NUST meltdown

[timnufc 0]

I'm not a member but don't see where helping the disadvantaged comes into the equation (not that I don't think its an admirable thing to do of course) I just wonder why they've gone down that route? Is that what the NUST set out to do?

I don't really know what the aims are any more which is why I'm not sure about renewing. Perhaps they need to tell us exactly what they are. I know a tenner isn't much in the grand scheme of things but I still want to know where it's going before handing it over.

 

tbh I think people need to be telling them stuff like this because at the moment theres a blinkered view from a section of the board (unfortunately, the section that has the power) who think that everything they do is fantastic and the members love it all. These people have predicted they'll get nigh on full renewals and additional new members of around 300 this year, something which personally I think is absoulte shite.

 

I would strongly urge any member who isnt sure about renewing to let them know their concerns otherwise its just going to continue going downhill which would be a shame. Theres a forum on the site, get on there and post the reasons, use the new "Ask the Board" facility or simply make it clear on places such as this which will get fedback.

 

What should be the main aim of the Trust be in your opinion, how do you view the purpose of a supporters trust? (not implying anything btw, just purley random)

[peasepud 59]

What should be the main aim of the Trust be in your opinion, how do you view the purpose of a supporters trust? (not implying anything btw, just purley random)

 

A supporters trusts aim is to get fans representation on the board of the football club or ideally to purchase it all. That is, the nature of a trust. Overall though it should be a lot more than that, it should represent the fans and provide a voice, we all know that the likes of Sky News give airtime to anyone so having a recognised body who give the actual views of the fans is a must. NUST half got there, it established good quality links with the media and provided a sensible voice, trouble is it never consults its members on what that voice should say.

 

What we have to remember here is that we didnt set out to create a trust, we started a Supporters Club, something that was much needed, it was born of frustration (©James 1992) and tried to do too much too quickly but it got there in the end, what it then needed to do was move into the things that Supporters Clubs do, away trips, organising kids days and getting itself aligned to the football club etc. YWC threw all of that and gave some people too much belief in their own self importance.

[JawD 99]

What should be the main aim of the Trust be in your opinion, how do you view the purpose of a supporters trust? (not implying anything btw, just purley random)

 

A supporters trusts aim is to get fans representation on the board of the football club or ideally to purchase it all. That is, the nature of a trust. Overall though it should be a lot more than that, it should represent the fans and provide a voice, we all know that the likes of Sky News give airtime to anyone so having a recognised body who give the actual views of the fans is a must. NUST half got there, it established good quality links with the media and provided a sensible voice, trouble is it never consults its members on what that voice should say.

 

What we have to remember here is that we didnt set out to create a trust, we started a Supporters Club, something that was much needed, it was born of frustration (©James 1992) and tried to do too much too quickly but it got there in the end, what it then needed to do was move into the things that Supporters Clubs do, away trips, organising kids days and getting itself aligned to the football club etc. YWC threw all of that and gave some people too much belief in their own self importance.

 

Thats something thats stalled me in renewing.

[Howmanheyman 33828]

£100 lifetime membership?

 

That's asking a hell of a lot considering there are signs this trust may be going into decline. I'm a member and although I support the fact that as a group, Mags should have a voice, some of Peasepuds comments have me wondering what the point of handing any money over is. I'll probably give them another tenner and another years grace but I'm not sure what the future holds for NUSC/T.

[mrkikiet 0]

I would strongly urge any member who isnt sure about renewing to let them know their concerns otherwise its just going to continue going downhill which would be a shame. Theres a forum on the site, get on there and post the reasons, use the new "Ask the Board" facility or simply make it clear on places such as this which will get fedback.

 

I would do but i still don't seem to have a username or password for the forum.

 

Generally i would imagine people spend more time talking about it on here than on the NUST forum. Not that I am prolific here...

[Guest alex]

You could always get one of the board members to come on here and tell us what their plans are like Pud. I might go on there and suggest it myself. Because I get the feeling they don't make that much effort to tell their members what those plans are, where the money's going etc. £100 for a lifetime membership is a proper piss-take as well imo.

[Tom 14013]

Serious question. What happened to all the cash collected?

 

Haven't you seen Peter's yacht?

 

Your loss.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

What we have to remember here is that we didnt set out to create a trust, we started a Supporters Club, something that was much needed, it was born of frustration (©James 1992) and tried to do too much too quickly but it got there in the end, what it then needed to do was move into the things that Supporters Clubs do, away trips, organising kids days and getting itself aligned to the football club etc. YWC threw all of that and gave some people too much belief in their own self importance.

This sums it up for me. I signed up for a supporters club and its mutated into something else. So fuck them, they're getting nowt off me.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

BTW, Peasepud, do you know what percentage of the membership voted at the elections?

[Kid Dynamite 7169]

Serious question. What happened to all the cash collected?

 

Haven't you seen Peter's yacht?

 

Your loss.

 

The silence speaks volumes tbh

[peasepud 59]

Serious question. What happened to all the cash collected?

 

Haven't you seen Peter's yacht?

 

Your loss.

 

The silence speaks volumes tbh

 

Its hardly a yacht............... more a speedboat really.

 

 

BTW, Peasepud, do you know what percentage of the membership voted at the elections?

I dont and because each member could vote for upto 10 people it becomes hard to say however Ive just had a look at the results they sent to all candidates and there were a total of 2947 votes cast, 285 of those were for the person who received the most votes.

 

So, the minimum number of people who voted must have been 285 and the maximum 2947 however Id assume most members picked a number of candidates so maybe an average number of 7 votes per voter? so thats what? 842?

 

Dont ask me how many members there are though as Ive not been privvy to any of that info for a good while.

[Monkeys Fist 43063]

Serious question. What happened to all the cash collected?

 

Haven't you seen Peter's yacht?

 

Your loss.

 

The silence speaks volumes tbh

 

Its hardly a yacht............... more a speedboat really.

The S.S. Pud.

 

Keeps it moored off Blyth

[JawD 99]

You could always get one of the board members to come on here and tell us what their plans are like Pud. I might go on there and suggest it myself. Because I get the feeling they don't make that much effort to tell their members what those plans are, where the money's going etc. £100 for a lifetime membership is a proper piss-take as well imo.

 

Is a good idea.

 

They must know that a lot of supporters and current or potential members post on forums. Why dont they visit a few of them and state their case? why not take the public meetings they were having to forums? Of course they will be trolled, but surely thats what mods are for?

[Isegrim 9896]

You could always get one of the board members to come on here and tell us what their plans are like Pud. I might go on there and suggest it myself. Because I get the feeling they don't make that much effort to tell their members what those plans are, where the money's going etc. £100 for a lifetime membership is a proper piss-take as well imo.

 

Is a good idea.

 

They must know that a lot of supporters and current or potential members post on forums. Why dont they visit a few of them and state their case? why not take the public meetings they were having to forums? Of course they will be trolled, but surely thats what mods are for?

Their public relation exercises are generally more or less on par with the club's ones tbh.

[Christmas Tree 4821]

Thought NUSC had gone quietly after the YWC fiasco.

 

Cant really see the point of it now. Its not a supporters club as such and seems to have totally lost its way and is only of interest to those directly involved within it.

 

We seemed to be burdoned with several fans clubs / sattelites and it seems a shame that they cant all come together under one proper supporters club.

 

Reading PP's comments it sounds as though the ususal working mens club committee mindset has set in where control and power are more important than strategy and direction. They are the wrong sort of people to be involved and it is the genuine fans that arnt after glory or getting on the TV that should be running the show.

 

Suprised anyone is sending off their tenners without having a clue whose running it, whats happening with the money, whats the short term strategy etc etc.

 

Must better sending the tenner to Sir Bobs foundation.

[JawD 99]

Tbf the discussion here has led me to question my own stance on renewing. The more I thought about it, the more I came to the conclusion that why should I?

[Gemmill 46023]

Tbf the discussion here has led me to question my own stance on renewing. The more I thought about it, the more I came to the conclusion that why should I?

 

Which is exactly why someone from the Board should be getting on here. To convince you why you should. And me cos I'm in the same boat.

 

So if any of you are reading this and can take a time out from the power struggle, we're all ears (eyes).

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

I reckon this is taking an 'all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others' turn already.

[Tom_NUFC 0]

I get the feeling the people who started to make it work at the beginning were possibly eased out by people with better backing when the voting for the board came in.

 

One or two of us were yes but thats not the problem, it was a fair election and (in my case anyway) my manifesto didnt fit with the way the members wanted, it appears that YWC seduced many members, thats fair enough. Many of the original people are still there, trouble is there now appears to be a bit of a power struggle. Three members of the board basically built themselves an empire which was then added to with the new people who were elected. A couple of the real hard working ones who built it up are now being bullied out in any kind of debate so its now a case of "what the chairman says goes". *

The fact that no AGM appears to be on the cards is wrong as far as Im concerned.

 

 

*Allegedly.

 

I agree with what Peter says.

Again, I've no problem with the election results at all. But what concerns me is that since then, communication has completely dried up. There have been no roadshow or events since March or April. Now admitedly the roadshows which started really well were getting a bit samey and in need of a revamp. But then there hasn't been any sort of a meeting since NUSC officially became NUST and launched as a trust last September. We're now one year on and yet there has been no notification or announcement of an AGM taking place, which by the way is a compulsory condition of trust status.

Any NUST members who use the NUST forum may be aware of the what's happening thread, expressing concern at the lack of communication (ironic when one of the factors that galvanised NUST was Ashley & Llambias' lack of communication).

 

I'm concerned that because things have gone very quiet and there are no meetings on the horizon, some members may not renew. And to be honest it would be entirely understandable.

 

Right now if I'm honest, I'm feeling disappointed by it all. NUST is a great thing but needs sorting out.

I've renewed, but it's more out of loyalty than anything else. I think what we (members) need to do is put the pressure on. Post on the forum, e-mail, perhaps even contact Supporters Direct. Anything we can to force an AGM, even if it's a sad state of affairs when we have to do this for something that's meant to happen anyway.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

It would be textbook Newcastle United to have a protest group about the protest group.

[peasepud 59]

What is everyones latest on this? Are those of you who were wavering now signed up or are you still holding off?

[Tooj 17]

What is everyones latest on this? Are those of you who were wavering now signed up or are you still holding off?

I haven't renewed like.

[ewerk 31195]

Me neither.

[JawD 99]

I emailed them some questions. this was the basis of their response:

 

We have been sending out emails and update our website fairly frequently to allow people to see what we have been up to.

 

In the last few weeks we have become the first fans group to meet up with the Minister for Sport to talk about how he can help the Supporters Trust movement. We have had meetings with the Arsenal Supporters Trust and have held a lot of meetings with influential people inside the game. We also attended the Council's planning committee to argue against the rebranding of the stadium.

 

We have also arranged for 2 sets of local acheivers to attend St. James on match day and have organised a Youngsters football tournament. We are currently in the process of setting up a Junior Trust for under 16 year olds and are working with Westgate Juniors to help with a website etc.

 

All the while we are working behind the scenes to try to make fan ownership of part / all of the club a reality - which is the whole point of the existance of a Supporters Trust - which is not really a Supporters Club.

 

With all due respect the fans forums on the internet do not give a true picture of what the majority of fans want from NUST and a lot of people do not really understand what we are trying to achieve. There are a lot of opinions out there about what NUST should be doing - but a lot of them are not within our remit and some are even against the rules of what a Trust can do.

 

Anyway, we are sorry to lose you as a member, but you will always be welcome to rejoin if you change your mind about the direction that we are heading in.

 

The bit in bold I pointed out to them is the reason why they should be reaching out to fans. My stance is now in the not rejoining camp. While I dnt dismiss some of their actions as good, they dont seem to be representing fans imo. Basically not what I'm looking for at this moment and the main reason for me was their seeming steaming ahead with things off their own back without consulting fans. They wont come on football forums as you have seen (in fact largely dismissed them outright) and dont even email to ask an opinion on a subject yet were quick to email me to ask why I didnt renew.

[Howmanheyman 33828]

What is everyones latest on this? Are those of you who were wavering now signed up or are you still holding off?

I renewed but only out of a belief that a supporters club/trust could only be beneficial in the long term. I was definitely in two minds about it though as the impression I was getting off here about 'power struggles' and also from what I was seeing, (or not seeing), from those in the hot seat meant I was reluctant about it. Still, these people got off their arses and actually attempted to do something in the first place which is why I've given them another years grace. They won't get the same next year if things are the same.