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Dons Trust Elections - Questionnaire 2010
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| Q01 | Are you a member of WISA? If not, why not? |
| No, I'm not. I believe Don's Trust membership is sufficient involvement in the club. | |
| Q02 | What role do you think WISA has in the future of the Club/Trust? |
| I hope very little is needed. I guess WISA will argue that it is the club's guardian angel and there to make sure it holds true to its fundamental aims. It has to be careful that it doesn't become the club's cranky mother-in-law. Please read my answer to the very last question to understand why I say this. | |
| Q03 | What personal qualities (other than professional skills, and a capacity for hard work) do you have that the Dons Trust Board needs? |
| DT members should expect its board to represent them, reflect their views and oversee the delivery of the club's aims. If elected I can presume that I reflect the views of a good portion of the membership. That so, I am fair-minded and trustworthy. I am prepared to argue a point forcefully but will always listen and respond to a logical and well-reasoned position. I believe that there are always better ways to do things and would seek to improve what we do in all areas. | |
| 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? |
| The Dons Trust is the proprietor of Wimbledon. Its job is to nurture and grow it. The Dons Trust needs to know who its members are and who its wider supporter base are, canvass their views and harness their enthusiasm and talents for the benefit of the club as a whole. | |
| 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? |
| I have attended one summer clean-up session, and that's it. Irrespective of the outcome of this election I will be doing a lot more from now on. | |
| Q06 | How will you get more people to volunteer and help out the club? |
| By asking them. I want to establish and publish a list of volunteers' roles including the required skills and time commitment. I think potentially excellent volunteers are put off by not knowing who to contact and the risk of being offered tasks that they are not necessarily suited to. | |
| Q07 | What are the biggest problems facing the Dons Trust? And what three things would you suggest to make it more dynamic? |
| The biggest challenge is getting supporters to see the Dons Trust and the football club as effectively the same thing and thereby getting them to see that Dons Trust membership is an obligation and a privilege. That in turn would engender greater engagement (and therefore dynamism.). Give one board member the key task of maintaining and building DT membership. Use season ticket renewals and ˝ year season ticket promotion as opportunities to do that, with DT application tick boxes on the same form as ST applications. One month after a new season ticketholder has received their ticket, write to them to explain why it's essential that they join the Dons Trust. Use the run-up to DT Board elections in the same way. Two months before remind people that it's their club and they can only shape it future if they are DT members Don't be partisan, ask difficult questions and accept the answers. Make AGMs entertaining. Promise news on particular developments that will only be available at those meetings |
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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? |
| I've spent 3 years thinking about doing this and I now have enough time. I wouldn't be standing if I didn't think I could make a real contribution. | |
| Q09 | Do you have any financial interests in the club, associated companies or Trust? If so, please could you specify? |
| No | |
| 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? |
| We should never do anything 'whatever the cost' and fan ownership is non-negotiable | |
| Q11 | What schemes should / would you put in place to help reduce the club's debt? |
| Earlier in this questionnaire I proposed a volunteer task template. I think we should have a list of financial items, one of which is the debt. If anyone wants to give money to the club it is psychologically more rewarding to know it is being spent on something specific, rather than just being 'absorbed' | |
| Q12 | What action will you take if you feel the Club is committing itself to ventures it cannot afford? |
| Vote against | |
| 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? |
| The obvious answer is improving the infrastructure, but it would really depend on how much extra money was made and what was happening with the budget. | |
| Q14 | Do you see The Fans Stadium, Kingsmeadow, as a temporary or permanent home for AFC Wimbledon? |
| If Kingston offers a brilliant redevelopment solution that was better than anything available elsewhere in Merton or Kingston at that time then it's our 'next' home. If not, no. Of course, once that theoretical development had taken place that does not mean it is a permanent home of Wimbledon any more than Highbury was the permanent home of Arsenal, The Dell was the permanent home of Southampton, Highfield Rd of Coventry, Burnden Park of Bolton Wanderers, Maine Rd of Manchester City, Victoria Ground of Stoke City... | |
| 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? |
| I would positively instruct a working party to put serious effort into a move to the Greyhound Stadium and then let members know how realistic this option is. At the same time it should be applying the same energy trying to find its next home elsewhere in Merton or Kingston. It is clear that the club needs a bigger and better home. My view is that we should do nothing to impede the growth of the club or slow its momentum. If we have an affordable solution we should take it, rather than hold out for something elsewhere that might not happen. The idea that we should not move to anywhere but Plough Lane/Wimbledon/Merton (insert your own particular prejudice here) because that will mean we will 'never go home' is poor thinking. I want to watch competitive football, as I think most of us do. We will find our natural level at some point, but I don't want it to be an 'unnatural' level because we are bound to Kingsmeadow in its present form should a single-minded sub-set of fans attempt to block a redevelopment or, in their view, a move to an unacceptable location. | |
| Q16 | What will you do to improve communication between the Trust members and their board? |
| Use email more, posting monthly bullet point updates to members. Give updates of upcoming tasks and funding projects (discussed earlier) where help is needed and also recent tasks/goals that have been met. | |
| 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? |
| I think The Dons Trust should focus on regaining its league place in an affordable manner while retaining its Trust-owned structure. | |
| Q18 | Should Trust board members always be bound by ‘collective responsibility’? |
| I would expect my fellow board members to take their responsibilities as seriously as I will, making sure they fully understand what it is they are agreeing to or recommending to DT members. Inevitably there will be the occasional difference of opinion and should I be on the losing side of a vote I will accept that. Board members are responsible to their shareholders (ie you, the Dons Trust Membership) and should vote to act in the best overall interests of the club; you should expect the highest level of professionalism and behavior from your board. The behavior of some members of the board during and after the first Special General Meeting was such that David Cox referred to it when he stood down as Dons Trust Board Chairman. His statement can be found at the bottom of these minutes: http://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk/dtdocs/dtb_minutes/2009-06-01.pdf In summary the board made recommendations to us about the club's future direction regarding its community and stadium. The meeting was running late and these items were adjourned to a new date. Some board members then decided they couldn't support their own recommendations and actively campaigned against them. They also decided it would be OK for new members to join the Trust and vote on these items. Any right-minded person can see the problem with this. Frankly WISA's role in this was less than encouraging, choosing to write an open letter to Mr Cox urging a vote against the boards' recommendations between the two meetings. For an organization that claims to have the clubs best interests at heart it seems strange that it could not have responded in a more timely fashion. WISA claimed in its letter: WISA does not believe that Kingsmeadow, in its current design, is a viable high level Football League stadium. WISA believes that to obtain the standard required would result in extensive demolition and rebuilding of the current site or relocating the stadium within the current boundaries. WISA believes that by doing this, the opportunity to return to Merton would be lost forever. The road back to Wimbledon may not be a straight one. WISA's simplistic view is unhelpful, divisive in its apparent certainty and yet impossible to prove, as I think I demonstrate with my answer to question 14. The Dons Trust Board should aim to be an excellent model for fans-owned clubs. That requires its Board Members to behave in an exemplary fashion. Collective responsibility is a must. We then trust our members to vote as they see fit, knowing that the answer that you give is not always going to be what we expect, but that's democracy. |