Your Supporters Club. What Happened at the Annual General Meeting?

The Supporters Club AGM returned to the stadium on Saturday. Buoyed by the 4-0 defeat of Gateshead, members convened in the Gym Bar. A minute’s silence was held to commemorate the contribution of those Board members who died during the year – Neil Newport, Ron Oswell and Phil Doble. The AGM adopted a new set of Rules, based on those provided by the Football Supporters Association; approved the accounts; elected a new Board member, Martin Dedman; and re-elected Phil Butterworth as a Board member for a further three-year term.  As there were no other nominations, the officers remain as Chair, Phil Butterworth, Secretary, Ian Crawley and Treasurer, Richard Gray.

In his annual report, Phil highlighted:
  • Effective two-way liaison with the club, mainly through monthly meetings with open agendas and honest discussion about what goes well and what can be improved.
  • Running coaches to every match at reasonable prices. The downside was the subsidy of £9000 last season, but that is equally shared between the Club and the SC.
  • The REFLO photographic competition which was especially popular with our overseas fans in over 20 countries. Excellent photos every month.
  • Regular monthly newsletters – variety of content and well-presented and now with a regular feature on overseas members.
  • The informative and attractive website.
  • Finance was a worry, but with the raffle resuming in January for Saturday matchdays, income from this and Member Subscriptions, this is improving.
  • We now fund the FGR Forum, so its future is secure in the short term. Please join and use it.
  • The recent offer of a donation of £500 to the FGR Community Trust for the Girls’ Development Centre, as an attempt to keep the flag flying for women at FGR.
Phil also shared his concerns:
  • Finance – not a limitless pot. We are keeping subs at £10 (Gateshead’s Supporters Society charges £10 a month) although those attending last year’s AGM voted for a rise. We are adding a donation button on the website, for those willing to pay a little more.
  • Women’s team disbanded. Very disappointing, at the heart of the decision was Hartpury pulling out of proposals to run an FGR/Hartpury team, funded by the college and FGR.
  • Younger Boys’ Academy teams withdrawn, as EFL parachute funds from when we were relegated from League Two, have finished.
  • Fans stopped from gathering in the players’ car park to collect autographs. The club feels this is a ‘Health and Safety’ issue. We are working with the Club to ensure another area where supporters can request player signatures.
  • Fylde coach shambles. No details, but KB Coaches did let our coach travellers down. The Club has written, apologised and offered compensation to the 47 who were on the coach.
  • Adult quizzes had to be abandoned because of lack of support. We are now having a family quiz on 9th October – your support would be appreciated. You can purchase tickets now on the Club’s website.
With 330 members and rising, the Supporters Club goes from strength to strength.
Please use the website email address to raise issues and concerns with the Supporters’ Club Board.  forestgreensc@gmail.com
We are here to serve you and support the Club.