Minutes Of Meeting with Southport Football Club- 28/11/07
| One of Trust in Yellows' major objectives from the outset has been to represent supporters to the club's board of directors. Members, supporters, committee members and the board of directors have all acknowledged the need to formally underpin the working relationship of the two bodies. Having campaigned supporters via the local media and on the trustinyellow.com website - TIY produced an agenda and a series of questions to put to the board, the answers are presented below. Present: Jonathan O’Byrne (TIY Chairman), Andrew Davis (Committee), Julia Urwin (Committee), Rob Urwin (Membership Secretary), Charlie Clapham (Southport FC Chairman) and Haydn Preece ( Southport Football Club Chief Executive) Date: 28th November 2007 Venue: Grandstand Club Progress from last meeting Trust in Yellow thanked Charlie and Haydn for agreeing to meet with TIY after our initial conversations. Following on from discussions in the last meeting in July the club has now implemented the credit debit facilities in the club shop thus paving the way for online transactions via a “webshop” in the near future. The trust conveyed their confidence that the implementation will increase revenue on merchandise sales. Both TIY and SFC agreed and acknowledged the importance in support involvement in democratically choosing the anthem the club run out to on match days – the Do Ron Ron PA System Trust in Yellow indicated their desire to fund a new system , echoing supporters concerns regarding the public address system. These concerns related to safety, particularly so in the Jack Carr Stand. Both parties agreed that the quality of the PA system was poor and Trust in Yellow considered it as a priority. Also brought to the table were varying quotes as to cost. Steve Wignall has kindly offered his services to the trust in bringing the system up to standard this will cost £3000. Other quotes have ranged up to £20000 and both the trust and Charlie Clapham are examining the Football Foundation funding opportunities. Trust in Yellow expressed their desire to have an enhanced system in place by the start of pre-season 2008. A collective decision as to which route to pursue will be made early in the New Year. Ground Improvements Trust in Yellow declared that if they were to make regular investments in the stadia it would be appropriate to be aware of any long term plans the club had. Charlie Clapham announced that the club were in the process of compiling a report to the Football Foundation, this was two fold, ideal and realistic changes to the ground Ground naming rights are under discussion along with stand(s) naming possibilities Catering Trust in Yellow commented that the general consensus is that supporters find that the catering does not match the standards produced by other clubs at this level. TIY asked about the possibilities of enhancing catering operations at the ground. The trust were told to continue dialogue with Richard Hughes of Caterforce to discuss how the trust can contribute to improving match day operations. TIY will report their findings in due course.. Reserve Team Trust in Yellow questioned the policy regarding having no reserve team. One school of thought is that the reserves provide a perfect platform to bridge the gap between the excellent PASE system and the first team - Giving the players exposure to open age football. The reserves would also provide somewhere for local talent who do not have the academic qualifications to meet the PASE system to develop their potential at the club. Finally the reserve team would also provide a place for those players returning to full fitness following injury. TIY asked whether the main reason behind the reserve team being culled in 2005/06 was down to financial or logistical constraints. The club answered that it would cost £15,000 a season to run a reserve team. The chairman stated that his priority remained the first team. The trust presented research gauged on standard information on energy resources, insurance, travelling conditions, the Lancashire FA and discussions with other reserve teams in the local area. This research indicated the costs were around £5,000. In addition there was scope to bring in revenue to reduce the size of the investment. The trust could examine covering the shortfall. The chairman felt that there were costs in addition to the estimate provided by the trust. TIY openly admitted that previously the reserve team had not been utilised to its’ entirety by previous managers. TIY felt that it was the clubs’ responsibility to ensure the manager uses the resources at his disposal. The chairman felt it was at the managers’ discretion as to the degree to which he used the reserves. TIY commented that Morecambe had used the PASE-Reserve team development as a foundation for their promotion to the football league, the counter argument provided is that Crewe have a successful youth structure – without having a “reserve team” The chairman felt that a reserve team playing regularly at Haig Avenue would be detrimental to the condition of the pitch and would place further strain on the clubs limited human resources. The trust asked if they could provide the chairman with a proposal for reserve team football, playing elsewhere. TIY will carry out further feasibility studies early in the New Year. Meet The Manager TIY stated that they would welcome the opportunity for supporters to have an open forum with the manager. Both chairman and chief executive agreed this could be arranged in due course. AGM Charlie confirmed, it is the club’s intention to continue with AGM’s despite a change in the laws which no longer required them as of right. Disabled Enclosure The club have a specification for building the disabled enclosure. Steve Wignall has again offered his help in this area and Rob Urwin will discuss with Steve and put him in touch with Haydn Preece to take the initiative forward. Grandstand Bar Both TIY and Haydn/Charlie would like to see the bar used more regularly and the up and coming music nights organised by TIY are welcome. More events of this nature are required to keep the Grandstand Bar rocking! TIY thanked the club for the meeting and requested a further meeting at a later stage to continue the dialogue between independent supporters trust and club. |