For the attention of AFT Members (merged)

[Frazer Lloyd-Davies]

You see, I would look at it slightly differently. It is very difficult to engage people with 'poo might hit the fan'. Even as a club that has gone through all of that, people are beginning to forget. We're on a sound footing and I think the AFT will really struggle engaging people with what is essentially a negative message.

I think they'd have much greater success working on the match day experience as you say. Little but tangible wins for the fan base will give people a reason to engage with the AFT. It will give them a purpose that is easy to comprehend and translate to potential members. I.e. This is what we do...

Then, should things go bad, people can look at the AFT see a serious of wins and think here is a group with some level of competence.

The Chief Executive will meet people on a 1-1 basis to discuss any issue, as I have done. Has any member of the Trust Board taken advantage of this opportunity about any pressing matters concerning fans and reported back?

I have no idea HC. When I was on the Board there were regular meetings with Martyn Starnes. I can only assume that these sort of meetings still exist, but I can't say whether they do or otherwise.

 

[Argyledad]

Myself and several other members of the AFT board met with Michael Dunford last week as part of a regular pattern of meetings. We presented the results of our recent stewarding survey which received a grateful response and discussed the positive measures the club had taken, and would be taking in the future, in addressing the recent issues in Block 14. A fuller report will be published later this week in my regular Chairman's report.

 

[Graham Clark]

The AFT, according to its aims, is committed to strengthening the voice for supporters in the decision-making process at a club and strengthening the links between the club and the community it serves. It also seeks to represent the views of Plymouth Argyle fans and to provide them with a democratic voice capable of having an influence on the way that our club is run.

At the AGM, attended by about 30 members, on Saturday, it was confirmed they now have over 400 members and around £10,000 in the bank. It would be fair to say that in the last year or so and for various reasons the AFT have struggled organisationally but that has now been properly addressed.

However, even though the Club hold regular and cordial meetings with the AFT, the shortly to be announced, Plymouth Argyle Fans Assembly will significantly broaden, quite correctly in my view, the Club’s consultation with supporters. The proposed Assembly will represent, share and discuss the views of a whole range of supporters groups. The AFT commendably have agreed to be part of it.

However, unlike with other Football Clubs the AFT have had to exist alongside the incomparable Green Taverners and the Community Trust who play a far more significant role in the day to day operations of the Club than the AFT can ever aspire to. The GTs are uniquely raising over £1m to build a much heralded supporters bar and the Community Trust have significant funds (nearly £1m in cash in the Bank according to their last accounts) to continue their exceptional work within the community.

In light of the above the AFT will have to work even harder to strengthening their voice for supporters in the decision-making process at a club and strengthening the links between the club and the community it serves. The AFT, however, are well aware of this and with a new Board of 12 members and committed leadership there is no reason this cannot be achieved.

However, with the Club on a sustainable financial footing and moving forward it will certainly be a challenge for the AFT because some supporters will have the perception that the need for an active Trust has subsided and that is the problem the AFT persistently have to overcome if they are to grow their membership and influence.

 

[Argyledad]

Thank you Graham. A well measured and pretty accurate assessment of the current position.

 

[IJN]

I would add that I was asked by Simon Hallett if PASOTI would like to be represented on the Plymouth Argyle Fans Assembly, I declined the offer.

I made the point that we are merely an independent website and as such could not represent Argyle fans in that manner. We do not claim to be representative of Argyle fans.

This site is about football in general and Argyle in particular. It's as simple as that.

Others have different aspirations, all we want to do on here is to give a platform to people who want to talk about footie without resorting to libel or bad language.

 

[Argyledad]

The AFT held its AGM at the Life Centre immediately after the Fleetwood game on Saturday. Maybe it was the free pasties or the free draw for a signed Argyle shirt, but we were delighted to have well over twenty members attend, allowing us to be quorate. Well done to Tim Ellis who won the shirt !
I am pleased to announce that Christopher Dean, Tony Hooper, Keith Brown, Celia Ellacott, Sam Down and Andy Symons will all join Sue Clark, Roger Willis, Virginia Pike, Tony Sherlock, John Lloyd and Bob Foale on an enlarged Board of 12 members. Tim Chown will continue to be our Society Secretary.
Thank you to Roger Willis who has transformed the membership secretary’s role and to Virginia Pike who, with Roger’s assistance, has completed a fantastic job in getting our finances up to date. Many thanks to Sue Clark who has championed the cause of our disabled supporters and outgoing board member Ed Shillabeer who has campaigned for safe standing. I have also been grateful for John Lloyd’s expertise in communications and Tony Sherlock’s as minutes secretary. Finally a huge vote of thanks to Tim Chown who has overseen the election process and advised the Board in many areas of its business.
We are looking forward to a meeting in a couple of weeks with Simon Hallett, as well as our third consecutive meeting with Michael Dunford. We are also hoping to see a positive birth to Michael’s plans for an Argyle Assembly, attempting to bring together the many various organisations that help support our great club.

 

[SteelCannon]

I think Mike, after chatting in the car the other day, that you’re way more anti Trust than I am.

Going back to Tony again, you talk about me not liking differing opinions, Mike is the evidence of what a load of tosh that is.

I disagree with most of what Mike says but we’re still Argyle mates. That’s exactly how it should be. The problem is, the people you listen to repeat and repeat and repeat and in this strange netlogic they’ve adopted it becomes true!

The best idea I think is to put the AFT into suspended animation and drag it out when really needed.

See, there it is again...the 'people I listen to'? Who is that then? I told you, one person alone makes up my mind about things. Me.

If I agreed with you more than not, others would say I listen to you too much, and I have spoken to and listened to you also in the past also and rightly so. I don't ever want a one-sided view.

But I've seen and heard (lord knows we're all sick of it) all I need to hear about all the nonsense between 'the sides'. I really don't give a monkey's nuts. I'm pretty neutral on it all. I've seen evidence from both sides of this odd 'war' between two factions, and I think a lot of people ought to be downright ashamed of themselves and their behaviour...but I really don't care. What you all do - you carry on and leave everyone else out of it. No one else cares. So there is no one 'I listen to'. You seem to have me pegged onto a side - and there isn't any.

And 'I watch the football same as you' - no offence (please!) but that's easy to say when you've watched from the box for the last few years.

And for those mocking the 'investing in the club' statement I made - it's a bit different from buying a pasty. If I don't like it, I'll buy another one. When you buy a football ticket - you're not just paying to watch the match, you're hoping that the money will go into coffers for future players, stadium improvements, whatever it is. So yes, I'll bleat about it and I don't need to 'get over' anything. Other Clubs do it.

You thought someone had 'put me up' to putting in the AFT planning challenge. That's something that a Trust does with a mandate. You 'chose' to believe it was for another reason, messaging me within an hour of the press release going out asking who'd put me up to it.

But anyway, I don't want to come here and have an argument each time - we could go back and forth all the time but I feel I have to constantly explain myself because people constantly get the wrong idea. Things happened when I was Chair that challenged the Club - and it seems my card has been marked ever since.

Good luck to the new AFT Board. 12 members. About time. In my year as Chair, the lowest ebb was just FIVE, when we were trying to juggle the jobs around just to keep the thing afloat - it got too much. Wish there'd been 12 members when I was Chair- oh what we could have achieved by now. Good luck, Bob, I look forward to seeing the Trust continue to improve. Onwards and upwards. Perhaps next year, if there are still roughly the same amount of Board members I'll stand for the Board again - I do miss it!

 

[nikkk]

Wow that's quite a group ! Wish I had stood myself now. Would be lively.

 

[Diamond Lil]

I look forward to the Q&A's from the AFT's meeting with SH.