Supporting our Future
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 at 10:27AM In the aftermath of the fragmentation and discussions (mostly arguments) surrounding the proposed move to Stratford and the viability of the NDP we once more find ourselves waiting for the clubs next move. You wouldn't dispute the fact that we were some what left on the shelf during the whole process. A protest here, a protest there - Daniel Levy and club simply asked us to keep the faith but left many of us in a state of confusion with questions left unanswered.
Protesting, obviously not enough. A different approch is required. And we have that.
A group of Spurs fans have got together to attempt to gauge constructive opinion by way (initally) of a survey. Rather than simply chase the club for answers the aim is to propose a soultion(s). And that can only be completed if you get yourself involved.
It's well worth your time and hopefully the club will take note and possibly push forward with their own referendum or at the very least respond to the proposals that SOF suggest - as the progression of Tottenham remains paramount with all concerned. We still need that bigger stadium, right?
Martin Cloake is involved in this and it's worth reading his associated article about the survey and the reasons behind 'Supporting our Future' (rather than me paraphrasing and not doing it any justice).
You can do so by clicking here to visit his blog and article.
The 'Supporting our Future' ethos is outlined as follows on their website:
Our initial aim is to get discussions to resume development of a World Class football stadium worthy of the club and its ambition at our current home, White Hart Lane, back on track. We aim to do this by
- Conducting a detailed survey of fan opinion
- Using these findings to construct practical proposals.
- Seeking meaningful dialogue with the club and partners interested in backing stadium expansion.
- Working in a fully transparent manner.
We encourage every Spurs fan reading this site to take part in our on-line referendum.
Explore these pages to find out more about Supporting our Future, the latest news, and how to get in touch, particularly if you are interested in helping to support our work.
Their mission statement is simple:
We, a group of supporters of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, intend to offer a practical proposal based on the opinions of the fans to resume development of a World Class football stadium worthy of the club and its ambition at our current home, White Hart Lane.
Click here for the survey. Have your say. We've all had something to moan about in the past six months, let's not all suddenly go quiet again until the next twist and turn rears it's head.
Reader Comments (13)
They want the truth......THEY CANNOT HANDLE THE TRUTH
Truth is we, the Fans, will never be partial to the internal workings of the THFC PLC mind.
Of course we wont, but there has to be a relationship there (one that doesn't patronise). I know football has moved on but the club has to do more than just be reactive in a PLC way and give us a voice within the club by showing some transparency in the questions that need to be answered (placing aside the ones that can't because of business and confidentiality reasons).
Although at times you wonder how much more is hiding behind those apparent reasons for tumbleweed.
Completed.
Can't imagine this having too much of a dissimilar effect to how the club reacted to We are N17. The club spoke to them for PR reasons, nothing more. Makes it look like they are taking our opinions into consideration.
Done.
Im not sure what good its going to do, but it certainly cant do any harm.... completed. COYS
Survey completed. Now that I've righted the wrongs of the world better get back to work.
BTW you lot okay ground sharing with Arsenal?
I have filled in and submitted the survey, (even though it stated that it was only 88% complete prior to submission) but have a number of concerns:
1. Apart from Mr Cloake, who I am vaguely aware of having written a Spurs-related book, I have no idea who is behind this survey,
2. Some of the questions, and the order of the questions, lead those filling them out to unwarranted conclusions, which might betray the real objects of the compilers, which appear to be that they themselves have a say in the running of the Club, and as I have no idea of who they are I do not support this idea.
3. The survey was essentially a multi-choice questionnaire with very little opportunity to present one's own opinions, which again suggest that those compiling the survey were intent on leading respondents by the nose.
4. it was only by chance that I was made aware of this survey, which hardly adds to any claims it might have for the legitimacy of its results, since countless other Tottenham Supporters will, I suspect, have no idea that it exists.
5. I initially tried to complete the survey from within Firefox, but was unable to get past the first question, and so I used IE instead. If others have the same problem, then this adds to the unreliability of the results.
6. There is no running total on how many people have completed the survey, which again leaves the reliability of the survey as a means of gauging the views of the majority of Tottenham supporters open to question.
So all in all I can't imagine the Club's management being too impressed with the results.
done
Yeah, the survey isn't the neatest it can be (had problems scrolling in Firefox) but it does the job.
I think that it is almost impossible for the club to be 100% transparent with the fans especially when we are still in the process of finding the best, most affordable soultion to the new stadium issue.
Whatever our motives of Stratford, even if was just a threat to the Council, the PLC could not make it public or do surveys which would show 70% of fans don;t want to leave N17.
The same applies now. If we are to achieve a new stadium on the best possible terms then we cannot be open with our dealings as its the equivolent to revealing your hand before placing a bet.
Speaking as a research professional myself - sure, it's not the best constucted survey but it's a hell of a lot better than most other homebrew efforts. There were only a couple of questions which forced responses that I'd prefered not to have given... which isn't bad considering I've seen worse recently in polls from GfK, TNS and the like.
Overall it's an admirable attempt to provide some insight into the minds of the support base that are often misrepresented by supporter groups. On the proviso that the full results are provided open-source to Spurs I don't see the problem.
Good luck to Supporting Our Future.
Devon - no doubting that, I respect the club have to conduct their business in a professional manner which means they can't be telling us everything. And I still believe Levy knows how to work everybody - so with any luck all our worrying is over nothing and we just think we're stuck on the outside.