Paul Barber's Leeds United programme notes

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Update from the club's chief executive and deputy chairman.

BHAFC

2022-08-28T06:00:00Z

Deputy chairman and chief executive Paul Barber.

It’s good to see you back at the American Express Community Stadium for this afternoon’s visit from Leeds United, and we extend our welcome to the West Yorkshire club’s players, staff, officials and supporters.

While we were beating West Ham United at the London Stadium, today’s visitors enjoyed an excellent home win over Chelsea - victories that ensured our respective clubs extended their unbeaten starts to the new season.

We also extended our unbeaten Premier League run against the Hammers to 11 matches, a sequence of five wins and six draws, with the latest win courtesy of goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Leandro Trossard. We enjoyed two competitive matches against Leeds last term, both of which ended in draws. And in our final road trip of the season, Pascal Struijk’s injury time goal secured a vital point for United in their battle against relegation.

Leeds have started the new season in far better health under new head coach Jesse Marsch, and will once again prove to be tough opposition on what’s likely to be another warm afternoon at the Amex.

Earlier this week, we made our first ever visit to League One Forest Green Rovers. Over 1200 Albion fans made the trip to the New Lawn Stadium just outside Stroud, Gloucestershire, and saw a young Albion side win 3-0. Goals from summer signing Deniz Undav, midfielder Steven Alzate, and young striker Evan Ferguson have set us up for a return to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal in the third round of the Carabao Cup.

Our next two away matches are at fans’ favourite Craven Cottage, where we will face re-promoted and also revitalised Fulham, followed by a visit along the south coast to another re-promoted club, Bournemouth. In between times, on Sunday 4 September, Leicester City will visit the Amex. To date, the Foxes have made an indifferent start to the new season picking up a single point from their first three matches.

Off the field, Jenny Gower, our head of supporter services, supported by Sarah Gould, supporter services manager, chaired the first meeting of our new Fan Advisory Board (FAB) which took place at the Amex. I enjoyed meeting the FAB at the start of their meeting, and I’m very sure your elected representatives will be doing their very best to present your views on a range of issues by engaging with as many Albion fans as possible.

Our club already works very hard at fan engagement, and we’re lucky that so many supporter groups take the time and trouble to meet with us on a regular basis providing us with the opportunity to speak to fans directly. The FAB provides another, slightly more formal, layer of dialogue which will hopefully help us reach an even broader cross-section of our fan base to debate and explain policy decisions that directly affect supporters.

Our new 2022/23 kits are selling fast.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I know FAB representatives will be meeting to discuss how they will communicate with fellow fans, and also how they will determine the agenda items they wish to discuss at meetings with us.

To give the FAB the best possible chance of success, individual issues should continue to be addressed to our supporter services team. The FAB’s remit will be to represent issues or concerns that affect the wider fanbase.

As we reported last week, sales of our new home and away kit continue to exceed all previous records. This has inevitably placed pressure on our stocks so, if you do want to buy either of the new shirts, now is the time! We have placed orders for more stock which are due to reach us ahead of Christmas. However, as with many consumer products, there are numerous supply chain issues at the moment so delays are possible.

As ever, thank you for your support on and off the field. We really appreciate it. We’re set for another big Amex crowd today, and we can be sure that 3,000 travelling Leeds fans will play their

Best wishes, Paul