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Agree, High time we rethought this & allocated all home areas at St Mirren FC, Simple Digital Arena for home fans only & live with the financial consequences; living within our means with respect to our own supporters
 

Agree, High time we rethought this & allocated all home areas at St Mirren FC, Simple Digital Arena for home fans only & live with the financial consequences; living within our means with respect to our own supporters
 

Agree, High time we rethought this & allocated all home areas at St Mirren FC, Simple Digital Arena for home fans only & live with the financial consequences; living within our means with respect to our own supporters
 

Agree, High time we rethought this & allocated all home areas at St Mirren FC, Simple Digital Arena for home fans only & live with the financial consequences; living within our means with respect to our own supporters
 

The St. Mirren Family Stand – A Wrong Decision
Dear Board Members
 
I am writing this letter to you to express my unease with the on-going situation regarding the use of the Family Stand at St. Mirren Park.
 
I am personally opposed to the stance taken by the board to allow the use of the family stand for accommodating both the Rangers and Celtic supports at our home games against us, based on the claims of increased revenue to the club and therefore additional funds to support the playing staff budget.
I would like to highlight the club’s website ticketing information page detail for the South (Family) Stand:-
“Please note that the South Stand is a Family Stand and therefore we expect no swearing within this stand. In the past we have had complaints from family groups and potentially new supporters about the language their children were subjected to. We will therefore be working closely with the police and stewards to discourage this type of behaviour in order that the good work we are doing with local schools encouraging them to support the Club is not wasted. Please assist the Police and stewards by pointing out anyone who participates in unacceptable language.”
It beggars belief that the above is the policy of the club for the season, yet on 3 (or 4 occasions if we ever achieved Top 6 at the split in April), that is put aside to let 1654 additional opposing supporters, swear, sing sectarian songs, let off flares, throw objects onto the pitch, and in general flout the rules of the stadium, the laws of the land, and be above the attention of the Police in enforcing the rules and laws in place, as it might create a flash point to intervene and deal with the situation. You are in essence condoning that behaviour, rather than being radical and forward thinking.
In addition, although the Police and Stewarding arrangements are deemed to be adequate for the crowd management on the day, there has been no real regard shown to the fact that some fans will not attend, and the majority who do attend, do so with a feeling of unease and discomfort at the situation, which is most definitely not felt when all the other clubs play in Paisley. 
The upcoming home games against Aberdeen and The Rangers highlight a huge difference in the message being sent out to the St. Mirren support. 
On the one hand, there are the family events to take place prior to the Aberdeen game to try and encourage Families, Schools and Youth Groups to attend the Stadium and see the experience as something more than just a game of football over 90 minutes.
Then, just one week later, you ask those same Fans, Families, and potentially new Supporters to vacate the Family Stand, and if they wish to attend the match against The Rangers, more than likely have to take seats at either end of the Main Stand where fewest season tickets are taken up, and be in close proximity to all the things you claim you will not tolerate from your own support in the Family Stand. That is senseless and also dis-respectful of those fans.  
On behalf of some, if not the majority of Saints, I would request that you re-consider your current stance on this issue. Somewhere along the line, factors other than financial benefit have to be considered. Is tainting the match-day experience, sending out conflicting signals by condoning one rule for us and disregard of the rules by them, really the long-term solution to building the fan-base, and therefore the future strength and wealth of the club?
 
Have any options been considered? What about offering far flung Buddies or even existing Season Ticket holders the chance to buy a 3 match season ticket for these games, and let them nominate schools, youth groups or family members to attend on their behalf. Buddies crowd-funding around the World to buy up the tickets and a Panda Bear, to sit in their seat?  Just anything rather than the current situation – PLEASE!
 
The on-going situations at Kilmarnock and Aberdeen, and indeed between the 2 Glasgow clubs curtailing each others opposing support numbers, is a fairly poignant indicator of the way forward in my opinion.
Finally, I would request that the board release the working figures used for the plan to go ahead and allocate the Family Stand to the Old Firm, including details of the increased policing and stewarding costs.
I would also like to ask for clarification on the position if say, Hearts, Hibs or Aberdeen become season long Title Challengers and started to regularly take 3000 or 4000 away supports to games. Would you then apply the same reasoning and implementation in that scenario?
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

I spoke to the lady about my problem with the ticket system, very nice and helpful lady by the way, she said that was interstadia nothing to do with her and couldn't refer me to anyone at the club - maybe David is the one dealing with that.
I was getting fed up - 3 days trying to renew - should have been a straightforward transaction, completed in minutes.
 

season ticket renewed - nice lady at the ticket office took my money on the phone there 🙂
Still unable to log into the system though - a small technical issue but a major PR and finance issue for the club to resolve as a matter of priority.
Finding new ways to generate revenue are a focus; so we are told. Concentrate on the basics before building that I'd suggest.

I spoke to the lady about my problem with the ticket system, very nice and helpful lady by the way, she said that was interstadia nothing to do with her and couldn't refer me to anyone at the club - maybe David is the one dealing with that.
I was getting fed up - 3 days trying to renew - should have been a straightforward transaction, completed in minutes.
 

season ticket renewed - nice lady at the ticket office took my money on the phone there 🙂
Still unable to log into the system though - a small technical issue but a major PR and finance issue for the club to resolve as a matter of priority.
Finding new ways to generate revenue are a focus; so we are told. Concentrate on the basics before building that I'd suggest.

nope, still not resolved

email [email protected]

Options:
Keep all the money for future share purchase and build up reserves.
Only release funds in lieu of shares or if investment in club affairs is pro-rata to other major shareholders/ directors or offered as a loan.
Investment in non club/ community activity perfectly acceptable - voted by smisa members and allocated by smisa as a constituted body.
 
Can I vote for this?

Genuine question. 
Whats the role of our SLO fans & SMISA board representatives as buffers in this situation?

Ah ok. 
Was thinking from the other direction. Perhaps the board seeking advice from fan representation on general feeling & tone in approach before putting out allegations as facts?

Genuine question. 
Whats the role of our SLO fans & SMISA board representatives as buffers in this situation?

legally these are allegations, not factual or proven
No problem with allegations being followed up on and action taken, however as we stand at the moment they are all allegations
Am I wrong?

legally these are allegations, not factual or proven
No problem with allegations being followed up on and action taken, however as we stand at the moment they are all allegations
Am I wrong?

Alleged - that word is missing!!!

I no longer participate in votes.
waste of time unfortunately.

I no longer participate in votes.
waste of time unfortunately.

I didn't vote because I am petulant and childish.
Since SMiSA sheep members agreed in large numbers to have 'ring-fenced' money 'un-ring-fenced' I couldn't give a shit any more what they do with my £2 contribution.

#StMirren #Jackross contractual "talk to any club" clause seems to be being abused.
Time to call time on this - offer Jack a new contract, gentleman's agreement release clause, not contractual & start refusing permission!
Get on with taking our club forward pls #coys

Correct answer :-)

Here's how I would have expected this to be dealt with...
Request - £50K as contribution from SMISA for astro pitch please?
Response - We don't have those sort of funds readily available as discretionary to fund this type of thing - SORRY ABOUT THAT!
Its not what the ring fenced funds are for and we won't jeopardise those funds or the trust of our members - REALLY SORRY ABOUT THAT!
Request - is it reasonable to put this to a vote?
Response - We shouldn't put a specific requirement like funding of an astro pitch from ring fenced funds to a vote.
Maybe its prudent to ask if these funds should remain protected or if we can use in emergency situations and in future circumstances if the members want to use the funds for something else.
An astro pitch is not an emergency - lets just agree to keep the funds ring fenced.
Aye OK that's sensible - that's good governance!
Minuted and noted!
Is there another way we could help perhaps?
Options:
We could take out a loan  - NO!
We could transfer funds early in return for shares in proportion to investment.
We could save up our discretionary £2 pot for 30 months and offer £50k at a later time when we've saved up - put that to a vote along with other sensible options for the discretionary pot.
We could help the club with a separate fundraising campaign to raise funds for the astro pitch.
The club could fund it themselves.
G :-)

Just because the view is a minority one doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Lol.