Why do the GT's have a spot on the 'GAS' Board?

[Elias]

Fair enough Chris.

I chose not to disclose my identity as you state because simply thats how i like to post under a psydemn (wheres the spell check !!!) I am known to quite a few who post on here, and the psydemn name is a bit different - so's the avatar!
:greensmile:

When i do comment, i comment on my own behalf, i dont comment on behalf of the branch.
No doubt you refer to comment made on ATD by myself where i made reference to the branch but that was to illustrate a point rather rant with no substance or example to back it up. Far too much of that been going on, on ALL sides lately........

 

[Elias]

when i say 'nominate' i mean we will have to hold elections once the intersested parties come forward - elections should be a PAFC supporters group forte by now :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Fair enough Chris.

I chose not to disclose my identity as you state because simply thats how i like to post under a psydemn (wheres the spell check !!!) I am known to quite a few who post on here, and the psydemn name is a bit different - so's the avatar!
:greensmile:

When i do comment, i comment on my own behalf, i dont comment on behalf of the branch.
No doubt you refer to comment made on ATD by myself where i made reference to the branch but that was to illustrate a point rather rant with no substance or example to back it up. Far too much of that been going on, on ALL sides lately........

Well good luck to your Branch candidate. He/she will have to use their real name on the ballot paper though

 

[Elias]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[grahamc]

While reading posts on Pasoti its quite clear that our views are varied and that is a good thing for a forum, so anyone posting should get a fair chance to put their point of view. I feel recently as you read post it’s not about constructive criticism it seems to be jealousy about someone has this or that, your friends with him/her. There has to be some camaraderie in any group James Brent will not want to turn up or hear that a meeting was one long moan just for the sake of it. It seems to me that a lot of people posting here are still in battle mode but now it’s about bringing down the people who have done the most to help the club. I believe the GASB will naturally change to reflect the changes at the club and who better to get it up and running than the people that all of us have rallied behind over this last year. May be a limit to how long someone could be on the board to avoid the perceived to friendliness.

 

[TCM]

While reading posts on Pasoti its quite clear that our views are varied and that is a good thing for a forum, so anyone posting should get a fair chance to put their point of view. I feel recently as you read post it’s not about constructive criticism it seems to be jealousy about someone has this or that, your friends with him/her. There has to be some camaraderie in any group James Brent will not want to turn up or hear that a meeting was one long moan just for the sake of it. It seems to me that a lot of people posting here are still in battle mode but now it’s about bringing down the people who have done the most to help the club. I believe the GASB will naturally change to reflect the changes at the club and who better to get it up and running than the people that all of us have rallied behind over this last year. May be a limit to how long someone could be on the board to avoid the perceived to friendliness.

yea the gas board will have to have a change of personel every 12 months or so to be seen to be not to cozy IMO,

 

[TCM]

also a few people ( including myself)have asked if there is any news with regards to how this is going to work,,so thinking about that i suppose the board will be taking a good look at pasoti to gage feelings on this subject,,,so on a pesonel veiw i would ask people to post here if you want random selection ( for me the only way),,, VOTE RANDOM :greensmile: the fairest and most impartial,,,

 

[A_Proverbial_Avocado]

2. The need for a set of fans to act as a critical friend is a given.

Is it?

To be honest, I'm not sure a board of fans created by the owner will ever have much effect. The owner is the owner, Al Fayed can put a statue of Michael Jackson outside Fulham's ground, and Brent will do as he sees fit at the end of the day.

Interesting as always from the GT's statement. They don't talk much, but when they do it is sound and informative. Given the previous comments regarding workload issues and IJN's post earlier, it will be interesting to see whether they do bother with the GAS Board. I wouldn't say it fits in much with their mission statements to date, but they've adapted and found a niche to date, so, who knows.

 

[Greenrod]

John has had the advantage of looking at the whole picture afresh and has rightly pointed out the petty squabbling and jockeying for position.

The GAS Board should not only be in the position of being the mouth piece for the supporters, but also to cement relationships between the groups and divide ownerships and responsibilities - like who runs the buses (sic).

 

[TCM]

I've been out of the country for a few days, so there's been a lot for me to catch up on - and I'm not even close to being up to speed yet.

However, I wanted to add my thoughts to this thread, since fan representation to the club has long been a subject of interest to me.

As recently as 2007-08, the old Supporters Trust provided a simple channel of communication between the regional branches and the club, with a committee made up of representatives from the branches and an Advisory Committee of people (like me) who weren't Trustees, but helped communicate and organise in support of the Youth Hostel.

It was a simple system and it worked reasonably well, leading to the club wanting to take the model forward into a "Federation", which sought to merge all the supporters branches into a coalesced and properly constituted organisation, providing a direct link to senior club officials, if not to the board itself.

That stalled, for two reasons - primarily, the growing awareness of the financial maelstrom that was about to engulf us; but even before that, there were hesitations from each of the groups about the constitution of the new body and what it would mean for the independence and sustainability of long-standing supporter groups like PASALB, PACSA and PASTA, amongst others.

Those were the "good old days", it seems.

Now, we appear to have more groups than you can count on the fingers of both hands, each with it's own identity, purpose, character and direction, each with forceful personalities at their head and each having differing views on how they should interrelate with each other.

The spectrum of opinion expressed by senior figures in each of these groups is dizzying to contemplate and even for someone as engaged as I have been in the last ten to fifteen years, I cannot begin to simplify my own response to ally with one or the other of these.

I have tremendous admiration for the "do-ers" of the last 12 months - those that have stepped up to the plate and ensured we all still had a club to support, in the manner we choose to support it.

But I am less hopeful of the likelihood for unity of purpose amongst the more vocal elements of the fanbase.

Reading this site, and others, it's terribly apparent that the unexpected consequence of the last two years of destruction has been the total loss of our ability to coalesce behind a single idea that helps to advance the club.

By that I mean that pre-2008, all you ever had to do was say "this is for the Trust" and people would fall over themselves to help and donate. Two books were written by this site, with the aim of generating funds for the Trust, for example. Furniture and TV's were collected to make the Hostel more homely for the youngsters. It was simple and it worked, until the brutal divorce from the club broke the mould.

Nowadays, in the febrile and suspicious atmosphere that haunts all Argyle forums, it seems you must be either "pro" or "anti" in respect of the Trust, the GT's, or the new GAS board and there are any number of variations of opinion on whether selecting one or the other makes your perspective worthless or suspect.

The club was saved, but since then there has been a further descent into petty point-scoring, sniping and low behaviour in many quarters. Ego and personal perspectives seem to be more important to some than what is good for the club.

For me, I am struggling to see a point in the future when the more expressive and dynamic Argyle fans will be able to work together productively, rather than splintering apart over minor details of electoral process and procedure.

I hope that the new GAS Board will be able to turn this around. It is a thoughtful and well-intentioned model for the fans to use to communicate transparently with the people who will be setting the course and tone of our club for years to come.

But for it to succeed, the fans are going to have to remember what purpose it serves - PAFC, and nothing else.

dont get that atall?iam thinking the idear is mr brent gives the supporters eyes on the board,and when you say PAFC and nothing else what else do you meen?are you talking about differant groups infighting?

 

[desargyle]

I've been watching this develop, from afar, as I spent most of the summer away from Plymouth.

It's actually quite amusing as people like Plympton Pilgrim, John Vaughn and the like, seem to have turned renegade at first sight. But then thinking about it, they seem to want to have a go at people like IJN, Chris Webb and the GT's at every opportunity.

Perhaps, what has happened is that the do'ers are getting rewarded by JB and the fan base and because of that, the former illuminaries of PASOTI and PAFC have had their noses well and truly put out of joint. I'm not sure if John Lloyd fits into that category as JL has, to be fair to him, stayed in the background, but now seems to be voicing his opinion slightly more than he has for the last year.

I could be completely wrong, but John's post and Mike's question, highlighted what I've been thinking for a while.

 

[TCM]

and if the idear is transparantcy how come iam compleatly in the dark?sorry to go on but who, what, where, when?,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,confused . com,,i understand its being worked through,, ARE WE LIKELY TO KNOW ANY THING ANY TIME SOON,,after the last few years i would say its a vital piece in the jigsaw,,,,can we be kept up to speed please,,,

 

[A_Proverbial_Avocado]

I've been out of the country for a few days, so there's been a lot for me to catch up on - and I'm not even close to being up to speed yet.

However, I wanted to add my thoughts to this thread, since fan representation to the club has long been a subject of interest to me.

As recently as 2007-08, the old Supporters Trust provided a simple channel of communication between the regional branches and the club, with a committee made up of representatives from the branches and an Advisory Committee of people (like me) who weren't Trustees, but helped communicate and organise in support of the Youth Hostel.

It was a simple system and it worked reasonably well, leading to the club wanting to take the model forward into a "Federation", which sought to merge all the supporters branches into a coalesced and properly constituted organisation, providing a direct link to senior club officials, if not to the board itself.

That stalled, for two reasons - primarily, the growing awareness of the financial maelstrom that was about to engulf us; but even before that, there were hesitations from each of the groups about the constitution of the new body and what it would mean for the independence and sustainability of long-standing supporter groups like PASALB, PACSA and PASTA, amongst others.

Those were the "good old days", it seems.

Now, we appear to have more groups than you can count on the fingers of both hands, each with it's own identity, purpose, character and direction, each with forceful personalities at their head and each having differing views on how they should interrelate with each other.

The spectrum of opinion expressed by senior figures in each of these groups is dizzying to contemplate and even for someone as engaged as I have been in the last ten to fifteen years, I cannot begin to simplify my own response to ally with one or the other of these.

I have tremendous admiration for the "do-ers" of the last 12 months - those that have stepped up to the plate and ensured we all still had a club to support, in the manner we choose to support it.

But I am less hopeful of the likelihood for unity of purpose amongst the more vocal elements of the fanbase.

Reading this site, and others, it's terribly apparent that the unexpected consequence of the last two years of destruction has been the total loss of our ability to coalesce behind a single idea that helps to advance the club.

By that I mean that pre-2008, all you ever had to do was say "this is for the Trust" and people would fall over themselves to help and donate. Two books were written by this site, with the aim of generating funds for the Trust, for example. Furniture and TV's were collected to make the Hostel more homely for the youngsters. It was simple and it worked, until the brutal divorce from the club broke the mould.

Nowadays, in the febrile and suspicious atmosphere that haunts all Argyle forums, it seems you must be either "pro" or "anti" in respect of the Trust, the GT's, or the new GAS board and there are any number of variations of opinion on whether selecting one or the other makes your perspective worthless or suspect.

The club was saved, but since then there has been a further descent into petty point-scoring, sniping and low behaviour in many quarters. Ego and personal perspectives seem to be more important to some than what is good for the club.

For me, I am struggling to see a point in the future when the more expressive and dynamic Argyle fans will be able to work together productively, rather than splintering apart over minor details of electoral process and procedure.

I hope that the new GAS Board will be able to turn this around. It is a thoughtful and well-intentioned model for the fans to use to communicate transparently with the people who will be setting the course and tone of our club for years to come.

But for it to succeed, the fans are going to have to remember what purpose it serves - PAFC, and nothing else.

Thought provoking as ever.

:nworthy: