| David Hall |
The Dons Trust is the majority shareholder in the club and therefore is effectively the owner of the club. As we can't meet regularly as members we appoint a Board to act on our behalf and those representatives are - quite rightly - subject to a regular election. Board members are acting on behalf of the membership. The Trust has a number of aims and set out carried out a strategy review two years ago. Given the club's success over the last two years it will be important to revisit those.
The DT Board is there to set strategy and set overall guidelines (eg financial parameters) for the AFCW Board to operate and run the club on a day to day basis. This is broadly how the system works at present and I can't see any reason for changing it. Obviously there must be scope to step in if things are going seriously wrong as the DT Board represent us as owners of the club.
One of the key things to any successful organisation is to have a good relationship and a feeling of trust and respect between those running it on a day to day basis and the Board. Whilst I'm sure there have been issues from time to time between the club and the Trust Board my view as a fan is that we seem to manage our affairs well because that relationship is pretty strong. We should try to keep it that way.
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| Mark Davis |
When it comes to significant decisions on the direction of the club, and appointing the club's board, the Trust calls the shots. The Trust's Board shouldn't micro-manage the club's management but it should hold them to account, via the Chief Executive, for performance.
The Trust has some other activities - obviously the task of running itself (membership etc) and also fundraising and community work. These are absolutely vital activities although it's perhaps a matter of circumstance rather than conviction as to whether they are better run under the umbrella of the Trust or the Club. (I'm tremendously pleased that efforts have recently been made to engage with wider community groups, such as the flag painted by people with learning difficulties - let's have more of this please.)
The members of the Trust not only get to elect the Trust's board (save for any co-opted Board members) but also make the major decisions in the Trust, and thereby in the club. That's a wonderful thing about AFC Wimbledon, and contributes to the positive vibe that surrounds this club. Members can play their part very actively, by participating in working groups and even submitting Members' Resolutions. However, on the latter, it's often more effective to get the Board to bring forward proposals than to go solo.
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| Nicole Hammond |
This is either a very easy question, or a very difficult one! The trust is the owner of the club and should behave as such. It's not actually that different to the traditional model for club ownership - a local bigwig and beneficiary ploughing money in and making the decisions. We are doing exactly this, but collectively. Where the traditional model eventually went wrong was when the bigwigs started taking out more than they put in, but I can't see that being a problem for us.
Unlike other trusts that have fallen by the wayside, ours must continue to be active in the management of the club, and upholding the principles of fairness that the club was founded on. All I ask of the members is to try to participate in the discussions and decision-making processes that come up - and to keep their membership up to date!
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| Kate Terriere |
The Trust should be the custodian of the club. It is there to represent the fans and ensure their views are translated into the aims and objectives of the club. The Trust provides the strategy that the club then delivers. The role of the members is to contribute towards setting the direction of the club and to vote on key decisions such as a new stadium. |
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| Kris Stewart |
I don't really hold with what I see as an artificial separation between "Trust" and "Club". It's AFC Wimbledon, and there are a number of parts to it. I think of myself as a member of AFC Wimbledon.
The role of our ownership structure is to protect our football club, as it was not protected in the past, and to ensure that we, as members, control its destiny.
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| Lee Willett |
The role of the Trust is to, to me, to oversee the direction and management of the club, its activities and its interests, and to provide a forum through which the fans can express their views on matters. |
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| Stephen Cooles |
The Dons Trust are the owners of the Club (and therefore I do not distinguish between owners/members - they are one and the same). Rather than repeat the written objectives of the Dons Trust, my personal belief is that the most important roles of the DT is to ensure the long term viability of our football club, a return if at all possible to Wimbledon and to set the strategic direction of the plc. In addition it has a responsibility to ensure the plc is run to the standards the members of the DT expect. |
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| Tom Adam |
The Trust Board’s main responsibility is to make sure that the Members’ interests are protected. Some Trusts have lost control of their clubs because their Boards appear to have been too weak, or too trusting, or not experienced enough to spot the signs of trouble looming. If we lose control of the club by failing to do our job, then all the efforts of many good people over the years will have been wasted. Nothing is more important than making sure this doesn’t happen.
I am not just talking about someone trying to buy our football club. We can lose control by taking on too much debt, or by overreaching ourselves financially to try to get promotion, or by appointing the wrong people to Management Committee. I’ve been involved for many years at Board level in different organisations making sure these sorts of things don’t happen
The second critical responsibility is to set the strategic direction of the football club and then monitoring Management Committees progress in implementing that strategy. The Board needs to do this constructively and should not try to duplicate their work as Board Members should only take on a limited number of tasks and avoid the temptation to dive in to the detail
The Members need to be involved in all the significant decisions made by the Trust and the third task of the Board is to involve Members. Although the Board should show leadership in its role, Members should be asked their views regularly not just be told what is happening. The Chairman has a key role here and Board Members must insist that commitments made to Members are met. Looking to the short term future, the new Board must insist that the commitment made last June to consult the Membership about the strategy is carried out immediately, as it has scarcely started yet and when delays like this are allowed to happen the risk is that the loudest voices decide the policies and that is both wrong and dangerous
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| Simon Bath |
Quite simply, the trust is in place to oversee the running of the club, it must also look to find ways of getting new members, and advertising the club to others in the community, whilst most importantly projecting a positive image. The duty of the members is to question everything, and the board should be accountable to this demand. |
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| David Growns |
The operational role of the Trust is to act as the major shareholder of AFC Wimbledon plc (in the same way as the owner of a company). Its primary role (through its Board) is to monitor the performance of the executive of AFCW and to set strategy on behalf of the members.
In terms of setting strategy, there are 14 aims listed on the OS which are/should be the guiding principles, although I admit some of them get more focus than others. There seems to be too narrow a view that the Trust is the club in my opinion.
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| Damian Woodward |
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. |
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| Christopher Gibbs |
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. |
