Trust asks Club to comment on recent events

[underdog]

Dear all

 

For your information. Please find attached Club's responses to recent events

 

https://trustoldham.co.uk/2020/08/19/trust-oldham-members-concerns/

 

Cheers

 

[Chaddyexile84]

1 minute ago, underdog said:

Dear all

 

For your information. Please find attached Club's responses to recent events

 

https://trustoldham.co.uk/2020/08/19/trust-oldham-members-concerns/

 

Cheers

 

beat you to it UD

[oafcmetty]

"The nine players that did not agree to the furlough payment notified the Club in writing of their agreement to being furloughed through the PFA."

 

What?

[Chaddyexile84]

10 minutes ago, oafcmetty said:

"The nine players that did not agree to the furlough payment notified the Club in writing of their agreement to being furloughed through the PFA."

 

What?

Exactly - the Trust is as unprofessional as the club now and can’t even put out reliable information- Halliwell or Partington probably wrote this and it’s telling it minimises the club’s culpability 

[singe]

I much prefer this comprehensive response than glib nothing to see here of recent times.

We need to #ReclaimTheTrust IMHO, and get it back to it's original more challenging role.

 

[singe]

2 minutes ago, Chaddyexile84 said:

Exactly - the Trust is as unprofessional as the club now and can’t even put out reliable information- Halliwell or Partington probably wrote this and it’s telling it minimises the club’s culpability 

 Doubt it, isn't that is from the Club not the Trust ?
Getting the right people back on the Trust and using the 3% to full effect with FSA help is essential. Last chance saloon though,

[Chaddyexile84]

Just now, singe said:

 Doubt it, isn't that is from the Club not the Trust ?

it is written as a Q and A so my view is it must be approved by club and Trust - they are very much in bed of late with the appointment of Halliwell et all (even more than they were)

[singe]

1 minute ago, Chaddyexile84 said:

it is written as a Q and A so my view is it must be approved by club and Trust - they are very much in bed of late with the appointment of Halliwell et all (even more than they were)

PArtington isn;t on the Trust, and Philippa has proved to be quite preparted to challenge.

[Dave_Og]

22 minutes ago, oafcmetty said:

"The nine players that did not agree to the furlough payment notified the Club in writing of their agreement to being furloughed through the PFA."

 

What?

Quite. I'm happy to volunteer as a proof reader.. 

[Lee Sinnott]

25 minutes ago, singe said:

I much prefer this comprehensive response than glib nothing to see here of recent times.

We need to #ReclaimTheTrust IMHO, and get it back to it's original more challenging role.

 

It's a lost cause. Let it disband. Answer to question one confirms that 9 players have not been paid their contractual wages since lockdown. Answer to question 4 says no risk of embargo as we've not paid late since March. Did nobody think to challenge that...?

[singe]

48 minutes ago, Lee Sinnott said:

It's a lost cause. Let it disband. Answer to question one confirms that 9 players have not been paid their contractual wages since lockdown. Answer to question 4 says no risk of embargo as we've not paid late since March. Did nobody think to challenge that...?

I know we don't agree on this. I acknowledge it's last chance saloon. But if why is the owner so hellbent on a coup? Because he knows a properly functioning Trust can really clip his wings. It's never done that.

I admit I 've assumed it's the club that made the mistake, but if they did that should lie with them not the Trust IMHO.

[Dave_Og]

1 hour ago, singe said:

I know we don't agree on this. I acknowledge it's last chance saloon. But if why is the owner so hellbent on a coup? Because he knows a properly functioning Trust can really clip his wings. It's never done that.

I admit I 've assumed it's the club that made the mistake, but if they did that should lie with them not the Trust IMHO.

I don't think he's hellbent on that at all. I don't think he gives a flying one. 

[Latics and England]

2 hours ago, oafcmetty said:

"The nine players that did not agree to the furlough payment notified the Club in writing of their agreement to being furloughed through the PFA."

 

What?

This is confusing but the explanation given by the club is that whilst the players were not prepared to take a pay cut they were prepared to go on furlough.

 

Every company had the option to supplement furlough either partially or in full. The 9 rebels wanted it supplementing in full but presumably were prepared to agree to the furlough element in principle whilst continuing to discuss the top-up element.

 

There is no suggestion that this contravenes the rules of the furlough scheme.

[underdog]

okay its been a busy couple of weeks for the caretaker Trust team and maybe we should have been a bit more clearer on the method of this particular dialogue. So here goes...

 

As fans, we were all concerned with what seemed a never ending barrage in the media of stuff being reported about our club, over last weekend.

 

With this in mind, the Trust wrote to the club for an explanation and requested a response in writing with a view to publish those responses. There was a verbal conversation as well and the response came through afterwards. 

 

With regards to further questioning like Lee Sinnott has raised, yes it would be easier if it was face to face to do this and at the time. But i get what he/she is saying too.

 

Hope this helps

 

 

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

Quote

The Club’s offer to players varied from only furlough payment to a 20% pay cut however all offers were rejected by a group of nine players.  Eleven other players agreed to the Club offer when they recognised other lower paid staff had already agreed to this to help the Club.

 

They're really laying the paint on thick here. Eleven virtuous players make a noble gesture PURELY because staff were accepting it, in contrast to the nine utter shits who had the audacity to reject the club's furlough offer. I'd counter that the non-playing staff didn't even enter the thoughts of said players.

[League one forever]

It never ceases to amaze me what some you of expect from the trust. Basically you all want a private owner (It was exactly the same with Corney) to tell you how we manages the club and his money. And if the said owner doesn’t spill his guts, you all whinge we’re being kept in the dark. Name one club that tells fans everything?? It’s madness what some you expect. The trust is there to galvanise the fan base in times of crisis, do fund raisers, and to ask the club to allay fans concerns- which is exactly what the statement is.  IMO that’s the best questioning of the club for as long as I can remember. It’s extremely articulate, and professional. It also balances being probing without being antagonistic. 
 

 

[BP1960]

Reminds me of when the famous Stanley Mathews asked for summer pay from the Blackpool chairman, he was sent packing with "Your don't play in the summer so you're getting nothing in the summer".

[underdog]

13 hours ago, Chaddyexile84 said:

Exactly - the Trust is as unprofessional as the club now and can’t even put out reliable information- Halliwell or Partington probably wrote this and it’s telling it minimises the club’s culpability 

Just to clarify, Mike Halliwell is part of the caretaker Trust board. However, He was not involved with this article

 

 I have heard of someone with the name of Partington. I do not know him and I don't recall meeting him, but I think I may have seen some stuff posted by him as a fan on another site. There is no-one by the name of Partington currently serving on the Caretaker Trust board.

 

I hope this makes sense

 

Cheers

[underdog]

Forgot to say, today is D-Day for Trust members to complete the FSA/Trust survey. (Closes at 23.00hrs tonight)

 

All members would have been contacted with the link and a reminder email sent out last night.

 

The answers will help the new board shape the future of the Trust. So please, have your say.

[Worcester Owl]

13 hours ago, singe said:

I know we don't agree on this. I acknowledge it's last chance saloon. But if why is the owner so hellbent on a coup? Because he knows a properly functioning Trust can really clip his wings. It's never done that.

I admit I 've assumed it's the club that made the mistake, but if they did that should lie with them not the Trust IMHO.

I'm with you Singe on the need to keep the Trust going. I understand the cynicism of Sinnott and others given past events, but as PTB emphasised in a recent statement the 3% shareholding, properly used, is not something to be discarded. The key words here being "properly used" (and that is not a dig at the huge amount of work voluntarily put in by Underdog and others, who deserve great credit).

[unsworth blue]

11 hours ago, League one forever said:

It never ceases to amaze me what some you of expect from the trust. Basically you all want a private owner (It was exactly the same with Corney) to tell you how we manages the club and his money. And if the said owner doesn’t spill his guts, you all whinge we’re being kept in the dark. Name one club that tells fans everything?? It’s madness what some you expect. The trust is there to galvanise the fan base in times of crisis, do fund raisers, and to ask the club to allay fans concerns- which is exactly what the statement is.  IMO that’s the best questioning of the club for as long as I can remember. It’s extremely articulate, and professional. It also balances being probing without being antagonistic. 
 

 

I think Underdog and the Current Chair of the Interim Board have done a very decent job in trying to ask several probing questions of the club however the reason for supporters' disillusionment with the Trust has been that it appears that it has failed to ask the club probing questions, has definitely failed to galvanise the fan base in times of crisis and the club has chosen not to allay fans very real concerns that have been there for some time now and are increasing rather than decreasing.

 

The owner is entitled to run the club as he sees fit but it should be recognised that however he runs the club will have a knock on effect on how stakeholders (including us the supporters) view the club and take any actions they should feel necessary. The Trust set up 6 Expectations of the Club from the Fans - they are all basic minimum expectations that football club supporters should have of the club owner(s) [whoever they are], and i would argue it looks like the club meet 0 out of 6 on a regular and sustainable basis which in my opinion is an area of very real concern for the supporters. 

 

An independent body of supporters, not bedevilled by any constitutional issues as the Trust are, sought to galvanise the fan base in times of crisis and have sought to allay fans concerns by asking probing questions..... their communication has been far superior to that of the Trust and it has a much wider audience than the Trust which is seemingly only accountable to its members (no idea how many there are) rather than the support base has a whole.  The club and the owner is not obliged to tell the fans anything - that's their prerogative, however they cannot deny that fans have a right to ask questions about very real concerns around the club's financial stability, liquidity and going concern issues. 

 

I know Bury FC had a very large Trust membership compared to our own, they had 10% ownership of the shares, a seat on the Board but failed to address significant issues that were jumping up all over the place about the club's owners Modus Operandi...... in my opinion Bury FC Trust failed their supporters by not acting until it was too late, the club is now virtually dead much to the consternation of the club's supporters. 

 

If Oldham Athletic suffer the same fate, and it is far from certain they won't, then at least lets be aware that supporters have actually tried to raise particular concerns and not just accepted club assurances in blind faith as Forever Bury did and as Oldham's Trust appeared to be in danger of doing judging by communications therefrom over the last 12 months which would indicate there are few if any causes for concern.              

[League one forever]

11 minutes ago, unsworth blue said:

I think Underdog and the Current Chair of the Interim Board have done a very decent job in trying to ask several probing questions of the club however the reason for supporters' disillusionment with the Trust has been that it appears that it has failed to ask the club probing questions, has definitely failed to galvanise the fan base in times of crisis and the club has chosen not to allay fans very real concerns that have been there for some time now and are increasing rather than decreasing.

 

The owner is entitled to run the club as he sees fit but it should be recognised that however he runs the club will have a knock on effect on how stakeholders (including us the supporters) view the club and take any actions they should feel necessary. The Trust set up 6 Expectations of the Club from the Fans - they are all basic minimum expectations that football club supporters should have of the club owner(s) [whoever they are], and i would argue it looks like the club meet 0 out of 6 on a regular and sustainable basis which in my opinion is an area of very real concern for the supporters. 

 

An independent body of supporters, not bedevilled by any constitutional issues as the Trust are, sought to galvanise the fan base in times of crisis and have sought to allay fans concerns by asking probing questions..... their communication has been far superior to that of the Trust and it has a much wider audience than the Trust which is seemingly only accountable to its members (no idea how many there are) rather than the support base has a whole.  The club and the owner is not obliged to tell the fans anything - that's their prerogative, however they cannot deny that fans have a right to ask questions about very real concerns around the club's financial stability, liquidity and going concern issues. 

 

I know Bury FC had a very large Trust membership compared to our own, they had 10% ownership of the shares, a seat on the Board but failed to address significant issues that were jumping up all over the place about the club's owners Modus Operandi...... in my opinion Bury FC Trust failed their supporters by not acting until it was too late, the club is now virtually dead much to the consternation of the club's supporters. 

 

If Oldham Athletic suffer the same fate, and it is far from certain they won't, then at least lets be aware that supporters have actually tried to raise particular concerns and not just accepted club assurances in blind faith as Forever Bury did and as Oldham's Trust appeared to be in danger of doing judging by communications therefrom over the last 12 months which would indicate there are few if any causes for concern.              

All this PTB stuff is nonsense. 
 

Great people, can’t fault their effort or commitment. But what have they actually achieved?? Very little. We are non wiser after their great efforts. It’s not their fault in exactly the same way that it’s not the trust fault. You can demand all the answers you want, say it’s our right, but time and again it’s proven that it’s actually got nothing to do with the fans. (As hard as that it is) 
 

Why??

 

Because you want to know what two private business men have agreed, or can’t agree on. 
 

Never.Going.To.Happen.  
 

So all you can do is lobby and hope for change or vote with your feet. I think it’s clear what most have decided to do. 

[unsworth blue]

17 minutes ago, League one forever said:

All this PTB stuff is nonsense. 
 

Great people, can’t fault their effort or commitment. But what have they actually achieved?? Very little. We are non wiser after their great efforts. It’s not their fault in exactly the same way that it’s not the trust fault. You can demand all the answers you want, say it’s our right, but time and again it’s proven that it’s actually got nothing to do with the fans. (As hard as that it is) 
 

Why??

 

Because you want to know what two private business men have agreed, or can’t agree on. 
 

Never.Going.To.Happen.  
 

So all you can do is lobby and hope for change or vote with your feet. I think it’s clear what most have decided to do. 

They are merely asking the questions that the Trust has singularly failed to do. They have asked them in a perfectly respectable and professional manner, have been open and transparent which is what i would suggest supporters want. They cannot demand answers and they haven't. Of course it has something to do with the fans, we are part of the club's rich heritage ...whether anyone can effect change is another matter but don't give me that crap it has nothing to do with the fans. In that case, what's the point of any Supporters club/group? 

 

PTB has actually done an open survey asking fans their intentions for 2020/21 season and for any other areas of concern, they have shared them with the club quite professionally but the club as per usual has chosen to do nothing about it and go their own sweet way. 

 

I think it is clear what most long standing supporters have chosen to do,  if the club and its owners elected to try and do something for the good of the club and the community, things would very probably be different. 

 

I know lets just roll over and let the club die, sounds good - lets not try and effect positive change.
 

Clubs like Hereford and Rochdale have many more supporters investing in their club than OAFC has, they are clubs traditionally lower in the pecking order but leave our unprofessional club to shame. It does not have to be like that - positive change can come very quickly if there is the desire from all parties (I don't think there is currently sadly but nothing to be gained by not trying)   

[singe]

1 hour ago, League one forever said:

All this PTB stuff is nonsense. 
 

Great people, can’t fault their effort or commitment. But what have they actually achieved?? Very little. We are non wiser after their great efforts. It’s not their fault in exactly the same way that it’s not the trust fault. You can demand all the answers you want, say it’s our right, but time and again it’s proven that it’s actually got nothing to do with the fans. (As hard as that it is) 
 

Why??

 

Because you want to know what two private business men have agreed, or can’t agree on. 
 

Never.Going.To.Happen.  
 

So all you can do is lobby and hope for change or vote with your feet. I think it’s clear what most have decided to do. 

Examples abound , football and non football, where people get bored very quickly and just give up and want the solution just sorted.

But, there are also examples at the 11h hour where a galvanisation occurs. I am thinking Wigan and Charlton more recently, but there are others. I wish people would pay more attention during the times not quite at death's door.

My huge worry is that we inexorably fall down the leagues, staring oblivion in the face. Many will shrug heir shoulders.

I ask each person to question, as we all clearly care, what will you be able to say you did you do about it?

Some will have solid answers, and anyone getting a season ticket gets a free pass, but still there is more each of us can do. We can't all possibly be Directors of the Trust. If each of us does a little but, that will be significant.

Let's #ReclaimTheTrust but get it working how it should do, or it deserves to be put of out of it's misery. Final push.
 

[League one forever]

3 hours ago, unsworth blue said:

They are merely asking the questions that the Trust has singularly failed to do. They have asked them in a perfectly respectable and professional manner, have been open and transparent which is what i would suggest supporters want. They cannot demand answers and they haven't. Of course it has something to do with the fans, we are part of the club's rich heritage ...whether anyone can effect change is another matter but don't give me that crap it has nothing to do with the fans. In that case, what's the point of any Supporters club/group? 

 

PTB has actually done an open survey asking fans their intentions for 2020/21 season and for any other areas of concern, they have shared them with the club quite professionally but the club as per usual has chosen to do nothing about it and go their own sweet way. 

 

I think it is clear what most long standing supporters have chosen to do,  if the club and its owners elected to try and do something for the good of the club and the community, things would very probably be different. 

 

I know lets just roll over and let the club die, sounds good - lets not try and effect positive change.
 

Clubs like Hereford and Rochdale have many more supporters investing in their club than OAFC has, they are clubs traditionally lower in the pecking order but leave our unprofessional club to shame. It does not have to be like that - positive change can come very quickly if there is the desire from all parties (I don't think there is currently sadly but nothing to be gained by not trying)   

Name me one club where a small group of supporters through a trust/or supporter group have affected any tangible change?? 
 

Name me one thing the PTB or Trust have ‘uncovered’ or any tangible difference they have made to the running of the football club? 

How many times does the club say it will work with the groups, then no one is available for six months?? 

They can’t affect anything, because it’s not their money and it’s a private business. You can stamp your feet all you want. But it’s always been that way. The Trust and PTB are paid lip service and mainly held in contempt.
 

If you wanna get behind them because you admire their care and love for the club, crack on. But they are wasting their time to trying to get egotistical millionaires to listen to the paying punter.  It’s been proved time and again, they don’t give a toss.