Trust in fans’ foresight

8:41am Saturday 5th April 2008

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Questions to Mark Golsby:

How has the Trust been progressing over the past few months? What achievements has it made and what are its aims over the next 12 months? Since the Trust was formed last March there has been remarkable progress. We now have a position on the Board and have been invited to provide a member for the finance committee.

We have also been asked to be involved in the consultation process that will take place to ensure the delivery of a new stadium.

We have taken over the running of the golden goal competition and the proceeds from that will go to the Weymouth Youth academy that is being run by ex-Terras Andy Mason, Ian Hutchinson and Andy Harris. We continue to lay the foundations so that the Trust can grow in the coming years.

I understand the Trust has only formed a working party thus far and at this stage has no formal committee. When will the elections take place? At the moment we are a group of volunteers acting as the steering group to the first elections which will take place on June 6.

A lot of work has gone into planning the elections which are bound with the guidance of Supporters Direct and the rules laid down by the Electoral Reform Committee.

I am as keen as anyone to get to the elections because I am aware that only members of the steering group have voted for me as chairman or to be the representative on the board.

After the elections I will either be in those positions because people want me to be or I will be able to support someone else to continue the work that we have started.

Some people have criticised the Trust for being a closed ship'. What steps are being taken to encourage more members to join? There is nothing closed about the Trust at all, in fact we have asked for people to join us on the steering group on several occasions. We are all volunteers and would welcome any help we can get.

We are aware of the need to get information out to our members and potential members better, and we sent out our first newsletter this week. We also held an open evening where people were able to ask questions and find out more about us, and what we are trying to do. We will be holding another open evening this month.

Another thing people are sceptical about is your own personal relationship with the club. What is your response to people who say you are too close to the likes of chief executive Gary Calder and chairman Malcolm Curtis to be impartial and fight for the aims of the Trust? Valid and understandable concerns, however, the basis for my friendship with Gary and more latterly with Malcolm is a common interest in doing what is best for Weymouth Football Club. Because of our relationship I have no problem in airing concerns held by Trust members and I feel that anyone who knows me would know that I am not a "yes man" or a "lap dog". We can, and do, have full and frank discussions about issues without the need for animosity. I hope that this spirit of common purpose can be built upon and can encompass all that have an interest in the football club.

Do you feel Malcolm Curtis is doing enough to involve the Trust? And what more would you like him to do? I don't think there is much more he can do, he has given us a place on the board, he has invited us on to the finance committee, he has involved us in the branding discussions and he has addressed one of our steering group meetings.

We will also be involved in the process as we plan for a new stadium and a more secure future for Weymouth FC.

But if any Trust member can think of something more they would like Malcolm, the Board or the Football Club to be doing, please get in touch with me and I will ask the questions. Telephone 07768100168 or contact us via our website terrastrust.co.uk

Last year was a frightening time for Weymouth fans with the constant off the field turmoil that went on and that has carried through into 2008. Do you think the club is beginning to move in the right direction towards stability? Malcolm and the Board have been quite open about the problems that still face Weymouth Football Club. Revenue doesn't match expenditure and in any business that is a problem. The turmoil of last season was awful but it has allowed us to make a fresh start and try to build a proper business that can ensure the future of the football club.

Proper systems are being put in place to make the club run more efficiently. It won't be easy and there is an awful lot of hard work ahead of us, but I'm excited by the challenge and I believe that exciting and rewarding times are ahead of us both on and off the pitch.

Questions to Caroline Kinsella:

At what stage of its development is the Trust at and what does it need to do to continue progressing? The Terras Trust is still in the early stages of its development. To date it has nearly 200 members, which, according to Supporters Direct is very good in such a small space of time.

The Working Committee has now completed their remit, which was to get the Trust up, running and operational. The current committee of 10 is made up mostly of individuals who volunteered following the Open Meeting at Budmouth School in March 2007.

Some of the early members have had to resign due to family and work commitments, and there is certainly a degree of time and effort involved as, unlike some larger and more established Trusts, we have no paid members of staff.

Personnel changes within the committee can cause major disruption because the vacant role has to be filled and can represent a fairly major learning curve for the person taking it on.

The next stage in the Trust's development will be the elections on June 6 where a democratically elected Trust Board will be formed.

They will be responsible for putting together a clear business plan for further development.

An Election Working Group has been formed to write an election policy that conforms to the Electoral Societies rules and the Terras Trust constitution.

We have identified an Independent Returns Officer from Exeter Supporters Trust for the election, and at the end of the election process the results will be announced at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) when a democratically elected Trust Board will be formed.

Of course, quite apart from holding elections and forming a Board we must continue to increase our membership and raise income through fundraising.

What help have you received from Supporters Direct and have they been pleased with the advances you have made? The people from Supporters Direct are very helpful.

They offer guidance and advice as and when we need it. We have our own case worker who will attend meetings and direct us to the right information, and their website is full of information about good practice and what has worked and not worked for other Trusts.

This has been particularly helpful when trying to find fundraising ideas, for example our Buy At Shop (www.buy.at/terrastrust) which came from Exeter City's Supporters Trust.

Through Supporters Direct we have also been able to contact other Trusts who have proved only too happy to offer advice and share experiences.

Supporters Direct are pleased with the progress we have made to date, especially having a Trust representative on the Board of Weymouth FC so soon in our existence. It often takes Trusts years to achieve this.

Do you think fans have embraced the Trust and do you think they understand the importance of it? We know from the experiences of other Trusts that members are more likely to get involved when the football club is in trouble, but we cannot afford to take our foot off the pedal just because WFC is enjoying a period of stability.

We have members who have offered to help with fundraising and promoting the Trust but we could always do with more. The Working Committee really appreciate help with fundraising because up until now the bulk of it has been done by the committee members themselves, and as we have already pointed out, we all have full-time jobs and other demands on our time.

We will be adding Terras Trust boxes at the ground for suggestions and feedback, and the committee members' photographs are on the website so that we can be approached at the ground, which seems to be the way most members prefer to give us feedback.

Like other Trusts we aspire to having shares in the football club in the Trust's name. We have been offered shares from members but we are currently waiting for legal amendments to the club's rules and regulations before we can accept them.

As Terras' fans know only too well, Weymouth Football Club can go from order to chaos virtually overnight, and as a Supporters Trust we need to be able to respond and respond quickly.

To do that we need not only more memberships, but volunteers with energy and a wide range of skills and commitment. Every member has something to offer.

What measures are being taken to educate fans and encourage their involvement? There are now 126 Trusts in England and Wales at all levels of the Football League from the Premiership to non-League.

Some Trusts such as Cambridge and Exeter now have control of their clubs, and I think it has certainly benefited us Terras' fans to see how much difference they have made in determining the survival of their clubs during very turbulent and dangerous times.

We plan to be out at the ground on match days promoting the Trust, recruiting new members and, for example, explaining the differences between the Supporters' Trust and the Supporters' Club.

We have just published the first edition of our quarterly newsletter Terras Trust News' through which we can inform people about what we are doing and how they can participate in the running of the Trust.

We have also held an Open Forum at the Wessex Lounge.

We have also begun to circulate leaflets about the Trust in a number of venues in the town centre. These have membership forms attached and explain what the Trust does.

What is the Trust's main objective over the coming months? The first objective is obviously to elect a Board, which will have a wider remit than the current Working Committee.

Once the Board is elected their first task will be to appoint a chairman and vice-chairman and then develop a business plan for the Trust.

The Trust Board will also need to review the current objectives and will need to be in a position to respond quickly to developments at Weymouth FC and will strive to obtain its own shares in WFC.