Hashtag, you seem really well intentioned here, but in the current board I see people who want to the best for my football club, both on and off the pitch. The last thing I would want at the moment is to be "looking beyond middle aged white men" as you put it, somewhat untactfully.
Giving you the benefit of the doubt, that you do not just want to see "diversity" for diversity's sake, I would ask you what more you would like to see from the club in this regard? We have a Diversity and Inclusion Officer, notably recognised for their hard work on this front at the recent award's night - I have not checked but I do not see many other non-league clubs making such efforts on this front. Surely true "diversity" has to come from the fanbase itself in the first instance, and I see the club making fantastic progress on this matter.
If you're giving me the benefit of the doubt, ill also accept you didn't mean to come across as totally condescending and patronising.
You may find the phrase untactful, but it was merely to highlight all the various diversity issues in a succinct line - gender, age, and background.
It's not a criticsm of any board member, or whether they deserve a place on the board. It's a question of whether we should be looking to bring in experience and expertise beyond perhaps what we have. The board is the strongest it's been in a while and everyone genuinely cares but why can't we look to strengthen our core senior team?
I remember once we were trying to attract the female CEO of Curzon and Southport here, for me that would have been a great appoitnemt for the role but a step in showing just how diverse this club is.
I don't have the answer to how to attract a wider talent pool, but I'd like to think by raising the issue, we can chat about it.
The CEO and founder of Reddit has taken the decision this week to resign his spot on the board. I'm not advocating that from any current board member but I imagine if you lined up all the boards at Non League football you may find a disproportionate amount of characteristics all board members share. Why can't we look in our next senior appointment to seek to be the change.
The board at our level is a privilege not a paid role and usually by invite only.