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FAO Barry Owen


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Alex (Metty). Having been a Director yourself I think you do your former colleagues a great dis-service by suggestion that membership of he Board is just a matter of attending a few meeting. Whilst that may have been your own experience for the short term you served I can assure you that Directors spend a great deal of time away from meetings in trying to raise money etc., along with many other tasks

 

The Trust also works with the Community Trust and helps with many initiatives at the club.

 

Unfortunately we have had to assume many responsibilities since the Oldham Athletic Supporters Association seem to have become largely inactive.

 

Essentially the "Trust" is an organisation whose main principle is to "overview" the clubs activities and smooth running and this occurs where any Trust is involved around the country.

 

I know that club owners in the leagues would disagree with this position because in real terms we have no real "clout" to enforce change. What we can do is witness, learn and encourage the club in the right direction.

 

Jenny Warburton is indeed the fan representative for the club and I sit on the board to play a part in the clubs development on the part of the fans. The term "fans representative" has been used over the years and I do not object because I try to help out in any situation. Jenny's position came about because the Football League recommends that a club employee takes on the mantle of this post.

 

To the many who make valid input and suggestions that require a great deal of work to be done then jump aboard and come and help with producing the work you suggest. This would involve you taking minutes of the meetings, preparing them and placing tham on the websites.Other work you suggest also has a time element. Rick Attwood is currently working on a new scheme for membership that will be computer based. There are lots of things we want to do and we need people to help.!.

 

To those of you who knock what we try to do and to those who do not think we are fit for purpose then make yourself available. We will listen , bring you on board and implement change if necessary. Whatever you think or believe, the Trust must maintain a presence and input within the club over many years to come.

 

It serves no purpose for me to go into detail but the experience I have gained over the past 10 years as a Director puts the Trust in an excellent position.My colleagues are aware of that experience and above all else we know how a football club works. If you spilt rsponsibilities you will lose that knowledge and experience. It is just a matter for the individual concerned to manage the obvious conflicts when they occur.

 

I hope this helps to put matters into some perspective.

 

Barry

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Barry

 

I looked at the trust website today. I couldn't find any details of the next AGM, the last AGM or indeed any AGM. The only section which provides information on funds raised refers to "TTA" as the owners, so it is probably significantly out- of date.

 

I used to be a member, but I've lapsed. Given the limited information being provided to those who are not members, what is being done to show that the trust is active, effective and worth joining?

 

Regards

 

Nigel

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Guest Scratch2000uk

 

To those of you who knock what we try to do and to those who do not think we are fit for purpose then make yourself available. We will listen , bring you on board and implement change if necessary. Whatever you think or believe, the Trust must maintain a presence and input within the club over many years to come.

 

 

Barry

 

I don't knock what you do as a director of the club Barry nor do i don't knock what you do for the trust.

What i have issue with are the things that are not done in the role as Trust director.

Rummy, made some really good points that would at least appease some of your doubters Barry, but surprise-surprise, not a word from you about them. I do get the feeling you take some constructive critisisms far too personally that gets in the way of you considering sound/valid reasons or sugestions that would improve peoples perceptions of the Trust.

Edited by Scratch2000uk
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Stop closing the RRE to Home fans. What? Limit a larger away following to the small section? Basically throwing money down the drain. Also, save on police costs if it's closed to home fans when there is a larger away following.

 

Sort out the website. Suspect this is half the problem of the website provider - but then the club have just got a new web monkey, we may see significant improvement.

 

Sort out the online shop. Agree with this one, online shop is abit :censored:, although i suspect it serves a large majority of it's purpose. I'd question how many people do buy online, as opposed to going into the shop. Unless you live away, of course.

 

Do these things and other things and I might believe that you and your colleagues are representing the fans.

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Stop closing the RRE to Home fans. What? Limit a larger away following to the small section? Basically throwing money down the drain. Also, save on police costs if it's closed to home fans when there is a larger away following.

 

Sort out the website. Suspect this is half the problem of the website provider - but then the club have just got a new web monkey, we may see significant improvement.

 

Sort out the online shop. Agree with this one, online shop is abit :censored:, although i suspect it serves a large majority of it's purpose. I'd question how many people do buy online, as opposed to going into the shop. Unless you live away, of course.

 

Do these things and other things and I might believe that you and your colleagues are representing the fans.

 

No problem giving up the RRE if the away team are bringing 3-4000, no justification for it otherwise, police advice is just an excuse.

 

Website is poor, know it's not all down to the club but when non league clubs have a better/more professional site than you then you should be asking questions.

 

There seems to be an issue with LP commentary almost every game.

 

Not expecting an online shop that compares to a Man Utd or whoever, a few more products surely wouldn't go amiss though, and £7.50 delivery is a joke.

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No problem giving up the RRE if the away team are bringing 3-4000, no justification for it otherwise, police advice is just an excuse.

 

Website is poor, know it's not all down to the club but when non league clubs have a better/more professional site than you then you should be asking questions.

 

There seems to be an issue with LP commentary almost every game.

 

Not expecting an online shop that compares to a Man Utd or whoever, a few more products surely wouldn't go amiss though, and £7.50 delivery is a joke.

 

Issue for bigger gates is that we allow pay on the day, whilst people from the opposition club can predict how many fans are going to make the journey up. Nothing is every certain, literally is a guessing game. I have no problem moving for the odd game, Main Stand Paddock isn't all bad anyway.

 

Few more products from the shop would be good - i really wanted one of those black jackets with the stripy collar, but they don't sell them.

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Barry

 

I looked at the trust website today. I couldn't find any details of the next AGM, the last AGM or indeed any AGM. The only section which provides information on funds raised refers to "TTA" as the owners, so it is probably significantly out- of date.

 

I used to be a member, but I've lapsed. Given the limited information being provided to those who are not members, what is being done to show that the trust is active, effective and worth joining?

 

Regards

 

Nigel

I do get the feeling you take some constructive critisisms far too personally that gets in the way of you considering sound/valid reasons or sugestions that would improve peoples perceptions of the Trust.

Excellently put and covers my thoughts exactly at the moment.....I wouldn't even know where to start to get info about trust meetings etc which is why my perception of it is a 'closed shop'

 

I'll DM you Barry although I'm getting the feeling it's all too much like hard work or you would have DM'd me directly rather than ask me to do it!

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To be honest, from Barry's posts I'm not sure what he sees to be the Trust's objectives. It sounds a little as if he's saying that they get to see what's happening but can't actually influence anything (which is probably not far from the truth).

 

He says the Trust tries to learn; well, from where I'm standing, Barry seems to have done more learning of the club's perspective on things than educating the club as to the fans' views. He says they try to influence; but based on what? If they don't consult with the fans, how do they determine the right way in which they try to influence decisions at the club?

 

Barry's visits to 'this site', as he refers to it with a hint of bitterness, tend only to be when he feels the need to tell the fans how to behave or when the criticism of his performance gets too much for him. My biggest issue with him, and the Trust as a whole, is that it's all well and good responding to criticism with 'if you've got something to say, then you just have to get in touch... ' whilst taking no steps whatsoever, as far as I can see, to positively engage the fans. The website is a pile of :censored:, completely out of date and of no use to anyone. 'This site' set up, at the Trust's request, a Trust sub forum - they didn't use it. When I was a member (or at least I think I was), a few years back, I received nothing from them, not even a confirmation of my membership. The vast majority have no idea how the Trust is structured, how that structure has been determined, how they might influence it, nor even who the current directors are.

 

Frankly, in my eyes the Trust as it stands is a complete waste of time. People can say 'put up and shut up' all they want but the many of us don't have the time Barry et al do, it doesn't mean we shouldn't voice our opinion. Then people say that you should join the Trust if you expect to have a say, well I tried and they didn't even acknowledge me, so why would I pay another membership fee?

 

The Mike Nuttall case was the last straw for me. The Trust was already failing in what I see as it's most important role of being a voice of the fans in the club 's boardroom (although Barry's always very keen to talk that down versus its other functions). Far too big a majority of fans had already lost faith in the Trust, so to find that it's finance bod was using his fellow fans' donations to bail out his ailing business was the icing on the cake.

 

For the avoidance of doubt, I like the idea of what the Trust is supposed to be (at least as I see it). But I can't see it ever being any such thing.

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l think it would be nice to have facilities better than those in third world countries stadia. standing out the back of stands with zero protection from the elements encourages nobody to games its 2014 not 1914, its depressing going to other grounds year on year and seeing grounds evolve while ours stagnates, how do other teams finance these changes ? teams with smaller crowds and budget seem able to modernise and improve the match day experiance why cant we ?

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l think it would be nice to have facilities better than those in third world countries stadia. standing out the back of stands with zero protection from the elements encourages nobody to games its 2014 not 1914, its depressing going to other grounds year on year and seeing grounds evolve while ours stagnates, how do other teams finance these changes ? teams with smaller crowds and budget seem able to modernise and improve the match day experiance why cant we ?

 

If the Rochdale Road End is/will be in the future, a permanent home for Latics fans, then i'd like to see the back built on - i'm not a builder, but i'm sure this could be done to enclose the concourse from the elements.

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