john fenty re elected to board.

Quoted from sonik

Grow up for crying out loud.  If you was a shareholder and able to attend you would see that this football club of ours need John to be involved. I and many thank him for that. Another thread twisted to slate him!  Why would he want to be Chairman again? Give credit where it's due and not continually bang on with your negative slant on things.  Sad day for the club my backside!  UTM!

Quoted from 1600

Surely the question is, how much help does he require ?

We all know one source of potential investment is the fans themselves.

I sympathise with JF's predicament (I do sincerely thank him for his continued financial support) but if he's reluctant to give others a say, can he really expect them to (at least help) share the financial burden LONG TERM ?

I understand loyal fans will contribute to GTST etc but how long will supporters keep digging deep without any real say whilst GTST make their decisions in the "interests of the club" ? (which is always subjective in the eyes of supporters)

We all heard from GTST that Mike Parker's offer of shares gave fans "a real opportunity" but what opportunity does it give in reality ?
Maybe something will be announced by GTST later but I just can't see how these shares make a blind bit of difference.

A place on the board might be one option but whatever the amount was to gain a seat on the board, it sounded a lot !
And it's only a one-off payment anyway ?
Besides which, would ONE seat make a difference to a 1 person 1 vote situation anyway ?

Surely you create a lot more LONG TERM incentive and involvement for every fan to part with their cash if there's a real structure where every fans decision and contribution has an impact ?

There has to be some way EVERY single Town fan can contribute to get THEIR say in the club.
I don't mean "democracy" - that's 2 wolves and a sheep deciding what's for dinner.

My idea/vision would simply be, allow every fan their OWN opportunity to say where THEIR money went - whether it be on e.g. improving faclities, buying players, supporting the youth team, appointing a director of football etc.
You can't get better direct democracy than that !

It avoids the issue of hierachical "democracy" where the minority's wishes are never represented and the society board have the ultimate say even if the membership all vote yes.

Sure it might be peanuts to start off with, but the priniciple of the IDEA that supporters MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS would engage them and grow (as opposed to dwindle away like GTST did last time.)
Even if it's only e.g. £200,000/year it's better than £0/year ?
And just think, how many stayaways might come back ?

IMO the possibilities are endless and if you can capture the imagination of 5000 people as opposed to a hard core of 1500 you've a much better chance of pushing forward at all levels.

Sure it raises issues, questions and needs thought and talking through but what's the alternative ?
Create a sense of obligation for a dwindling number of fans to be loyal, generous and cross your fingers it works ?
The carrot is always better than the stick...

At the end of the day if you want the club to be part sustainable/fan funded in the long term surely you can't have it both ways ?

In all seriousness unless GTST come up with something concrete, maybe they should gift their shares to JF as a gesture of goodwill to strengthen the working relationship, put majority shareholding back inside the boardroom and concentrate solely on representing supporters as opposed to worrying over what Fenty might do and what's best for the club.
If these shares don't provide any real advantage for supporters interests then why not ?

I don't expect you'll reply Chris, but you were the one who said you wanted new ideas and people to help out in any way they could.
Or have you and GTST got a better idea ?

Quoted from sonik

  I can't see anyone else willing to put themselves or their money on the line to save our Club. Please. If you have a chance watch the AGM on Mariners Player and then make your own judgement.  Do you see an alternative waiting in the wings?  I don't!

Quoted from DJ Mera

Like Ebbsfleet Utd. then ?

Quoted from 1600

Really, how do they operate ?
If you can shed any light on it I'd be grateful cos I don't know.

Quoted Text

Since February 2008, the club has been owned by the web-based venture MyFootballClub, whose members may vote on team selection and player transfers, instead of those decisions being made exclusively by the club's management and staff as at most other clubs

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Yes, the club needs your brother, if only for the cash. What the club needs is a proper, thought-out, reasoned business plan. Not written on the back of  a postage stamp, not a series of knee-jerk reactions - a sensible, achievable, costed & budgeted plan that can be adhered to.