A survey of almost 1500 Hibs’ fans – initiated and conducted by supporters themselves – is already helping the Club and its support work more closely together.
“Green Views” was the brainchild of Let’s Work Together, a supporter-led initiative which sees volunteers meet and work with members of the Board and senior management on a range of projects to help take the Club forward.
The survey, the first with more planned, covered a wide range of issues, from the structure of Scottish football to scheduling of matches, from ticketing preferences to supporting fundraising for ‘managers budget’.
James Belton, who led the survey team for Let’s Work Together, said: “The first survey has provided us with a baseline, and future surveys will build on that. The survey was carried out for supporters and by supporters, but with input and co-operation from management and much of the information will help the Club.
“For example, matchday catering from the kiosks got a lot of criticism in terms of service and product. In response, management have arranged for a group of supporters to meet with the catering company manager and that will be taking place soon.
“Communications was also a big issue, with large numbers of fans wanting to see more and better communications from the Club. Again, we are now working directly with management through a communications group to see how we can support efforts to improve channels of communication to the wider support
“The moving of fixtures to accommodate television was also a thorny topic. However, most respondents showed an understanding of the competing priorities with only 10% selecting the shortest notice period. We will be providing the results about match scheduling from the survey to Supporters’ Direct so that they can share it with supporters of other clubs and advocate for greater supporter consideration with the games administrators”
Hibs’ executive director Garry O’Hagan said: “There is quite a lot of information in the survey for us to look at, and a great deal of it is very helpful in terms of how people get their information about the club, how they want to buy tickets and so on.
“It is also very important that we understand those areas which are less satisfactory from the supporters’ viewpoint, and we can then work with the fans and our other partners to make things better.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
