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Alan Houghton has travelled everywhere this season with Wanderers, bringing us views from the terraces. Here he asks what needs to be done to improve relationships between Wanderers, their fans and the supporters organisations such as the BWFCST and the BWSA
AFTER the traumatic events at Wanderers this season, there are plenty of bridges to be rebuilt between the club and its supporters.
Trust is something in short supply around the Macron these days at every level of the club, even among the fans themselves.
Despite all those reassurances to the contrary, we were led to the brink of extinction, saved only by a lenient judge and a superb barrister, Hilary Stonefrost.
Communication between the club and the fans dried up years ago. How can you trust someone when they are not speaking to you?
When things went pear-shaped, fans looked for answers and got none. Leadership from within the Macron was sadly lacking.
Everybody formed their own opinion on what went wrong and who was to blame. This caused even more rifts between the fans as the Bolton family fell out with each other.
So how do we start to rebuild bridges and regain the fans’ trust?
We can start at the top with the new owners, Dean Holdsworth and Ken Anderson.
They will have to earn our trust by being as open and communicative as they can be. They need to clearly spell out their plan to rebuild this club and what the strategy will be to get us there. It needs to be something the fans can believe in, buy into and get behind.
Everybody understands that in the world of business, you cannot show your hand at times but they can lead from the front and tell us what they can.
It will be interesting to see what kind of relationship they can build with the Supporters’ Trust, hopefully to both the club's and the fans’ benefit.
The Supporters’ Trust themselves have a tricky task in supporting the new owners while being ready to take over if the occasion arises. Trust is going to be a high priority in this area.
Many fans are still doubting the Supporters Trust’s intentions despite them being reasonably clear in their communications and meetings. This should improve once their elections are held and their board set up.
They have already had a meeting with Ken Anderson, so that is a step in the right direction.
The Bolton Wanderers Supporters Association can play a big part in rebuilding bridges by bringing fans together with social evenings and the chance to meet owners, management and players past and present.
We’ve got to look at ways of involving fans who live miles away. They are not likely to make the BWSA meetings but will still want to feel part of the club.
We have got to bring fans together in the common cause of Bolton Wanderers.
We all have our different views and that is the beauty of football but we have got to learn again how to differ and still be friends. The BWSA is always happy to listen to fans and if anyone has got any positive suggestions, please email them to newsletter@mybwsa.co.uk.
We want to hear about fans’ special days supporting the Wanderers, offers to share travel, BWFC memorabilia swaps, ideas to bring fans together, not divide us. United we stand, divided we fall.
The magnificent support at Fulham proved it can be done. Everyone I spoke to said how great it was to be part of that kind of special atmosphere. We’ve got to forget the past and look to the future. The new owners must earn our trust. The fans are ready to rebuild bridges.
Source
AFTER the traumatic events at Wanderers this season, there are plenty of bridges to be rebuilt between the club and its supporters.
Trust is something in short supply around the Macron these days at every level of the club, even among the fans themselves.
Despite all those reassurances to the contrary, we were led to the brink of extinction, saved only by a lenient judge and a superb barrister, Hilary Stonefrost.
Communication between the club and the fans dried up years ago. How can you trust someone when they are not speaking to you?
When things went pear-shaped, fans looked for answers and got none. Leadership from within the Macron was sadly lacking.
Everybody formed their own opinion on what went wrong and who was to blame. This caused even more rifts between the fans as the Bolton family fell out with each other.
So how do we start to rebuild bridges and regain the fans’ trust?
We can start at the top with the new owners, Dean Holdsworth and Ken Anderson.
They will have to earn our trust by being as open and communicative as they can be. They need to clearly spell out their plan to rebuild this club and what the strategy will be to get us there. It needs to be something the fans can believe in, buy into and get behind.
Everybody understands that in the world of business, you cannot show your hand at times but they can lead from the front and tell us what they can.
It will be interesting to see what kind of relationship they can build with the Supporters’ Trust, hopefully to both the club's and the fans’ benefit.
The Supporters’ Trust themselves have a tricky task in supporting the new owners while being ready to take over if the occasion arises. Trust is going to be a high priority in this area.
Many fans are still doubting the Supporters Trust’s intentions despite them being reasonably clear in their communications and meetings. This should improve once their elections are held and their board set up.
They have already had a meeting with Ken Anderson, so that is a step in the right direction.
The Bolton Wanderers Supporters Association can play a big part in rebuilding bridges by bringing fans together with social evenings and the chance to meet owners, management and players past and present.
We’ve got to look at ways of involving fans who live miles away. They are not likely to make the BWSA meetings but will still want to feel part of the club.
We have got to bring fans together in the common cause of Bolton Wanderers.
We all have our different views and that is the beauty of football but we have got to learn again how to differ and still be friends. The BWSA is always happy to listen to fans and if anyone has got any positive suggestions, please email them to newsletter@mybwsa.co.uk.
We want to hear about fans’ special days supporting the Wanderers, offers to share travel, BWFC memorabilia swaps, ideas to bring fans together, not divide us. United we stand, divided we fall.
The magnificent support at Fulham proved it can be done. Everyone I spoke to said how great it was to be part of that kind of special atmosphere. We’ve got to forget the past and look to the future. The new owners must earn our trust. The fans are ready to rebuild bridges.
Source
