Harrogate Town Independent Supporters’ Club encouraged by ‘extremely positive’ meeting with Harrogate Town owner and management team

The Supporters’ Club’s committee sat down with Sulphurites officials earlier this week to discuss a variety of on-field and off-field issues.

Present at the meeting were eight members of Town personnel including chairman and owner Irving Weaver, first-team manager Simon Weaver and chief executive officer Sarah Barry.

Matters such as ticket-price increases, match-day experience, attendance figures, ground development and how the club communicates have all been hot topics of conversation amongst Harrogate followers in recent weeks.

And, having consulted with their own members as well as the wider fan community, HTISC’s committee were able to relay a range of concerns, frustrations and questions to Town’s chief decision-makers.

Detailed minutes from what was a private meeting will be provided by the Supporters’ Club to its members in due course, but spokesperson Jordan Ford was able to provide the Harrogate Advertiser with a flavour of what unfolded on the evening.

"It was definitely a very, very positive meeting,” he reflected.

"The Supporters’ Club met last week and we put together questions from our members and sent Sarah Barry an agenda of what we wanted to discuss. Fairly late in the day, we requested that Irving Weaver attend and we were told that he would be delighted to come.

"Simon Weaver was there as well and it was great to see how involved they both are in all areas of the club and how passionate they are about making a success of things. It came across that they really do care.

"For eight different members of the club’s staff to be prepared to sit down with supporters and be happy to answer their questions says a lot. And I felt that they were being genuine with what they were saying to us.

"We were delighted with how it went, it was an extremely positive meeting from our point of view.”

On HTISC’s aims for the meeting and what they actually took away from it, Ford explained: "Our objective was to get across the views and the concerns of our own members and the wider supporter base.

"I hope that we represented our club’s fans and communicated their views in a constructive way. The club are certainly aware now of how people feel. I hope they take a lot away from this meeting, just as we have.“I think that we understand the challenges that the club is facing a lot better now and also that communicating some of the things that we, as supporters, want to know isn’t always as straightforward as we probably thought.

"There are certain things that the club just cannot do and we now have a better understanding of some of the reasons behind some decisions.

"We also gained a better idea, as football supporters, of how the club is run and managed on a day-to-day basis.”

With such a variety of supporter concerns to address, Ford accepts that this week’s meeting is only a starting point, but says that HTISC do feel positive about the potential for improving the relationship between the club and its fans.

"As a committee, we really do care about Harrogate Town and so we have offered our support to the club,” he added.

"Obviously they will make their own decisions, but we have said to them that they can always come to us if they want help with feedback or communication.

"I’m not saying that everything is now sorted and it’s all going to be fine straight away, but I think that this meeting was a positive step. It’s a start and something to build on.

"Hopefully we can have more Q&A sessions in the future and these can be more regular and structured and open to more supporters. Moving forwards, hopefully this relationship can grow.

"We just want to see Harrogate Town doing well both on and off the pitch.”