PISA2000

Minutes of Committee Meeting, 16 February 2011

2011-02-17T03:44:00.000-08:00

PISA 2000 Committee Meeting 16th Feb 2011 at Ebeneezer's

Meeting commenced at 20.00.

Present: Adi Mowles (AM), Andy Mills (am), Paul Mitchell (PM), Nick Warrick (NW), Craig Buckley (CB)
Apologies: Ben Donnelly (Nappy changing responsibilities), Daniel Ferguson-Thomas.(Skool book marking duties)

AM opened the meeting and thanked those there for attending even though all present
were keeping on eye on the Arsenal v Barca match. It was agreed that Messi is a fine player but he is no CMS.

AM said he had been to a meeting at the club on 7th Feb with other supporter’s group’s representatives and two members of the council responsible for the ground improvements. The meeting was very worthwhile and the plans for the Moy's were explained in detail.
Paul Froggitt of The Trust has updated LondonRoad.net re: the information but basically the stand seems more than fit for purpose. We as a group also requested that we be kept ‘in the loop’ regarding all other plans regarding the ground especially The London Rd End which would be the next part of the ground to be ‘improved’ particularly regarding Safe Seating. It was agreed that all info would be shared with PISA members.

The Committee discussed the possibility of a PISA representative resuming attendance at the monthly meetings at the club. PISA were made to feel very welcome at the meeting and it was agreed that while it would not be possible to commit to attending every month we would attend on an ad hoc basis when available.

The club are holding an Open Day on Saturday March 19th and have kindly offered the Noel Cantwell Suite for us to use all day. We have accepted the offer and will utilise it in a variety of ways. NW offered to bring along his entire POSH shirt collection along again as this proved very popular last time. The Committee also agreed to attempt to collect various items of memorabilia to show what PISA have achieved in over11 years of existence including photos, press clippings and letters received from the various charities we have donated money to.
PM will ask the Podcast chaps if they would like to hold a live Q&A from the Suite
with various guests invited along. (confirmed this will be happening, further details to follow)
PM will also be producing a one-off old style fanzine for the day.
CB suggested a raffle to be held with the winner to be drawn from visitors who submitted their contact details on a form on the day.
am suggested that anyone joining on the day would have their yearly membership from then until August 2012 and although he would not be present on the day he would arrange all the relevant paperwork to be available.
AM will arrange for a DVD player and TV to be available and we would run all the PISA DVD’s during the day, these would prove interesting for non PISA members who may not have seen them before although we appreciate long term members probably know them off by heart!
All in all this should be a great opportunity for PISA to spread the word and we are grateful to the club for the offer.

The Committee discussed fund raising on match days at Ebeneezers. It was agreed that we needed to do something a bit different from the usual raffle. Therefore a correct score competition that was trailed prior to the Southampton match will become a regular event.
This comprises of 12 fixtures and the entrant has to predict the scores of each game. Points are awarded for predicting the correct score or just the outcome. For example if the predicted score is 2-1 to POSH but we only win 1-0 the entrant will get a point for correctly predicting the victory but would have gained 3 points had they predicted the correct scoreline
AM will produce the forms for Saturday and the results will be tallied by various Committee members over the weekend. The pot will be split 50/50 between PISA and the winner(s) This will start Saturday prior to the Tranmere game and each Saturday home game thereafter.
The winner(s) will be announced via the various outlets ie e-mail etc and will be paid out at the next home game.

Communication to our members was discussed by The Committee and it was agreed that we needed to ensure all members were informed of everything going on with their organisation. To that end we have recently started a twitter account along with a Facebook page and
the blog.
The details are as follows.
Twitter. pisa2000@ebz
Facebook pisa2000
E mail pisa2000@gmx.co.uk
Blog pisa200.blogspot.com
We look forward to hearing from you. Of course the old fashioned way is even more simple, come and see us at Ebs.

Noel Cantwell as we all know is a legendary name for us POSH fans and it is hoped that one day a statue could be erected outside London Rd in his honour. The costs and logistics of getting this project up and running and eventually hopefully completed are frightening but it is something that we think would be fantastic. The Committee discussed the project and also the possibility of adding Chris Turner as he was in many way Noels prodigy. It was agreed that AM would put out feelers through Bob at the club as to who did the various memorials at other clubs and what sort of costs were involved. This is not an overnight project to say the least but an exciting one nonetheless.

A date was discussed for an end of season function with guests from the club invited. The dates suggested are 21 & 28th April. These dates were chosen as both were the evening before bank holidays. Good Friday and The Royal Wedding to be exact. The previous time we held a function it was a great success so it is to be hoped we can pull it off again. AM will liaise with the club re the chances of making it happen.

The meeting closed at 22.15 interrupted as it was by events from The Emirates.

The next meeting was agreed to be Wednesday 9th March at 20.00 at Ebs. As well as the Committee any member is of course welcome to attend. Please let us know if you wish to in case there are any changes to the arrangements.

Adi Mowles
PISA 2000 Chairman.

Minutes of Monthly-ish Meeting, 10 November 2010

2010-11-15T04:08:00.000-08:00

The meeting commenced at 20.15pm at Ebeneezers, 10 November 2010

Present
Adi Mowles: Paul Mitchell: Craig Buckley: Andy Mills: Nick Warrick.
Apologies Ben Donnelly: Daniel Ferguson- Thomas.

Membership sectetary updated the membership details:
168 members. 132 Adults, 11 Children, 6 family 1 x 5 year subscription.
An astonishing and disappointing 149 members from last season have not rejoined.
Some of these can be put down to various youngsters who have gone off to university and now live away from Peterborough and a fair number are under 16s which may be a result of Dad not renewing. The committee agreed that we would e mail the 'missing' where possible and see if we get any feedback.

Christmas Fun Day:
The Christmas fun day that we were all looking forward to (except for maybe the kids) would unfortunately not take place this year due to the lack of home fixtures in December and the decision of the police to move the Rochdale fixture to a Friday night due to the EDL march. As there is no other home fixture on a Saturday before Christmas suitable for the fun day Santa has said he is unable to make it.
This is a shame as last years was good fun although the young mothers were surprisingly unwilling to sit on Santa lap.

Treasurers report.
Funds stand at £5435.

Hall of fame evening:
Everything is looking good for the night, both Tyles and Faz are looking forward to it and Adi and Andy are in the process of getting hold of as many ex team mates of them both to come along for the night.
Kit Carson is already on board and a great night should be had.
Adi will try to get a really special prize for a raffle..
The PISA member of the year was discussed and the recipient agreed, obviously the name will remain secret until the night.

PISA shirts:
Sales are very good and have been very well received. It is pleasing to know that there are POSH fans wearing PISA shirts all over the world, well Scotland, America Wisbech and Sith Ifrica.

The Ebs sign:
The committee discussed the sign that used to hang outside the club before being replaced by the large canopy that now covers the smoking area. John our host is in the process of getting a new one designed and made.It was agreed that we would help out with the cost towards this as the sign will read: Eberneezer's, Home of PISA 2000 and feature the PISA2000 logo.
This was deemed a good thing to do for a variety of reasons not least because John has put up all the PISA memorabilia over the past two close seasons at his own expense.

Friday 10th December V Rochdale:
The committee agreed that the PISA side of Ebs will be open from 6pm, however John advised us that there was an event booked that evening as obviously he was unaware there was to be a game. If he is unable to postpone the function the other side will still be open to PISA members.

Donation from Paul Donnelly:
Way back in 2000 Paul and fellow PISA founder Mick Bratley both loaned the organisation £1000 to help set up and to cover costs. A few months after that first meeting Mick got his money back but Paul had never received his, to be fair he hadn't asked for it previously as it was not very often that PISA were in a financial position to repay him.
It was agreed that as requested we would repay Paul and on behalf of all PISA members, now and since 2000, we would like to thank him for his financial input and of course his continued support.

The meeting finished at 21.45.

Minutes of Monthly Meeting, 2nd Sept 2010

2010-09-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

The meeting started at 7pm and apologies for non-attendance were received from Ben Donnelly, Dan Wood, Craig Buckley and Paul Starr.

Membership:
The membership secretary reported that renewals and new members totalled 100 adults; 7 children and 4 family groups (totalling 14). Whilst this is a little disappointing we suppose last seasons disaster and the subsequent drop in attendances has had an impact, summer holidays, the whole country being skint and those amongst us who mean to do it but haven't got around to it yet.
Members have until September 25th - vs The Imposters at home - to rejoin and keep their membership number. After that date they will of course lose that particular number and their e mail address will be deleted from our mailing list so please all members who haven't got round to it (including the PISA Chairman!!!) be quick.
Paypal on the blog works now, committee members will always be at Eb's pre game or e mail PISA via the blog.
And a reminder that membership costs: Adult £5, Child £1, Family of two adults and all kids under 16 £10.
If anyone wishes to set up a yearly Direct Debit Pisa's bank details can be found via the blog.The payment will be requested 1st July 2011 and subsequently to allow us the month to check our bank statement and reconcile the amounts with the correct members details.
A few people have asked about joining for a longer period and if anyone wishes to join for a five year period in one go they can for the same price as today IE £25 for the five years. Bargain!

Treasurers report:
The account stands at £5172.78.
Money is still coming in from membership payments and soon the money from PISA shirt orders will make their presence felt so the account will continue to look healthy. The raffle will recommence at the Oldham game and remains a valuable source of income.

Merchandise:
To date there have been around 20 orders for shirts. All three designs have proved popular and there are a lot of All Time XI teams are still being considered by various members so we expect the sales total to rise.
All three styles are only £15 with an extra £5 to pay if you wish to put your All Time XI on the back of the Retro or Polo shirt.
Please PM Adi Mowles (Wycliffe) to order via londonroad.net or email us at pisa2000@gmx.co.uk.

Hall of Fame Evening:
We propose to hold an event on Thursday 25th Novemeber with two inductees: Faz and Tyles.
The evenings have always been a success and generate some income for us. Alongside the superb DVDs Boozy produces we are hoping for several ex colleagues of the lads to be present for a chat during the evening, a raffle for a one off prize and a generally great evening of POSH memories.
Admission prices for PISA members (if any) will be announced nearer the evening but there will be a small charge for non PISA members.
The evening needs to be on a Thursday for a variety of reasons, not least because Tyles still plays and so it avoids a possible clash with a fixture, and also club managers generally will accept a Thursday to let their players out. If this date changes obviously we will let everyone know.

Charitable Donations:
The committee discussed the suggestion that we consider a few local charities alongside our traditional favourites. A few were nominated and committee members will check them out and when a decision is made about which ones the membership will be advised by e mails and comments welcomed.
Also the committee voted to donate £150 to londonroad.net. Obviously this is a service that is an integral part of the POSH supporting experience and they have always been incredibly supportive of PISA. Contrary to what people think the site is not cheap to run so we hope this contribution helps.

Other Business:
The committee voted to join The Football Supporters Federation the umbrella organisation for an awful lot of supporters groups including a lot of Trusts and Independent Supporters groups.
It is free to join but will also give us a platform to liaise with other groups, discuss things affecting our members and football fans in general and help build relationships with other clubs supporters.

Due to the incredibly awful fixture list when it comes to away fixtures this season - pre-Christmas at least - there are no coaches planned. However a number of PISA members have asked about the possibility of a coach to Southampton. Although this a lot further than we would normally choose to travel, it seems a good one bearing in mind it is a new ground most of us have not been to and by all accounts the parking around the ground is non existent. It is also apparently miles away from the train station.
Adi will get quotes from a variety of companies and will also suss out the strength of interest through .net and at Eb's.

The meeting finished at 21.10

All PISA members; feel free to make any comment re the above to the PISA email via the blog or indeed to any Committee member you mat know or come across.

Thank You

Adi Mowles;
Chairman.

2010 AGM

2010-08-17T04:14:00.000-07:00

The meeting commenced at 10.40 and The Chairman welcomed all present and commented how nice it was to see more members than Committee for once.

Committee present: Adi Mowles, Paul Mitchell, Nick Warrick, Daniel Ferguson Thomas, Craig Buckley

Apologies: Paul Donnelly, Andy Mills, Paul Starr, Ben Donnelly

2009 minuted approved.

Chairman’s Report

In my opinion PISA has once again had an outstanding year. It was never going to be an easy or seamless transfer from a non subscription system to one where we expected long term members to part with their hard-earned cash. However, I was delighted that the decision was so well received and I feel we have rewarded our members for their loyalty.

Although not as high in numbers the coaches we ran were enjoyed by all - despite the results rather than because of them.

Although some may disagree we are proud that we led the movement to put pressure on the Peterborough City Council that eventually led to their decision to purchase the ground. It was not our intention that they allowed themselves to pay the inflated price demanded by Mr. Hill but to be honest the alternative was not worth thinking about. Rest assured that we will never let them forget that they had a chance to buy it in 2003 for next to nothing. I sincerely hope that since his purchase of the Great Northern Hotel no members go there and put any more money into Mr. Hill’s pockets.

Our greatest feat this past year has without a doubt been our incredibly successful organisation of the clubs 75^th anniversary evening albeit a year late! Considering it was all done in three months it truly was a remarkable achievement and one PISA can feel very proud of. The donation we received from Mr MacAnthony was greatly appreciated of course but it is fair to say that it is doubtful the club could have organised such a great do.

All of our thanks need to go primarily to Paul Donnelly for organising the evening but all the committee members contributed in their own individual ways and it truly was a team effort.

Can I also assure everyone that despite how it looked our beloved Chairman - DMac not me - won the raffle for the brilliant painting done by Nick Warrick fair and square. He had after all bought about 200 quid of tickets! To see all those players from years gone by was emotional and what made it extra special was to see them recognise ex colleagues they hadn’t seen in some cases for decades.

The DVD for the event put together by Boozy was without doubt the very best of all those he has done and that is saying something. For those who haven’t had the pleasure feel free to order one today or in the future.

We donated to the club two boards that frame the tunnel and are easily seen by both teams as they wait to go on the pitch. ‘This is London Road’ they proudly state ‘Home of The POSH’ with the club badge and a not very subtle reminder of who paid for them PISA 2000 around the top and the bottom of both boards.

Our finances are as good as they have ever been and we are confident that over the forthcoming season we can support many events and look after our members in different ways making us remain without doubt the leading supporters group of our little club, ( I view the Trust as much more than just a supporters group)

I hope that all of you here today spread the word and continue to support us in the way you have done so brilliantly for ten years.

We will continue to represent you in an independent way, despite what has been reported our relationship with the club is fine. We simply decided to stop attending a monthly meeting that lasted an hour and where although it was handy to express some views and find out some info was not nearly as useful as we'd have liked.

We have shown our support to the club already this season by our - or more accurately Nick Warrick’s - amazing effort in getting every kit POSH have worn since 1934 painted on the concourse walls of The Glebe.

They look brilliant now but he and his band of helpers have a bit more work to do until they are complete, they should all be done by the next Saturday home game and along with the superb large photos the club have done of various hall-of-famers they will help brighten up The Glebe and make the match day experience that much more enjoyable.

It is a shame that it has taken us so long for to get the project under way but once again we can all blame Colin Hill for that as we were refused permission time and time again during his ownership of the ground.

At any time during the next year if you have a question, a complaint or a point of view you wish to express please feel free to approach any committee member on any Saturday home game or indeed send whatever it is to our blog.

We will be updating the blog on a regular basis and hope that it is appreciated as it is the easiest way for us to communicate with you our members.

Lastly to commemorate this our 50^th year in the football league we will be producing some shirts in various styles with the original club badge.

Enjoy the season.

Keep it POSH and of course, Fry Out.

Adi Mowles

PISA 2000 Chairman.

The AGM then continued with The Treasurers report.

Treasurers Report

An ultimately successful year for the organisation, mainly due to the 75th Anniversary Evening.

The coaches we ran during the season broke even mainly, one would imagine, because the team were so awful away from home and only a minimum of people wanted to travel.

All in all we are in the best financial position we have been for some time and will endeavour to use the funds in the best way and represent our members responsibly.

Hopefully at some time in the next year we can offer members some kind of event that will be enjoyable and cheap for those able to attend.

Rest assured you will all be notified of all major financial transactions that affect the coffers during the year.

Membership Report

The transition to subscription has gone well and the figures are slightly more than what we anticipated. Our membership is approximately 275 at the moment

I have all the details of all our members on a data base and this can be updated if any details change. This makes it easier to contact our membership via e mail or the blog.

We hope to bring in new members this year and with the family card which will be discussed later we are also hopeful it will encourage a more mixed membership who hopefully will come along to Eb's and enjoy our facilities.

Committee Election

As is the norm the committee resigned their positions and the good news was that all the committee had volunteered their services for the forthcoming year. As there is nobody foolish enough to volunteer as Chairman the incumbent agreed to stand for another year.

Both the Treasurer and Membership secretary also agree to continue in their respective roles. In addition Dan Wood has joined the committee.

This year’s committee

Chairman: Adi Mowles Proposed by Barry Bennett, seconded by Outlaw – Steve

Treasurer: Paul Donnelly Proposed by Adi Mowles, seconded by Barry Matthews

Membership Secretary: Andy Mills – Proposed by Paul Mitchell, seconded Daniel Ferguson Thomas

Daniel Ferguson Thomas: Proposed Nick Warrick, seconded Barry Matthews

Nick Warrick: Proposed Barry Mathews, seconded Adi Mowles

Ben Donnelly: Proposed Craig Buckley, seconded Paul Mitchell

Paul Mitchell: Proposed Adi Mowles, seconded Nick Warrick

Craig Buckley: Proposed Adi Mowles, seconded Daniel Ferguson Thomas

Dan Wood: Proposed Adi Mowles, seconded Craig Buckley

Any Other Business

Members are reminded they have till 25/9/2010 to renew if they want to keep the same number otherwise they can renew any time.

Questions were invited from the floor.

PISA member Barry Bennett would like it noted that he feels PISA’s decision to pull out of the monthly meetings was a bad one and thinks we underestimate how much good we did and still can do. He was speaking on behalf of the Trust who are still attending the meetings.

On that subject Paul Froggit agreed to keep PISA up to date with events re any ground discussions in our absence.

AM said whilst he accepted the points made by the Trust and the PISA members who felt the same way there were a few matters that had pushed our decision.

One was the way that any suggestions put forward were ‘neutralised’ by the club although often at a later date put into action after our pulling out of the meetings.

Also the total contempt shown by the DoF towards the organisations invite to the 75^th Anniversary evening when he pointedly ignored the several reminders and refused to contact us to inform us of his decision. We then withdrew the invite only to see him turn up anyway as the Chairman’s guest.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly we found that as the discussions were never minuted there was no way that much of the conversation could be reported to our members and anyway the substance was not always anything that was worth reporting.

However this decision is not irreversible and all agreed that it can be looked at in the future.

AM took the opportunity to thank the Trust for their continued support.

It was mentioned from the floor that updates would be appreciated after each committee meeting, it was agreed that this would be easy to do for those on email or with access to the blog but would prove difficult for the roughly 60 members who didn’t. It would be time consuming to phone them all up so AM suggested he ask his contacts at the ET to allow us to report a short summary of the meetings.

Barry Bennett, on behalf of the Trust, thanked PISA for great year and great evening celebrating 75 years of POSH.

Chris Sharpe asked if PISA coaches could be pre-arranged with a much longer notice period

AM has said he will try and make this happen though the away fixtures almost up to Christmas were not conducive to coach trips especially not where children would want to go.

An e mail had been received from a PISA member Mr Patrick McDevitt:

I understand that steps were taken to re-assert PISA's independent standing at the tail end of last season after one or two questionable positions on club matters, but can the committee ensure that the close personal relationship between the Chairman of PUFC and certain committee members will not cloud the organisation's judgement when representing their members?

AM answered that by saying that although he had a very good relationship with the Chairman he would never allow that to affect any decision that would affect PISA as an organisation or its members.

In fact part of the reason the decision was taken to ‘pull back’ from the club was that this was often perceived as being the case, something the PISA Chairman acknowledged in his letter to the members which is also on the blog and was posted on .net. If the member or indeed any member thinks they have reason to worry please bring the subject up at any opportunity. AM then said he was proud of his service to PISA but thought what limited diplomatic skills he had were best put to use through negotiation with the club rather than hostility. This would continue, indeed has already this season.

Last year was my first as a member of PISA. One thing that I noticed, which I found rather strange, was that the organisation does not consult its members before taking decisions on their behalf. Is their an inexpensive yet efficient method that the organisation could use to gain the consensus of its members before proceeding?

AM said he thought this had been discussed, regular e mails and use of both the blog and local media continued with access to .net. Also the committee has been elected to make decisions on behalf of the membership, but when major decisions have to be made we will consult as widely as possible. It is also worth noting that there are a variety of different opinions and strong characters on the committee so you can rest assured that each decision we make, however minor, has been the subject of vigorous debate. We will continue to work on making ourselves as open and as accountable to our members as possible.

Whilst no-one doubts the good cause, is it within the remit of PISA to donate sums to 'Free Kicks' and the like. I suspect that funds are limited and surely this money should be spent on matters concerning Peterborough United supporters?

AM said whilst he appreciated the viewpoint but pointed out that the organisation has also contributed to various charities and would continue to do so. PISA considers itself to be very much a community based association. However, there may be some confusion to the donations we make, very often they are a result of extra monies coming in to the organisation that have not been budgeted for and were therefore not directly from the coffers.

For example: a raffle or auction. Whilst PISA will always keep an eye on its finances they will also ‘look after’ charities especially local ones and Free Kicks being both local and Football related has always seemed an obvious and indeed popular choice.

Adi M closed by saying thank you and wishing for a successful season for POSH and PISA.

A new beginning. Again

2010-08-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

The PISA2000 AGM will be held at Ebeneezers at 10.30am on the 7th August prior to the opening home fixture and will, in all likelihood, be done and dusted by 11.30am.

It would be great if we could break our all-time 'members turning up to an AGM to hear what we have to say' record of four

Standard AGM stuff, reappointment of committee, treasurers report, chairmans report, membership update, previous AGM minutes etc.

Any questions you would like to ask or matters arising, please reply to pisa2000@gmx.co.uk or turn up at Ebs!

Memebership prices have been frozen this year (unlike PUFC) so it's £5 per adult and £1 for kids under 16 (as of 1/8/10). Family membership is also available for two parents and numerous kids for the meagre price of £10

Pig-Headed And Controversial

2010-04-29T01:19:00.000-07:00

After the recent decision to stop attending monthly meetings at PUFC, PISA have come in for criticism from Chairman Darragh MacAnthony. He has described us as pig-headed, looking to be controversial and intimated we will 'regret' our decision.

To reiterate: we have not 'pulled back from the club', sought to be controversial or regret the decision. We have simply decided to no longer attend monthly meetings which, frankly, we have come to regard as a waste of time

Below is the dossier of ideas we sent to Darragh We have included the replies we received from Bob Symms which we hope will go some way to explaining our frustration with the 'can't-do' attitude we have repeatedly come up against when offering help and support to the club.

Matchday Experience:
Whilst we are all delighted by the progression on the pitch, we believe that the existing match-day experience could be enhanced despite the obvious limitations of the current stadium configuration. We believe that, currently, there are few incentives to persuade supporters to arrive at the stadium much before kick-off. Obviously, this dilutes revenue opportunities and may, on occasion, cause delays and confusion at the turnstiles.

BS - over a period of time we have tried Live Music, Dancing Girls, Brass Bands, Bar & TV etc, but none of these have particularly brought in our supporters early. We also have a challenge with pitch usage prior to matches with team warm-up practise, but we’ll keep trying.

Family Stand Concourse.
We have members amongst our ranks who would be eager to discuss the provision of pre-match entertainment within the concourse on afternoon match-days. We believe that there are sufficient (and reasonably proficient) local bands and DJ’s who would be most keen to have the opportunity to do a turn at LR free of charge. (presuming that we have adequate licensing and indemnities in place)

BS - As above but have also tried Face Painting and games for the younger ones in the concourse. Music mixer & sound units are also costly, we recently invited Aaron’s brother to sing but the cost of the equipment was prohibitive.

There are numerous monitors/TV’s within the common areas of the concourse and, currently, these are not even switched-on. As well as depriving visitors of even rudimentary Sky Sports coverage (which is available in all neighbouring public houses).

BS - This was brought up at our Supporters Liaison Committee meeting and has been addressed.

POSH LEGENDS ON THE CONCOURSE.

We have an abundance of bare magnolia walls, why not invite art classes from all the city schools to join together and paint special Posh moments. The Family Stand is a functional, generic structure that serves its purpose well but the common areas present large, uninspiring areas of emulsioned blockwork. These lend themselves to community artwork projects such as the creation of Posh-related murals. This would present an ideal opportunity for local young people to become involved with the club through their school or college’s art programmes. The relatively small expenditure for such initiatives can be raised through local sponsorship from builders’ merchants, DIY stores.

BS - Again previously discussed and asked for permission from PUHL which was never given. Peterborough Regional College were also approached but the invitation was never taken up.
A new idea suggested could be to ask schools to paint scenes/pictures that could be photographed and put onto to acrylic that could be fixed onto the walls (like in the players tunnel) and changed periodically. Challenge to this is price but ‘free hand’ specials could also be tried.

2- LONDON RD END

The area to the south of the LRE at the junction with the family stand (adjacent to the match-control tower) is redundant on match-days. We believe that this area could be used on matchdays as a common smoking area with demarcation lines. Alternatively, this reasonably large space could be used to accommodate portable catering outlets or possibly barbeques at certain times during the season. There are already a collection of redundant barriers stored in this section that could be positioned to stop cheeky London Road Enders from taking a crafty ‘upgrade’! The latter would be a welcome development as sales at the existing pie outlets are severely compromised by the inability to serve all who require refreshments during a half-time interval without the probability of missing some of the second half.

BS - This area is a designated Health & Safety Emergency Vehicle (Ambulance, Fire & Police) Access & Turning Zone… We have put up smoking notices that Paul asked for !

WC FACILITIES

During a two-hour period of time on a Saturday afternoon, it is fair to say that several people might feel the need to relieve themselves of last night Vinadaloo…There are routinely a couple of thousand supporters in the LRE at any given match who feel compelled to squeeze their poops rather than bare their arses to the Royal Doulton bowl of death.

Are there any means by which this almost comical situation could be ameliorated? Seasoned London Road enders fine-tune their body motions to preclude any thankless trips to this wretched lump of porcelain but this kind of thing can leave a very poor impression on fledgling fans and guests.

BS - Agreed, not particularly nice but painted and refurbished during the summer. Old drainage and building a big contributory problem, will have another go during the closed-season.

THE PA SYSTEM

Is nigh on impossible to hear through in the LRE. The music is loud enough to put an end to any pre-match conversation, but the Announcer¹s words are just a noise ¬ heaven knows what would happen if he had to issue an urgent safety announcement.

BS - Again understand, but legally ‘fit for purpose’ ... new complete system extremely expensive but as development takes place it will improve.

ADVERTISING BOARDS IN THE TOILETS.

We understand that some of the boards in the Family Stand are still advertising THE MATRIX which is 11 years old this week. We understand that a company pays the club to have them there but don’t use them??? Can we Pisa use them to advertise our functions/coach trips etc or indeed the club could advertise forthcoming fixtures or who’ll be entertaining us in the concourse next month etc

BS - Will pass this on …

FOOD, DRINK AND SERVICE…

It takes too long to get served ¬ there are not enough staff/service points/not an efficient enough system. The food is low-quality and over-priced. This is far from unique to Posh but why do we have to follow this trend? Why can¹t Posh lead the way with fresh food, from local suppliers and beer from local brewer’s ¬ Imagine Oakham Ales and East supplying beer and noodles (as well as traditional burgers, pies etc).

BS - The age old challenge of staff saturation and service points hasn’t been solved at virtually any ground I’ve visited or the new Wembley, but we’ll keep trying on all points.

THE PRICING

The simplistic pricing structure for both Season Tickets and Match day entry provides very little incentive to fans to attend. Other clubs offer deals with their Season Ticket holders such as free League Cup 1st round games, free LDV Trophy matches, or free prize draws.

These things cost little but show the fans that they are getting a good deal. The match day entry prices could be banded/categorized as many other clubs do. Next season in L1, people will not mind paying £25 to watch Posh V Leeds but how many paying punters are you going to get for Posh V Exeter on a cold Tuesday in January @ that price? – Make it £15 or combine tickets so say 2 games for £40? – There are so many ways of doing it that it is quite amazing that we stick to such a rigid pricing structure. We do understand about business models and income streams,

BS - In the past when we’ve offered special discounts and it hasn’t particularly affected the crowd and when we’ve let the kids in cheap ... we’ve had three reported ‘incidents’.
It is difficult and we are aware of match ‘bundling’ ... will track as we progress.

COMMUNICATION

Is there anyway you would consider someone not employed by the club having some very serious input with regards to the content of any information that gets posted on the official website that effects US the fans. A FANS LIASON OFFICER if you like

On too many occasions information regarding tickets are vague which causes confusion. Eg: 11/03/2010 from www,posh.com

Peterborough United go in search of their first away win of the season this weekend at Watford and they are sure to be backed by a sizeable away following.

Over 1,200 tickets have been sold from the London Road Box Office and tickets will remain on sale until 12pm on Friday.
The game is not all-ticket, but purchasing in advance has a massive advantage as the price of the tickets will rise on matchday…………
TO WHAT???

BS - Understand, the right the price should have been added, will be brought up at the next Supporters Liaison Committee meeting.

POLSKA, PORTUGUESE AND POSH

Peterborough is a multi-racial and multi-cultural city. In the 2001 Census, approximately 10.3% of Peterborough’s population classified themselves as belonging to a non-white ethnic minority group, The largest non-white ethnic group in Peterborough is the Pakistani community (4.5% of the total population) but the city is also home to significant numbers of people from other minority ethnic groups such as, India, Ireland, Italy, Poland and the Caribbean Current projections for 2010 suggest the figure could rise to 16% i.e. 29,000

Although time is now limited, an end-of-season mini-world cup with eight invited representative sides from the respective local communities would be an invaluable PR project and should bring hundreds, if not thousands, of local people to LR who may otherwise never felt the need to attend. Such an enterprise could be augmented by ethnic food-stalls in the concourse and would certainly be an initiative whereby some backing from the PCC could probably be obtained. If the club could make a handful of youth players available as ad-hoc coaches, we believe that this could be a memorable weekend for all participants and spectators.

BS - We already have a partnership with PCC which is managing part of our community programme through the Unity Football Team which is a team brought together from all local religious and ethnic sects and competes in tournaments.
We also tried multi-lingual match advertising posters in local shops, could try again.

SHIRT SPONSORSHIP

In the event the club fail to secure a shirt sponsor for 10/11 would the Football League allow different sponsors throughout the season? How about if the club offered a package that would allow smaller business who still have a marketing budget to support the club? I.e.: a different shirt sponsor for each calendar month? We have no idea what the going rate IS for a season long sponsorship however if each business paid £20,000 per month or two for £35,000 for which they would receive a number of other incentives for the whole of the season e.g.

1- A guaranteed block of 30 seats in the Main Stand for the duration of their month with access to one of the bar areas before/during and after the game for entertaining their guests etc
2- qtr page advert for the whole season in the programme
3- A guaranteed block of 6 seats in the family stand with access to the box holders bar areas for the WHOLE season?
4- A guaranteed visit to their business by a player of their choice for marketing purposes
Added to that make the shirts the fans buy non sponsorship type just simply “The Posh” on the front?

BS - Will investigate.

FURTHER IDEAS

The club to invite supporters to form The Friends of Peterborough United Football Club

About Us
We are a campaigning organisation that appeals to Posh Fans of all walks of life and brings them together with a shared vision of a better match day experience at London Road
Our Mission
Friends of Peterborough United Football Club exists to help Posh fans look after the stadium.
Our Vision
Our vision is a Stadium where everyone can enjoy a healthy and enjoyable environment
Our values
We are committed to democracy, accountability and equality
We strive to work with other PUFC supporters groups in our campaigning for positive change
Our work will always be based on objective evidence and a long-term perspective.

Adults £5 per month
U 15’s £1 per month

Our aim before Jan 1st 2011 to have 200 Posh friends ultimately 2000 giving £120,000 per annum to PUFC for improvements to London Road that will benefit Posh fans now and in the future.

To maintain a database of Friends who, in addition to/or in lieu of subscriptions, undertake to donate a minimum of ten-hours per-season to work as cleaners, painters, carpenters or, where suitable certification and indemnities are evident, as electricians, AV technicians etc. Practicalities will dictate that much of these energies would have to be co-ordinated and administered during the close-season but a moderate amount of planning and liaison could make this a worthwhile exercise. (Obviously, all those brandishing, say, paint-brushes will be vetted to some extent so as to produce acceptable standards of work rather than to unleash an enthusiastic but messy free-for-all).

BS - again, this will be discussed at the next SLC meeting, maybe the three groups could join forces and implement a management plan .... good idea.

Letter from Adi Mowles, Chairman, PISA2000.

2010-04-23T05:50:00.001-07:00

It feels odd to be writing a letter of apology at the end of what has arguably been one of PISA’s most successful seasons.

We have received numerous complaints, and some vehement criticism, for no longer representing our members, not living up to our ‘independent’ ethos and becoming apologists for many of the decisions taken by PUFC this season. And the criticism has been justified.

I have allowed a good personal relationship with the Chairman to cloud my judgement, in particular the issue of season ticket price rises, where perhaps I should have solicited more input from our members before unreservedly backing the increase. In my defence I did argue with the club for the early purchase window to be extended but was rebuffed without an adequate explanation.

I also fear I have become something of a ‘rent-a-quote’ whenever approached by the Evening Telegraph or other local media. I have backed each manager and responded to decisions taken by the chairman uncritically and with little regard to the opinions of the wider membership of PISA. For that I apologise.

As a result of the above, and the clubs continued negative response to many of the excellent ideas we put to them – we recently provided a comprehensive dossier of ideas on how to improve the match-day experience and links with the community and all were met with a negative response - we will no longer be attending the monthly meetings at the club. The committee and I have decided that we will be concentrating solely on improving the match-day experience for our members and living up to our independent tag.

And despite this – and the bloody awful season on the pitch - it has been an incredibly successful season for PISA.

● We implemented a £5 annual membership scheme which has been brilliantly supported.

● Secured discounts for our members at various city businesses

● We, with your considerable help, lobbied the City Council and helped secure the future of London Road.

● Provided coach travel to selected games.

● In only three months we organised and hosted a hugely successful evening to celebrate 75 Years of Peterborough United Football Club.

● We provided two ‘This is London Road’ boards for the tunnel at London Road

● and our finances are healthy once again.

Next season we will have the opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with old friends we thought we might never see again; yes, away days at Notts County, Rochdale and Brentford to name but a few are back on the agenda so look out for details of the PISA coaches.

We appreciate your support and hope you’ll continue your membership of PISA for another season. Membership for the 2010/11 season will be available from Saturday at Ebeneezers and it remains at £5. We are also introducing a family membership – Mum, Dad and kids – for £10.

Keep it POSH

Adi

A letter for you to send to your local councillor

2009-10-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

Right chaps. Below is the template of a letter you can send to your local councillor. Please take the time to do this and let them know how pissed off we are with the way our football club has been treated

The full list of PCC councillors can be found here: http://democracy.peterborough.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1

Contact details can be found here: http://democracy.peterborough.gov.uk/mgCommitteeMailingList.aspx?ID=0

Councillor Cereste cab be contacted at marco.cereste@peterborough.gov.uk

Dear Councillor xxxxxxx

I am writing on behalf of PISA 2000 – the independent supporters association of Peterborough United.

Like them I consider Peterborough United to be one of the foremost ambassadors for the city of Peterborough and a successful football club is a prime catalyst in the creation of vibrant town or city. However, I am extremely concerned about the lack of progress regarding the provision of a ground for the football team.

As my political representative within the city, I would like you to respond to several questions relating to the club and the ground:

Do you feel that the Chief Executive along with the then leader of Peterborough City Council, Cllr Franklin, was right not to enforce the requirement for a written offer to be made when the London Road ground was sold to Peterborough United Holdings Ltd. (PUHL)?

Do you feel that the Chief Executive and Cllr Franklin were right to dispense with the required six month notice period when the London Road ground was sold to PUHL?

Do you feel that the sale of the London Road ground, one of the city's premium assets, should have been subjected to a vote within the council?

A conservative estimate would place the value of the ground at several million pounds at the time of the sale, although according to reports it was sold to PUHL at the substantially lower price of £760,000. Do you feel that the Chief Executive and Cllr Franklin ensured the best deal for the tax payers of Peterborough at that time?

Would you support a compulsory purchase order to return the London Road ground to the people of Peterborough?Assuming that negotiations with PUHL are not able to complete, where would your favoured location for a new ground be?

Would you support a motion within council that would ensure a commitment to fixed start date for the work to begin on a new stadium, irrespective of the progress of finding a site at the time of that motion?

Whilst the membership of PISA is not politicised per se, it is an active group with the numbers to make an impact on the local political scene. They have no plans to put forward single issue candidates for local elections, or indeed to actively campaign against councillors that they feel are obstructing the progress of Peterborough United, however, they cannot rule these actions out in the future.

I appreciate the workload of a councillor, but would like to emphasise the importance of this matter to the community that you represent and would urge you to answer the questions as soon as possible. If you are unable to answer the questions, I would be left with no alternative other than to assume that you would prefer to ignore the concerns of the Posh supporting tax payers and would rather the city was not able to offer this facility to its population.

Thank you again for your time and I look forward to hearing from you

An open letter to the leader of the Peterborough City Council

2009-10-20T06:18:00.001-07:00

Dear Councillor Cereste

I am writing on behalf of PISA 2000 – the independent supporters association of Peterborough United.

We consider Peterborough United to be one of the foremost ambassadors for the city of Peterborough and a successful football club is a prime catalyst in the creation of vibrant town or city. However, we are disappointed to report that the membership of PISA is extremely concerned about the lack of progress regarding the provision of a ground for the football team.

As one our political representatives within the city, PISA 2000 would like you to respond to several questions relating to the club and the ground:

Do you feel that the Chief Executive along with the then leader of Peterborough City Council, Cllr Franklin, was right not to enforce the requirement for a written offer to be made when the London Road ground was sold to Peterborough United Holdings Ltd. (PUHL)?

Do you feel that the Chief Executive and Cllr Franklin were right to dispense with the required six month notice period when the London Road ground was sold to PUHL?

Do you feel that the sale of the London Road ground, one of the city's premium assets, should have been subjected to a vote within the council?

A conservative estimate would place the value of the ground at several million pounds at the time of sale, although according to reports it was sold to PUHL at the substantially lower price £760,000. Do you feel that the Chief Executive and Cllr Franklin ensured the best deal for the tax payers of Peterborough at that time?

Would you support a compulsory purchase order to return the London Road ground to the people of Peterborough?Assuming that negotiations with PUHL are not able to complete, where would your favoured location for a new ground be?

Would you support a motion within council that would ensure a commitment to fixed start date for the work to begin on a new stadium, irrespective of the progress of finding a site at the time of that motion?

Whilst the membership of PISA is not politicised per se, it is an active group with the numbers to make an impact on the local political scene. There are no plans to put forward single issue candidates for local elections, or indeed to actively campaign against councillors that we feel are obstructing the progress of Peterborough United, however, we cannot rule these actions out in the future.

We will make the answers to the questions available to our members and possibly within the wider media. We appreciate the workload of a councillor, but would like to emphasise the importance of this matter to the community that you represent and would urge you to answer the questions as soon as possible. If you are unable to answer the questions, we would be left with no alternative other than to assume that you would prefer to ignore the concerns of the Posh supporting tax payers and would rather the city was not able to offer this facility to its population.

We would also remind you of your pledge when you took over leadership of the council: "We need proper leadership which is focused on what needs to be done in the city, while being responsive to what our electorate says we need."

Thank you again for your time and we look forward to hearing from you

Adi Mowles
Chairman
PISA 2000

Leadership for Peterborough?

2009-10-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

"We need proper leadership which is focused on what needs to be done in the city, while being responsive to what our electorate says we need. I decided to stand for leader of the Conservative Group, because I didn't think the leadership had the right vision for the future. In all modesty, my career and past speak for themselves – I am an entrepreneur and a businessman, and that is what this city needs. My approach to running the council will be the same approach I take to running one of my businesses. We need clear objectives, know where we want the city to go, and take it there."

Cllr Marco Cereste

Correction

2009-10-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

In our previous press release we stated that: This delay is put into even sharper focus when one considers the speed - four days to be precise - with which PCC Chief Executive Gillian Beasley agreed to waive the covenant held by the council on the London Road Ground and allowed it to be sold to a property developer.

This should read: This delay is put into even sharper focus when one considers the speed - four days to be precise - with which PCC Chief Executive Gillian Beasley, in consultation with former Council Leader Cll Franklin, agreed to waive the covenant held by the council on the London Road Ground and allowed it to be sold to a property developer.

A New Stadium for Posh

2009-10-14T23:37:00.000-07:00

The Opportunity Peterborough annual review makes interesting reading. As Peterborough United supporters we were particularly interested to see when it was envisaged that a ew stadium for the club would be provided. Although in respect of most other aspects of the future plans for Peterborough the document gave anticipated completion dates, an anticipated date for the North Bank development - and hence the new stadium - is conspicuous by its absence.

In the light of Opportunity Peterborough previously noting that the clubs current location is ‘now unsuitable and constrained’ there has been a disappointingly slow response from the council to address this issue. This delay is put into even sharper focus when one considers the speed - four days to be precise - with which PCC Chief Executive Gillian Beasley agreed to waive the covenant held by the council on the London Road Ground and allowed it to be sold to a property developer. So keen was Ms Beasley to avoid delay, that she did not enforce the requirement for a written offer and dispensed with the six month notice period, designed to allow consultation with councillors and indeed the electorate or Posh supporters. Nor were any bureaucratic obstacles, such as submitting the decision to a vote in council, allowed to hold up the transaction.

The commitment shown to both the city and football club by Darragh MacAnthony contrasts sharply with the apparent lack of commitment, and indifference to the clubs plight, from the council. A new football stadium serving as a community and economic hub would be a major asset to the city, and proof that the council is prepared to invest in a future for the city that isn’t based solely on yet more shops and warehouses.

PISA2000 would welcome a clear unequivocal statement from PCC, and Opportunity Peterborough, detailing when they expect to announce the location of the new ground and some indication when we can expect construction work to begin.

PISA2000 Committee
Posh Independent Supporters Association