After being introduced into their roles in mid-January, Preston North End’s matchday supporter liaison officers have been gauging the feedback of fans for the last eight home matches.
During three months of work, our four voluntary MSLOs – Leanne Naylor, Janet McDonald, Lynn Noon and Gary Cragg – have gathered fans’ thoughts on the matchday experience at Deepdale and worked with the club’s supporter liaison officer, Hannah Woodburn, to put new measures in place.
The work of the MSLOs led to PNE’s current trial of a designated smoking area on matchdays, which will be reviewed for a second time at the end of the season, after complaints of some supporters smoking in the toilets. The smoking area is at the corner of the ground where the Sir Tom Finney stand meets the Alan Kelly town end.
Our MSLOs have also helped to improve the experience of away matchdays after it was requested that the club could order hats to be handed out at last month’s Gentry Day fixture against Fulham. The hats were subsequently available around the Craven Cottage ground thanks to club sponsor 888sport.
Given separate comments on the toilets in the concourses of the stadium, the current hand dryers are being phased out and are being replaced new ones, with the change already underway.
The club now also provides ponchos for disabled supporters of both clubs on home matchdays, while a ticketing issue affecting fans on the day of a game at Deepdale has now been resolved.
Some supporters were previously unable to exchange or regrade their season ticket seats at the Invincibles ticket office due to a system error, but all fans can now do this at both the Invincibles ticket office as well as at the main ticket office in the Sir Tom Finney stand.
There are also ongoing discussions concerning a fan zone outside the ground, improvements to the MyPNE.com system so that it is compatible with mobile and tablet devices and continuing discussions to upgrade facilities for disabled fans, which will include a refreshments shelf as requested. Further updates will be provided on these areas in due course.
If you have any feedback on the matchday experience at PNE, the club’s supporter liaison officer Hannah Woodburn can be contacted throughout the week on 01772 693324 as well from the main ticket office on matchdays. Our MSLOs can all be found around the ground on all home matchdays, with one located in each stand.
There are posters in the stadium concourses with photos of Hannah, Leanne, Janet, Lynn and Gary so that fans know who to look out for at Deepdale so why not give them your feedback and help us try and improve the experience for all supporters. Click here to see the poster.
All fan feedback is greatly appreciated and taken on board with all comments reported back to the club’s senior management and board for review.