BPAS Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 Another late goal lost makes it SIX straight defeats for Shez and his side, yet amazingly, Oldham are still in touch of safety and it's still all to play for. However, it's off the field issues that dominate our podcast this week, in light of the recently published club accounts and a worrying lack of news regarding the sale of the football club. You can now support the pod by paying a monthly subscription of just £2.99 via this link https://anchor.fm/bp-alert/subscribe. All the regular episodes will remain free to everyone. You can also support us by visiting https://www.oafcpodcast.co.uk, subscribing to our mailing list and purchasing from our online shop. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook @oafcpodcast. Download and listen to the podcast via the FanHub app, where content creators and fans alike are rewarded for getting involved #ctg. You can find out more about Push The Boundary by visiting them at www.pushtheboundary.co.uk and following on Twitter @PTB_OAFC. Find out more about OASF at www.oldhamathleticsupportersfoundation.com where you can also donate to the 1895 Fund. Title music is by Manchester DJ and producer Starion find out more at www.redlaserrecords.bandcamp.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercater Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 Good to hear BasilRobbie (and disjointed) on. Robbie is always very insightful, considered and sensible on here. It is good that he and other supporter groups have offered ongoing advice and have been through the same experience and come through it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basilrobbie Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 Cheers Mercater. At the point that my phone decided to have a strop and threw me out of the meeting, I was trying to answer Alan's question about time commitments. My commitment varies ; I am (a theoretically stand-in) Secretary to our Trust, as well as doing a variety of things for the FSA (where I barged in, rather). I rarely do less that 10 hours a week, 20 is reasonably common and in times of real pressure it can be quite a bit more. Being retired helps a lot. I also wanted to reply to something Matt said about Trusts needing a wide range of help. We may be on the cusp of having Shadow Boards at clubs ; and I don't think it will be simply be a case of choosing people from a balanced demographic, or from all the main supporter groups. We will need people who can hold the clubs to account for their strategic decision making around financial management, business planning, corporate policies, marketing and communications. I also expect that the people concerned will have to meet at least some of the criteria set out in the new Owners and Directors Tests. As far as my own club is concerned, I have said to my colleagues that I believe that the people who end up on our Shadow Board will include some people who we currently don't know about. I also wanted to say that while there will be a need for out an out nerds like me (our time has truly come, it seems), any successful Trust cannot survive on geeks alone. A large part of the job is going to continue to be about raising money, about community activism and about understanding what fans want and reflecting that accurately to clubs and Regulator. The people skills will therefore never go out of fashion either, and you need a balanced mix. FWIW, I also agree that the next 6-9 months is really important if you are to influence the club's medium term future. It could be a period of seismic change (one way or another), and managing and responding to that as a fan base could hardly be more important. Your Foundation and PTB are going to be hard pressed to continue to represent your interests, so if you were thinking about what you could do to help, now would be a very good time to make yourselves known. You could make all the difference. Sorry, that reads a bit like a lecture, which was not what I intended. Our experience has been that in trying times some people are capable of doing extraordinary things. And if we were able to do it, I'm positive you can too. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warrington Blue Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 A great listen ( again ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlossopLatic Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 It seems like we do have problems getting people to step forward. For my own part I do volunteer in my own time as a treasurer as my local cricket club. It takes a fair amount of spare time up so I couldn't really volunteer for the trust aswell. The other thing that strikes me about the Trust is how much flak they get from people who themselves would never do anything for anyone and secondly without understanding what they do anyway. If I got the flak they got I wouldn't bother it's my spare time so it's no surprise we struggle for volunteers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basilrobbie Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 42 minutes ago, GlossopLatic said: It seems like we do have problems getting people to step forward. For my own part I do volunteer in my own time as a treasurer as my local cricket club. It takes a fair amount of spare time up so I couldn't really volunteer for the trust aswell. The other thing that strikes me about the Trust is how much flak they get from people who themselves would never do anything for anyone and secondly without understanding what they do anyway. If I got the flak they got I wouldn't bother it's my spare time so it's no surprise we struggle for volunteers. I think supporter apathy is the biggest single danger to the success of the Crouch Review. It is much easier to galvanise people when things are going badly, but even then, not many people want to make the time commitment, or can. My idea (that I put to the FSA) is that we not only offer training to people, but also make ST Board Membership an accredited skill that people can study for or do as a sabbatical / cv booster from regular employment. This is only an option that would appeal to a few people, or be appropriate in certain circumstances, of course. But we are going to have to have a real mix of people doing different roles from occasional volunteer upwards. And now is the time to make a pitch for the money to pay for it at the national level. I'm taking nerdishness to new levels here..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underdog Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 1 hour ago, GlossopLatic said: It seems like we do have problems getting people to step forward. For my own part I do volunteer in my own time as a treasurer as my local cricket club. It takes a fair amount of spare time up so I couldn't really volunteer for the trust aswell. The other thing that strikes me about the Trust is how much flak they get from people who themselves would never do anything for anyone and secondly without understanding what they do anyway. If I got the flak they got I wouldn't bother it's my spare time so it's no surprise we struggle for volunteers. Its a thankless task, as you know being a volunteer yourself. You learner quickly to multi-task when there are only a handful of you. Ideally, you need a good 10 OASF directors with the required skillsets that BasilRobbie has mentioned. Currently, OASF is down to 5, whilst trying to hold the club to account - it is David and Goliath every time. It should not be, we were promised by the owner at the very beginning he would work with the then Trust, would regularly meet us and wanted to leave a legacy for the fans when he left. Hindsight eh..... The flak is upsetting you get as a volunteer. To read or hear stuff about yourself, sometimes second hand in closed groups, without being able to defend yourself is shocking. Never mind that your family, friends and latics family could be reading that stuff too. I sometimes wonder if these people would actually have the cahoonas to say it to your face if they met you? hmm. I have no idea why fellow fans want to personally attack volunteers who are trying to hold the club to account, whilst juggling employment and family life. Yes, EFL reform is on the horizon, poss about 18 months off. Shadow boards, golden share and appointing an independant financial regulator are massive, like BasilRobbie has mentioned. OASF contributed to the report like all supporter's organisations did as well as fans themselves. I am proud of us all, fans and fellow supporters organisations for playing our part in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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