AFCB Supporters Trust Statement - 14/11/2012

A Statement from Anthony Greenall AFCB Supporters Trust Chairman to AFCB ST Members - past and present.

As you may know, the present Trust board members, having served for three years are looking to step down so that new people can come in and take the trust forward.

No-one came forward at our September AGM and therefore we plan to wind up the Trust at an EGM to be held in December or January UNLESS others are forthcoming to take on the responsibility. A minimum of three people are required to do this.

In preparation to give a new board a positive start, an effort was made yet again in August to put relations with the football club on a positive footing. As the current chairman of the trust I wrote to Liz Finney reminding the club of the need to have a Supporters` Liaison Officer (SLO) appointed to comply with EUFA regulations and suggesting points for that person`s attention.

We had a prompt reply saying that Liz herself had been appointed SLO for the club, and you may since have noticed her listing as such in match-day programmes. The other points raised by the ST were also answered.

Whilst it is disappointing that we have no new ST board to build on this development, I had a meeting with Liz in order to bring her up to speed with our situation and discover more about how her role might develop,. Two clear points emerged:

1) The ST needs a much larger membership before the club will engage with the trust.

2) Liz, as SLO, is proposing to hold a number of focus groups to canvass fans opinions. The first of these will be centred on the "match-day experience ". Watch out for details from the club if you wish to volunteer for the focus groups.

As a result of an October meeting of your current board (despite our being officially dormant following AGM resolutions) we have decided to have a final push to re-launch the ST by:

a) Asking all present and past members to let us know if they do not want to be considered as current ST members if we offer (as we are doing) a year`s free membership.

b) Renewing our request for potential new board members to put themselves forward in time for the Dec/Jan EGM to avoid closure of the ST.

To sum up if the board of the trust feel that the supporters of AFCB have no appetite for an organised supporters group then they will be left with no option to propose that the trust be wound up which would be a great shame.

If you wish to stand on the board or feel that you can help in any way however small please contact us.

Our e-mail address is afcbst@hotmail.co.uk


Anthony Greenall
ST Chairman

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