Over the coming days we will be running a series of keep on running features, showcasing these departments and the work they are doing to go the extra mile and keep thing ticking over for our supporters, just as much as they can in line with government advice.
Today we look at our supporter services team, the people on the end of a phone or who answer your email queries about matches and other events.
Brian Kearney, who heads up digital projects for the team, says that spirits remains high and that the season-ticket renewal period, seat moves and impending sales to those on the waiting list is driving a high volume of calls and emails.
He explained, “The phones have been really busy with calls from supporters – obviously many of our fans are at home – and we have taken almost 500 calls since Monday and answered more than 300 emails.
“The seat moves process has been very busy and we have processed some 750 of those this week. We have also been planning for eventualities with regard to the remainder of the season, but at this stage it’s impossible to offer any further advice to supporters.
“We hope to be in a position to give more advice after the Premier League conference call between all clubs [on Thursday].”
Kearney and his co-workers are also taking additional measures to protect staff and in his role as digital project manager he is working closely on one solution with the club’s IT team.
“We have found a solution and are now working on getting everyone set-up remotely to take calls, but we still have a bit of work to do to get up and running in order to get calls re-routed via people’s laptops.
“So, in the meantime we are following the advice on good hand hygiene and isolation for those who might be showing symptoms. In the office we are also distancing people between workstations, sanitising desks every night and gradually moving the team to remote working facilities.
“We are splitting the teams and rotating shifts, so if one person in that team gets ill it doesn’t mean we all have to go into self-isolation.
“We are also looking at new ways for fans to communicate with us that can make their lives – and where possible ours too – easier, such as web chat.”
Kearney added a note of thanks to fans, saying, “Our supporters are brilliant at the best of times, but the extra kindness, patience and genuine appreciation for the work being done at the moment has been extremely rewarding for all involved. And for that I would like to say thank you to the fans.”