Supporters Trust

Seems nuts appears in one of the supporters trust questions

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It's about time we got noticed but coming fifth behind LOV, Trotters Blog, Wanderers Ways and Burnden Aces is a bloody joke.

Then again, Bonce's zip up slipper fetish has most probably caused this.

karlypants wrote:It's about time we got noticed but coming fifth behind LOV, Trotters Blog, Wanderers Ways and Burnden Aces is a bloody joke.

Then again, Bonce's zip up slipper fetish has most probably caused this.

Don't involve me. It's not a fetish.

I'm a fashion icon. You're lucky to have me. I've had offers from Europe.

Mind you, it's mainly that clinic in Switzerland.

BWFCST Q&A - Meet the Trust Team

An hour an a half long!!!

I've not watched it yet, nor have even heard any feedback anywhere from the ST's meeting last night?

Maybe I've just missed seeing it or something?



Anyway you can watch it yourself if anybody wants too.

(Still waiting for their AGM video though!!!)

Its looking like they are not too keen on publishing the AGM video, Sluffy.

I gather (from another site) that someone was questioning the amount they spent on 'Website and social media support'. Its more than £20K over the last two years.

It does seem quite a lot in the context of subscription income of a meagre £6K p.a.

Any thoughts on who it might have been paid to?

Sorry, no idea Bob although I have now watched the whole of the video above and they made a great deal of making the point that the ST is deemed to be a 'commercial' organisation and responsible for things like data protection their members names, addresses, bank details, etc and thus it 'costs them a lot of money' to be responsible for doing this.

As far as I know (unless things have changed since I was involved in stuff like this) the law applies equally to everyone (individual or commercial organisation) and just so long as it is complied with it can be done by someone doing it for free, rather than a paid 'professional' - in fact that was the question that was being answered.

The ST's accounts (which finally have been published at the Mutuals Public Register - twice in fact!!) states the ST do not have any employees, so whoever is being paid is a contractor (or a friend or relative of someone from the ST).

To be honest £10K is not a fortune normally but if you consider their income last year was only £7k in total, then you would have thought they would have been looking for someone to do the job a lot cheaper or even for free.

And fwiw, whoever did it hasn't done a particularly good job, the ST's official website is utterly dreadful imo.

As I've mentioned I've watched the whole video now and would strongly reccomened no one else go through the same purgatory as I endured - it was dreadful.

They claimed 100 viewers were watching at the begining of the live stream but I would guarantee that only hardcore ST members were watching by the end - it was truly that bad.

I think a few of the ST board themselves switched off as well, as it was noticable to me that even the Chairman himself Rigby, who made an utterly dreadful and frankly dull and uninspiring early speech was never again seen on the live stream (thank God for that actually!).

It turned into the Ian Bridge show, who had certainly smartened his appearance up for the Zoom broadcast but certainly lacks the voice or charisma to hold anyones attention or interest for what seemed like endless hours of having to endure his monotone and rambling contributions.

Basically the ST's love in with FV continues and there was clearly a lot of hatred aimed at Anderson still.  Their big news was that they have started have ST affiliatives, one being the two kids from Argentina and another from a group in Norway!  Wow!  So what??? Who cares?

Anyway they say the advantages of joining the ST is a bonding together with other ST's to have a voice in football nationally (I kept thinking where were our ST when nextdoor Wigan needed help as they have???)

The more members our ST has they frequently claimed, the more say they believe they will have over the club - who I noted the ST informed us that FV have so far NOT shared any financial information with them whatsoever (it is none of the ST's business anyway!)

The questions asked to the board were utterly inane many of the questions being from two people, Shortland and Manning.

The sorts of questions included 'is the club going to sell the stadium because Gartside Junior mentioned an 'Asset Purchase Agreement' at the AGM - it had to be pointed out that 'purchase' meant to 'buy' something and not to 'sell' something!!!  Ffs are people really that stupid?

What Gartside meant was that FV 'bought' from the Administrator the 'assets' of Burnden Leisure (the stadium, the hotel, the car parks, etc) and not the 'shares' of Burnden Leisure - meaning the shareholders lose all involvement with the future new owners of the club.

Clearly social media has been buzzing since Gartside mentioned this as there were also several questions about is the ground being sold to raise the money to pay the creditors in August, will the ACV be renewed, will FV oppose it, will the BL shareholders get their money back, does Anderson still have a 'strangle hold' on the club and other ill informed and completely wrong assumptions all resulting from their lack of ignorance and no doubt a social media frenzy whipping things up rather than anyone checking the facts about anything.

Questions were asked as to why the board had no BAME on it and what is was doing to attract younger members, but to be fair I don't believe the ST deliberately excludes anyone.

All in all I thought it was a complete waste of time and that the meeting probably did far more damage to the ST's image and credability then enhance it!

I know some on here thinks I'm completely biased against the ST, well to those that do I challenge you to watch the whole ninty odd minutes of this debacle and tell me you come away from it better informed and inspired.

Go on I dare you!

I reckon you deserve a Blue Peter Badge for spending your time watching that, Sluffy, but thanks for the resume.

When I heard Megan Markle claim that she and Harry were married in secret three days before the actual wedding at Windsor Castle, it reminded me of the last time I listened to the ST Chairman, so implausible were his claims and his commentary.

Ten Bobsworth wrote:I reckon you deserve a Blue Peter Badge for spending your time watching that, Sluffy, but thanks for the resume.

When I heard Megan Markle claim that she and Harry were married in secret three days before the actual wedding at Windsor Castle, it reminded me of the last time I listened to the ST Chairman, so implausible were his claims and his commentary.

Thanks Bob.

Fwiw I do actually try to practice what I preach, I'd be as bad as those I constantly condone if I didn't listen to both sides of the story.

I've been in an awful lot of meetings in my time, even dropped off to sleep for a few seconds in a few of them but I can honestly say that for me, this was the worst meeting I've ever sat through - and I had the luxury of knowing how long it was right from the start - God knows how those listening live at the time managed to get through it, I suspect many/most give it up as a bad job long before the end.

Rigby's presentation was utterly, utterly dreadful, I would have thought in his profession he would have been able to present himself far better than what he did here.

Fair enough for the others who are just people off the street so to speak and did their best presumably like anyone else would but clearly the only one with knowledge to answer most of the questions was Bridge and his delivery, conciseness and brevity were woefully lacking and in need of the MC (Dearden) to 'manage'/keep him on track much better than he did for the good of everybody there/watching.

I thought it was wrong for the ST to still show hostility/hatred towards Anderson and clearly haven't moved on from it.  Not a good look to be so clearly bearing grudges/hatred to those they don't like, considering you are trying to build up new relationships, is it?

I mean, if you didn't agree with the last bloke and ended up showing all this vitriol and malice, then will you do exactly the same to me when I do something you don't agree with?

Anyway there seems to be a love in certainly on the ST's side, with FV and I guess FV wants everybody kept 'sweet' for now, so let them get on with it.

There were talks about future ST elections coming soon - I'll believe it when I see it though!

I mean who would want to join this lot after watching that video???

Good win for us today which is the main thing!

Onwards and upwards.

Ten Bobsworth wrote:
The problem with some supporters is they might give you a pat you on the back when things are going well but will pelt you with bricks when they are not.

According to KA, Uncle Eddie spent £185million supporting the club. I reached the same figure from my own calculations and that is out of capital. It doesn't include the unpaid or re-invested interest on his loans.

I was reminded of posting this (post 45) when a close neighbour of mine died of COVID a fortnight ago.

John once told me his father had been Chairman of Morecambe FC when the club won the FA Trophy at Wembley in 1974. Carried shoulder high by fans at the time, only a few months later, he had to make his escape from a baying mob by climbing out of a toilet window at Christie Park.

Anyway well done to the Shrimps yesterday. Did us a favour too methinks

Ten Bobsworth wrote:
I was reminded of posting this (post 45) when a close neighbour of mine died of COVID a fortnight ago.

John once told me his father had been Chairman of Morecambe FC when the club won the FA Trophy at Wembley in 1974. Carried shoulder high by fans at the time, only a few months later, he had to make his escape from a baying mob by climbing out of a toilet window at Christie Park.

Anyway well done to the Shrimps yesterday. Did us a favour too methinks

I remember standing in the Lever end chanting 'Ridding out, Lofthouse in', with the rest. Then came our follow up single, 'Lofthouse out'.
Such is life.

Anyway well done to the Shrimps yesterday. Did us a favour too methinks

Talking of Morecambe doing us a favour, they’re playing Cambridge next week at the same time as Tranmere play Cheltenham.

We’re at home to Colchester so what an opportunity that is!

wanderlust wrote:
Talking of Morecambe doing us a favour, they’re playing Cambridge next week at the same time as Tranmere play Cheltenham.

We’re at home to Colchester so what an opportunity that is!

Lets hope they do a bit better than they did in their home game against Cambridge.

I was chatting to a Shrimps fan on the morning of that match. I'd commented on their good start to the season (away win at Cheltenham) and he was telling me how they had a good manager.

They lost 5-0 to Cambridge that afternoon. Michael's actually quite a clever bloke. I suspect he's right about Derek Adams.

Must be a big deal...

...it was signed in the changing room ffs!!!

Bolton Wanderers Football Club is pleased to confirm that it has formalised its positive relationship with [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] by signing a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

— Bolton Wanderers (@OfficialBWFC) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Sluffy wrote:Must be a big deal...

...it was signed in the changing room ffs!!!

Bolton Wanderers Football Club is pleased to confirm that it has formalised its positive relationship with [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] by signing a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

— Bolton Wanderers (@OfficialBWFC) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

As Olive Oyl would put it, ''Oh dear"

I thought they were required to hold annual elections under their constitution?

Should be interesting to see their accounts, can't imagine their revenue was much during Covid?

Also did they ever publish the video of last years AGM as they promised they would?

Can't recall seeing it?

We are in the process of arranging the BWFCST AGM which will be held on the evening of Thursday 27 January ’22 (time to be confirmed). We are delighted to confirm that BWFC CEO, Neil Hart, will be our special guest at this year’s meeting.

— BW Supporters' Trust ([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Sluffy wrote:I thought they were required to hold annual elections under their constitution?

Should be interesting to see their accounts, can't imagine their revenue was much during Covid?

Also did they ever publish the video of last years AGM as they promised they would?

Can't recall seeing it?

We are in the process of arranging the BWFCST AGM which will be held on the evening of Thursday 27 January ’22 (time to be confirmed). We are delighted to confirm that BWFC CEO, Neil Hart, will be our special guest at this year’s meeting.

— BW Supporters' Trust ([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I thought they were going to do a video of the Trial of the Unibol Four, Sluffy. I haven't seen that either.

Their accounts have only been interesting in a ''spot the mistake' kind of way. And no they haven't circulated any 2021 accounts to members.

But Harty and Evatty are attending th'AGM this time. I bet they can't wait.

A quick summary -

Nothing is contained about the ST's AGM - apparently no elections have taken place (yet again!) and their accounts that should have been published for the year ending July 2021 have not (which I find totally ironic as it was a stick they continually beat Ken Anderson with for not publishing the clubs account on the due dates).

Evatt and Hart answered questions from Dearden and put an upbeat and positive spin on everything - which you would expect and which although a bit OTT at times  was generally fair comment.

I don't get why there appears to be so much hatred of Hart from fans as he seems to be doing the job as expected from a CEO and isn't one of 'the lads down the pub' type of persona.

I thought it was by far the best meeting the ST have ever held - probably because there were hardly any of the ST clowns involved in it.

I didn't learn anything new from the video but it is worth a watch if you can spare the 40 minutes or so.

Thanks Sluffy. I'm not going to watch the whole of this but I've had a quick look at what Neil Hart had to say about finance.

Not very much seemed to be the case but he confirmed the 8% shareholding and that the money had come from the 'Innovation Fund'. It only got noticed, he suggested, as a result of the media latching on to government reporting obligations and asking the club questions. Not quite true that was it?

He also said that P&L was improving. I suspect that meant that ongoing losses weren't as high as previously and the future was brighter. He would say that wouldn't he but I did think he communicated what he was able to say quite well.

Needless to add, I was not impressed by the chairman of the Supporters Trust. Imo he's about as switched-on as a light bulb with a broken filament.

Ten Bobsworth wrote:Thanks Sluffy. I'm not going to watch the whole of this but I've had a quick look at what Neil Hart had to say about finance.

Not very much seemed to be the case but he confirmed the 8% shareholding and that the money had come from the 'Innovation Fund'. It only got noticed, he suggested, as a result of the media latching on to government reporting obligations and asking the club questions. Not quite true that was it?

He also said that P&L was improving. I suspect that meant that ongoing losses weren't as high as previously and the future was brighter. He would say that wouldn't he but I did think he communicated what he was able to say quite well.

Needless to add, I was not impressed by the chairman of the Supporters Trust. Imo he's about as switched-on as a light bulb with a broken filament.

No Bob, you sniffed it out long before the media caught on about it.

I thought both Hart and Evatt presented themselves well.  I even thought Dearden did a good job too!

I'm a bit cynical about it all though because I used to be one of those 'corporate' persons too who presented everything positively in the many public meetings and presentations I had to make.

I'm not suggesting they are hiding anything as such but you tend to simplify for the audience you have, who may not understand all the technicalities and implications of what you are saying, and tend to emphasise the good and the future, rather than focus on anything not so good happening now or may be appearing soon from over the horizon!

We all do it but most who don't know the game are easily pleased with what you've told them and don't really understand what lies beneath or has deliberately not been mentioned - such as your example about the P&L improving!

One minor point I picked up on was Hart said we were the only successful club to get the Innovation Fund - you could interpret that as other clubs applied but were unsuccessful.

Not that it matters in anyway but I just thought I'd mention it whilst it was in my mind.

I thought it worth typing out what Hart said (at the 10 minute mark) which was
the loan was converted to shares as a ...

"minority equity stake in the club, a shareholding position and that equates to around 8%..."

Now is this the absolute truth or weasel words???

I guess we will find out in due course one way or another!

FV aren't in any rush to give us the facts, are they Sluffy, despite the legal obligations? Neither were they all that savvy in the first place, filing documents that made no sense and were plainly wrong.

Jack Dearden might have been a bit lost in places but, I agree, he did try to make it entertaining. I thought the gag about whether Boris would have to take a 'fit and proper test' was quite good.

I've asked myself a few times why a Boris-led government would want to help Cousin Vinny out of a bit of an 'ole. I'm expecting to see some info on Vince this week that might tell me how much.

I'll put it out on 'Who do you believe' when I have the info to hand and had chance to have a shufti.