every year but you would also assign yourselves to become a yoyo club for the rest of your lives. Some might be happy with that.

Cheers for that.

 

Short term stability would be great, though now we can officially count ourselves as one of the 72 teams one day dreaming of making it back to the PL again, we do need longer term ambition 

 

Top and King Power offer neither 

[Rubbersoul]

Forget boycotting because of King Power just save yourself the pain of watching a Cifuentes side in the flesh 

[Cropwellfox]

Needs to happen, things needs to escalate very quickly now, this club could easily be on the edge of a football abyss with this rotten regime in place. 

[The Year Of The Fox]

1 minute ago, Rubbersoul said:

Forget boycotting because of King Power just save yourself the pain of watching a Cifuentes side in the flesh 

Thing is, what we see on the pitch isn’t as big an issue as off the pitch.

 

That’s how bad things are