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Questions for the new Owls Trust


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5 hours ago, @owlstalk said:

FAQ

Who are we?

This meeting has been organised by a group of long-standing Wednesday fans who believe that increased and more structured engagement between the club and fans will benefit the club as a whole. None of us are employed by, or have any current or recent connection with the club.

What is the background of those currently involved?

We are a group of fans who have connected through long standing friendships, work connections, social media or other links.

Why are we trying to set up a Supporters’ Trust?

We all feel Wednesday fans should speak with a stronger voice and have better connections and influence with the club. We want the Trust to represent the views of Trust members and the wider fanbase providing effective dialogue between fans and the club

Who will control and direct the Trust?

The Trust’s membership will decide how the Trust will be run in future, who will form the board, and whether we as individuals have a role in that. Our job for now is to ensure that the Trust is established.

Why choose a Supporters' Trust?

It is clearly possible for fans to set up a supporters’ organisation without any formal structure at all. However, we thought it best to have a properly established legal structure that is accountable to its members. Supporters' Trusts are established as Community Benefit Societies regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. They are democratic organisations based on the one member one vote principle.

Supporters' Trusts are also formally recognised by the Football Supporters' Association (FSA). The FSA was formed out of the merger of the Football Supporters' Federation and Supporters Direct. Sheffield Wednesday is one of the few clubs in the Championship not to have its own Supporters' Trust.

Why have a relationship with the FSA?

The FSA has connections with the English Football League (EFL). This is particularly relevant if a football club gets into a very difficult situation (eg Bolton). Consequently, the Supporters' Trust can offer fans influence on what happens to a club. Furthermore, all Supporters' Trusts have common interests in how football is run and therefore there is a supportive community already established which we can utilise.

What issues might the Supporters' Trust take up?

There is concern among many Wednesday fans on a number of matters including:
The future sustainability and financial position of the football club.The future strategy for the club.Strengthening engagement between fans and the club, improving attendances and the match-day atmosphere at HillsboroughEnsuring the supporter opinions are gathered and are effectively represented to the clubHaving strong connections between club, community and the city.
How will the Supporters' Trust address the concerns of the fanbase?

An effective Supporters' Trust will help fans channel their views on these matters and more to the football club. The aim is to engage the football club in constructive dialogue where our concerns and ideas are heard and the football club takes proactive steps to address them.
What engagement does the Trust want with the club?
Current engagement between the club and supporters is almost exclusively through fans forums. Fans forums can be useful, but they do not deliver what we think is needed, which is deep understanding, engagement and sharing between the club and its supporters. For example, the forums only take place twice per year, and none have been held since December 2018. The Trust wants to establish a much deeper and sustained relationship with the club that enables proper consultation, exchange of ideas, and constructive dialogue on how it is being run. This will require much smaller meetings where the Trust can engage positively with the football club on matters that are of interest to fans.

What if the club does not acknowledge the Supporters Trust?

The Trust will take a positive approach and we hope and believe this will not be the case, but in those circumstances then it will be down to members of the Supporters Trust to decide on how to respond.

Who will run the Trust?

The Trust will be owned and controlled by Trust members who will each have one share in the Trust and will have one vote. The Trust members will elect a Board to run the Trust on a regular basis, the Board will be accountable back to the members of the Trust. The Trust will appoint Officers from among the Board members who will have defined roles that have been agreed. Those officers will then be accountable to the Board. The Trust will have to produce properly audited accounts and the Trust will be independently regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Will there be competition and division between fans organisations?

There can only be one recognised Supporters' Trust at a club so there will be no competition in that respect. The Trust will recognise that fans’ organisations such as Wednesdayite and SODA play an effective and positive role in doing the things they do – there is no reason for the Trust to impinge on their activities or seek to compete with them.

The Trust will work positively with community organisations including the Community Association at the club.

The Trust will work in partnership with other fans' organisations to agree that the work of the Trust will not have a negative impact on them, and that they can play a role in the work of the Trust, if they wish to.

What Happens Next?

If this open meeting is supportive of a Trust being established a Working Group will be set up. The Working Group will need to:
Agree model rules (based on an FSA template)Develop Rules to be submitted toFCA by the FSA with FSA covering the cost
Appoint interim Directors until elections can take placeEstablish Board Roles – how the - Board will operate and who will do what etcAgree the structure of the TrustSet up a Bank accountSet up a Website and Social media etcProduce a business planEstablish side policies, eg conduct of members and board etcOrganise Trust launchRecruit Trust members
After this, elections will establish the full Board of the Trust and the first Annual General Meeting will be set up.

Will a Supporters’ Trust seek to own the club or buy shares in the club?

One of the objectives of the Supporters Trust movement is fan ownership of clubs. We recognise that in the modern Championship that is a very difficult thing for fans to be able to achieve given the scale of the financial issues involved. Our objective in seeking to build a Supporters Trust is to further fan engagement and influence with the club. All our ideas and energies are focused on this and we have never discussed trying to own the club or purchasing shares in it.

Will this just be like WISA?

Wednesday Independent Supporters Association (WISA) was established in 2000 as a politically campaigning body that used the media and leafletting to criticise the running of the club. WISA never once asked for a meeting with the club, and the only meeting that took place was initiated by the club. Influencing the club through engagement was not a massive part of the plan for WISA. WISA was not a Supporters’ Trust. We are trying to establish a Supporters Trust that is connected with FSA and is regulated by the FCA. We want to establish the Trust to try to build a positive relationship with the club and to improve fan influence and engagement.

How will the Supporter’s Trust be Funded?

The Trust will be funded by a small membership fee payable each year by every member of the Supporters’ Trust and also through fund-raising as approved by the Trust itself

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A good idea with the best of intentions but imo trying to deal with the current regime will be like banging your head against a brick wall.

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7 hours ago, @owlstalk said:

 

 

The second it's set up, the second one of the north stand cool kids will start slating it as 'not talking on my behalf' etc etc and within a couple of weeks all credibility will be gone and the fanbase will eventually grow to hate it

Was the case with WISA, the old Owls Trust, Wednesdayite etc etc

Always happens

So what? There will always be people ready to slate things off before they are even started...,

 

I think it’s a good development that should be supported by all true fans of this club

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7 hours ago, Rhubarb n Custard said:

Believe it or not we intriduced a 'suggestions box' at work recently and asked how we could make the workplace better. 

The pick of the responses was 'bring back pork pie Fridays' 🤣

 


 

The general public never knows what it wants (or can’t agree)

 

Thats why we need true leaders 

 

Reap leaders

 

Strong leaders 

 

Step forward a leader please 

 

Anyone will do

 

lol

 

 


Owlstalk Shop

 

 

 

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On 11/03/2020 at 12:56, @owlstalk said:

 

 


With the new Owls Trust about to launch there will be questions amongst Wednesday fans regarding this brand new fans group

Drop your questions to Alex on Twitter or below on here 

 

I will be going just to see what the craic is with this group of fans. I was disappointed with how disorganised we were when the club nearly folded, prior to MM stepping in and cannot believe that after clearing all our debts and looking lean, mean and ready for action we are now in a worse state after wasting so many millions of pounds on next to nothing, albeit with an owner who is prepared to keep paying the bills this time.

 

It is ok saying that there are, or could be issues with the shareholding aspect of this, but as long as the shareholding is secured legally to a fans group and the representatives of the fans group truly represent the majority of the members and are not just going to execute some personal agenda, it surely has to be better than the method we have now of making DC accountable for his actions, because we do not have one!

 

If you read between the lines of Alan Bigg's latest feature and a couple of other hints from journalists, they appear to be saying that it is entirely up to the fans to ask what is going on and what the long and short term plans for the club are, because the press constantly ask these questions, but have nobody available to answer them. The communications department do not want to do anything other than issue fully sanitised stories about youth teams, old players and past glories and the only people who seem to be allowed to speak the truth about their relevant departments are, our manager and DC. Our owner/chairman is very adept at disappearing for months at a time and only telling us anything relevant to our troubles when we have been reading about it for months, or years in the press first and our poor list of managers are just puppets tied to a pole and poked up out of the trenches to be shot to pieces, then thrown away and replaced when the last one is shot full of holes. Our managers cannot tell us half of what is going on because of the huge mess we are in that has nothing to do with him and is only the responsibility of the owner, regarding the physical state of the players, the mental state of the players, their wages, future purchases, possible points deductions, EFL legal matters and so on. Our managers have to give banal replies endlessly to these questions, because there is nobody else to ask and if they said no comment, or, you will have to ask the chairman/owner that question, over and over again, people would get even angrier with the person at the centre of all of this and Chansiri would then protect himself from that by bringing in a manager who was prepared to bull$hit for him, until the cows come home and then give us some fresh bullShit to chew on. 

 

 

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