Before the meeting yesterday I went through all the messages above and compiled a list of 17 issues to raise. 

However, we found the aim of the meeting was to identify and prioritise general Areas For Improvement.  From these a questionnaire would be compiled for Ollie to distribute to supporters on his extensive database.

So frustratingly the facilitator wouldn’t take on any specific suggestions, but actually this IS the way to do it. The questionnaire will identify about 20 -25 topics and ask people to indicate how important they are on a scale of 1 to 10. The Board can then concentrate resources on the areas considered key by supporters.

Fair enough DorkingTyke, thanks for helping clarify for those who weren't there.

To be fair I have given the club my detailed thoughts on a long list of things both in the summer questionnaire, and also in my email to Ollie last week. If the club don't already know what the issues are and what people would like to see then they certainly will by the end of this process!

I have a couple of thoughts about this - 

- it will be interesting what the club can realistically do about things it has little or no control over but which are repeatedly mentioned - 

(for example fans who want a drum, but it cannot be allowed because Surrey FA say no. Or fans who want unreserved seats, but season ticket holders want them reserved for example)

- also what about the so many DW fans who regularly go to games, but are 'hard to reach'. For example they don't have a season ticket, aren't interested in meetings or surveys, they just go to games, but might have a gripe or grumble. I guess you could argue that if they don't engage then it's their own fault they have no voice. But could the club reach out further by leafletting at turnstiles for example? Otherwise it's the same 100 people who use the away coaches, go to meetings, do surveys, respond on twitter/facebook etc?

@gary-munnery  totally agree, the 3 right down in the corner by the bank stand are always in use ,you could easily get 2 or 3 more in ther

@dorking-eagle re the club shop 

Why can't they build a wooden hut like the tea bar and have that solely for merchandise, 

The surveys will go out to ALL the people on Ollie's database and I think he said there were several thousand.

I agree that it is pointless, at this stage, to include questions about the stuff that Surrey FA will just veto or charge us several thousand pounds to change. That just raises expectations.

In defence of my point about segregation (I was the old git who raised the point). In my view, one of the best things about Non-League Football is to be able to mingle and chat with opposing fans. Segregation generally tends to be self-managed - the singing/chanting fans don't want to be on top of each other. Obviously in the National League and NLS we have come across some rather obnoxious characters but segregation could be imposed when we play certain clubs.

So I think the question "How important is segregation?" is not appropriate because it's impossible to interpret responses. Is segregation important because there should be more? Or is it important because there is too much? 

Hi all,

Your account of the meeting David is about right. It was frustrating in that it was not advertised as what it was. We came armed with ideas and suggestions and we were asked to help design a survey. The facilitator took things very slowly and allowed no space for discussion. 

I mentioned to him privately the lack of feedback from the previous survey and he agreed. This time we will get a slide show with survey results which will include feedback from previous survey.  

The survey will go out to the 8000 strong mailing list, but who knows who will reply. I was conscious that those there last night weee not representative of many of our younger and more casual fans.  (But at least Toby was there!).  

I hope the survey is flexible enough to allow genuine feedback rather than being a simple tick box / rating exercise.  I thought last night was a wasted opportunity to have a good open discussion.  

But I spoke to Jonathan Bines after and I do think that he gets it and wants to engage honestly, rather than just wanting to be seen to be consulting.  

We should see the results before Christmas.  

@dorkingtyke I think no segregation is fine for Step 4 or 5 but the higher you go, the harder it is to manage, as shown by some of the issues in unsegregated away games last season (Maidenhead, Solihull, etc) and even Truro this season to some extent.

There is absolutely no way you could have had those Salisbury fans on Saturday romaing around the ground; it would have been chaos.

@jaypweir - I agree, another shed somewhere to be solely a club shop would be excellent. However I suspect that Surrey FA would try and charge a 'licence fee' of a thousand or two for the privilege

Thanks all for the comments and summaries - what a brilliant forum this can be when many people are on it!

Re segregation - it's easy to say lets have no segregation when you sit in a home season ticket holders only chunk of the Stonegate Stand, but in my experience it isn't always brilliant to have things free and easy

In my view at DW it wouldn't work being unsegregated because all away fans would expect to allowed to congregate in a big group on The Bank terrace. And at the same time the home fans that stand there all game wouldn't want them in amongst them.

So you would get a situation like at Tooting in the FA Cup, Maindenhead away last season or both times at Solihull where is gets very tense and there is needless arguing and name calling. Fans want their own territory, if they want to mingle and chat to oppo fans they can do that in the fanzone before the game.

But you can get some clubs like Havant, Salisbury, Kidderminster who despite not vast in number are all largely one demographic - 18-25 year old young men dressed in Stone Island clothing, singing antagonistic songs and wanting a more aggressive tone to proceedings. 

It is rare that away fans are like an Oldham or Gateshead 'love in' 

Yep @TomCalvert - at Truro there was only 1 covered standing end and it was drizzling, so it was shared, and whilst Dorking fans kept to one chunk all together, you still had a couple of oppo fans who'd had one shandy too many flicking v signs and generally being a bit of a dick (which fortunately none of the exemplary behaved Dorking fans reacted to)

But why even take the chance. Marc wants Meadowbank to be 100% family friendly. Terry and the lads keep a watchful eye on the Bank terrace to make sure there is minimal to no bad language chanted for example, which is quite unusual really but makes it very family friendly and is what the club want - parents can stand with their kids and know it's alright at Dorking, and so will come again

@dorking-eagle I agree, David.

Although we do also have a number of 'Stone Island' fans who make rare appearances (a bit older than the usual, too) - Southend and Dagenham away (and for some reason Maidenhead at home) were 3 recent examples where they were itching to get at (or arrange fights with) the home fans. Possibly a little more serious than the usual school age mobs, but like I say, it's rare.

I definitely wouldn’t be in favour of non segregation. I know what some lads are like on an away day after a few beers, seen it many times following spurs. Would much rather sit/stand with my son with no fear of it kicking off 

100% we need to keep Meadowbank segregated. We can all remember a home game where the away fans looked the sort where you just say, lets stay in the ground for 10 minutes while they depart because I don't want to get started on by some idiot walking through the park. 

If it is unsegregated you have the annoyance of people cheering for the other team and celebrating their goals in the seats and you have to hald back a little rather being able to let go and celebrate properly when it is a moment of joy

People with young kids won't feel as safe, put simply it is pleasant and civilised at Dorking with segregation. It's not like other grounds, it's really nice, lets keep it that way.

Do you really mean 100% Dorking Raider? That is, separate turnstiles, separate bars (or no bar for away fans like at Southend), separate toilets, separate seated stand for away fans?  And this for every visiting team we get?

In my view the default for National League South and below is non-segregated with special arrangements for certain visiting teams. National League and above default is limited (pragmatic) segregation, again with more relaxed segregation for specific games/ visitors.

We do not want to put away fans off coming to Dorking. Our approach to them should be welcoming rather than treating all away fans like animals. We need their money!