Ever Hopeful

The boycott is being observed by a significant of fans - the handful still buying drinks and food is disappointing but I suspect sales were so low as to not even cover the running costs of opening the kiosks. Vitriol aimed at fellow fans won't achieve anything in my opinion and will just create division. However one group still continue to fund Chansiri for tens of thousands of pounds a match, way more than the fans are now spending and they seem to be getting off scott-free in terms of protests. I'm talking about advertisers and sponsors. All businesses utilising digital advertising at the ground yesterday will have done so in the knowledge that Chansiri hasn't paid staff, is under charge by the EFL and is the subject of protests from fans, MP's and even other clubs. They've made a choice and have sided with Chansiri for purely selfish financial reasons as they've judged the benefit of brand awareness to their business is more important than the destruction of a club. In my view the Trust needs to encourage fans to protest against all advertisers - bombard their social media pages and accounts, making clear we as customers / potential customers see them as toxic businesses funding a narcissistic vindictive idiot. Advertisers on the scoreboard and pitchside displays yesterday included Jamesons, Kellogs, Sage Accounting Software (the irony of that one!!), Hays Travel, Mockba Modular, SkyBet, Mr Vegas and I'm sure plenty of others. Businesses like these, along with all parts of TUF Group should be the short term focus for me - but if needs a consistent, coordinated approach from the Trust for this to carry weight and create the pressure to cut off this huge source of funding for Chansiri.

Appreciate this might be a controversial view but might encouraging protests at the match be a better, more unifying option than boycotts? The current approach seems to be creating a lot of internal division amongst the fanbase - home versus away, season ticket versus POTG, cup versus league, dads who just want to take their kids to a match being vilified. If there's conflict we risk losing focus on the key goal which is to get rid of Chansiri. I totally get the principle of starving him of cash but I'm not sure the numbers add up to this being effective, at least not until the next cycle of season ticket renewals. This article gives a really good summary of Championship finances, based on the last sets of published accounts (2023/24 season) - https://www.matchdayfinance.com/post/championship-financial-results-season-2023-24. In short Income for SWFC in that year is roughly £9m TV money, £9m Matchday and £8m Commercial (sponsors, retail etc). For this season TV money has increased to £11m, and he's already had a large proportion of Matchday through ST sales. More will come from Away fans. He's also generated circa £4.5m in transfers over the close season. So even if we didn't buy a single ticket (and Leeds shows that won't happen), and accepting the season ticket money is spent, he probably has Income already guaranteed of close to £17m. I suspect Home POTG, even if maintained at historic levels, would only generate maybe £1.5m across the course of the season - sizeable, but not something that I think is material enough to force his hand. The most significant financial action we as fans can take is to not renew season tickets when they are inevitably put on sale around Christmas - that will have a huge impact on cash flow in Q1 2026, and target the £8m of Commercial income. So what could we do in the interim? My thoughts would be: Continue to promote the principle of "Not a penny more" but make clear this is about additional spend (shirts, merchandise, programmes, food and drink etc) not a call to boycott matches. Anyone who wants to attend a match (whether ST or POTG) shouldn't be criticised, but should be encouraged to protest in line with whatever the Trust decides (turning backs, 5 mins late, yellow posters, whistles, teddy bears, whatever). If fans in attendance decide to disrupt matches then so be it, even if this leads to financial penalties, points deductions etc. Effective protests in the ground will also incur additional policing and stewarding costs, partially offsetting any short term benefit Chansiri gains from POTG. We need to really focus on the message to the wider fanbase about why it's vital that existing ST holders don't renew in the first Phase when it comes, rather than making people guilty for wanting to watch the team they love. Lets not lose sight of the cashflow generated by other Commercial activities - sponsorships, advertising etc. In my view there should be an active social media campaign targeting sponsors and advertisers making clear that they are supporting Chansiri and we as potential customers don't want anything to do with a business that does that. Support the Trust, Sheffield MP's and any other groups who are keeping pressure on the EFL and working to ensure that the new Football Regulator has us as their number one priority on Day one. I know many will feel uncomfortable with the idea of still buying POTG tickets, as it provides cashflow in the short term, but I think a 25,000 attendance with thousands protesting will help keep us in the media spotlight much more effectively than a 15,000 attendance that is largely apathetic. At present, I suspect many of those who would be most vociferous in any protests before, during or after at match at Hillsborough aren't actually in the ground, which I don't see as a positive. It's absolutely right to keep a focus on impacting Chansiri's cashflow, but I feel there's a delicate balancing act in doing this in an effective way that targets major revenue streams, without alienating the many fans who just want watch their team. Finally, for complete transparency - I'm a season ticket holder, Trust member, plenty of TPP, went to Leicester, didn't go to Bolton or Wrexham, won't be buying a ticket for Leeds, but will be at Hillsborough for Swansea. WAWAW

I have a 400+ mile round trip for most matches so normally get to the ground really early. I'll be at Leicester on Sunday and will happily wait outside until 5, 10 or 15 minutes after kick-off - missing a few minutes of the game isn't going to ruin my day, and if this protest helps raise the profile of the issues we face and increase the pressure on Chansiri, the EFL and others in even the slightest way then it's worth supporting it, and I would hope as many travelling fans who are able to participate agree. I've also seen a lot of positive comments from Leicester fans online - I think all of us going should explain to any home fans we meet on the day what we're doing and why and I suspect we'll get support from all sides of the ground when we do take our seats

It's a "Cut and Paste" - I wrote to them earlier this week and got exactly the same reply!!

I'd agree that the ground needs a major upgrade but I don't agree that there's not enough space to redevelop Hillsborough. The footprint is actually similar in size to many other large stadiums - the picture below compares Hillsborough to Villa Park, which has a capacity of over 42,000 (which I'd say is plenty for us for the foreseeable future). They're almost identical in footprint and I don't think many Villa fans would say they should be moving grounds! There's actually loads of space behind the North (and beneath the cantilever) to create wide concourses which would offer a much better fan experience. Similarly, demolish the West and NW Corner and you could easily build a 5,000+ safe-standing stand that could become a "home" area. With a sensible owner you could re-develop the ground on a stand by stand basis - starting with the West in my view, then North, then Kop and finally South. If we do move to a new ground, I've yet to see anyone suggest a site that offers better than what we've got in terms of transport (foot, car, bus, tram options etc) and size.

I'd put Erling Haaland upfront ahead of Calvert-Lewin and Greenwood

My view is that any protest needs to be simple, easy to participate in to give mass participation, legal, and most importantly visual, so for me the "turn your backs" protest is a good one that I'd hope the vast majority in the ground support. Will it cause Chansiri to think "Oh no, I've got to sell now" - of course not, but if the vast majority take part you can guarantee the cameras will capture it and then there's a clear visual record that it's not a small minority that object to how he is running our club. And that's a start that the media will hopefully pick up on and things can then continue to build from there. If others think boycotts, banners, not buying food etc is a better way of protesting then great, do whatever you personally feel is the right thing, but if you're in the ground on Saturday please also support this even if you feel it won't achieve anything, but it might, just might, be the start of something.....

For those of us foolish enough to trust the club to successful adopt new technology, has anyone heard anything about when the new "digital" season tickets will be issued?!

Maybe to help fans understand the extent to which the £50,000 fine for the Peterborough match was for "crowd misconduct" they should publish a link to the FA Committee findings and encourage everyone to read it - https://www.thefa.com/news/2023/oct/23/sheffield-wednesday-sanctioned-231023 Just seems to me that the actual written reasons for the £50,000 fine focus much more on failings by the club, rather than the joyous pitch invasion by the fans. Things like: In response to the charge SWFC used as its defence the clubs "Safety Management Policy" - but it was for the wrong season The individual 'Match Risk Assessment' was largely a "copy and paste" of an earlier match, to the extent that it even referred to Derby County The commission found it "is not able to agree with [that the documentation shows] robust risk assessment for the Match. Nor does the Commission think that the documentation shows adequate planning". Even where the policy made specific reference (for example to a penalty shootout) the commission found "there appeared a real lack of any evidence that this standard documentation had been considered in the context of the Match and a plan put in place accordingly". That specific actions referenced in the plan, such as use of PA announcements and the deployment of stewards to protect match day officials did not happen. That the club provided evidence of a stewarding plan that "aside from having the Peterborough crest added to that of SWFC at the top of the document did not appear to the Commission to be match specific". Whilst there's some petty comments (such as that some steward were observed watching the final penalty rather than the crowd - shock!) I defy anyone to read the full report and say "Yep, that's a well run club that took its safety obligations seriously".

No. The basic workings of a POS system does not differentiate by the value of the transaction - a £10 payment is processed in exactly the same way as a £10,000 payment. What does vary is the conditions and controls applied by the POS provider to the Retailer - i.e. the thresholds for validation, the total credit facility allowed, the s75 risk that will be accepted etc. The POS machine that Tesco use is basically identical to that used in a corner shop - however Tesco will be allowed to process millions of pounds of transactions a day, the corner shop won't. The difference reflects the credit worthiness and future viability of the business - provision of POS systems is inherently a credit and risk decision given the provider may have to make good the customers losses if the Retailer fails to deliver the purchased goods or the system is used fraudulently or negligently. If SWFC is not being allowed by it's POS provider to process Season Ticket purchases via card, that is almost certainly a reflection of the POS providers view of the financial soundness of SWFC as a business - so its a SWFC issue, not a system provider issue. So in that sense, the actions of the Chairman in respect of the wages, tax bill and funding, whilst potentially answerable "Yes" to your questions 1 and 2 in a black and white manner, are also a big negative in terms of the overall running of the club and are, in my opinion, contributory factors in why is is both acceptable and right to protest at his running of the club.

When you click on Renew my Season ticket one of the screens gives the option of renew my seat or (something like) Keep my seat for now - presume if you click that one it keeps the seat until some unknown future time. Also, on Paypal you can pay with a Credit Card - I just added my Credit Card and selected to use that for the payment - it triggered an authorisation with my Banking App but sailed through no problem.

Rather than making this just about Kasey Palmer (and so opening the door to the "but he started it" brigade) I hope the club is planning a broader message. I'd like to see something like the two teams standing together before the match, behind a "Kick It out" style banner whilst the video produced this week (The Message is Clear) plays on the big screen. If you can't applaud that then frankly you shouldn't be in the stadium.

Sooner or later the Football authorities in this country are going to finally take a stand and punish a club with a ground closure and points deduction and although it breaks my heart to say it at this stage the most obvious club to suffer this is ours. As others have said in the last few months we've had racist abuse of Moore, Chansiri and now Palmer. Added to that the Bradley Lowery incident. The club itself has been punished for the Peterborough pitch invasion, when our own response to the charge was so inept we sent them the Match Risk Assessment for the wrong match and the Safety Management Policy for the wrong season. Then there was the Newcastle match which was another example of poor stewarding by the club. It's five days since Palmer was racially abused and there's no sign of an arrest, with even in this thread people saying it's not their job to inform the police who the racist idiot who did it is. If the FA, EFL or whoever throw the book at us can we really say that we haven't had the warning signs that it might be coming?

Just for a bit of context, this is the Championship table from October last year... Middlesbrough and Coventry made the play-offs, Reading were relegated but yeah, our season will be decided by the end of September