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Here's what he had to say.
Firstly, the part of the meeting attended by John and Doug.
A. The Supporters Club Committee handed over a cheque for £1,600 to the Football Club to pay for the netting on the East Bank between home and away supporters. This netting was put in place prior to the recent game against Oxford. This brings the total Supporters Club donations, sponsorships and mascot packages to the Football Club to £14,200 so far this season.
B. The Supporters Club agreed to fund the purchase of 2 manual ground drying machines for the Football Club and asked Doug to arrange the purchase of them as soon as possible. The cost of these machines is likely to be between £500-600 each. Following a thread on this messageboard, a supporter has kindly offered to fund the purchase of one of the machines for us. (Thanks obviously go to the supporter concerned, but also to Shotsweb for making the dialogue possible. This is an example of how individual supporters can directly help the Football Club.)
C. The Committee expressed their concerns with the Official Away Travel Club. At present, the key issue is that while the Travel Club has provided very economical transport for members to the majority of matches this season, there have been a number of matches where no official transport has been run for members due to the low numbers wishing to travel. Doug took this onboard and said that he would see if it was possible to run a smaller coach for some matches.
D. Overall communication between the Football Club and its fans was discussed. Both Doug and John are aware that poor communication has been a real issue, and they are working hard to improve it and make the club more professional off the pitch as well as on it. Work on the Official Website is ongoing. At present the Website is available free to all supporters, but it is planned to become a subscription service again as soon as possible, although there are some issues that need to be sorted out before this can happen.
Both Doug and John do look at the Shotsweb messageboard when they have time, but not all the time. If there is a key issue raised on the messageboard that we feel they should be aware of, they asked us to let them know.
If supporters have issues they wish to raise directly, they should write to Doug concerning administrative affairs, and John regarding the Team or Players. Any communication will be looked at seriously, but supporters need to be aware that both John and Doug and the rest of the administrative staff are extremely busy. There is a great deal that goes on at the football club behind the scenes, and at present the club cannot afford additional staff to help cope with it.
E. Over a year ago, the Supporters Club undertook to look at the possibility of installing a lift at the Phoenix Social Club. We have carried out a lot investigation into the matter and concluded that the shaft originally built to take a lift when the premises were constructed is too small under current regulations. Two possibilities exist, with a new shaft either being built inside the premises or on the outside of the building. The Supporters Club have gone as far as they can, and it is now in the hands of the Board to decide which option to progress with. Once a decision is made, the Supporters Club will work hard to raise funds for the project. There is already £4,842 set aside in the Supporters Club Savings Account for disabled projects, but the lift project could easily cost upwards of £20,000!
F. The Supporters Club Programme Shop has not had a suitable home for the last 2 seasons. Space at the Rec is limited and there is a lot of call for it. However, Doug said that the use of the current buildings was being looked into at present, and if a suitable space became available in any reorganisation, he would let us know.
The Committee felt that meeting with Doug and John was very worthwhile. We were impressed by the work and dedication both men are putting into the Football Club and the degree to which they want to involve supporters, whether they are individuals or members of the Supporters Club or the Trust.
Once Doug and John left, the committee discussed other issues the key ones being::
A. How the Supporters Club should vote at the Football Club's AGM on the special resolution to remove the requirement that no one shareholder in the Football Club can hold more than 20% of the issued share capital. This discussion was fairly short, as there was a unanimous view that we should vote against the resolution. The Supporters Club do not want a single individual to have undue control over the future of the Football Club.
B. The subject of a 200 Club had been discussed at previous meetings and this has been looked at further. It has been decided to launch a fundraising scheme along the lines of a 200 Club, but more ambitiously! Supporters and members of the public will be asked to pay £1 a week by standing order, with a percentage of proceeds being used for a weekly prize and a larger quarterly or half-yearly prize. Ambitiously, there was talk of 2,000 members, a £500 weekly prize and quarterly or half-yearly £5,000 prizes. At this scale, the Supporters Club would earn around £70,000 a year from the scheme. It was agreed to go ahead with the project, publicise it and hope to have the first draw in May.