THFC Board answers questions from fans

 1. NEW STADIUM BUILD PROGRAMME / NORTHUMBERLAND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT 

• 'How are we doing with the stadium' etc. It would be good to get a timetable of what will be happening when in respect of choices
• ​The Stadium is progressing and at this stage is on schedule. Key milestones coming up include the closing of the bowl and the raising of the roof. We shall be releasing internal photographs as and when areas start to complete. We envisage the sale of season tickets being broadly in line with the usual timings every season although we are considering bringing them forward slightly to facilitate what will be a longer process.

 

•  What are the disabled parking and access arrangements at the new stadium
• The current proposal provides up to 150 accessible parking bays within the new stadium. The final allocation and distribution is to be determined. There will be “step free” access from the basement car parks to all levels of the stadium

 

• New Stadium - Is it on track to be ready for 2018/19? What is Plan B (Other than Wembley)? For instance can we play with a 75% complete stadium
• It was always envisaged in the construction plan that it may be necessary to play early games away from home. However, it is too early to be certain.

 

• Will rebuild of White Hart Lane station be finished by July 2018 and if not, how will the station operate for the extra volume on match days
• WHL station redevelopment will see it open and operational for match days but not fully fitted out – TfL have advised that final completion will be delayed until 2019.

 

• Are works on schedule and is the club confident we will be back at WHL next season?
• Elements are ahead of schedule, elements are on schedule and a small number of elements are slightly behind. Perfectly normal on a project of this size and complexity

 

• How much is expected to come from naming rights and over what time period?
• Our business plan provides for a commercial income figure which can come from any number of partners such that it is not reliant purely on naming rights

  

• Whatever happened to the original plan to build 3 sides of the new ground then moving in to play and completing the ground during the following season? Would not have had to go to Wembley.  Did I miss an announcement/explanation as to why not?
• Yes – there was an  announcement – we communicated the new scheme and removed the possibility of playing in a three sided stadium some years ago – it would have been a longer more costly build time and our roof design requires it to be lifted in one go on a completed bowl.

 

• How confident are THFC that the new stadium will be ready for 2018/19 season on a scale of 1-10, higher the figure, higher the confidence?
• No crystal ball to account for anything unforeseen so can only confirm here and now that scheme is on time.

 

• If stadium not complete any thoughts to playing in a 3/4 finished stadium rather than go back to Wembley?
• See above

 

• Will the public realm of the new stadium have its final finish or just black tarmac finish?
• The area to the south of the stadium will have a paved finish

 

• Will there be a flying spider cam in the new stadium?
• Yes - The stadium will have the infrastructure to support “spider cam” should the host broadcasters wish to use one.

 

• Will there be a Halo Flooding System or an alternative of ultra HD live broadcasting?
• LED floodlighting system will be installed and all AV facilities will be UHD compatible

 

• Will there be one-off game hospitality packages available at NWHL?
• Yes, where availability exists

 

• Could the club provide update with photos from time to time of the Spurs Lodge construction and the Eco Educational facility at Whitewebbs Lane? Fans are interested in these as well.
• Updates are issued as these progress - we shall look to do more as they take shape.

 

• When the new stadium opens, there is likely to be a high demand for car parking spaces near the ground. It’s fine for the Club and authorities to say they want to encourage use of public transport, but many of us live a long way from Tottenham. For this season’s Burnley match, three of us travelled by train from Leicestershire, at a cost of £100. In previous seasons, we would drive for the cost of half a tankful of petrol, plus £10 to park. The club should encourage local premises to offer parking facilities (IKEA comes to mind), and also to work with the train companies on park & ride near stations such as Cheshunt and Broxbourne.
•  The new stadium is a public transport destination. Our planning permission specifies a pro rata’d reduction in personal car use. We are exploring various transport solutions, including park and ride from rail stations and national coach networks.  

 

• Mr Levy has a reputation of being a very shrewd & tough negotiator as well as rep for keeping a tight control over the purse strings. The club decided to install a removable grass pitch to compliment an artificial pitch to be used for American football & other activities. The cost of this facility will be significant. Apart from the 10 year deal with the NFL to play 2 matches per year. Are there any other contracts for the stadium that the club have sought? Have any other contracts been signed for use of the stadium? Will the 10 year contract cover the cost of the removable pitch?
• The NFL contract provides for certain costs to be assigned. The artificial pitch is multi use and will allow us to stage several sports and concerts.

 
Additional Building development - Hotel, Flats etc.:

• What is the current budget for this final phase?
• What is the expected budget profit on this and how much will be allocated to offset the new Stadium costs?
• Are there any changes to the development from the accepted outline planning permission?
• When do they expect this final phase will be completed?
• These phases will only be addressed after the completion of the stadium.

 

2. THE WEMBLEY EXPERIENCE  

• I think the number of people leaving early at Wembley affects the team and wondered if the club have considered
  a) making a statement to the fans to get the point across
• Whilst we would love everyone to stay to the final whistle, we appreciate that supporters will have their own personal reasons for leaving the stadium at a time that suits their schedule regardless. Welcome Trust support to encourage them to stay!

 

• b) a touch out system so loyalty points are only awarded when people touch out after the final whistle (I could live with this only being active for weekend games so it doesn't penalise those that have to make a last train...)
• Not possible with current technology at Wembley and not sure it is fair.

 

• My question relates to Wembley attendances. I believe not enough being done to make them higher. I understand the Club's hands are tied when the game goes to Restricted General Sale. For all other games, I think the price needs to come down, particularly at lowest price point. There are lots of casual fans out there, both Tottenham fans and neutrals. Prices were set too high to fill a 90,000 stadium. Every effort needs to be made to improve atmosphere which in turn lifts performance. My question: In light of 25,000 empty seats at Wembley, surely it should be a priority to get these filled by dropping price 10 pound at lowest price point. I feel season ticket holders - the most likely objectors given their outlay - would understand. It's a one off year and need to react accordingly.  
• We have covered Wembley pricing in previous meetings. We believe there is a fair spread of prices starting from £8. The majority of fixtures have high ticket sales.

 

• I have a question regarding the seating arrangements at Wembley. I was in the Paxton End for many years at White Hart Lane. I now find myself sitting next to the away fans at Wembley which is something I certainly wouldn't have chosen. Having spoken to several other fans who moved in the same block we weren't aware that we would now be at the 'away end' and most of us would prefer not to be. I think the club could have made it clearer when we were moving and we are all now concerned that when we move back to the new stadium the Club will expect us to sit with the away fans again if we want to stay with the people we have been sitting with for years. Can the club explain why we are with the away supporters and give assurances that this won't be the case when we return
• This was made clear in our renewal communications – we identified the West End of Wembley as the  “atmosphere” section and also provided maps showing where away fans would be situated. At the new stadium we shall have the visitors section located in the north east corner. Full bowl diagrams will accompany the season ticket sales process.

 

• I think the issue of seating arrangements and atmosphere in the new stadium should be near the top of the agenda as it has been before. A recurring theme at Wembley so far this season is smaller sections of fans who enjoy standing up and singing being placed in area among fans who prefer to sit and watch the game. There seems a growing sense of frustration from the former at the amount of people who don't join in which is understandable from point of views. They want a better atmosphere (something which seems unlikely to materialise this season) but it's also clearly annoying for the people who spend parts of the game being criticised by fellow supporters for not joining in. I fear this season we're resigned to a poor atmosphere even at the biggest matches which seems a shame but you'd hope the club are already planning to fix this for the new stadium. I'd be very keen for an update on how they plan to seat fans who want to create an atmosphere - rather than fans who want to be in the middle of an atmosphere - together in the most effective way at the new White Hart Lane
• Seating allocations for new stadium will be covered in communications to supporters when we announce our season ticket sales process. All communications will clearly reference the dedicated home end in the south. From the first designs, it has been our intention to deliver a stadium full of atmosphere with much emphasis being made of our unique southern stand.

 

• Queuing at turnstile - due to a signalling problem on the Underground I only arrived at entrance H 40 minutes before the Dortmund match but it took 45 minutes to gain entrance which resulted in missing the 1st goal! Numerous ticket holders had issues with bar codes not being accepted. The searching of individuals also created an issue as the search did not allow people to pass through the turnstiles. I completely recognise that that searching is absolutely necessary but how about the search taking place before the turnstiles which would improve the flow of people into the stadium. This was the procedure at White Hart Lane which worked very well
• We continue to work with Wembley to balance the overriding need for maximum security with fans entering the stadium. Much can be mitigated by arriving early (c 60 mins) – we recognise fans have raised this as a concern and have passed to our counterparts at Wembley  

 

• Smoking - as a non-smoker I find it disappointing that Wembley stewards seem to ignore smoking in toilets. I have reported it at each game but it seems to have no effect. Also vaping, which I believe is also banned, is becoming a nuisance. It really should not be too difficult for stewards to spot the fumes arising from certain individuals
• Raised with Wembley stewards but very difficult to police as cannot place stewards inside toilet blocks for the duration

 

• Whilst I appreciate that there is a lower amount of female fans than male, it would be nice to have more female stewards on the turnstiles. Against Swansea I turned up at turnstile N 20 mins before kick-off and due to the queues got into the ground just before kick-off. Unfortunately as there was only one female steward I then needed to join another queue to wait to be searched. Where as male fans flowed through the system a lot easier. I completely understand the need for the searches, but would just prefer if I didn't miss the start of the game in future.
• This was fed back to Wembley earlier in the season and should now be remedied. Please advise us if this is not the case.

 

• Why is the food so pricey inside the ground, £11 for a Burger and Chips is outrageous, with most of the other food also starting at £10 from inside the ground outlets. I thought the idea was to encourage fans to eat at the ground not drive them off. The same meals are available from outlets outside the ground for no more than £5. Our travelling schedule rarely makes it possible for us to eat outside the ground or we would.
• Prices are set by Delaware North, the catering partner of Wembley Stadium – all concourse food for our matches are priced at their lowest tariff for events at the stadium. THST recently met with the caterers and will provide an additional report.

 

• Why has the escalator to Club Wembley level 2 (Bobby Moore Entrance) not worked for nearly a month now, it is hard work walking up all those stars with a bad hip.
• Please can we have more detail. I have never seen this not in operation, nor had any other complaints or notification.

 

• Also are the club aware of aggressive nature of stewarding at Wembley?
• We have worked closely with Wembley and their stewarding contractors to ease any teething problems from earlier in the season. Anything that supporters notify us of in respect of stewarding is passed to Wembley for their attention. We are seeing good levels of improvement as the season progresses

 

• Please can you ask why away fans are allowed to bring in instruments? We do not want to listen to their instruments. I am sure that if I turned up with drumsticks they would not be allowed in the ground. It makes it harder for us to generate the atmosphere to get behind our team and gives their team an advantage. We should not be allowing away teams an advantage
• Visiting fans ask the Club and Wembley in advance and are organised well in respect of certifications and permissions – as long as they do not break ground regulations, Wembley will allow these in. We, and Wembley, would consider requests from our supporters on identical terms

 

• Can you please ask why there is always queues to get into block b and no other block seem to keep missing first 5 mins of every game  
• At some stage, all turnstiles have queues, as they did at WHL – please arrive early to ensure you miss the queues. Block B isn’t one we regularly see large queues at

 

• Crystal Palace a few years ago in the playoff final made certain areas of Wembley designated singing areas in the areas allocated to them in the ground (they played Watford). By doing this they completely overawed the Watford fans and stopped the norm of having small pockets of fans singing in an array of areas which means no atmosphere is ever built up. Also it stopped the petty arguing of fans who disagree on an in-game experience.  At white hart lane, everyone knew the shelf side and the park lane was where u should sit if you wanted a more upbeat match day experience.  Why was this not done at Wembley for this season. It's all well and good the atmosphere being good against Chelsea but the team need it during the likes of Burnley when it was dead and in my opinion it's because you have not got like-minded fans sitting together
• We have and designated the West End of Wembley Stadium for this purpose – it was offered and advertised as “atmosphere” section

 

• Although we won the game, I was surprised to see Borussia Dortmund fans (Champions League, Sept 13) allowed to bring multiple drums into Wembley which they used in a choreographed manner to create a loud noise and dominate the atmosphere. Seemed to me like this gave their team an advantage and stifled the home fans at a time when we are desperately trying to create an atmosphere at Wembley. Could the club not have prevented Dortmund fans from bringing their large drums into the stadium, in order to negate this advantage for the opposition? If not, would home fans be allowed to do the same?
• See above – yes, home fans would be allowed the same. No requests came in

 

• I’m a season ticket holder and I've attended all 3 home games (block 136 row 9, seat 58) having sat in block 22 at WHL for the past 6 seasons. Over the three league games there has been continued issues re standing that escalated into violent scenes on Saturday when a couple of spectators were forcibly removed. Quite quickly in the first game the majority of standers in my block were shouted down as they were in the minority. However they had remained a core of standers in the block to my right and this has caused issues with those behind me on block 136 whose view is impeded when the action is at our end and to the right of the pitch. During all 3 games stewards have asked the standers to sit with limited success. The atmosphere has worsened and Saturday saw aggressive arguments break out and a scuffle or two. I don't really want to get involved in the sit/stand debate, but could the club offer ticket exchanges for the fans affected (of both persuasions)? More importantly I do think the club should consider something similar for the new stadium, say after 5 games. My reasoning for this is that I sat in the Paxton with my children and now clearly sit in an area where there are significant ex- Park Lane fans. My children are quite grown up so I'm ok with my seat, but I don't think I'd say the same if my children were younger.
• Limited capacity to offer exchanges within Level 1 but we have assisted everyone who has requested an exchange on medical grounds or those with small children –  Wembley stewards work every game to address persistent standing.

 

• Helping to improve atmosphere - I've only recently started going to games; I recognise most of the chants but not all. As far as I can tell there is no place that lists the main chants etc.
• We do not list any chants as they tend to be generated organically by the fan base. Details can be found by searching Google or YouTube.

 
 ​3. TICKETING THIS SEASON  

• Can the board please explain how the decisions around pricing for Wembley this season were reached and please clarify why at no point were the supporters consulted? 
• The pricing took into account a number of considerations – whilst we cannot undermine a key revenue source for the club as in any given season, we have sought to offer concessions and attractive pricing options throughout.

 

• I'd like to know why the website for ticketing is so appalling and why the club made it so difficult to get 'extra' tickets for the Dortmund game when so many were spare?
• Ticketmaster have made a significant investment designed to improve the ticketing site and we are constantly seeking to improve it further. In respect of Dortmund, this was on restricted sale on the instructions of the Safety Advisory Group

 

• I’m sure that other people will raise this topic but I wanted to provide feedback on the Champions League Group Stage home match ticket sales, which was by far the worst service I’ve experienced for football match tickets. Firstly, for season ticket holders this was advertised as a package with sales starting at 10.00 according to the THFC website. It was in fact scheduled to start at 10.30 (as shown on the ticket website) and after waiting online for the best part of 2 hours it was seen that tickets could be purchased for 1, 2 or 3 matches. It was not clear who was responsible for ticket sales Ticketmaster or THFC but between them they provided an extremely poor service and should we progress to the knockout stage this service must be improved
• Acknowledged that service across this period was not up to the standard we would wish – amendments have been made and issues addressed. Supporters now seeing a better and more timely service

 

• Why can season ticket holders not move within Wembley stadium? I have tried to move my daughter from the opposite side of the stadium to one of 5 empty seats near us which were shown as being taken when she applied for her season ticket. TO say it’s not currently allowed?!
• Email us details please – they may be seats of a Season Ticket holder.

 

• How has the ticketing situation been so badly managed over the summer? E.g. Non-compatibility of seat selector for Wembley when renewing. (Still not working BTW). Points needed for Newcastle coming out so late that no affordable trains left. 24 hour notice of CL money being taken (increased amount). CL money taken in 'instalments' so my (and presumably others) credit card charged with 6 lots of £35 which it declined as suspicious after 3.  Then an email sent out demanding the money with incorrect info. I think it all comes down to the Ticket Office being woefully understaffed for what was clearly going to be a difficult season.  Why was this not foreseen?
• Acknowledged that the Ticketing operation was not at the usual service levels we would hope to deliver and steps have been taken to rectify this.

   

• The other query I am getting from my fellow season ticket holders down here at South Dorset Spurs is how does the loyalty points for (new) season ticket holders work - and when will they be added?
• Season ticket loyalty points were added at the start of the season in the usual fashion, the change for this season sees the additional point added for match attendance or listing on the exchange added within 72 hours of the fixture

 

• Are the club happy with the pricing policy seeing as the attendances for some games have been average, and maybe below for the league cup game?
• Attendances for all our Premier League matches this season have increased over 60% from the last season at the old stadium and we are very happy with the attendances to date. In respect of the attendances for the Carabao Cup matches, the matches against Barnsley and West Ham attracted crowds that were comparable with home matches at similar stages of the same competition in previous years and it also should be considered that pricing is not the sole factor involved in deciding whether to attend a midweek cup match across the autumn period.

 

• Delays in dealing with ticket requests. West Ham away is a good example.
• We are very much reliant on information and detail being received from the host club. We don’t recall any unusual delay for West Ham but were aware of an unacceptable delay in notifying supporters of Newcastle away tickets

 

• Why are loyalty points shown as manual adjustment? They used to show what match they were for.
• This was an issue earlier in the season due to a new internal process in how away applications were processed with points added retrospectively by hand. This has been rectified and all points now added systemically.

 

• Why are loyalty points not declared at time of booking? I can't see how many we get for Barnsley or the 3 European matches. Why is it so difficult to get this information?
• Announced in advance when away allocation confirmed and when home cup ties go on sale

 

• The tickets for the Real game seem to have their own pricing category. I was a little surprised and upset with this.
• The Real Madrid match did not have its own pricing category – tickets were priced at our notified Category A  prices

 

• Would you please bring up the question of a new system for all ST holders, maybe a 1 or 2 year period rather than the existing 4 year period. My views are that it should be a 1 year period thereby giving all 39k ST holders an equal chance ....as many other clubs do! Or maybe 2/3rds going on points list over 4 year period and the remaining 1/3 going to new ST holders.  This of course would mean that members would also never get the chance of away tickets so maybe a different % could be looked at to include them?
• TBD but a ST holder with points to qualify “usually” would not be happy with proposal if they lost out to a new ST holder. West Ham has currently implemented this plan to some criticism from longstanding fans who will miss out. The only perfect system is one that guarantees a ticket. We believe that the system we have implemented is the most equitable and fair system in place.

 

• LP allocation in My Account. I want to make sure I’m getting the right points for games purchased. adding +2 manual adjustment doesn't help. Which away game was that for? Have you added it correctly? Are you sure that wasn’t Barnsley in the cup? It used to say a lot more regularly, Hull city away app for example. That’s missing this season. Also, the application process used to state in purchase history when you applied (even if not announced yet). This has now disappeared and you only get it one successful. Sometimes I get busy and forget if I have applied away or not and it used to be a good reminder that I had. This is now missing and a loss to me. We are in a period of change. I get that, but, that’s the stadium itself. When my company moved offices, redecorated, bought new premises, staff still served its customers. It’s like the club is using the build and move as an excuse as to why it’s so incompetent with tickets.
• You will still be able to see your application by logging in to your eTicketing account and selecting the event.

 

• Ticketing system. The site really struggles at busy times. E.g. I've been in a queue to log into the ticketing site for well over 30 mins several times. It can be very frustrating, especially when I reach the top of the queue but don't realise it as am doing something else - if I'm not careful the site then times out and I need to re-join the queue again. Furthermore, when I go to buy my ticket, I can't view the available seats using google chrome (the world's most used web browser), I can select a section and have the site allocate me a seat but I can't view individual seats. This is pretty ridiculous and frustrating.
• There have been two ticketing upgrades since this was originally submitted, so hopefully the experience is now smoother and more supporter friendly

 

• Is there any likelihood that outside organised friendly matches will be played at Wembley or the new stadium, like the Juventus match?
• Wembley was hired by Relevent Sports for this match – we were invited to participate. This was not a “home” friendly

 

• How much money did the club receive to give cart blanch to an outside company?
• The Club was paid a fee to participate in this match organised by Relevent Sports

 

• How much would the match ticket cost have to be before they would intervene or would they be happy for team to play inside an empty stadium, as long as they got their fee?
• We alerted them to the pricing issue – they subsequently reduced the prices

 

• When will the relative LP table return to the website?
• This is updated the first week of every month and is now available to view.

 

• Can we have more granularity to the table where the big concentrations are, e.g. between 300 - 400 points it needs 10 point bands not 50.
• 50 point banding is the best option to view this table on screen. The table is a guide and is updated during the first week of every month.

 

• When are individual LP records going to show specific matches instead of the generic 'manual adjustment' which is no help and why does the minus figure between seasons show a cumulative total of what each individual has 'lost' over x years and not just what we lost for the most recent season taken off.  
• Wherever possible, this is the case. Where points have to be added or deducted by Ticket Office staff in certain circumstances, these will always show as a manual adjustment. This cumulative figure will always show as the total number of points deducted over the rolling points programme. It is not possible to split down on a season by season basis for display.

 

• Are the ticket office going to return to the system we had last year of sending an email to say tickets allocated and payment will be taken in 3 to 5 days, rather than approach this season of announcing points total and taking money out on the same day. This is a problem particularly when we have had more than one game going through on the same day.
• This depends entirely on the timeframes that are afforded to us – wherever possible we provide as much notice as we can as we fully appreciate financial pressures on fans. Unfortunately there will still be occasions where this can occur at short notice

 
4. TICKET EXCHANGE

Ticket Exchange opens on the same parameters as it has always done (i.e. when the stadium has sold out) and at the discretion of the Club at other times. Season ticket holders receive 1/19th of their season ticket price in return for a successful sale; we would not allow tickets to be sold under face value as this would undermine our primary sales. We shall keep the exchange and timings under review and also be promoting its use by Season Ticket holders unable to attend. We will fully communicate as and when the Exchange is operational.

5. AWAY TICKETING
 
Across the early part of the season, there were some acknowledged difficulties with our ticketing operation as a result of the migration to Wembley. These issues similarly impacted the allocation and distribution of away match tickets, meaning that we were not able to provide supporters with as much notice as they would expect. These are now resolved and since the end of September, fans should have noticed a much improved service.

• Please could you ask the board why there have been such delays on releasing away games loyalty points this season? I understand there is high demand for tickets for away games but a bit more efficiency from their side could save fans waiting on the cut off to be announced lots of money on travel. It may seem only small but I know a lot of fans including myself that would greatly appreciate this.
• We are to a degree beholden to the host club providing us with all relevant information around ticket allocations and specified order in which they wish the tickets to be sold and receipt of the physical tickets for distribution. However, in the early part of the season, we recognise that there were delays with limited notice announcements and this was an issue that was far from ideal. This has been rectified and supporters should now see a much improved service in both announcements and tickets being despatched. 

 

• On a similar subject, applications that get split between restricted and non-restricted views. Previously, I have applied for 4-6 tickets for some grounds that have restricted views. On occasions, we have had to sit as two groups as some have less LP than others. Although frustrating, I understand it. But, what used to happen was me, as the lead applicant would still be billed on the same application. It was annoying that 2 tickets would go elsewhere (to the St Holders who were in restricted view seats) but at least we got them. This season, Everton away, we were split again. Because Matt is disorganised, it’s why I arrange all away games. Matt didn’t send me the email to say that they needed paying for (for some reason they wouldn't take from my card) saying it was a separate application, as it was restricted view seats. I strongly disagree. It was still one application, we all still travel together and arranged by me. I had no idea what the cut off points was going to be, but they treated it like there was no common connection. In the end, two ST missed out on Everton away as the club, when I finally got through, said I couldn't buy the tickets for Matt, as I wasn't Matt. yet it was me that made the initial application. They said as we were split, its two applications. It wasn't, it was one, the CLUB decided it was two, messing it up for all of us. It’s just poor.
• Ticketing for away matches where there are a number of restricted view seats is a situation where we believe the fairest solution is to offer the better view seats with those with higher loyalty point levels. We appreciate that this may split some groupings but feel it would be unfair to disadvantage the higher points holders with an inferior view. We do communicate all “out of the ordinary” changes such as this directly to fans before taking payment to allow alternative arrangements to be made.

 

• The club appear to me to turn a blind eye to people who are clearly 'farming' the loyalty points it is amazing how many tickets come up after the announcements who now can't make it and are happy to sell on their ticket but of course keep the points. Have the club considered a 'test purchase' operation so as to negate this action?  You only need to buy one and then some to get their privileges withdrawn to send a message to this ‘community’ I don't so much mind the tickets staying within a group, but selling to total strangers is poor behaviour.  ( last year away to Sunderland it was amazing how many tickets came available as there were 5 points to be had )
• Whenever we find confirmed instances of this, we do contact those concerned and in some cases cancel memberships, inc Season Tickets.

 

• Have the club considered a one off collection of tickets at an away game with ID so as to send out a message that they are aware of this? (lots of Nicosia tickets around at the moment!)
• Yes, we have done so previously for smaller allocations – this is hugely unpopular for the vast majority of supporters who have time in resort interrupted by the necessity to collect at a nominated venue in a city centre– Chelsea and Man Utd still currently operate such a procedure. Man City trialled this for one season before reverting to the process we currently operate.  

 

• Abuse of the current loyalty point system.  I’m borderline for most away applications (I’m a long-standing season ticket holder with nearly 300 LPs) and it is increasingly galling to see tickets for away games being put on sale by people who are applying for them just to harvest the points.  I will be going to Cyprus but I have already seen tickets being offered for sale
• Wherever we find and are alerted to instances of tickets being sold on or loyalty points “harvested” we can, and have, taken appropriate action

 
 6. DEADLOCK

• I'd like the issue of how the club plan to allocate cup final/semi-final tickets should we make it there to be raised at the board meeting. With c.18,000 new season ticket holders all on the same amount of loyalty points. How do they plan to offer the remaining tickets assuming all previous c.22,000 STH take up only a portion of the allocation?
• TBC – first major opportunity this can occur is for an FA Cup Semi Final – at this point in April, there would be sufficient movement and opportunity for loyalty point movement to minimize the impact of deadlock. In the unlikely event of a large number of supporters being tied on identical points totals, the Club will advise on the mechanism to differentiate at that stage.

 
 
7. TOUTING

• Why are they not doing anything about touts at Wembley? It's not like they are hard to spot. Clue- They are at the bottom of the stairs of Wembley Park station
• Police will intercept when they have resources to apprehend and arrest once they see a criminal offence taking place (ticket exchanged for money) We trace tickets sold through touts and ban the originator
  
  
• Why are there now so many tickets touts being able to sell tickets to away fans in the home sections? The police just stand there and would rather jaw amongst themselves rather than take any action to stop it. This practice had almost been wiped out at WHL because tickets were not put on general sale in the final season.  Sooner or later we will end up with a situation such as happened at Highbury. You cannot walk down to the ground now without 20 touts trying to sell or buy tickets

 

• I would like to ask what the club are doing regards targeting touts who are out in force every home game...Wembley way is like running a gauntlet!
• This is a criminal offence – police should deal with this

8. TICKETING – LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT SEASON  

• What percentage of executive seats are still available to purchase?
• A small number are available

 

• Season ticket relocation in the new stadium - Any plans on how to manage this? for instance I want to sit with friends who don't currently sit near me
• All ticketing detail relating to the new stadium will be announced in the New Year. There will be extensive communication around choice, allocation and process which we will seek to make fair and transparent for all supporters

 

9. SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW  

• Can the board please comment on the summer transfer business and clarify why the club feels leaving it late is a good policy when statistics show over the last X amount of seasons we drop points in August?
• The Club always looks to conduct business early – this is not always possible and contrary to the suggestion here not down to the club – three parties need to agree any deal and that’s before you have competition from other clubs or indeed outstanding decisions on other players you are pursuing. Most transfer activity takes place in the last week of the window.

 

• Will the board please comment on the Danny Rose interview and concede what a negative impact that had on the fan base and the club in general.  I understand from reports he was punished but in light of the fact communication from the club this summer was so poor and that at the time of his interview we had not signed any player.
• The Danny Rose issue was dealt with appropriately as an internal matter. Both he and Mauricio have commented on it.

 

• There is much mention of the project at Spurs, with MP and some current and newly-joined players generally referring to it as 'interesting'. Whatever the fine detail of it might be, it clearly involves incremental and carefully planned changes to the playing staff, infrastructure and development of the club. If MP was signed on for a five year term when he joined, was that term also the 'life' of the project to which he agreed, after which he/we might expect a change of emphasis in terms of, e.g. player purchases and salary levels? Is there a plan/intended project in place, or being discussed, for the next period or is it simply a question of 'wait and see' when the current project has run its course? N.B. Not expecting any confidential details to be disclosed, but it would be helpful to know whether the project is under review and is flexible enough to retain the motivation of the manager and players given their higher profiles and marketability from when the project began.
• Mauricio has a clear vision for how he wants to progress and the on-going development of the Club – no one has put a timeframe on it.

 

10. AOB  

• I'd like to know why the Cowboy Cup games have 8pm kick offs. We all know Wembley is a pig to get home from, and making the ko 8 instead of 7.45 makes it that much harder. We got 'lucky' with the low crowd v Barnsley which meant for once Wembley Park wasn't as busy as normal, but still awful for the away fans heading home, and no doubt they'll blame West Ham on TV but sure other TV live games elsewhere have had 7.45 ko's. All evening fixtures at Wembley should be 7.45.
• Later kick offs allow supporters more time to reach the stadium in good time and take pressure off queues at the turnstiles.

 

• Why can't they have a customer service twitter feed rather than let the Trust (who doesn't have access to fans details/Ticket application etc) sort it all out and get abuse for trying to do so?
• We have iSpurs, where the vast majority of questions being asked, can be answered through this site. https://i.tottenhamhotspur.com/hc/en-us. Supporters are very welcome to email us at supporter.services@tottenhamhotspur.com where we can answer questions.

 

• Could the board brief the trust on its relationship with the ladies team and what its plans are for its ladies team
• Promoted to WSL2 for this season – Club currently provides Spurs Ladies with direct and indirect support across the board on costs, marketing, ticketing, promotion, access to training facilities etc. Spurs Ladies continue to grow organically – crowds increased by huge numbers so far this season.

 

• I thought last year that there had been a very fruitful season of co-operation between the club and the Trust but it seemed to deteriorate over the summer especially on the ticketing front with pricing/moving seats etc. A lot of the communication on ticketing is confusing. What's changed? Has someone left? How does this get better?

 

• During the summer the club let fans down in many ways in terms of communication; does the board concede this and what lessons have been learned?  Is it even being investigated what has gone wrong?
• Please can you advise on the specifics? Transfers? Ticketing?

 

• Also - a smaller point - but why was there no matchday announcer before the Dortmund game? In general it completely lacked any big match feel until kick-off itself.
• Was not aware of this issue. Paul Coyte was there as usual

 

• We must keep Toby and we should have a better pay structure which keeps every player happy  
• Toby - why are Spurs risking losing this fabulous player by paying him so much less than he deserves?
• The Club has a strong track record of rewarding key players.

 

• Spurs need to get more local fans going to games what are the board doing about it!
• We give  thousands of  tickets to local community groups and schools in Haringey, Enfield and Brent – community Foundation work continues across those boroughs

 

• My question is why are spurs gift cards not able to be used at spurs retailers at Wembley? Why have supporters been advised they have limited use? My question arises from on taking my grandson to the Burnley game as a birthday present and giving him the opportunity to spend the spurs gift cards he had we selected what he wanted queued for some time to purchase them only to be informed they are not accepting the gift cards. Thankfully granddad saved his embarrassed grandson with his debit card. But a notice in the shop or information in the email they said would have been good
• Prosaic reason – Wembley tills and ePOS systems are not compatible with voucher reconciliation – working on solution

 

• On a plus side I would like to say what a good job THFC are doing with the Supporters clubs and it's great to see all the clubs advertised on the electronic advertising boards in the Stadium

 

• Why are the 10% discount days limited only to shops in Wembley?  We live in Enfield and want to support our local official store, yet even though I'm a Season Ticket holder and both boys are members, we did not qualify! We visited the shop before traveling to the Swansea game and wanted to buy kit to save changing and carrying around extra clothes later in the day, made sure we had room to try on clothes in permanent less busy store and we wanted to support the Enfield store / High Street. What is the logic for having a 10% discount day, but not for all stores?  For the record, the staff were very apologetic and they said that they had lots of complaints but there was nothing they could do
• Our other regional stores have discount days and there are members sales days online where the discount applies – along with free p&p

 

• I would be grateful if you could ask them if there are any proposals to let the fans have access to a gigantic flag with maybe "COYS" or similar on it to pass across the South Stand at the new WHL similar to those on the Kop at Liverpool and the "yellow wall" at Dortmund?  It would be just amazing to welcome the team out to that at every home game
• Please email supporter.services@tottenhamhotspur.com with details and idea on operational plan for deployment – happy to facilitate conversations

 

• Are baby clothes going to be sold in club outlets at Wembley to allow people to take advantage of 10% discounts?
• We have a limited footprint at Wembley with small stores and no stock room, this doesn’t lend itself to carrying our full range.

 
Additional financial questions:

• Tottenham Hotspur Ltd usually files its financial statements complied at 30th June each year at Companies House in the week before the 9th March deadline. i.e. 31st March of the following Year. However the Auditor usually signs off the Audit Certificate by Mid October.
•  Is there any good reason for delaying in filing the accounts at Companies House once the Audit has been completed. Does Mr Levy agree that filing accounts early would mean the Trust could have a more meaningful & better informed discussions with the club as the financial info would be more timely
• No untoward reason at all – we have always filed at this time

 

• All Premier League clubs have to submit to the League at the start of the season a forecast profit & lose accounts for the new season and also a forecast balance sheet for the season end. Can Mr Levy tell us for the current season what gate revenue for PL matches did the club estimate & submit to League.
• In March every year, the Club submits summarised data to the Premier League for the year ahead based on conservative assumptions and a year-end forecast balance sheet. This is commercially confidential information.

 

• The 2016 Financial accounts contain an accrual deferred income amount of £45 Million shown as 'non-current liabilities'. Please explain the nature of this amount & who paid it to the club.
• This amount relates to advance royalties paid in respect of a new sponsorship partner and a capital sum paid to the Club to cover certain NFL fit out costs

 


8 December 2017.