Matt

The trust shouldn't be providing a full time free employee for the club... We simply need a fan on the board, watching what is going on and providing a vocal input. They can then keep the fans informed of what is going on internally (within reason) and gauge and present opinions.

Interesting point, perhaps you're right - perhaps that's the problem.

I'd do it but I'd probably only last 5 minutes before I walked out in disgust Barry and his sidekick won't go away that easy and even if they lost their power in the trust I bet they retain their influence at the club. Although this https://twitter.com/laticrick/status/553255539917197313 is potentially libellous, so that influence might get reduced.

Wow. Not seen that before.

That is quite a statement to aim at 70 million people.

To be fair disjointed, have you ever been in a supermarket during weekends?

There are people (on here) who could definitely make it work, it would need a lot of time and effort and this is where we are going to struggle. Juggling a day job, family life, and god knows what else, and then trying to justify to the other half why she isn't getting any attention from you.

Of course there are, as you rightly point out - it needs a lot of commitment so unfortunately it can really only be appealing to those with a decent pension. However, once in place the experience, strength, and vision is recruited around them, it could be a golden era for the fans.

The only thing that we know for a fact following all this is that the general public of this country are absolute idiots

Absolutely. In fact I knew before hand.

 

I always thought a trust meeting would play out something like this

The 'Apex Predator' Randy Orton and Edge turn out?

I struggled to eat my evening meal tonight, feeling sick to the pit of my stomach. Not because of Ched Evans but many of the posters on this forum. I'll say just this, I hope you never need or want a second chance in life, from a loved one, an employer or the judiciary, because if you do I sincerely hope you don't get it.

I did know somebody who had problems, psychiatric needs, some jail time, and was beaten to death when they got out by a vigilante group - no second chance there, and they wasn't lucky enough to be a professional footballer - so there's that angle to consider.

Ched was :censored:ing half decent footballer who's blown his chance to make some serious money doing what he like to do and comfortably retire in his thirties. He's probably sorted now anyway if goes into agent work or something. He could always visit this place on Monday, https://www.gov.uk/contact-jobcentre-plus - he might have more luck off the public monitor.

Will we ever know the real reason it fell through?

I don't know. I doubt it. I can hazard a guess that it wasn't the 60,000 signatures or the emails of concern, it'll be the greenbacks somewhere down the line.

While I would prefer to be a competitive Championship club, I don't think any of what I posted is at odds with that and, as you suggest, there's lots more that can be done. Some of the non-league "social club" approach could be a winner.

 

To state the obvious, I think the club needs to rebuild it's reputation. I think the best way to do this is to focus on family and youth while not forgetting the older fans of longer standing.

 

It might take years to do. But with a fairly robust strategy perception can be changed, fans can be retained and gained and, ultimately, income will rise with the obvious playing benefits.

 

I'll stand for fan on the board in 2022 if you like.

If you need any help, please give me a shout.

And how many league clubs? Maybe they are non league for a reason Matt?

They probably are, but they are clubs rather than bi-weekly events where customers turn up.

Get the new stand and club shop open.

 

 

Promote themselves hard as a family friendly football club and stick at it even if it doesn't work.

 

Expand free ticket to schools promotions and include half price family football days throughout the season, especially on half term Tuesday nights.

 

Guest ales in the various bars.

 

Cheaper beer and food before kick off to get people in the ground earlier.

 

A special flag holder cupboard for the Athleticos to keep their flags in when we're not playing to save them having to take them home.

 

Bacon sandwiches available for 99p whenever we have a ticket office queue.

----

 

Just a thought ....

It's surprising how many non-league clubs do all of this, and more.

Mob rule wins.Threats to the boards family.Back to the middle ages.

.

Wrong on all counts.

If it's at odds with your own opinion or stance, it's mob culture - if it's concurs with your opinion it's a general consensus.

£50 sent via paypal, a quid a week is well worth the banter.

BP1960.

Jeez, thanks - that's very generous, and thanks to everybody else making donations and continuing to make donations - it's all very much appreciated!

 

I dare say there is a lot of truth in that. I also appreciate you'll miss some stuff for the reasons given, however I also think we all know that some people are afforded better consideration than others. Please don't insult my intelligence, now matter how limited that maybe explaining that isn't true.

 

 

I wasn't. Nice straw man by the way.

As a start it's probably best to open a dialogue with all parties concerned and include Supporters Direct.

http://www.supporters-direct.org/

• The Board of Trustees will be democratically elected by its members.
• Decisions taken by the membership will be decided on a one member, one vote basis.
• The Trust will develop strong links with the club and local community to strive to be accessible to all, discriminating against none.
• The Trust will endeavour to make admission prices as affordable as possible, to as wide a constituency as possible.
• The Trust will encourage young, local participation - playing and supporting - whenever possible.
• The Trust will remain a non-profit organisation.

Starting a new club will need a different approach, I'd argue that both options will require a volunteers in law and finance as a bedrock to either objective.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/industrial-and-provident-societies-growth-through-co-operation

I'm off to work now, but I will post back information later.

We truly would be :censored:ed with the OWTB contingency in charge.

You'd be surprised what expertise people around you have, I fully support the idea of a fan owned community club.

 

Does this include the vitriol you've allowed to date aimed at Barry? Just curious.

Easy.

All the active OWTB staff are in work all day, so moderation is usually driven from reports, if the community don't report it, odds on we won't see it unless we stumble across something when we're trying to catch up at points in the day. Acks has mentioned this a few times in posts, and I am aware of Z and Stevie posting 'let's keep it civil' remarks when things seem to be getting out of hand, but of course you may not have read these probably because of the same reasons as us.

Also, let's not forget that you can't see what we've already removed, and there is a lot.

Please keep it civil. Thanks.

Maybe sell the ticket and give the proceeds to Rape Crisis.

http://www.rapecrisis.org.uk/

I'll be at DHFC, quail eggs and everything.

You lot still in the FA Trophy?

I'd like to keep this at the top.

Statement by Web Applications UK:

http://www.webapplicationsuk.com/web-applications-respond-to-ched-evans-speculation/

tl;dr - web applications think rape is serious, however not as serious as our partnership with a professional football club.

*** MESSAGE TO ALL ***

This is going to be difficult, but we need to debate the SIGNING of Evans along with the facts of the conviction. We are not questioning the integrity of anybody else involved. Please refrain from any part-time detective work, or fag packet case analysis.

Posts will be removed without warning, persistence will be met with account suspension. If you have a personal view of the case and appeal, do it on your personal Facebook page.

This thread is for the discussion of boycotting OAFC matches, please keep it that way.