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FAN Calling all exiled supporters.

  • Thread starter Thread starter JK
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FAN Calling all exiled supporters.

I have no issue with this and can only be a positive.

If it keeps people engaged in the team from other parts of the world that's great.

I see on Premier League coverage in America, for example, 'Chelsea New York supporters club'.

If people feel part of the club, despite being hundreds of miles away, they might do something similar, which could encourage others to join. Again, only a positive.

If we ever get to the promised land, we might need to expand this. Other clubs have grown their fanbase organically due to being in the Premier League so long. We will be a long way behind.
 
John Meeba said:
I have no issue with this and can only be a positive.

If it keeps people engaged in the team from other parts of the world that's great.

I see on Premier League coverage in America, for example, 'Chelsea New York supporters club'.

If people feel part of the club, despite being hundreds of miles away, they might do something similar, which could encourage others to join. Again, only a positive.

If we ever get to the promised land, we might need to expand this. Other clubs have grown their fanbase organically due to being in the Premier League so long. We will be a long way behind.
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I never said I was against it, though. You see how the narrative changes? Now it's ...I'm anti-fans living abroad. The knee jerking on here is unbelievable sometimes.
 
Realistic said:
We're not an international club. We don't play in Europe, if we did I wouldn't have made the comment. There's nothing wrong with living abroad and being a fan from afar but surely they can't have the same influence as those at home supporting and watching.

How can you justifiably raise issues with the club when you live in Tasmania ?
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Why? I’ve paid plenty to watch as a season ticket holder for many years along with all my four children just because I now live in Spain doesn’t make me any less of a fan.
 
I think it's a Realistic kink that he takes some pedantry about the English language and then dies on the hill of being wrong about it. First it was a comma, now it's thinking an exile can only live abroad.

Welcome exiles one and all, that's why PNEFlags created a flag in your honour to celebrate where the fans are living outside Preston.
 
Izanohair said:
because I now live in Spain doesn’t make me any less of a fan.
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So you love PNE as much as the lads who go home and away every week? Great, that's good.

What did you move to Spain for then. They don't play there.
 
jakehake said:
I think it's a Realistic kink that he takes some pedantry about the English language and then dies on the hill of being wrong about it. First it was a comma, now it's thinking an exile can only live abroad.

Welcome exiles one and all, that's why PNEFlags created a flag in your honour to celebrate where the fans are living outside Preston.
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You're another one that has me living rent free in your head. Have you not got better things to do of a Monday afternoon? Like counting your money or investing in stocks and shares?
 
Realistic said:
Are you seriously trying to tell me that those who run Preston North End are going to pay attention to what someone living in the outback has to say, or the North Pole ?
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Top teams rely on overseas income as a huge driver of their bottom line. It doesn't really matter where or how fractured their international audience is unless they're looking at it through a local lens. If they're selling merch they can fulfil that anywhere in the world via third party providers, same with digital products.

We're not there yet, but we have the potentially to massively expand on this in the future if we want to draw in people with digital streaming packages etc, like many of the top flight teams do.

All of that aside, I would like to think that the club would respect any dyed-in-the-wool PNE fan's opinion, regardless of where they're based. The initiative suggests so.
 
Realistic said:
You're stretching it here, IMHO.

"give (giving) exiled supporters a stronger voice, and create a route for sharing ideas and raising issues with the club."

Exiled means expelled, booted out of, against your will ...in this case England. They haven't been exiled, they've chosen to emigrate, fair enough, I can understand why.

However, if you live in a different country, you can't expect to have the ears of the club's owners, surely, as you don't attend and never will, unless you visit on holiday, possibly.

I know you'll all welcome my thoughts, so please don't forget to add to my considerable collection of face palms and "up yours" emojis !
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Maybe someone with a more accurate figure could help out. Sure I saw somewhere that the clubs data base has 150,000 names on it. Let’s assume that at least 100,000 of those names live outside the area, and a fair chunk maybe outside the country. I would say that is a pretty important element of our fan base. Just image if those individuals talked 2 of their mates in to supporting PNE as Championship football is being viewed more and more abroad. All avenues should be explored to engage with our existing fan base and potential new fans.
 
I left Preston because of work in my early twenties and didn’t move back for 50 years.

I didn’t move that far away but the connection back to Preston through the footy was so important to me. It kept me in touch with people long before the social media we have today.

They say the most fervent Scotsmen are those that live in London, being exiled can mean it’s even more important to you.

I welcome and support any move to develop the connections for exiles.
 
Realistic said:
Having the ear of the club is surely more likely if you live in this country. Except if you're Amr Zedan or an ex player or manager.

Are you seriously trying to tell me that those who run Preston North End are going to pay attention to what someone living in the outback has to say, or the North Pole ? Or are some regions out of bounds? Do you see my point, Vicar?

Would you like to explain what exactly these exiles have achieved ? I'm not knocking it, I'm just curious. And if any of them are seriously rich ..I'm sure we'll all be very grateful for any contributions to the club.

You would post that, wouldn't you, just to piss me off ! 😉
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I think you’re completely missing the point.

Nobody has claimed exile supporters are going to suddenly run the club, influence transfers or start writing cheques because they’re “seriously rich”. It’s simply about giving PNE supporters who live away from Preston a better way to stay connected with the club and with each other.

Two of the supporters doing most of the work on this actually live away from Preston themselves, so they understand the issues first-hand.

If somebody follows PNE from Bermuda, Australia or anywhere else, I genuinely don’t understand why their support should somehow count for less because of their postcode.

Not everything has to be turned into an argument. Sometimes something can just be a decent idea that might benefit a section of our support.
 
europne said:
I left Preston because of work in my early twenties and didn’t move back for 50 years.

I didn’t move that far away but the connection back to Preston through the footy was so important to me. It kept me in touch with people long before the social media we have today.

They say the most fervent Scotsmen are those that live in London, being exiled can mean it’s even more important to you.

I welcome and support any move to develop the connections for exiles.
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Absolutely - it is nice to have that connection. I have watched other teams while living away, but it isn't quite the same!
 
cragtek said:
Top teams rely on overseas income as a huge driver of their bottom line. It doesn't really matter where or how fractured their international audience is unless they're looking at it through a local lens. If they're selling merch they can fulfil that anywhere in the world via third party providers, same with digital products.

We're not there yet, but we have the potentially to massively expand on this in the future if we want to draw in people with digital streaming packages etc, like many of the top flight teams do.

All of that aside, I would like to think that the club would respect any dyed-in-the-wool PNE fan's opinion, regardless of where they're based. The initiative suggests so.
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This is the way I see it.

If we were to get to the Premier League, we would need to change how the club is run from sponsorship to friendlies and lots of other things, some of which won't sit well with some long standing fans.

Gone will be excursions to Benidorm because it's good for the fans. It will be going where the money is and what's good for expanding our reach amongst fans abroad.
 
JK said:
Nobody has claimed exile supporters are going to suddenly run the club, influence transfers or start writing cheques because they’re “seriously rich”. It’s simply about giving PNE supporters who live away from Preston a better way to stay connected with the club and with each other.
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And I never said that, either. All I said was, you can't expect the club to give those who don't attend and live out of the country the same weight as those who do. What's wrong with that?
JK said:
If somebody follows PNE from Bermuda, Australia or anywhere else, I genuinely don’t understand why their support should somehow count for less because of their postcode.
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You can't appreciate the difference between someone who travels/drives around the country in all weathers doing the hard graft, rather than watching the match from a sofa in front of the telly? Really? I'm not knocking any fan, but you have to give the credit where it's due.
JK said:
Not everything has to be turned into an argument. Sometimes something can just be a decent idea that might benefit a section of our support.
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You turned it into an argument, not me. I just said something and you don't like it, fair enough, that's fine. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out in six months. I'll be watching to see.

raefil said:
Mention of foreigners has triggered someones spidey senses, it seems.
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Haven't you got some women's football to talk bollocks about ?
 
Realistic said:
You can't appreciate the difference between someone who travels/drives around the country in all weathers doing the hard graft, rather than watching the match from a sofa in front of the telly? I'm not knocking any fan, but you have to give the credit where it's due.
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Yes, because that is exactly what I do.

Nobody has suggested exile supporters should get “more of a say”. That simply isn’t what this is about. The work has mainly been driven by two supporters on the FAN who are actually affected by the issue.

It might be worth reading the article and the replies properly before arguing against a point nobody has made.
 
I can see it being a good thing for organised groups, or places where there are more than a few fans. For me I only see the occasional PNE fan here on holiday. I'm quite happy to keep my engagement through PNE-Online. I spend match days on here anyway. As much as I admire the thought and the effort I can't see me even responding.
 
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