Introduction.
Paul Davis began by introducing Jeremy Wray to the meeting as a representative of the consortium that recently took over majority ownership of the club. Jeremy was greeted with a warm round of applause for his part in the takeover which effectively saved the club.
Officers reports.
Membership currently stands at 940 but this is expected to fall back as renewals become due and the previous air of crisis surrounding the club is no longer present. A large batch of renewal letters have been sent out and so far the response has been good.
The Trust has about £1,700 at the moment though some of this will need to be spent to repair the roof of the office at the County Ground. We have agreed to split the costs of the work with the club. This work should be done within the next couple of weeks.
There is just over £14,500 in the Red Army Fund which is available to the club should they wish to use it to fund any loan signings.
Game 39
The recent Premiership proposal for an "International round" of matches was discussed with all speakers expressing opposition to the proposal and concern about its effects on clubs in the lower leagues and on football in general.
Paul Davis proposed a vote, seconded by Mike Wilks, that :"The Trust is opposed to the Premiership Game 39 proposal" The vote was passed unanimously.
Q & A session with Jeremy Wray
The meeting was then opened up to a question and answer session with Jeremy Wray.
Question:
The new owners have stated their intention to run the club in partnership with local business and the local community which was not the case under the previous management of the club. Why is a representative of the previous owners (James Wills) still on the board and does Mike Diamandis still play any role at the club?
Jeremy began by pointing out that the Wills family have put somewhere in the region of £10 million into the club over many years and although they have had to write off that money they still wanted to retain something to show for their investment and a minority shareholding along with a non executive seat on the board was part of the deal that saw them hand over majority ownership of the club to the new consortium.
Swindon Football Holdings now owns 75% of the club shares with the Wills family retaining about 19%. There is also a provision for the Wills family to make some of their money back from a stadium development should that be possible.
Jeremy also confirmed that Mike Diamandis no longer has any role within the running of the football club.
Mike Wilks made the point that people are nervous about the involvement of people who were fundamentally linked to the way the club was run in the past.
Jeremy answered that he has complete confidence in Nick Watkins (the clubs new chief executive) to give everybody at the club an opportunity to show what they can do and make sure things are run properly.
Paul Davis backed up the point by stating that he and the other Trust board members who met with the club a few weeks back were very impressed by Nick Watkins and were also confident in his ability to do that job.
Question :
What is the current situation with Bill Power?
As the matter is subject to ongoing legal action Jeremy was restricted in what he could say publicly, but they are helping to resolve the issue. The problem was that the documentation at the club was not as good as it should have been. When the issue is resolved the fans will be told.
Question :
Over the last few years we have been told that the previous regime (i.e. going back to the Donnegan and Blatchley era) didnt keep proper records and that was why accounts were late or incomplete. How long will it take before the new owners have all the figures complete?
Jeremy stated that he has looked on in disbelief in the past at some of the things the club has got away with. They are determined to make sure things are done properly. An AGM should be called by the end of the current season.
Question :
Is the local business community embracing the club?
Jeremy replied that it is too early to say but there are some new sponsorship deals being looked at currently although they are unable to reveal the names at the moment.
Mike Wilks raised the main sponsorship deal with Kingswood and stated that it doesn't appear to have done much for the club.
Jeremy stated that there would be a top down approach to approaching local businesses starting with the larger businesses in the Town and then moving on to smaller companies. There are a lot of big companies with bases in Swindon that should be involved but currently are not.
The clubs catchment area is massive and they need to get the local community involved with the club, increase gates etc... It will not be run as a "rich mans plaything" just throwing money at it, but as a business generating its own funds.
Question :
As a successful businessman, why take over STFC?
Jeremy replied that the club couldnt get much lower than it was from a business point of view. As a business it deserved to be wound up and probably would have been if it were not a football club. There is a lot of potential for things to improve.
The club doesn't have to run at a profit but does have to run to a budget. They have a budget for the first three years and the funding required for that is already in place.
There is satisfaction to be had from getting the business sorted out. Jeremy and Andrew Fitton are also football nuts.
Jeremy also emphasised that they are not looking to make money from a property development. If there is a development the club will be the beneficiary. They have someone in mind with property expertise to bring onto the board.
Question :
A lot of fans live a long way from Swindon, and currently can not get match commentary due to the contract with Brunel Radio.
Jeremy explained that there are contracts in place but Nick Watkins has already spoken to other stations about match commentary for next season. The Brunel deal may have been the best offer at the time but it doesn't suit the clubs needs purely due to broadcast coverage.
The contract is up at the end of this season so it can be changed then.
They view any progress made during the remainder of this season, both on and off the pitch, as a bonus. More things can be tackled properly in the summer and Radio commentary is top of that list.
Questions regarding ticketing.
A number of questions and suggestions were aired regarding ticketing.
Suggestions from the floor included bundling of tickets along with mascot packages, and a 5 year season ticket with VIP days included in the price as an incentive.
Jeremy revealed that there will be a complete review of ticketing beginning shortly and welcomed any ideas from fans. He also requested that if possible suggestions should be sent to him by email so they are not overlooked during the review process. his email address is JeremyW@swindontownfc.co.uk
Question :
There was a large crowd at the County Ground for the recent England under-19s match but there had been problems with the catering especially the length of time it took queuing.
Jeremy stated that he attended the Bristol Rovers match along with Sir Martyn Arbib and had noted the same problems then. They will be looking to improve this.
Question :
Mike Wilks raised the issue of an elected fans representative on the club board which had been part of the Fans Consortium manifesto.
Jeremy agreed that it was crucial to have a conduit for information between the club and fans and they need to find the best way of doing that. There may be other ways of achieving that other than an elected rep.
It is not something they have discussed, but is not ruled out either. They believe in running companies with a small board of directors and all directors must have something to contribute or there is no point in them being there.
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