oh you're back are you? guess I'll be off then.
A nony mouse | 17.09.09 - 3:05 am | #

"20 people? Is that really how many people care about our club?"

What a silly comment. I think you may have missed the point here - actually lots of people care about the club. They buy their season ticket, buy the shirt and travel the country in support of the club they "care" about. Its just that a lot of supporters (myself included) believe that running a football club is best left to those that know what they're doing.. and that just because you "care" it doesn't necessarily mean you have an automatic right to say how money should be spent. I don't support the Trust, and I'm not that keen for a small minority of supporters to speak on my behalf when it comes to important matters. The fact that you made a judgement on how worthy I am as a supporter in this article just proves why this is a bad idea.
DC | 17.09.09 - 9:51 am | #

The meeting was extremely well advertised, the leaflet drop was organised superbly by Derek Woolley & yet the turnout was circa twenty. I received a forwarded e-mail where the writer was urging people to forward it to friends & get as many people to come along as possible.

The blindingly obvious fact, as things stand right now, is that the vast majority of fans have little or no interest in a Supporters Trust. I'm not saying they are right or wrong but if only twenty people turned up the advertising effort failed to generate any interest.

I wish the body well in whatever it is they are trying to achieve but at this moment in time they are very, very tiny minority. The apathetic or disinterested majority may well come to regret their actions further down the line but for now we have to accept that the Trust has very little support.

Until this changes the board are unlikely to take notice of them. A sad scenario perhaps but true.
Ketts | 17.09.09 - 10:23 am | #

I can't help thinking that there is a belief among fans that with a 'Supporters Club' and a 'Fan's Forum' being unable to make any difference this summer why should a Supporters’ Trust?

I can certainly understand why the majority of the fans would be reluctant to trust another group of individuals to do any better.

Supporters’ Trusts are no different, in my view, than the other two organisations. Unless the Trust has enough shares (unlikely as the current board control about 80% of them) to force any changes they will only be allowed the influence that the board/club give them.

It wouldn't matter if there were 20 people there or 20,000, they will just be another group shouting for attention, being invited to meetings when it suits, and being ignored when it doesn’t.

I have been reluctant to be negative of this movement, but DC has a point. I'm not sure that the only requirement to be allowed to ‘speak on behalf of the fans’ is that you were one of 20 that could be bothered to turn up.

If the Trust is designed to speak for the fans (just like the supporters club and the fans forum) then I would suggest that such a small attendance indicates that the fans do not want this type of representation. I have to agree with DC and Ketts, if so many people knew it was happening and chose to give it a miss maybe this is not the time to start a Supporters' Trust at Charlton?
kings hill addick | 17.09.09 - 1:19 pm | #

So the consensus I should take from these comments is that no votes is the same as a no vote? That in democratic decision making, apathy is a valuable method for deciding on a course of action. I'm sorry, but that is in my opinion utter cobblers.
Stuart | 17.09.09 - 9:57 pm | #

Stuart, I'm not sure that is what any of us are saying. It's certainly not what I'm saying. I have no interest in comparing the Supporter’s Trust to politics or democratic decision making processes. People’s decisions/intentions to turn up or not are irrelevant. DC’s main trust was that in the same way you can’t count the decision not to vote as a no vote you can’t assume that failure to attend this meeting means that you don’t care about the club.
kings hill addick | 18.09.09 - 12:13 pm | #

Kings Hill Addick - what supporters' club?
Inspector Sands | Homepage | 18.09.09 - 1:46 pm | #

Inspector, I was thinking of this one:

http://www.casc.org.uk/

I'm not a member, so I can't comment on it's success, but as there are still occasional meetings mentioned on the club website I assumed that it was still in existence. If the Supporters’ Club has shrunk I think that may have more to do with the fans’ interest than anything else - the same fans that would need to be involved to make a Supporters’ Trust successful.

I know that I am setting myself up to be asked "what have I done to help?" and I'm not going to pretend that I have a good answer to that question.

I am more than happy for the Supporters’ Trust to be a success but if that requires mobilisation of the same group of fans that can’t be bothered with the Supporters’ Club or the Fans’ Forum then I have some reservations. Despite the best intentions of those involved (and I make no attempts to pretend that includes me) I don’t see it being much of a success if the general fan on the street can’t be bothered with it.

Like Ketts, I’m not saying that this is a good thing, but one cannot hope to take on the board with less than 1% of the share capital and a couple of dozen fans behind them.
kings hill addick | 18.09.09 - 2:23 pm | #

So, the supporters club that's done bugger all for the past decade, then? Best wound up, I think.

The Trust is different because it'll have a legal status and, with enough will, should be able to exercise some influence on the club.

Permanent negativity won't ever help us get anywhere.
Inspector Sands | Homepage | 21.09.09 - 7:19 pm | #

Agreed.
Kings Hill Addick | 22.09.09 - 3:49 am | #

I think it is important to make a distinction between those who would take a proactive role as opposed to a supportive role in a Supporters Trust.

I think there are rather more than 20 people who can see the potential advantages but who for their own personal reasons would be reluctant to be anything more than members paying their annual subscription or whatever.

Some of us may not have the ability or time to take a proactive role. It does not necessarily mean that we disagree with the concept.
LenGlover | 28.09.09 - 5:44 pm | #