AFT Chair's Update Club Statement

[green eyed monster]

We won our last two games... :scarf:

I will support this club forever, through all the crap and the ...very few... good times

I'll leave all the bickering to you guys

 

[Ceebs]

Club Statement

http://www.pafc.co.uk/news/article/2016 ... 72174.aspx

It's good to read the other side of the story.

I must have missed the part where PAFC refuted anything that was contained in the AFT statement.

 

[cheshiregreen]

Unbelievable that the AFT would walk away from the Club, regardless of the circumstances.

The Club do not require the AFT, they have more than appeased any criticism by holding more than the two fans forums required.

What now for the AFT? How will they respond? Will they return to the table? Will the Club allow them to return? How will they square their deeds with their supporters? Has their time come to an end?

Interesting times.

Indeed. Whatever happened surely the best way was to remain in dialogue with the club or at least ask the membership if, after explaining the situation, the club should be cut off completely.

It's telling in the club statement that other fan groups are mentioned so it looks like the club will move forward with these groups.

Be interesting to see how that would work out.

In my view, it's hard to see how any one group can represent the diverse fan base. How many fans groups are there now?

 

[philmeboots]

Club Statement

http://www.pafc.co.uk/news/article/2016 ... 72174.aspx

Never in the AFT statement was it indicated that the AFT don't want to meet with the club. I've no idea why the club have decided to say that.

Pathetic response from the club that basically confirms it's doing the bare minimum but trying to pin the blame on a trust that's hardly been at loggerheads with the club. The questions the club have to answer have not been answered.

The statement on their website is pretty clear.

'It is therefore with sadness that the Board of the AFT is now withdrawing from any further dialogue with the Board of PAFC while it fails to recognise the need for an open and honest discourse with the democratically elected fans’ representatives.'

Great way of protecting Argyle's future cease dialogue with the club! Immature and irresponsible response no wonder the relationship is at an all time low!

 

[Argy1e]

On reflection, I think the club are in the right here. They did offer us more than most clubs in terms of fan engagement and were still willing to do that. Martyn, Tony and Simon have all been happy to talk to fans outside of these meetings and events too in my experience so my earlier comment was maybe a little over the top.

 

[arrythewurzel]

Don't think the club come out of this spat with very much credit. If they really wanted to rebuild bridges and repair relations with the AFT, if they really cared, they would have bent over backwards to resolve the AFT's concerns. The club could easily have said it was all a misunderstanding. James will make the effort to come to one meeting a year if his diary allows. The storage thing can be resolved and we'll try and get the article in the programme business resolved to everyone's satisfaction too. It's all been a terrible misunderstanding. We value the dialogue and the last thing we want is to upset the fans reps .....

Instead PAFC 'respect the AFT's decision' ... Corporate speak for "bye then".

I do hope the club reflect upon their position and consider holding out an olive branch. It does the club no credit at all. It also gives ammunition to those who feel the club are too secretive, do not like probing questions and therefore there must be something to hide.

 

[jollygreenjohn]

I'm not a member of other fan groups though PL2. My representative grouping along with a thousand others is the AFT and I can't see they have done anything wrong in pursuing the best interests of the fan base.
Withdrawal of their access to comment in the programme and storage at Home Park seems extremely churlish and not one would expect from a board professing engagement with the fan base.
Surprised PL2 that you feel that the club statement in any way gives the board any excuse for the current unsatisfactory state of affairs.

 

[Green Barmy Bill52]

One would assume that the company that is paying the sale ties, bills , daily expenditure and revives all the income will be the one they are calling Plymouth Argyle Football Club and as such will be where the transaction in buying up the option will be done, also maybe the AFT are trying to get information from the club which they think should be classed as rubato and for boards eyes only .... The club are not going to let everyone knows the ins and out of personal private matters, they will have to wait to get that info from the acts when published

 

[Argy1e]

The AFT clearly acted against the clubs wishes last season, that much was made clear. I feel that the monthly meetings didn't provide too many new answers to anything, in one sense it was good, because if anything should happen the opportunity to question it comes up immediately, but from the responses seen in these meetings and the fans forums the questions always seemed very repetitive. If the club held four meetings with the AFT and then three fans forums as well, all spaced out then that's still seven meetings with the board over a ten month period, which is sufficient.

The other issues outlined don't appear to have been brought on by the board and to put the blame there is wrong. It was the AFT's decision to reject this and effectively leave us with less communication from the board. (Unless another group is able to/given the option to step in).

 

[ealinggreen]

I would say they acted in the clubs interests,agreed not Brents interests.

 

[L G]

Yes they did having wanted to make an example of us. We as fans only found out about this recently as well. Which really hammers home the fact that we don't know all the facts about everything!!

And the Herald journalist who was writing the book about the era has gone very quiet indeed...

 

[IJN]

One version was that he was 'too busy'.

 

[davie nine]

This is how I see things from a business point of view. JB has made the club self sufficient and does not work outside that mantra. If we are to get any development it will be from profits built from within. When we do get anything like a grandstand or a valuable club as a going concern to be sold as a complete package ie with freehold he will have made a very tidy profit. That's what it's all about, profit. As a business man I would not expect anything else. For those that say he has had a lot of failures, yes you're right! However, you'll find that the majority of successful people in business have also had many failures, even Warren Buffett! (He's no Buffett!) Most people in business are cold hearted when it comes to the decision making as well. Not something as a fan of the club wishes to hear due to the emotive nature of being a fan.
I fully understand his actions and see reasons for them. I also see and understand the building sense of mistrust through lack of transparency.
Over this whole subject I think we all have to be careful in what we say and type as things develop for better (yes things could get a lot better) or for worse (not as bad as 6 years ago) or just plain flat lining which is a big fear of many.
I have seen a man who took over the club when we were at deaths door who wasn't a fan of the sport who has become a fan, who speaks passionately about the club (you can see it in his eyes when you speak to him) and believe it or not gives a monkeys. Yes he will always look for a way to make profit, that's business, but giving a monkeys makes quite a lot of difference and until I see anything different I'll stick to these views leaning to the JB side.
Finally, fan groups, pressure groups, housing associations and many other bodies in a similar vein mean well and also have very noble causes but can be really preventative towards progress. Don't get me wrong I am not saying AFT are wrong nor doing a bad job or have done but i'm trying to put an even balance to the discussion from both sides.

Difficult innit!

Difficult? Yes, but very well put, Pettgreen.
What I should have said, without beating about the bush, was "This".

 

[Old Gunner]

You've got to keep the lines of communication open--there is always room for compromise. The postings I've seen from Bob Foale have always seemed entirely reasonable so I am surprised at this turn of events.

 

[Josh Pope]

I fail to see what these 'lines of communications' were really offering the AFT and its membership anyway. The last meeting documented with Martyn Starnes, back in February, seemed to tell us very little regarding information that the AFT member base are really worried about. The Trust I don't believe could be critical of the club in any way due to the fear of losing these meetings. With Brent throwing his toys out of the pram regarding the ACV, it appears that maintaining what were already growing pointless meetings with the CEO are ultimately not worth the time.

I'm hopeful the AFT can now begin a period of being a genuinely critical 'friend' (if possible now) whereby they use their channels and profile in order to hold the club to account regarding what goes on in the coming months.