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Yes

28 (39.4%)

No

43 (60.6%)

Total Members Voted: 40

Voting closed: November 02, 2016, 12:41:30 PM

[taxi Phil]

The board aren't perfect, but I think we've gone downhill since Geoff Goodwin quit. We need another Geoff to come and put time and money in.....it's a big ask.

[Mausoleum Alty]

One thing I've realised reading all these posts on this thread, which by the way are all in some way valid and excellent posts, is that the club seems to have forgotten that it's a football club. It's not primarily a business or a community club, it's primarily a football club and what the fans want first and foremost is a successful FOOTBALL club.

We don't sing songs about being debt free, good in the community, worlds best hireable Pilates facility, we sing about the football club, our football history, our football rivalries and our favourite football players.

I get the impression that as a football club we've decided to concentrate on almost everything but the first team. Everything we do should be about maximising the potential of the first team of this football club. And now of all times I couldn't care less about anything else to do with the club. There won't be many Barwell supporters enjoying our community club spirit and facilities next season if we go down and there'll be significantly less Alty fans too.

It's time for action and accountability from the board.

Excellent post

[bumble]

I voted no and I'd like to elaborate why.

This isn't an anti Rowley, Shaw Diane or whatever Nigel's surname is. A board should be effective as a unit. I get the impression they're in as big of a rut at Jake Moult.

Take Grahame away from the public eye as chairman, and let him do what's best for this club. Let him worry less about stuff. Let him concentrate on none footballing matters. Let him enjoy being part of this club again. Let him build the community facility so it rivals football league clubs.

Each board member probably isn't the issue. I think it's as a collective they've lost the energy and enthusiasm to do what they need to do. It's like heathxofe or Sinnott. Both did great things for the club, but eventually they become devoid of ideas.

Perhaps it's time for a re-assembly of the current board in different look.

Let's reignite the passion of those that remain with fresh blood and ideas. Let's also let those on the board do what they're best at and bring in where we lack skills such as public leadership.

But let's not chuck people out when we can use them more effectively to achieve our ambition.

The current board member that remain could act as a safety valve for 1 or 2 new board members that come on board.

Where do these new board members come from? Well let's ask who wants to join the party. As they say, you don't ask, you don't get.

[Ian J]

To be effective, the Board need to establish a vision for the football Club- of what they want it to look like. They then need to design a plan, ideally in short-term stages of 3-5 years to allow them to achieve that vision. By doing that, it will allow them to focus on what needs to be done to allow that plan to be achieved: which staff in place etc. And, perhaps more importantly, when they conduct interviews for a managerial role (which hopefully won’t be for a few years to come), they can ensure the prospective candidate has a vision that matches theirs.

That way, all senior members of the Club can pull in the same direction. And from there down, each senior member can put a plan in place to allow them to achieve their individual goals. Jim might have a goal of reaching the football league but unless he has a plan in place, and the FULL support of the Board, that goal is never going to be realised.

But one thing that must be done, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, is that the supporters of the Club, without whom the Club would not exist, must have a voice on the Board. The Board need to connect more with the supporters, share their vision, and try and restore harmony.

By doing that and allowing ALL parts of the Club to work as one and work towards the same vision, the Club should start to move in the right direction.

[Jezza]

There isnt a queue of rich local folk desperate for the unpaid position of board member who fortuitously have the backing of the shareholders who have the unwanted task of actually doing something in return for the priveledge/millstone of having some ownership of this club by way of appointing board members..

Just thought id point out the lethargy that has resulted from de maunderisation....

Hard to believe ownership of this club was once fiercely contested in court...

Hard to believe either the board have not appointed a tasc rep onto the board in return for the 10k the supporters raise and invest every year..it is a disgrace and indicative of how certain members of the board view fans as an ignorant interference that this has not happened to reward the clubs biggest long term investors by a country mile...

We do of course have a few genuine fans on the board....

[bumble]

There isnt a queue of rich local folk desperate for the unpaid position of board member who fortuitously have the backing of the shareholders who have the unwanted task of actually doing something in return for the priveledge/millstone of having some ownership of this club by way of appointing board members..

Just thought id point out the lethargy that has resulted from de maunderisation....

Hard to believe ownership of this club was once fiercely contested in court...

Hard to believe either the board have not appointed a tasc rep onto the board in return for the 10k the supporters raise and invest every year..it is a disgrace and indicative of how certain members of the board view fans as an ignorant interference that this has not happened to reward the clubs biggest long term investors by a country mile...

We do of course have a few genuine fans on the board....

I bet loads of people would like to manager of Altrincham FC but until the job is vacant we probably don't get as many CV as when someone is in there.

[Man of Moss]

Spot on factorlink, that's how England rugby won the world cup, that's how the British Olympic team have improved so much in such a relatively short time, well said.

[Brian Flynn]

The Supporters Trust (STAR) was deregistered by the Financial Conduct Authority for non filing of it's financial return around 6 or so years ago.  Therefore no longer exists.

Thanks for confirming that, Jacqui. I do seem to remember now, that to continue, STAR would have needed to file annual accounts. I guess that we must have decided to allow that process to take its course,  rather than going down the dissolution route.

[Brian Flynn]

Thanks both. What would have happened to the shares in that case? With the settled nature of the Board and its relationship with the supporters at the time, i guess it became irrelevant, strange how things change in a few years?

An effective and influential mouthpiece challenging the Board and even taking a seat on it with a supporters representative is what is needed now. Something i think the Board are well aware of, there is no organised challenge on decisions they make, therefore they can do what they want.

STAR had one share in Altrincham Football Club, I have no idea what would have happened to that. I guess that it may no longer exist.

[Jezza]

Actually star amassed a few thousand shares

Many of those were sold with proceeds going to the club....as the the then board saw a mass body of fans holding shares as a nuisance and a threat and couldnt understand why the supporters as a body would possibly want more than one share in their beloved football club.

This was sad as the board never saw the advantage of motivated fans feeling part of the club....shares are held by more worthy folk than supporters...these worthy folk dont even turn up for games and probably dont even know our predicament currently...

I did hear that the majority shareholding is now held by the boardroom so de demaunderisation could happen....but why on earth should anyone have a say or gain a shareholding in return for investment?? 

[Bath Alty]

So this group has done great things in the past but now things are going badly wrong and so we need shot of the lot of them, even if we don't know who will replace them they must be an improvement on what we've had to put up with recently.

This seemed to be the consensus at the back end of last season with respect to the team, we got our way and that didn't go very well (!)

So this group has done great things in the past but now things are going badly wrong and so we need shot of the lot of them, even if we don't know who will replace them they must be an improvement on what we've had to put up with recently.

This is now the majority view of those voting in this poll with respect to the board and you expect it to go better this time?

We all want results to change and that is making us all angry and are lashing out at anything to do with the club - take for example the outrage on here when GR asked for any info on who threw the flare - at no point in that article did he mention or even imply that it was thrown by an Alty fan but according to some on here he had once again dragged the good name of Alty fans through the mud and asked us to rat on one of our own. 

There are some indisputable facts about changes in our club over recent years.  We have a major new facility that is the biggest ground improvement for many years and a source of increased income and we have pretty much (if not entirely) paid for it in a very short period.  We have bigger home crowds and that cannot be due to on pitch performances.  The credit for the first and in reasonable part the second (a combination of excellent social media work and the greater community involvement) must surely go to the board.  This is their main day job and they do it very well.

They have a very important job to do in selecting the manager and they balls'd this up good and proper a couple of times but I believe that they have now rectified this and hopefully will not have to do that again for many years.  I know they have also committed some PR disasters but frankly if viewed by a neutral rather than a (justifiably) hurting and angry Alty fan the written ones aren't as bad as most feel.  I can't speak to the verbal behaviour  / comments as I wasn't there.

We all accept that Coburn played for us and not a league team because he was only good as some aspects of his role, why can we not accept this same courtesy to the board?  They have done some fantastic things for this club and that should not be overshadowed by recent mistakes, the biggest of which has now been rectified by appointing JH and publicly stating he has been given funds when players are available.

If you want to propose an alternative to the current board please feel free, but frankly several people on here at the moment sound like a toddler having a tantrum demanding to be allowed to play with a matches without really knowing what they want to do with them or giving any thought to the implications of what they are asking for.

[Brian Flynn]

So this group has done great things in the past but now things are going badly wrong and so we need shot of the lot of them, even if we don't know who will replace them they must be an improvement on what we've had to put up with recently.

This seemed to be the consensus at the back end of last season with respect to the team, we got our way and that didn't go very well (!)

So this group has done great things in the past but now things are going badly wrong and so we need shot of the lot of them, even if we don't know who will replace them they must be an improvement on what we've had to put up with recently.

This is now the majority view of those voting in this poll with respect to the board and you expect it to go better this time?

We all want results to change and that is making us all angry and are lashing out at anything to do with the club - take for example the outrage on here when GR asked for any info on who threw the flare - at no point in that article did he mention or even imply that it was thrown by an Alty fan but according to some on here he had once again dragged the good name of Alty fans through the mud and asked us to rat on one of our own. 

There are some indisputable facts about changes in our club over recent years.  We have a major new facility that is the biggest ground improvement for many years and a source of increased income and we have pretty much (if not entirely) paid for it in a very short period.  We have bigger home crowds and that cannot be due to on pitch performances.  The credit for the first and in reasonable part the second (a combination of excellent social media work and the greater community involvement) must surely go to the board.  This is their main day job and they do it very well.

They have a very important job to do in selecting the manager and they balls'd this up good and proper a couple of times but I believe that they have now rectified this and hopefully will not have to do that again for many years.  I know they have also committed some PR disasters but frankly if viewed by a neutral rather than a (justifiably) hurting and angry Alty fan the written ones aren't as bad as most feel.  I can't speak to the verbal behaviour  / comments as I wasn't there.

We all accept that Coburn played for us and not a league team because he was only good as some aspects of his role, why can we not accept this same courtesy to the board?  They have done some fantastic things for this club and that should not be overshadowed by recent mistakes, the biggest of which has now been rectified by appointing JH and publicly stating he has been given funds when players are available.

If you want to propose an alternative to the current board please feel free, but frankly several people on here at the moment sound like a toddler having a tantrum demanding to be allowed to play with a matches without really knowing what they want to do with them or giving any thought to the implications of what they are asking for.

Remarkably good post.

[brinners]

Some people are afraid of change, I sort of get that. But as things stand, Altrincham FC are heading down to the Evostick. That is simply intolerable for a club like ours. I know there is a great deal of good will towards the present board and with good reason. It just isn't working.

[bumble]

Stuart Coburn was a shop stopper... That's what a goalkeeper is meant to do.

The board of a football club should be focuses on that surely?

I applaud the community efforts, but the community should be a bonus.

I wish we'd stopped with the attitude that we need to know whose going to replace someone before we replace them. Why not ask the question? Whose going to manage us if Jim Harvey leaves? I don't know but I'd assume like most roles we'd advertise it...

[roytonmike]

Much good sense written by Bath Alty.
One thing which might be worth a bit of research - I have a feeling that if those with access to the relevant information did a 'postcode survey' of (a) season ticket holders & (b) TASC members (I don't think there's a way of broadening the sample out to cover other regular supporters) it might be that a high proportion of one or both categories do not have WA14 or WA15 addresses. It might even be a majority. If that IS the case, it would imply that a sizeable proportion of those attending matches probably don't 'connect' with the community aspect which the club is so apparently anxious to promote because they are only likely to visit the ground on match days. Those in high places might need to recognise that for those people (among whom I count myself - with an OL2 postcode I'm probably rather atypical, though) the club is above all else its senior football team and therefore they will expect the primary concern of the club to be the well-being of that team. All else they will see, quite reasonably, as secondary.