I have copied and pasted this from the redev thread. Posted originally by ragdoll(I think). To further aid the customary healthy debate we enjoy.
I can only apologise for the long windedness of it.
Trust email received today...
Dear Trust member,
Your Supporters Trust has enjoyed a productive year – while the relationship with the owners of the football club remain at an impasse, in spite of an intervention by the Football Supporters Association, good progress was made in a number of other areas last year.
A few headlines, the Supporters Trust has…
successfully renewed its application for Sixfields Stadium to be classified as an Asset of Community Value led a campaign, supported by 14 other Supporters Trusts, to ensure due recognition for Trusts and other democratic supporter bodies in the primary legislation within the developing Football Governance Bill
canvassed members and Cobblers fans more widely around desirable improvements for Sixfields produced a blueprint vision which includes a model for infrastructure improvement at the stadium
The progress on the East Stand development is extremely welcome but we will continue to challenge the owners with questions as they arise and continue to press the case for development behind the stand which will guarantee ongoing and long-term investment benefit to the football club, in the interests of a progressive and sustainable club.
Contrary to what club chairman Kelvin Thomas might say in interviews, there is no conspiracy-led vendetta against the club. If that is his perception of the Trust reasonably questioning the club’s governance and development plans, then it is an absurd overreaction and the questions will continue until we receive satisfactory answers.
The chairman has also repeatedly said that the Trust are rival bidders to the club. To be clear, two years ago we were rival bidders for land behind the East Stand which we were looking to secure as a club asset, generating investment benefit. We took this very difficult decision in the absence of any guarantees from the club that the land in question wouldn't be sold off, so depriving the club of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
It was something that, as a community group, we were perfectly entitled to do under the Localism Act and as part of the Asset of Community Value bid process and we did so in accordance with the Supporters Trust’s long-held mission statement to protect professional football in Northampton for the long-term. We did so believing, naively it would appear, the one thing the club’s owners and the Supporters Trust actually have in common is the safeguarding of the football club.
In 2015, with the club in crisis, we supported the club financially and several board members attended a council meeting three years ago to urge the council to back the club’s plans for the East Stand. This is hardly the behaviour of an organisation that is anti-club.
Thank you for your continuing support and please support our Club 500 lottery and Cobblers Travel if you do not already do so.
We have never walked away from the football club. And we never will. Our town, our club and your Supporters Trust.
Up the Cobblers!
Andy
Andy Roberts, Chair, Northampton Town Supporters Trust
Chairman's Report
Trust Chair Andy Roberts addressed the meeting. He said:-
The Supporters Trust has experienced a challenging year, the biggest disappointment being the failure to build a relationship with the football club’s owners David Bower and Kelvin Thomas.
Following a difficult 2022, which I spoke about last year, I personally felt it important to try and build bridges with club chairman Kelvin Thomas, alongside Ashley Brown from the Football Supporters’ Association. I thought I owed it to members and the wider fan base and, while the meeting was not altogether productive, the chairman made it clear to both myself and the FSA that he would sit down again with the Trust following the election of a new board.
In February last year, six new members were elected to the Trust board to help shape a fresh mandate going forward. In July, following the outcome of the Judicial Review between West Northamptonshire Council and Cilldara - over whether or not the council had followed correct process in provisionally agreeing the sale of land to the club’s development company - the Trust offered the club a meeting.
But we were firmly batted back by a letter which contained a litany of lies and misinformation. So it appeared that the club had never had any intention of brokering a future relationship with the Trust, this in spite of a new board, the introduction of a social media policy and the organisation of community-based activities which sat neatly alongside an update on the stand and land deal.
Again last year, I said that I would welcome the club leading on directing an appropriate way for all Cobblers fans to communicate with each other on social media platforms but nothing was forthcoming from the club, presumably as it suits their narrative to influence and present the Trust as being anti-club. Certainly they have sought to marginalise us and discredit us at every turn for having the temerity to ask some awkward questions over the years – as any self-respecting Supporters Trust should do.
We remain in contact with many Supporters Trusts given the ongoing debate on the fan-led review – interestingly at Swindon Town, the Trust there has been accused of being too cosy with the club’s owners. It is a very difficult balance to achieve.
We should finally see the land deal signed off in the coming months and we trust the East Stand will be completed to a satisfactory standard by the present owners as part of a mutually-robust enabling agreement with West Northamptonshire Council. The Trust, alongside the vast majority of the club’s fans, has always favoured prioritising the completion of the East Stand above all else.
But the team’s excellent progress in League One, coupled with the biggest home attendances for 55 years, has brought the debate of stadium expansion and increasing the capacity of the North and S0uth stands into greater focus.
The current board could likely now prefer that the two ends of the stadium should be addressed first and foremost and so we will be engaging with our members, and the wider fan base, within a few weeks to gauge opinion – something we last did as part of our Football Conversation three years ago.
To that end, please find enclosed some notes around the concept of an Infrastructure Foundation which has the potential to benefit the club. Is this something you think could work at Northampton Town?
In closing, can I thank you for your continuing support – if you can, please support our Club 500 and Cobblers Travel fundraisers if you do not already do so.
If you have any questions please contact us at
ntfctrust1992@gmail.com and if you are on email and haven’t given us permission to use your email address, please email us and ‘opt in’.
It makes life very much easier! Our town, our club and your Supporters Trust. Up the Cobblers!’
Secretary's Report
Acting Secretary John Morgan reported:-
‘Between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023 there were 10 board meetings.
Nine of the meetings were held on Zoom. One special board meeting was held in person at the Obelisk Centre in Northampton.
Attendance at Board meetings was steady throughout the year, with the average attendance being 75 per cent.
The Board welcomed 12 visitors over the course of the 10 meetings.
Since our last AGM, the Board has agreed to reduce the maximum number of board members from 15 to 12.
Since our last AGM, there have been five resignations of board members.
These were from Tom Packer (March), Jeffrey Roy (October), Rob Duncan and Heidi Green (both December) and Bhyll Stephenson (January).
If acceptable to the board, I am happy to go forward as the Secretary of the Supporters Trust.’
Membership Report
At 1 September 2022 membership stood at 725 and by year end, 31 August 2023, it had fallen slightly to 721.
As of today, 22 February 2024, membership stands at 681.
The reduction in the last six months can largely be attributed to lapsed memberships, as of 1 January, from a large number of NotMyTrust representatives who joined the Supporters Trust in late 2022.
The Trust is no longer offering life memberships – renewals can be made at the start of each calendar year by individuals (£10) and corporate members (£100).
We believe the annual membership fees continue to represent excellent value when compared to other Trusts across the country.