DT Election 2003 - Questionnaire

Outstanding, in what has been achieved in our first phase of existence.

I am proud of the Trust's performance and achievements from the date of the launch. We are one of the largest trusts and we have had to run before we could walk. I think that the Dons Trust Board have done admirably under the extreme circumstances. I was delighted when we won Supporters Trust of the Year for our achievements. However there are areas that need strengthening. Without The Dons Trust I don't believe we would have our club, AFC Wimbledon.

I am constantly frustrated by the criticism levelled at the Dons Trust, I believe their achievements to date have been outstanding aside from ownership of AFC Wimbledon . I am particularly proud of the Junior Dons Match Day Academy , the initiation of Football in the Community and the Ladies Teams. Of course the crowning glory was it's role in purchasing the main lease at Kingsmeadow.

I believe the Trust has achieved much since the first board was elected, in setting up AFC Wimbledon and providing a way for fans to have a real stake in the club they support. Without the Trust, we would probably have AFC Wimbledon, but the club would not be fan-owned or controlled. I do not believe that AFC Wimbledon would have been as successful as it has been without the Trust, as the Trust provides volunteers (on matchdays and on working groups), and builds community links by running the FITC scheme, youth and ladies teams. While I am proud of these general achievements, I recognise that there have been significant problems, resulting mainly from the lack of definition of the Trust and Club's roles, and the fact that the Trust had little time to establish its own policies and frameworks before the formation of AFC Wimbledon. The most pressing needs which must be addressed to improve the Trust's performance are increased communication with members and greater member involvement in decision making; and establishment of a structure that clearly defines the roles of the Club and Trust, so that everyone knows what is expected of them and can be judged on their performance.

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.

I feel some elements of the Trust work could have been improved upon, hence I feel I could bring this to the table and assist the Trust with this.

I prefer to focus on the incredible achievement of Wimbledon supporters as a whole, setting up, running, financing and supporting a club with its own ground in such a short period of time.

I have great admiration for the people such as Lou Carton-Kelly for the work involved in originally setting up the Trust in the first place. Without the Trust we would not have a club owned by the fans.

I think the present Board has done some things well. The Community football scheme has been a great success and the Board has successfully completed the purchase of Kingsmeadow, as instructed by the members.

However I believe that the Board has made a number of mistakes. Firstly I believe that the Board should have polled the membership before going ahead with the share issue. Secondly I think that the Board should have commissioned a survey of the ground before going ahead with the ground purchase – this would have revealed what repairs were needed. These repairs have had to be undertaken at significant cost to AFCW Plc in order to get the ground into a useable state. The Dons Trust Board should have made these repairs a condition of the purchase – had they done this, the money already spent on repairs could have instead been used to lower the debt.

The Dons Trust Board has not done a good job of keeping the membership informed about the results of its fundraising efforts. Though a number of events – such as ‘Leap of Faith' and the 5-a-side tournament – have generated good publicity, the Board has not informed the membership of how much money they have yielded collectively for the Stadium Fund. Equally we do not know how much was raised by the ‘Playing for Keeps' appeal. In fact the Trust membership has been given barely any information on the state of the Trust's finances.

One of the big failings of the present Board has been lack of communication. The members have received just three newsletters in eighteen months and little other correspondence to inform us what the Trust is doing. Similarly the Board has failed to seek opinion from the members on how either the Dons Trust or the AFC Wimbledon Boards are performing.

It has done really well so far but needs to be more transparent in dealing with the membership.

I think the Trust has achieved an awful lot but reform is needed now hence the elections.

Trust Board or Trust?

I am proud of what we have achieved, it has been marvellous to be a part of something so phenomenal. Overall, I would say we have done well, but there is always room to improve and learn from experience; that is what we should strive for.

Due recognition for a lot of this needs to go the members of the DT Board who are executive directors of AFC Wimbledon . I am firmly convinced that without their input the performance and achievement would have been significantly less.

Recognition must also go to the dedicated band of volunteers who have been fantastic in giving of their time and energy. This team effort is one of the most pleasing aspects of the overall achievement.

The achievements of the Trust are the achievements of us all. We should be rightly proud of all we have done so far. That said, unless I believed there was work to do and room for improvements I would not have stood for election.

I believe the Performance so far has been good, but it needs a new injection of blood to take it further quicker.

I think that despite the excellent achievements that the board have made, there is still vast scope for improvement. I'd like the trust to come up with a series of unique solutions to help reduce the debt. I want the trust to be more open and transparent with the membership. I'd like the trust to continue with the excellent Community Football Scheme and general community program such as school visits and attendances at various fairs in order to promote who we are.

The Trust has provided us with the opportunity to turn our dream into reality. The past 18 months have been outstanding.

Good, but fallen short of where we need to be.

I am answering this in terms of the board members, rather than the entire membership of the Trust. The board does not do things as a group but, quite rightly, it operates in working groups, led by board members.

There have been impressive achievements re Football in the Community and in the development of a rigorous analysis of the stadium options open to us. There have been some shining examples of fund raising, such as the Comedy Evening and Dogs Night but, overall, a total of £60,00 in 18 months is a long way away from what I think we should have aimed at and achieved.

Finally, a small number of the board did almost all the work on the stadium purchase and the share issue as well as running the football club.

The board as a whole has reviewed and commented on the work done on buying Kingsmeadow, the business results of the football club, and the share issue. However, it has not:

•  Researched and defined what it is trying to achieve and then consulted members about it

•  Published clear roles and responsibilities for its board members and made them publicly accountable for them

•  Appointed individuals to concentrate on its critical objectives, for example, building links into the community, raising funds (astonishingly, when we are bleeding cash to the Khoslas, there is no board member who is in charge of promoting and supporting fund-raising activities)

•  Appointed someone to be responsible for building relationships with Merton and Kingston councils

•  Held a general open meeting for members

•  Demonstrated why the roles that board members fulfil require them to be board members (note that Roger Dennis, who does masses of good things for the Trust, resigned from the board as he said he didn't need to be a board member to achieve them)

•  Allocated its board members in line with what the Trust needs to do – otherwise, how can we explain that despite there being 4 members of the board on the Legal and Constitutional group, it was recently felt necessary to co-opt another member of the L&C group to the board?

•  Reported on the financial state of the Trust to the board on a regular basis. Until last week, the board had never had an analysis of how much money has been raised by members and fans (and how much is in the pipeline)

So, we have a lot of opportunities to improve

Considering the incredible changes that have taken place since the launch, I think the Trust has done well. There have probably been mistakes, particularly in communication, but with more experience gained over the last year, the new board should be more able to make considerable improvements.