DT Election 2003 - Questionnaire

Are you a member of WISA? If not, why not?

Yes.

Why should WISA members vote for you?

I think my manifesto covers broadly my position in relation to the organisation (DT & AFCW subsidiaries inclusive).

I think that democracy and equality of members is essential to our future. In order to thrive we need a strong, democratic and open fan/member policy where opinions that can be expressed without fear of recrimination. All member views must be considered when deciding any strategic change or action.

Members in general meeting should take major decisions and where the Dons Trust board takes any strategic decision I believe that board members should try to vote based on what they perceive is in the best interests of members, not based on how they individually see the organisation.

We need to address some critical issues in the coming months and years, specifically the repayment of the Khosla loan. Further there is a pressing requirement to develop a revised constitution to reflect and protect member interests in the evolving organisation.

A key purpose of the Dons Trust board is there to represent member views. Consequently any WISA member who votes for me will be making a vote for inclusively of representation of members and fans alike.

How much time can you commit each month to DT duties (excluding AFCW activities?).

At the moment being Club Secretary and committee member for the Ladies is taking around 20 hours a week (which is I consider a DT activity). The DT board work, Legal and Constitutional group work along with various additional activities adds at least a further 20 hours a week. Elected or not I plan to continue with the ‘Ladies' and L & C and ad-hoc work. If not elected, the DT board activities would not be possible but I'm sure the time could be used for other activities. So, on a monthly basis I would say at least 150-180 hours a month.

What role would you perform on the DT board?

In addition to ‘normal' board work I would like to continue to Chair the Legal and Constitutional working group and representing the Dons Trust as a member of the AFCW Ladies committee. I would also like to continue with DT match-day stand activities and be involved with further open meetings and surgeries, if implemented. I am also happy to continue as Club Secretary of the Ladies and undertake any other ad-hoc activities as the need arises and time allocation permits.

Would you undertake any additional activities in AFCW?

Yes, if I have the time. I'm not sure whether being a member of the Corporate Sponsorship group counts as AFCW or Dons Trust so I didn't mention it above. Availability of time to undertake additional activities may be restricted by the continuance of all of the current activities.

Did you support the recent share issue enthusiastically, with reservations, or were you unhappy with the idea?

I was unhappy with many of the share issue and related decisions. Firstly, I must qualify the following by stating that I fully supported the acquisition of the leases for Kingsmeadow which we overwhelmingly decided to do by resolution at the SGM.

For the SGM, I was directly involved with the drafting of the resolution, and my understanding was that it's intention was that the board could proceed as long as the legal and financial implications of the acquisition of the stadium in terms of price, and contractual terms were resolved.

I did not take this to mean that this was a resolution empowering the board to incorporate a Plc and to sell up to 50% of our Club by public offering of shares. Similarly, I am still not convinced that a public share issue was warranted. It was my understanding that we could have made a private issue of shares to Dons Trust members.

We still await details of the value shares bought by non AFCW supporters/Dons Trust members to see whether the public offering generated proceeds from ‘other supporters' in excess of the additional cost of the public issue.

Additionally, I understand that we may also have lost out on donations and loans that will not now be available because we sold part of the club.

Critically, I think we should have asked members:

a)  if we wanted to sell part of the club to finance the stadium acquisition
b}  Whether we preferred a public or private issue
c)   How the organisation was best structured.

I think all members should be asking whether they feel there was sufficient discussion with members on these critical decisions.

Do you favour a register of interests to record any benefits (financial or otherwise) Trust members gain from their dealings with the Trust or PLC?

Yes, and any other subsidiary. These should be declared especially for DT board and subsidiary board members alike. I think it should be wider than just direct dealings and should also include the acceptance of any benefit from contacts, customers or suppliers. Free goods or discounts not available to all members must be declared. All complimentary tickets to games or complimentary access to the President's should be declared accompanied by a supporting reason for such.

What personal qualities (apart from professional skills, and a capacity for hard work) do you have that the DT Board needs?

I believe in community, adequate representation and equality for all. I will also oppose anything that is inequitable or unjust. I believe personal qualities include the ability to lead by way of example and persuasion. I believe I have strong analytical and evaluation skills that along with a desire and ability to deliver will help to effect the implementation of organisational enhancements on behalf of us the members.

Please list all financial benefits that you have received in the past through dealings with the Trust or Plc.

None, unless DT Board being invited into the President's lounge for the pre season friendly against Luton counts. For that game I paid the standard admission charge for the game and there was no reserved seat.

What do you think of the Trust's performance and achievements so far?

There are things we need to improve, but let us also recognise our combined achievements in what is essentially a very small time-scale. Overall our achievements have been outstanding. Successes have far outweighed areas of weakness. The creation of AFC Wimbledon , the acquisition of Kingsmeadow, the number of teams playing football under AFC name including the affiliation of the Ladies, establishing the DT match-day academy and the development of football and the community football. This is all complemented by the establishment of working groups and amazing effort of the volunteer army.

It is worth remembering that we were Trust of the year in 2002.

What changes would you propose, if any, to the way the Trust operates?

This is possibly covered in my other answers. The key areas would be improve communications and make more information available to us the members. This should be in addition to facilitating increased member participation in the operation and evolution of the organisation as a whole. The Trust needs to lead on raising sufficient finance to discharge the stadium loan and a full constitutional review. Similarly we need to ensure delegated powers and authorities are in place for directors of operational subsidiary boards. They should also have DT board approved budgets enable them to operate efficiently.

How could the Trust board improve its communication with members?

Firstly all members should know who the members of the Dons Trust board are, board members must be more than names on a list seen once a year at election time. Members should be able to contact board members directly and should know what their designated areas of responsibility are.

The L & C group is working on changes that we hope to present to the pending AGM. These include changes that will require that there be at least four general meetings of the Trust as year in addition to any Special General Meetings. Also, the changes will include a constitution change to make it easier for members to present resolutions at these meetings.

The establishment of a members or fans forum to is something that we need to consider along with running some less formal surgeries with fans and members having the ability to speak to board members about issues or ideas.

We should consider a re-launch of working groups and make available meeting times and venues making sure that members know that all are welcome at these meetings.

When considering candidates for board member positions for the Club, what characteristics would you look for?

Firstly, relevant experience.

Then candidates that have the interests of the Trust, the Club and community at heart. They need to understand that development and embracing of the community ethos and democracy of the Trust will enhance long term survival prospects of the Club.

Critical to this will be the be the aptitude and willingness to implement policies ascribing to that principle. This should be complemented by a belief that members and fans alike should be treated equally and no member is entitled to a privilege or benefit that is not available to all members. This should be underpinned by a desire to effect a policy of openness, transparency and adequate communication.

In addition to strength of character, ability to deliver to requirement, the usual characteristics including honesty, impartiality, integrity should be present. Willingness to volunteer to work long hours for our mutual benefit would be an important consideration.

Should directors of DT subsidiaries (E.g. AFC Plc) be allowed to take up elected posts on the DT Board?

The short answer is no.

Firstly, I will assume that the issue of whether we have the right organization structure and what the roles of each board are is not within the scope of this question. I also assume that the question means can they hold these roles at the same time.

The current proposal is that the AFCW Plc board be comprised of directorates as follows:
a) Two independent non-executive directors.
b) Three executive positions that are responsible for operations
c) Two non-executive directors representing the DTB.

Firstly to deal with the two independent non-executive directors. Independent is defined as independent of the DT Board.

As for (b) and (c) at the moment both groups represent the DTB in that all are members of the DTB. However, it appears to be the intention that the executive would not be on the DT Board.

My view is that the executive (b) should not be on the DTB as this makes it nonsense of reporting lines and delegated responsibilities. If the reporting lines are subsidiary directors to the DT board then by also serving on the DT board they are in fact answering to themselves. So my answer is no.

The current position is that is the other way around. You have to be elected to take up one of these roles. As for the Non Executive directors at (c) I really don't see a need for any such role as long as reporting lines are clearly defined. As long as the subsidiary directors clearly understand their delegated powers and authorities and recognize that responsibility for key decisions rests with the Dons trust board or the members, there should be no requirement.

How do you currently understand the duties and relationship of the DT Board in relation to the AFC Wimbledon PLC, AFC Wimbledon Ltd., and AFC Stadium Ltd. boards?

In my opinion the constitution indicates that the DT Board represent the members and are responsible for the business activity of the society. I have always taken this to include subsidiaries.  

The responsibilities and duties of subsidiary board directors has not been finalised. I have been involved with drafting of the duties, powers and delegated authorities however they have never been adopted and published.

I believe that it is essential to finalise and publish this document which should form part of the published ‘DT organisation and authorities documentation' alongside the Constitution, election rules board membership and policies.

Should the Trust membership have the final say on the big issues, like where the club has its home ground or selling shares in the club?

Yes, no question.

Should Trust members have the right to propose motions at the AGM and other general meetings?

Yes, of course. Every member has the same rights. The L & C working group, in conjunction with some members are currently developing resolutions, which we hope to present at this year's AGM which would allow such. would like to think that

What ideas do you have for paying off the rest of the debt on the purchase of Kingsmeadow?

Firstly, although this may be considered the domain of the Finance working group I believe that the members of the Trust board should all be involved with this key area. In terms of capital repayment the Dons Trust board needs to lead on fund-raising activities and should set fund-raising targets for the next few years.

There are two aspects to the Kingsmeadow debt that need to be considered. Firstly the management of the interest payment which would prevent any capital repayment.

My thoughts on how we could manage or reduce the interest burden would include the introduction of member loans. This would be at an interest rate lower that the Khosla loan. A loan of £600 from 1000 members or supporters for three or four years could save a significant amount of interest and represent the refinancing of around half of the outstanding loan.

We should also continue to look at commercial options for refinancing the debt, which could also reduce interest payments. Any interest savings could then be redirected to capital repayments.

We need to see if some of the capital required to repay the debt can be generated from operational finance. This may be achieved by way of increased match attendance or by cost reduction exercises. If each one of the three thousand at the Hartley Wintney game could persuade an 3 extra fans a year to come to game we could increase average attendances by over 10% making a significant contribution to finances.

Similarly we can work to increase further the use of the function suite and bar income to generate additional revenue.

We may also need to undertake cost reviews to ensure that an overhead costs are managed specifically with regards human resource costs. Where we can find an acceptable substitute at a lower cost the option should be considered.

Lastly, in addition to DT led fund-raising, a rights issue on the current issued shares capital In AFCW Plc needs to be considered in a couple of years time. For example, a one for four rights issue could generate a further £300k. This should not erode further the Trusts ownership interest in the Plc and the club.

Are there any situations in which the Trust could, or should, relinquish control of AFCW?

No, amongst other things, the Trust is our vehicle for continued community ownership of the AFC Wimbledon . Representation of fans and members' interests and views along with this community ownership is critical to the continued success of our organisation.

Do you see Kingsmeadow, The Fans Stadium as a temporary or permanent home for AFC Wimbledon ?

This is a difficult question to answer. I would hope that the long-term objective would be to return to Wimbledon (SW19 as opposed to Merton). However, land values, council support, financing and investment in Kingsmeadow may prevent this in the immediate future. I think that we need to accept Kingsmeadow as a medium term interim solution.