Supporters trusts

[Guest]

Do many of the people on here know much about supporters trusts? Like the ones at Bournemouth,York,Chesterfield etc. And what do people think of starting one at Margate,good idea or bad idea?

[Coffin Ender]

When we were at our lowest ebb last year, there was a meeting at which an admittedly small group of supporters voted that they were in favour of a trust being set up. Personally I think trusts have been shown to work at many clubs.

 

For more info go to www.supporters-direct.org/englandwales/digitalage.htm

[Ian D]

There are currently 129 supporters trusts nationwide, ranging from Man Utd to Kingstonian and AFC Wimbledon.

 

They are essentially a good idea and the idea was knocked about a bit.

 

Given the status of the new supporters club, they may be in a position to set up a trust if they wanted to.

 

Of course, if anyone wanted to set up a trust alongside the MISA then that also would/could work. (although that may lead to a debate on spreading of already thin funds).

 

The club of course may or may not be in favour, it would depend who led the trust and whether the club would be keen to pass on some control to the fans by appointment of a representative on the board, or the issue of shares and how that is managed.

 

However, if a trust is formed and not necessarily in agreement of the club, it would be interesting to see how it would be received in the event of raising cash for the club and how they accept it.

 

Trusts work for the clubs and also for the supporters, they are not a million miles away from "supporters Clubs" but are structured and formed as a legal body (Provident Society) and have to follow very strict legal guidelines.

 

Anyway, enough from me, that should be enough to get me shot down in flames!!

 

Up the Gate!

[Guest]

I personally really like the idea of supporters trusts. They can both support Clubs or if needs be provide a way for fans to run the clubs themselves. I didnt know some fans had a meeting.

If they did go ahead and set up a supportes trust,it could be really good.

 

I'd be really interested in the views of Margate fan,Cookie,TonyM,Legend etc.

Do they like the idea? would they support it?

[MargateFan]

Ian, I would never shoot you down in flames, I think you worked very hard to get that meeting together, and with the best possible motives. It was all so dire at the time, hope we never get in that situation again.

I also hope we will see much more of you at the games next season.

[MargateFan]

rayw, you have been pecking away at us for a couple of months now, so with respect you will have to bear with me if I am totally distrustful of your motives in starting this post. It looks very much to me as just another attempt on your part to drive another wedge between us all.

The other thing that occurs to me is that, for a self-confessed supporter of the club you have scant knowledge of the recent history of it. Now there is nothing wrong with watching from afar in as much as you read the results of games and voice your opinions on a forum, but, you know, you have not been to any recent games, attended any of the meetings, got to know anyone from the club or any of the supporters, in fact done anything at all to actively support the club, so some of the more negative stuff you have indulged in has been bound to get a few backs up, as it has not been based on the realities that we have been facing.

I can give you my opinion if you wish, but am aware that that can be a double-edged sword in that it can open up another bitch-war between happy supporters and disgruntled anonymouses. And that would be tedious in the extreme, as we have already had at least two, and it is very tiring, as it just goes round and round and solves nothing.

 

I went to the Trust meeting that Ian arranged, and there were some very lovely guys there, from AFC Wimbledon and Exeter City, who had freely given up their time to come and explain what Supporters' Trusts were all about. Indeed, we had already benefited from the wonderful people at Exeter, who had made a generous donation to us when we most needed it, for which I will remain eternally grateful. I believe Keith Piper and Dave Canham were there as well, I am sure someone can correct me if I am wrong in that. The founding principle of supporters trusts was explained. There was a deal of interest. You would have to take it in the context of what was going on at the time. Things were not moving with the ground development, we were at risk of losing Conference status, everyone was extremely worried that the club would not survive. There was a wish from everyone to do anything they could to ensure our survival. The previous supporters association had hit a bit of a chasm, in that some things were allegedly done against the express wishes of the club, that put the ongoing development, in the club's eyes, very much in doubt. There was an atmosphere of tension and mistrust around at the time, and a split amongst the supporters about which direction to go in. Someone who knows a bit more about it than me may want to elaborate here. At the meeting Keith himself said that he had nothing in principle against the foundation of a supporters trust, as long as it would be prepared to work with the club for the benefit of the club. I think this was the sticking point. At or around that time the MISA came into being, with the aim to work with the club for the benefit of the club, and the supporters trust idea faded somewhat. I have a feeling that that fact put some noses out of joint.

 

Now my opinion - it would seem to me that the majority of supporters' trusts are set up, either because a club has or is about to fold, or that the majority of fans totally dislike the current ownership, or that the club is prepared to work with the supporters to give them a voice in it. I would say the former two points do not in any way apply to us, and the latter could do, were we not already in that situation. We have probably a stronger voice with the club than most other clubs, as we all talk freely to the club's directors as and when we see them, or need to. We also have the MISA. These fine people have given up huge amounts of their time and effort and resources to do exactly what they said they would do, which is to work with the club, for the club, and they do it superbly. Because of that I have joined them.

I do not want to run a football club, the people that are doing it do fine by me. I do not particularly want to own one, either, as it seems to me that you rarely get much profit from doing so, and an awful lot of grief. I want to go and watch football, amongst a load of friends, and wear my shirt with pride, and see us play good games, and grow and prosper.

If MISA and the club agree a way forward with a supporters trust in the future, fine. Do I want one now? No. What earthly good would it do the club to have a split in support into factions at a time when we need to go forward together?

Total no-brainer for me.

[Paul H]

Got it in one mate.

[TonyM]

June could you repeat that please....only joking.I go along with that IMO should we need a trust I think that if the time comes and I dont think it will then we can talk about it,until then lets just do what we the MFC fans can or are asked to do.I have got every confidence with the people running the club,it was not long ago we were at the clubhouse waiting to here MFC was no more,but they turned that around and for the first time in years we have somthing to look forward to.Lets keep the faith and the support,UP THE GATE.

[michael]

The one aspect that everyone avoids which is why most trusts go nowhere, is that we can all agree that they are good ideas or whatever, but they are a business entity in their own right requiring personal capital injection.

 

i wouild imagine you need a start up capital of about £50k to be taken seriously,to be able to inject in the club and in return be reaonable expectant of being a stakeholder in the club

 

Thats probably 50 people to inject say £2500 each.

 

Is that realistically going to happen.

 

i.e easy to talk the talk, but a bit harder to walk the walk.

 

Thereby i am equally happy to let those currently injecting pwersonal capital in MFC carry on and will support their efforts, and hope that they continue to turn things around to get financial rewards that their risk taking deserves.

[Guest]

Margate fan,

thanks for a very constructive and well thought out reply!

I dont neccesarily think that a supporters trust has to open up some kind of split.

But different people will hold different views.

Your right about me and my lack of support recently- various reasons,living in london,having a young family but most of all being disillusioned by how i felt the club was being run.

I hope you will also appreciate that ive taken an interest and supported the club for far longer than some of todays loyal fans who seem to be mostly attracted to the club since the conference.

(Not that there is anything wrong with that)

I take some of the criticisms of me as defensive of the club. And i really dont have a problem with them. But i think Margate fans have to know different people are going to hold some different views of what the clubs done in recent years.

And indeed what the future may hold.

[Ian D]

Quote:

The previous supporters association had hit a bit of a chasm, in that some things were allegedly done against the express wishes of the club, that put the ongoing development, in the club's eyes, very much in doubt.

Just a technical point on a very good answer, MFCSA did everything WITH the knowledge of the club, when they (he ) thought that without any foundation whatsoever, MFCSA might have been in a position to take over the club (which was far from true) a big boot came out the sky and stamped on any further efforts to continue with the now infamous "contingency plan". one or two of the committee members didn't like what was occurring and in the democratic world we live in, took up the right to set up a group that given the time and effort available to them have done a magnificent job supporting KP.....er sorry, Margate FC!


Allegedly!

One final point, IMO, Supporters Trusts are good for any club at any time, you don't need to be in crisis to justify their existence.

[Cookie]

We probably all feel that way about the past and the future but the point is that we dont all give out facts and figures that may well be fictional.

[knighty101]

Quote:

Ian D said:
Remember, there are 10 types of people who understand Binary, those that do and those that don't

Lucky i just done a exam on this so i can enlighten you.
Bin Hex
0000 0
0001 1
0010 2
0011 3
0100 4
0101 5
0110 6
0111 7
1000 8
1001 9
1010 a 10
1011 b 11
1100 c 12
1101 d 13
1110 e 14
1111 f 15


now you can convert from bianry to hex to dainary, all good fun of course you will need to do binary to hex conversion do get a value, so for example its 16to the power 0 1 2 3 and so on.
so 1100 0001 0010 would be c 1 6 which in turn is 12 1 6. so its 12*16 0 times = 12 then 1x16 once =16 and 6 times 16 twice 1536 so 12+16+1536 = 1564 and thats the simple answer, if you spot a error its becaus ei did it off the top of my head. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> any questions feel free to ask i may not know. btw whats this thred about?

[Guest]

Why allegedly??

[Guest]

Does Ian D like sour grapes??

[MargateFan]

Now we have got all this stuff off our chests, perhaps it would be a good idea to be a bit more constructive in the future!

 

Differing views are of course healthy, so is some vibrant argument, well thought-out and intentioned, but not a continual drip feed of negativity, when we have so much to look forward to.

 

rayw, I hope that this forthcoming season will supply you with ample reasons to start supporting MFC actively again. Now that would be good!

[Guest]

Quote:

MargateFan said:
Now we have got all this stuff off our chests, perhaps it would be a good idea to be a bit more constructive in the future!

Differing views are of course healthy, so is some vibrant argument, well thought-out and intentioned, but not a continual drip feed of negativity, when we have so much to look forward to.

rayw, I hope that this forthcoming season will supply you with ample reasons to start supporting MFC actively again. Now that would be good!

I certainly hope to see MFC a good few times next year and that its a good season for all at hdp.
I certainly agree that its important to be constructive. Personally id see setting up a supporters trust as very positive and constuctive.

[knighty101]

i could teach u how to count in binary if u like

 

edit: this is not really relevent but the threds on this board over the last month are starting to remind me of a crackd record so i thought id add some more diverse crap

 

additional edit: maybe the heat is effecting me

[Ian D]

Quote:

Anonymous said:
Does Ian D like sour grapes??

Just saying how it was, no sour grapes, the former MFCSA was in place and not as effective as it could have been. However, it did lead to the formation of a well run, effective operation that has its roots at MFCSA (many of the same committee members).