WALSALL SUPPORTERS’ TRUST
Minutes
of meeting held 28th July 2005 at The Victoria pub 7.00pm
Attendees Apologies
R.Hall P.
Geiss
D.Roe N.Ravenscroft
P.Sturgess
R.Rowley
Invited
Guest :- Nick Platt ( Henwood Court)
Agenda
IPS
Re-
Launch
Colin
Taylor / Tony Richards
Henwood
Court / link up
Fund
Raising
Issues
From previous meeting
The
club has still not sent the match tickets prize from the raffle to the prize
winner,
Action: DR to contact the
club.
Nick
Platt informed the meeting that he had contacted the club with regards to free
tickets for kids with a paying adult as part of a promotion they wanted to try,
he had received no response from either R. Whalley or M Kearns.
Action: to be raised at the
fans focus meeting by the Trust
1. IPS : RH pointed out that we were the
only Trust not to have converted and that it needs to be done quickly now,
Supporters Direct had agreed to pay for the conversion
Action RH
2. Nick Platt ( Henwood Court)
:- Nick Platt introduced himself
to the board and gave a profile of his company Henwood Court.
He
outlined the company’s staff Nick, Mortgage advisor and 3 administration staff,
with a main client base consisting of 200- 400 clients and they enjoyed a
similar arrangement as was being proposed with Coventry Rugby club.
He
also stated that they would be prepared to sponsor a Trust event and / or help
with cost’s for a newsletter.
A
commission of 15 % would be paid for each completed contract, and it was agreed
to review their introducer Agreement and write a letter of Association with
Henwood Court
Action RH and Nick Platt to
set up the agreement, then the Board to review. Then advertising via newsletter
and web site.
3. Colin Taylor / Tony Richards
Dave
Roe Informed the board that following the sad death of Colin Taylor he had been
made aware that Tony Richards was also believed to be very ill.
The
board discussed various actions and ideas to try to contribute in some small
way to help.
It
was agreed to first contact the Club to establish what if anything they were
doing, and if appropriate ask permission to speak to their families, to
establish their wishes.
At
the same time we could request permission for bucket collections if we decide
to try to help financially.
Action: RR / DR
4. Fund Raising : Dave Roe informed the
board that the online shop was proving to be a regular provider although the
amounts involved were small, however he was advised by the online shop of lot’s
of special offers which he was finding difficult to forward to our members due
to technical issues on his computer. It was agreed to ask C. Miller to provide
the necessary support.
Action DR/CM
It
was also stressed about the importance of fund raising and it was agreed that Dave
and Phil continue to pursue ideas for this aim.
Action PS / DR
5. Re-Launch :- A debate ensued as to the low profile of the Trust and what
our objectives should be in our next phase.
Areas
of under performance were
Lack
of Publicity
Perception
of the club by some fans that they are well run why try to get involved
Considered
to be ineffective –No power
Perception
of the Trust Similar to ISSA
Finance
Lack
of Sponsorship
Proposed
Actions
Column
in Walsall Observer now achieved Action
N.R /P.G
Update
Web-site Action
C.M / R.H / D. R
New
Letterheads
Leaflet
Drop
Membership
Drive
Newsletter
Immediate
Objectives
Although
it is still the aim of the Trust to obtain a member on to the Club Board, it
was agreed that our immediate objective would be to look at the long term
future of the Club, and to play a bigger part in helping the club progress.
It
is felt by the Board that the club could do a lot more in the areas of
community involvement in particular the ethnic community, improve its commercial
activities and it publicity and public relations.
Charlton
was held up as a model of how to build a club up from a low base and it was
agreed to establish what was the model for Charlton to achieve their aims
Action P.G :- to obtain a model of how
Charlton Athletic progressed and became embedded in their community and contact
Charlton’s Supporters Trust.
Form
of words for objectives
Action ;- R.H
Re-
Launch to be aimed for Mid- Sept or October 2005.
Other
areas to be improved
Direct
debit payments from members
Publicise
the I.F.A Henwood Court
Publicise
the on-line shop
Trust
Credit Card Action
PS
E-Mail
Group CM/RH/DR
A.O.B
Ron
Atkinson :- Richard Hall expressed
his concern that Ron Atkinson had been invited to hold a cabaret evening at the
Bonser Suite having made some racist remarks in the past. Outlining that this
could give the club a racist profile.
Although
it was agreed by the board that we had reservations about the evening rather
than make major issue of it we would make our views know via the news letter,
and a press release
Meeting
closed at 9.00pm