Paul Barber meets North West Sussex Seagulls members

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Chief executive answered questions from members on a wide range of topics.

BHAFC

2024-04-06T05:00:00Z

Chief executive Paul Barber met members of the North West Sussex Seagulls at their latest meeting in Horsham and answered questions from fans on a variety of topics, including some of the themes below.

Stadium Capacity:

There may be an opportunity to add a small number of seats to different areas of the stadium, but we won’t be able to increase capacity to any great degree.

Can the allocation of away match tickets be split to give those without as many loyalty points the chance to break into top bracket?

Not really, as there remains opportunities for fans to add to their loyalty points at lower demand away games. Paul also explained the rationale behind the scheme, how sales windows are determined, and said that the loyalty scheme was something Tony Bloom personally designed.

Expansion of the staircase to the coach park:

This work has been approved, will commence fairly imminently and has been designed to help alleviate post-match congestion. We hope to complete this work early next season.

Recruitment. How does it work and how does the loss of people like Sam Jewell affect it?

We use a good combination of data, video and live scouting as well as personality and character profiling and references. It all starts with positional needs and then we begin what is a long, complex and sometimes unpredictable journey to signing a player… transfer windows are only the end of the process that goes on 365 days a year. Losing one individual staff member doesn’t affect the overall process we follow.

SnickersUK.com provide Brighton fan, Harry Lovett with an unforgettable day at the Amex Stadium.

Fan zone and women’s stadium update:

Work on the fan zone has started and ideally we will have it ready for the Euros and the start of next season. More realistically, however, there’s a lot of work to do, so will more likely be ready early Autumn. In terms of the women’s stadium, we want to build a stadium which is fit for purpose for a women’s team and it’s slightly different (to our men’s team) demographic and audience. It’s a work in progress and first we need to find a site and are working towards this as the crucial first step.

Sometimes there are not enough gluten free options:

It’s very hard to replenish during matches when stock sells out, but we will talk to Sodexo Live! our catering partners as part of an ongoing process of feedback.

Why are there more injuries this season?

A few possible reasons. The hangover from the World Cup and relatively little down time for the players. Very significant additional time being played and the ever-increasing intensity of the games in the Premier League are other potential factors.

Loans policy:

The club are constantly monitoring and looking at our players to help develop them with the ultimate aim that they play in our first team. Deniz Undav and Jeremy Sarmiento, who are on loan at the moment, will be assessed again before the start of next season.

Are their plans to upgrade the PA system?

Yes. It is effectively a Tannoy system at present, which, despite some upgrade work in recent seasons, isn’t good enough. The plan is to upgrade the system over the summer to a full stadium sound system.**Can the Amex Wi-Fi be improved?**

The Amex infrastructure make it difficult but it works pretty well given all of those issues.