At the 2022 AGM of the Chelmsford City Supporters’ Club, there was a discussion under AOB about the Supporters’ Club (SC) future approach to the Football Club based on the most recent mandate being given to the Supporters’ Club on 22nd June at the last EGM.
The Supporters’ Club Chairman, Jordan McManus, outlined in his opening statement on the topic that the Football Club is making some progress into the Six Aims originally set out by Clarets4Change, and since adopted by the Supporters’ Club, but there is a long way to go.
While there are FC Representatives meeting the Board as per Aim 1, we would like to see work going towards a formal board of directors in place. But there is now engagement between the Football Club (FC) and the Supporters’ Club (SC), as per Aim 4.
The Football Club hired new members of staff, which while it doesn’t entirely cover Aim 2 does mean there are new staff “each with responsibility and accountability for different areas of the club”. It does not work with the aim of board expansion as the new members of staff are not deemed as Board Members.
Phil Crowe, as General Manager, is already getting things done and clearly has plans to improve the facilities further, as per Aim 3. Phil is also currently the best person supporters have for making direct contact with the club and he has declared an open-door policy.
Adam Drew has come in as Head of Recruitment. He is well connected and on the field it has been a positive start to the season. Results will ultimately speak for themselves and will determine the success of our recruitment. But, as is well known, the areas of concern within the Six Aims have been about off-field and not on-field.
Paul Bailey has also been appointed to work on the Operations side and the very recent announcement of a new Club Development Officer, Steven Barron, with a focus on commercial opportunities which we hope is the Football Club striving towards Aim 5 of the “Introduction of Commercial Initiatives to increase footfall, funds, quality of match day experience, and supporter engagement”.
We would like a set of measurable KPIs to be put in place by the Football Club attached to all new staff roles to determine expectations and to allow success to be accurately measured.
Steve Shore announced in the last meeting with the Supporters’ Club Representatives that the Clarets10 Vision is to be reviewed and that he wants to form a working party. While this hasn’t yet progressed further since that meeting, we expect that, as per Aim 6, it will become a “plan that shows accountability, progress, and end goals”.
The Supporters’ Club feel we are now at a point where we need to allow the new members of staff the chance to get on with their work and to see how they progress in the coming weeks towards the Six Aims. We hope they are given the freedom to make the necessary changes at the Football Club. This new mandate to the SC Committee was unanimously agreed by the membership at the AGM.
A date of 30th November 2022 has been set in the mandate for the Football Club to show us that they have made significant and continuous progress towards the achieving of the Six Aims. A forum of Supporters’ Club will be called for a date in October in order for members to debate progress so far ahead of the deadline agreed in the mandate.
It was decided by the membership that SC funding to the FC should remain frozen, for now, and that the previous statements of No Confidence in the majority ownership and for minimum ground spend will remain in place. This will be until the majority of our members are happy with the overall progress that the FC makes and then agree to change stance through a vote at a Supporters’ Club General Meeting.