Board Meeting online using Teams
Wednesday 7th January 2026, 7:00pm
PRESENT
Board: Stuart Rogers, Mark Newman, Miles Hendy, Marie Day, Shahan Miah, James Nicholls, Jon Watts
Supporters: Wendy Rowlands, Tracey Carter, Matt Seaward, Chris Chard, Paul Hunt, Alan Payne, Nathan Riddiough, Neil Palmer
Bristol City: Jerry Tocknell (SLO)
Apologies: David Clarke, Tom Williams, Jake Clough, Terry Hamlin
1. Welcome
Chair Stu Rogers opened the meeting and welcomed attendees. Stu confirmed that the meeting would be transcribed for ease of minute-taking.
2. Minutes and Matters Arising
The minutes of the December meeting were confirmed as a correct record.
Updates were given on matters arising:
2.1 Misogynistic Chanting & Hotline Visibility
It was noted that the hotline number visibility has improved and that it is displayed much more frequently on the scoreboard and the pitch LED board surrou nds. Some members noted that visibility varies depending on seating angle. The overall consensus was that improvements are recognised, though not perfect.
2.2 Lansdown Concourse Shelving
This issue remains unresolved; the club is exploring different solutions but there is no confirmed timeline.
2.3 Toilet Maintenance (Women’s Facilities)
There are ongoing issues with broken locks, dropped doors, and loose seats. The maintenance team has ordered replacement locks, but delays persist.
Specific problem areas identified:
– South Stand: first set of toilets near the old Wedlocks bar signage.
– Bottom of E28: described as “awful”.
Jerry Tocknell to follow up with maintenance again; specific cubicle details requested for prioritisation.
2.4 Panini Stickers for Sports Bar
Shahan Miah confirmed that he still intends to donate WSL sticker sets he collected but has not recently visited Ashton Gate.
There was discussion about whether albums or framed stickers are more appropriate with a final decision remaining pending.
2.5 Multi Faith Room Development
Stu Rogers reported on the enquiries he had made about usage following the last meeting.
– Temporary multi-faith room currently used by 4–5 fans per match.
– Preston fans required a prayer space at the last match; a temporary room was set up under the Atyeo Stand.
– Learnings shared regarding appropriate room setup (e.g. no images of people/animals).
– Permanent prayer room planned near the Wedlocks bar area (home fans only).
– Away fans will continue to be accommodated using flexible spaces under the Atyeo Stand.
A further meeting is scheduled next week with Michelle Dring, Tom Rawcliffe, and Jerry to review designs and costs before we commit an amount.
3. SLO & Police
3.1 Home Games
Jerry Tocknell advised that Watford have sold over 2,000 tickets for Saturday’s FA Cup game; they and their fans are impressed by City’s pricing for the game. Home ticket sales have been slower but significant walk up numbers are expected.
3.2 Away Games
– Jerry said that at Coventry City free food had been provided due to Wi-Fi failure affecting the concourse outlets.
– West Brom had been the first digital away ticket trial, and a barcode generation error had resulted in all tickets displaying the same barcode. This caused problems at the turnstiles: West Brom cooperated and manually admitted fans. The next digital trial planned is for Blackburn.
– Finally, at Millwall there were long queues due to 700 ticket collections caused by high sales after Christmas Eve.
3.3 Fan Engagement & Community Work
– Jerry Tockell reported on the club’s Christmas visit to the homeless centre in St Paul’s. He said that the event had been hard work, challenging but incredibly impactful and an event where he learnt a lot about himself too. It was one of a series of monthly themes with various events supporting them, and the homelessness theme for December had also been really well supported by fans’ donations at the Middlesbrough game.
– Jerry also referred to the Robins Memories sessions which have been growing significantly (80 attendees in December) and Neil Palmer concurred that the events were a real success.
3.4 Mystery Shop
Jerry reported that the EFL conducted a mystery shop at the Oxford United match in September. Performance was impacted by operational strain from Women’s Rugby World Cup events earlier that week. Areas for improvement identified; Michelle is addressing them.
4. Other Supporter Groups Updates
4.1 Disability Liaison Officer
Shahan Miah asked about the new Disability Liaison Officer: Jerry confirmed that Amy Beard had started in post and was already making her impact at the club. She has been particularly busy trying to resolve problems with parking. It was agreed that it would be good to invite Amy to a future meeting.
Her Email is amy.beard@bristol-sport.co.uk – she also uses dlo@bristol-sport.co.uk on OTIB
4.2 Fans Advisory Board (FAB)
– Jon Darch reported that the first meeting with the football club was taking place on 19 January.
– Jon confirmed that the issue of offensive chanting which had been discussed at previous SC&T meetings was on the FAB agenda. There was a discussion about ways of overcoming the difficulties of addressing this and it is helpful that it is on the agenda of as many supporters’ groups as possible.
5. Bristol City Women
No new update from Shahan Miah. However, Mark Newman advised there had been problems with ticketing for some of the Women’s games recently. Jerry was aware of this and said that the issues are known and steps are being taken to resolve them.
6. Plans for 2026
Stu Rogers summarized objectives for 2026:
– A recruitment campaign to attract new members
– Improved communication with supporters
– Support for the Fans Advisory Board – particularly support to ensure their independence from the club
– Support for the April end of season event and awards.
7. Forthcoming meetings
7.1 Mercury13
Stu Rogers said that he and Shahan were due to meet with the new owners of Bristol City Women this month. Shahan confirmed that the acquisition was now complete and had received league approval. Amongst other things it will be helpful to get to know the new people appointed by Mercury 13 to lead the club.
7.2 AGM
– Stu Rogers confirmed that there would be votes to be cast at the meeting: to approve accounts and auditors and, if any members put themselves forward, for election to the Board,
– Stu said that he also wanted to use the meeting to seek additional help and support for the SC&T, and also to identify any issues that members wanted raised with the club at our regular meetings. It was agreed that bar access to non-members should be limited to a set number that day to avoid any members being excluded because the bar was full.
– Jerry Tocknell agreed to invite Marina Dolman to the event.
7.3 Meeting with City men
Issues for the forthcoming meeting were identified:
– Ticketing system
– Equality survey
– New investment
– Sporting Quarter progress
– Communication from the club to fans on losses (£18m is recently published accounts)
8. AOB
– The current relationship between the SC&T and OTIB was discussed and it was agreed to leave things as they are.
– There was agreement that the cost of food and drink items in the concourses is excessive, but it was also recognised that prices are in line with other clubs and it is unlikely that we will change minds about this with the commercial side of the club.
– It was agreed that Stu would make a decision and advise whether we meet as usual in February.
Actions:
· Stu to prepare agendas for upcoming club meetings
· Jon W to prepare AGM access passes for the bar
· Shahan to prepare Women’s team report and James T to prepare Finance AGM statements to be read out
· Stu to consider topics to be discussed at AGM including seeking help on certain initiatives, what SC&T should and shouldn’t be funding and the plethora of different kits and badges
· Jerry to invite Marina Dolman to AGM
· Stu to decide if there is an agenda for a February meeting from the various club meetings
· Stu to invite Amy Beard (DLO) to next meeting
Minutes recorded via transcript, reviewed and written up by: Dave Clarke on 19th January 2026
Next meeting: TBC