GTST - The Past, The Present, The Future

Quoted from Grim_Exile

Apart from the fact that females in football always seem to attract comments from the less forward thinking members of society, I specifically recieved personal abuse in reaction to an interview I gave to the GET prior to the Burton game.  Having read some of the 'we're gonna smash the town up' posts on here prior to the match, I responded to a question by the reporter about my thoughts should relegation be the outcome - my response was an appeal for calm.  For some reason, a few people thought this was utterly ludicrous.  Hey Ho.

Shocking, and with that colour lipstick on as well

Dear Emma,

Thankyou very much for your reply and my apologies for responding a little late too (not that I am blaming you either !  )

Firstly please let me start by saying when I made reference to your comment about "personal abuse", my intention wasn't for you to "expand ON it".
I was just being a little sarcastic implying maybe you should "expand it" to be "personal abuse AND criticism" to cover some of the previous (possibly defensive) GTST members I offered my advice and suggestions to.

Anyway no matter...

Thank you for your offer to attend a meeting in the next couple of weeks.
I promise on my life I am not trying to be difficult, but due to my own unique circumstances and location, regret to say I genuinely have no way of being able to attend. (without incurring excessive difficulty and costs etc).
Saturdays could be an option but of course Town are normally playing !  
I regret to say I already have enough trouble attending nightime midweek games.  

Quick question if I may - presumably if I were to join GTST I would also need to vote in person ?

I'm certainly not suggesting you should have to make any special provision for myself whatsoever !
But ironically, I did have my own ideas relating to how the "on-line phenomenon" might be used as a vehicle to engage interest to a large and wider base of supporters.
Out of interest have you ever considered this ? (silly question maybe as you've already posted on here !  )

I very much appreciate you supplying all that information regarding the purpose of the trust and those articles about how you have helped support the youth team.
May I take this opportunity to say a very well done for helping the youth and GTFC with all your great support.  

One of my suggestions amounted to little more than saying all this information may be more valuable if it existed or was more visible on your website
i.e. 1 place where I can quickly access all I need to know !
I tried to explain this to Dave(tarka) and was disappointed he didn't seem to understand what I was really getting at...
I hope you may agree the fact I couldn't find it (I honestly tried fairly hard but wasn't going to spend hours searching !) perhaps makes my point ?
Anyway it's not a dig, because I know it has been left somewhat redundant, but still felt it's "mission statement" was a little vague.

I honestly do not mean to criticize unkindly - organising and planning any organisation or website takes a lot of time, thought and effort, is never ever "perfect" and I also appreciate fully how projects can be left on the backburner.
Without wanting to bog any website down with too much info, I just feel if it could all somehow be arranged into a more appealing layout with clear goals and a direct message about what it wants to achieve, then it might create a very favourable impression on it's visitors.
And maybe help raise a lot of money !

For example, I think you are far too modest with your achievements to date ?
As a visitor I would loved to have seen e.g. a big banner with "GTST helps raise £x for youth team !", "Help us secure.... !" + other exciting GTFC related fun things.

Please understand I am not suggesting that "I am right", because opinions will inevitably vary.
Neither am I purporting to be a marketing/web design expert (or maybe by my suggestions I am ! ), just giving my own view as supporter, end user and potential customer.

I found 2 particular points you brought to my attention quite interesting:

- v. to encourage and promote the principle of supporter representation on the board
- "GTST are entitled to attend the AGM and use the voting rights associated with any shares acquired in any matters that are put to vote."

I understand you cannot decide GTST policy alone but as chair or in your own personal opinion, are these things you would maybe personally consider in the short or long term future in advance of any AGM in November with the clubs future direction in the balance (and possibly crucial if Mr Parker has plans for a share takeover) ?

More generally, what are your own thoughts on the general direction of GTST if it were to be resurrected ?

I notice you said:
“From experience, I envisage that it would take 15/20 willing volunteers with a good mix of skills to get things moving”

I do not mean to be a pain because I understand you wish to debate, vote and decide on things later but I hope you will agree that for someone like myself, this is my only means of communication.

Do you think it's fair to say GTST has (at least so far) focused more on supporting the club and the community in it's efforts than pushing for large numbers of supporters to have a real voice in the clubs direction or running ?

This may be a bone of contention for myself who feels it may still be possible to create a framework to provide large amounts of supporters (not necessarily GTST members) with a voice on it's club's future direction or even day to day affairs.
However I also accept it may also be very much dependent on the club itself to agree !

I very much support and applaud all of your past and future efforts to raise money for our club, however I feel the question of offering my financial support to simply "raise money" may be an issue as things stand.
Not because I am not agreeable in principle(far from it) but simply because as a supporter who can help finance the club through attending BP, spending in the club shop etc, I feel I am unlikely to contribute £15 to an organisation that I cannot access to help decide on it's objectives.

However if that changes in the future or I see GTST adopt a new fundraising goal, then I will most likely be more than willing to contribute as generously as I can (depending on whether I think it is in the supporters interests to do so).

At the moment I am not overly excited by offering my support to most of those objectives you kindly provided, as I feel they serve the interests of the club, local and wider community (stretching as far as the EU !) moreso than the wishes of GTFC supporters, many of who may be currently concerned if they will have a club left.  

I am happy to offer to volunteer by proxy, but since I don't know enough about your future strategy yet, would be reluctant to risk disappointing you later if I found I was not agreeable to your specific aims or goals.

I do sincerely wish you and everyone connected with GTST the very best of luck in the future and look forward to being able to participate and donate.

If you need any assistance please don't hesitate to contact me on here and I wish you all the very best.  

Kind regards.

PS It's not a putdown I promise but may I suggest you change this bit ? (tbh it just made me chuckle !)

"We know that times are hard and that you probably think there are better things you can be spending your money on than joining the Trust or renewing your membership, but the number of youth team graduates in our first team squad and the emergence of youngsters like Josh Fuller are surely evidence that your cash won’t go to waste."

In all seriousness if you were to launch a campaign to e.g. save/protect the youth team or even the club, I'd be right behind you !
UTM.  

Can someone please send me details of how I can become a member of the Trust, and be actively involved with it please? I'm 250 miles away in bonny Scotland, so it would be physically impossible to attend a meeting but it doesn't mean I don't have the club at heart.
It hurts, from afar, to see what's happening to MY club, as two people who should know better waft their egos in public. I'll help in what ever way I can. Please pm me details of how I pay my £15 membership.