| Q01 |
Are you a member of WISA? If not, why not? |
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I’m not. When we formed the Dons Trust and then AFC, I felt that WISA was surely going to replicate the work of the Trust given we own our own club and should all be fighting for the same cause. |
| Q02 |
What role do you think WISA has in the future of the Club/Trust? |
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Interesting, because my opinion has changed somewhat. It started with the patronage and has also come to mind recently in the Wimbledon v Kingston debate. Firstly, I think probably only WISA, as a link to the past and completely independent body could have negotiated the return of our history and that made me think about its role again. Secondly, because of the fantastic progress we have made on the pitch I think both the Club, the Trust Board and many fans have lost sight of what we are about. That is Wimbledon F.C in Wimbledon. I guess this is where I see WISA stepping in still and constantly reminding us all of where this journey started. |
| Q03 |
What personal qualities (other than professional skills,
and a capacity for hard work) do you have that the Dons Trust Board
needs? |
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I’m a very driven person, and when I’ve set my sights on something I go for it. I’ve led all sorts of things from my youth (Scouts etc) to adulthood (President Old Wimbledonians FC) and I’d like to think it’s because people see me as someone who is engaging, listens well, conducts reasoned argument and then acts with conviction. I get the impression that the DTB has become a rubber stamp for the PLC and therefore I think my qualities, both personal and professional will enable me to rightly challenge this balance. |
| Q04 |
What do you perceive the role of the Dons Trust to be? In
particular, what do you see its role to be in relation to the club?
What is the role of the members/owners? |
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The Trust owns the football club and the Board, representing the clear objectives of the Trust and its members has a duty to ensure these are carried out by the football club. All members have a responsibility to contribute in whatever way they can. I think many fans see the success on the pitch and forget about what big decisions we need to make for our future – and that they should be part of that. |
| Q05 |
Have you been involved in any projects / organisations /
working parties or volunteer groups on behalf of the Club or the Dons
Trust? If so, what was your role and what did you achieve? If elected,
and bearing in mind the time consuming nature of the Dons Trust Board,
will you still carry on this work? |
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I originally worked on the Commercial Working Group and when that dissolved continued working closely with Ivor to try and maximise sponsorship revenues etc. I only stopped when we appointed Keith, when it was clear that we needed a full time professional to really do justice to the opportunities we have. Since then nothing other than contributing prizes etc to fundraising evenings and making sure my company spends some money each year on the Club. We achieved a great deal in the early years and set the platform for achieving sponsorship revenues well above our natural level. Keith has done a great job carrying this forward. |
| Q06 |
How will you get more people to volunteer and help out the
club? |
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I don’t see this as the biggest thing I can bring to the table, however what I think I can bring is the ability to take a look at the complete structure we need going forward; help decide which roles are likely to be full time professional (key off the pitch as well as on it for progress!) and then have a clear ideas of what we need as volunteers. We then should make it clear to all members that these roles are as key to our success as anything else we do and make sure that there is a collective responsibility for progress based on everyone doing their bit. |
| Q07 |
What are the biggest problems facing the Dons Trust? And
what three things would you suggest to make it more dynamic? |
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1) Dwindling membership – people have forgotten why they should be a member
2) The DTB has not challenged either the Stadium Working Group or the football club enough on returning to Wimbledon, which is how we were about to adopt Kingston as our community
3) Communication from the Trust out is poor and not enough people feel engaged by it.
My view is as a Board we need to set some clear objectives, review these on a monthly basis and hold members of the Board (either PLC or DTB) accountable for them. I see lots of examples around of where we need to gear ourselves up better for progress and am clear that only by having agreed and measurable objectives are we likely to achieve this. So, I’m prepared to make sure the Trust Board becomes more dynamic, but also accountable to the members whether that be collectively or individually.
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| Q08 |
Why do you believe you can put your views into practice and deliver on any promises you make? How much time do you have to devote to Trust matters? |
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I refer back to question 3 and can show how in my professional career how I have delivered. I never make promises I can’t keep, I work in a collaborative way to minimise politics and ensure a clear and agreed agenda with whomever I am working with, which deliver robust results and happy people. It may sound simple and obvious, but it never ceases to amaze me how many people try and follow a different path. Time wise my commitment is to make at all DTB meetings and general meetings. Once we have clear objectives I will then see if my I can add elsewhere again, but I am clear that my main goal is to influence on the DTB and to try and ensure at a strategic level we are at least heading in the right direction. |
| Q09 |
Do you have any financial interests in the club, associated companies or Trust? If so, please could you specify? |
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I am a share holder in AFCW PLC – 2,500 shares.
Other than that, the company I work for, TomTom, pays sponsorship monies to the football club
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| Q10 |
If we are not promoted this season, do you think we should try to get a league place and / or go professional (i.e. take on full-time players) as soon as possible, whatever the cost (financial or otherwise)? Is fan ownership non-negotiable? |
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Fan ownership is non-negotiable. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t scope to take on an external investor who may want to sit on the PLC Board and who helps run and potentially takes a return from the football club. I personally do not want us ever to put ourselves at the mercy of anyone other than ourselves again, nor do I think we need to to progress. I trust Terry to present the options to us in terms of what we need to do to hit various objectives on the pitch. I just cannot see a situation where anyone would go for a decision ‘whatever the cost’. If we need more investment (outside of normal P&L and donors) then that should be presented back to the Members, with a clear business case for the various options. |
| Q11 |
What schemes should / would you put in place to help reduce the club's debt? |
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Interesting question, but not necessarily a priority as I see it. Most successful businesses run with an acceptable level of debt which offers all sorts of benefits, the idea being that you can make more money by what you invest in than the interest you pay on the debt. The extension of the Main Stand is a good example of this. I therefore see the challenge more as to how we maintain a manageable level of debt whilst also making significant investments in facilities (e.g. a new stadium as the most extreme example). My advice will therefore be around how we can get maximum use out of anything we do – either in the short or longer term, with a view that it will pay back more than the investment. |
| Q12 |
What action will you take if you feel the Club is committing itself to ventures it cannot afford? |
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I will say no! And if I don’t believe that the message is not getting through then I will speak out and make sure everyone knows what is going on. To be honest though, knowing Erik, it will be more about making sure he’s not hiding little pockets of money away which could be invested elsewhere ? |
| Q13 |
If the Club makes a profit from FA Cup or Trophy runs, or from the sale of players, should that windfall be used to improve the infrastructure of the Club or be used to improve the playing squad? |
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I’d love to say that all extra revenues go into our long term future – infrastructure being a nice word which covers quite a few elements. At the same time, the position we are in being a good example, if we believe that there is a golden opportunity to take (e.g. all other clubs slashing budgets and losing players) then I can see the argument for a calculated risk to spend some on strengthening the squad. Again though, this should be transparent to the members and agreed. |
| Q14 |
Do you see The Fans Stadium, Kingsmeadow, as a temporary or permanent home for AFC Wimbledon? |
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Temporary |
| Q15 |
What is your opinion on the possibility of a move to the Greyhound Stadium what would you do if elected to make it a reality? |
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I think we can make it a reality if we get the right people together. It is probably one of the few areas left in Wimbledon that has the opportunity for significant regeneration, meaning that we should be able to get all sorts of enabling partners to make it happen. So, that’s exactly what I’ll be asking at the first meeting – Who have we talked to? Who’s in? What are the obstacles? What do we need to do to overcome them? What are the clear next steps? Personally I will make sure we are looking at the right level of commercial sponsors and ground facilities to both add to the pot to build and then for us to be clear on what recurring revenues we will be able to generate to protect our future. |
| Q16 |
What will you do to improve communication between the Trust members and their board? |
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For me this is a good example where we need to invest. We can hope and wish for volunteers with the right professional skills to make it happen, but for me that is not good enough. If we speak to more people, more professionally, more of the time, we will make the investment we put into it back and more. We need to treat communication as a forethought, not a must do better. I think there is mileage in also linking this back much more with the club so as to get the best efficiencies in terms of spend and peoples’ attention. |
| Q17 |
Do you believe that the Trust should adopt a clear stance on issues such as Milton Keynes’ inclusion in the England 2018 World Cup bid, or do you think that the Trust should maintain a diplomatic silence and leave such issues to WISA? |
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Tough one – heart says yes – we should fight anything to do with Milton Keynes. Head says; imagine the backlash from ‘football’ if we lost the overall bid because of it. We still have tremendous good will out there and people genuinely look with admiration at what we have achieved. This is probably a good example of where WISA steps in to ensure we make the point, but without compromising the football club or Trust. |
| Q18 |
Should Trust board members always be bound by ‘collective responsibility’? |
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Simply, yes. If you feel strongly enough that you haven’t been heard on the Board and not been able to resolve that to the point where you speak out differently in public, then you should resign both on principle and under the etiquette of collective responsibility. I also think there is a strong case for more individual responsibility to be clear what each Board member has contributed on a regular basis. It is impossible for members to know in anyway now if current DTB members are doing a good job. Whilst I accept it is a voluntary role, we need the DTB to be thorough and professional in the way it operates to ensure we are getting the same from the Club Board. |
