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Thursday, 22nd February, 2001
Wimbledon Community Centre, St. George's Road, Wimbledon
1. Apologies for absence
Apologies were received from Charlie Bell, Louise Carton-Kelly,
[Dudley Chipler], Nicole Hammond, Stefan King, John Venables, John
Wheeler and Lee Willett.
2. Minutes of last meeting
Minutes of the last meeting (AGM) held on 5th October, 2000 were
agreed as a true record. There were no matters arising.
(a) 3. Membership update
Mags Hutchinson reported that nearly all membership cards have now
been sent out. There are curently 378 members plus approx. 20 in
the pipeline.
(b) Treasurer's update
Kris Stewart explained that Nicole Hammond could not attend as she
was away on business. Copies of the latest accounts were distributed,
showing a current balance of £929.58. Darren Foreman has added
a new section to the WISA page of the website for accounts and this
will be updated quarterly.
4. Elections
Five positions were to be filled this evening. (Elections to all
positions will be held at the AGM in May.) The position of Vice
Chair had never been filled. The Club Liaison Officer role had similarly
not been filled but had been performed by Peter Bowles for the last
few months. Two general committee positions were available following
Peter's new role and Mags Hutchinson having been acting as Membership
Secretary following the resignation of Nicy Grant. During the course
of the meeting, John Wheeler telephoned his resignation from the
general committee.
The following were therefore elected:
Position Candidate Proposer Seconder
Vice Chair Louise Carton-Kelly Kris Stewart Charlie Bell
Club Liaison Peter Bowles Kris Stewart Mags Hutchinson
Officer
Membership Mags Hutchinson Colette Mulchrone Peter Bowles
Secretary
General Ronan Warde Peter Bowles Kris Stewart
Committee Sean Fox Rob Dunsford [Simon Wheeler]
Mark Lewis [???] [???]
5. Allen Batsford dinner
Laurence Lowne explained the background. Briefly, Allen Batsford
had been promised a benefit by the then chairman, Ron Noades, in
recognition of his pivotal role in Wimbledon being elected to the
Football League. Sam Hammam later refused to honour this agreement.
This came to light during discussions between Allen and Steve Elson,
who is writing a book about managers. The result was Steve agreed
to put together a small group of WISA members to arrange a benefit
dinner; concomitantly, Allen accepted an invitation to become Honarary
President of WISA.
A venue is still being decided. The first choice - Cannizaro House
- can only accommodate 100 people (they will not release the main
restaurant) and has therefore been discounted. Discussions are continuing
with the All England Lawn Tennis Club and the David Lloyd Centre.
The price per head likely to be £35-40. The AELTC is likely
to be more expensive but can cope with 250 people. The likely date
is the last Thursday in July.
Dave Bassett will be the main speaker and former and present members
of the playing staff will be attending. Chris Phillips will provide
a disco. Anyone interested in volunteering to help should contact
Laurence. Items are sought to auction on the night plus memorabilia
and contributions to a raffle. The possibility of corporate tables
is also being considered, e.g. local companies buy tables of 10
or 12 people.
A concern was expressed at using the David Lloyd Centre, given
Hull City's current predicament. It was believed Lloyd had sold
his entire stake in these centres but this would be checked.
6. Ground force
General
Towards the end of last year, it was decided we needed to work more
proactively on the issue of a home for WFC and a small team was
put together to direct our work on that issue.
Meeting with owners
Members should have received a newsletter in the last few days and
may have picked up leaflet at the Boro game which gives a rundown
of a meeting with Bjorn Gjelsten (BG), who was then Chairman, plus
David Barnard, Chief Executive, and other supporters representatives.
BG said the club had made no proactive moves whatsoever towards
finding us a home. All they had done was look at ideas brought to
them from outside interests, e.g. Milton Keynes, Gatwick, Bluewater,
Picketts Lock. The club felt the models and brochures looked very
nice but had not looked into the long term implications of any of
those ideas.
BG stated the reason for not looking for a site was dictated by
events on and off the field - their disputes and eventual parting
of the ways with Sam and relegation. The plan was to ask Charles
Koppel (CK) to take on an almost full-time role at the club and
be charged with looking into the ground situation. Not long after
this meeting, BG stepped down (though remaining a director and shareholder)
and CK took on the chairmanship of the club. He has said the club
would like to move back to Merton or as near as possible and would
start looking immediately, starting in Merton. The biggest issue
is finance for the ground as the owners will not spend their own
money and are therefore looking for some partnership deal, e.g.
Reading has a large retail park attached.
The club's stated intention is to have regular meetings - a second
meeting is expected to be organised soon.
Other matters
§ Roger Casale (MP for Wimbledon and Chairman of Wimbledon
Task Force) is arranging a meeting between the main interested parties
(club, council and fans).
§ Kris is arranging an official handover to the Football League
of the petition opposing the Milton Keynes move
What should we be doing now?
There was a fairly wide-ranging discussion on what future action
should be, e.g. using the expertise of members to research sites
and financing; lobbying political candidates; arguing for our own
page in the programme to put forward our views; canvassing the views
of local residents and businesses for support. However, since some
of these ideas would by beyond our reach - in terms of time available
and, particularly, finance - it was agreed we should continue to
maintain pressure on the club to obtain a copy of the council's
Unitary Development Plan and seek out a suitable site.
7. Weird & Wonderful Walk
Simon - walk from Plough Lane to Selhurst Park and go through Wimbledon
and publish the route and do a leaflet drop on SP. So can join and
rejoin at any time. Or another suggestion is walk back the other
way. To try and get involvement on the day - nice idea of 'coming
home'. 9½ miles. Last day of season is a Sunday with 1/1.30pm
kick-off. The Thursday/Friday before is the 10th anniversary. Saturday
5 May - walk from old town hall to Plough Lane with local support
to demonstrate the level of support.
If we did do the 9½ miles and we get the sponsorship. May
be even for charity, e.g. Football in the Community. Need First
Aiders and medics.
Laurence: march to club is the catalyst to the club that we are
serious. c.2000 supporters have never been to Selhurst after we
left PL. They might be interested in walking part of the way (town
centre to PL) but no further and we need them.
Can we count how many stayed behind, e.g. media said 50 people
stayed behind when it was nearer 1500.
Advance publicity essential. Spoon-feed them. Plus sports newspapers,
Radio 5 Live.
24th March - potentially no game because of internationals. Get
out into Wimbledon, Morden, etc.
Agreed walk is a good idea in principle. Get people on the committee
to come together quickly and pick a date and organise it properly.
Anyone here who wants to get involved in organising it, say so.
8. Fund raising
Most important is get new members. Had lots of ideas.
Monthly draw
Homeless buckets
Put a Dons player or fan on a plank and dunk them when you hit them
with a ball.
T-shirt sales - Nicole and Anna had idea for t-shirt.
CDs just been repressed by Cherry Red.
Social - Simon in touch with Watford supporters club about paintballing
Ideas welcome
9. Any other business
(a) New merchandise - Nicole
(b) National Federation of Supporters Clubs - in touch with Football
Task Force, etc. It would cost less than £100 per season.
Committee thought it would be a good idea.
(c) Lee: WISA should make formal protest to Club about doing something
to improve the atmosphere in the Holmesdale, e.g. unreserved seating
(block D). Also get cup tickets on our season ticket books. TB is
coming up for a touchline ban - so he can sit with us. Why can't
the away fans sit in the Arthur Wait stand as it would make more
of an atmosphere - presumably cost. Open the upper tier and we can
sing up there.
(d) We are almost 'officially' recognised now, e.g. open the upper
tier of the Holmesdale or give us the White Horse stand where the
noise is greater.
(e) Laurence - club phoned during the week and said there would
be room for W&W walk in the programme.
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