FST meeting today

[FFC1987]

I'm sure if the trust hadn't been so secretly formed an fof member would have designed a website free of charge.

well it was not secretly formed and came from the BTTC organisation.
Out of interest does anyone think this website runs for free?

No. But it also doesn't charge £10 to use it.

Edit: That wasn't meant to be shirty!!!! Just like I said, still not sure what the £10 is for.

[LBNo11]

...assuming you have one hundred plus members at £10.00 per head that is £1,000.00 for administration of members, and associated with this sending out e-mails to members, booking a meeting venue a couple of times a year, looking after the website, printing a leaflet to issue at games to the fans say twice a year, for a non-profit organisation seems a lot of money, but I know it may not be as simple as that.

If you have less than 100 members then it is difficult to know how the FST can hold itself as representative of say 12,000 fans.

If a fee is necessary, surely if it was dropped to say £5.00 you should more than double your membership as long as there was more transparency of what FST stands for and does and has achieved after all these years of existence?

Again I am not trying to give you a hard time MJG, I appreciate you have put your head above the parapet in declaring your membership of the FST, but these are the usual concerns raised, and rarely, if ever properly addressed.

I know the questioning on here may be irksome, but it is more civilised than the mauling the FST endured on tiff...

[Two Ton Ted]

The £10 membership fee hasn't changed since BTTC days. It's a nominal sum which covers printing, postage, website hosting, meeting rooms etc  and to be frank I'm amazed football fans, who spend £45+ a piece of nylon with the clubs badge on, quible it. No one is going to get rich on it.

And no, I'm not on the committee but am a lapsed member.

[MJG]

I'm sure if the trust hadn't been so secretly formed an fof member would have designed a website free of charge.

well it was not secretly formed and came from the BTTC organisation.
Out of interest does anyone think this website runs for free?

No. But it also doesn't charge £10 to use it.

Edit: That wasn't meant to be shirty!!!! Just like I said, still not sure what the £10 is for.

look back at what I have said before... Website.. Membership fees for national organisations... Leaflets and printing .. Postal costs... And various other sundries.

Let's play worse case scenario.
Khan runs club into ground and we have Portsmouth situation. Funds may be required to get some kind of action going with fans support. Be it banners, the shirts, legal fees,  anything. Now I'm not saying that what's going to happen,  but you see how other clubs.. And as we did back in the 80's... Get fans to work together. A lot is free time and effort but somewhere money has to be used. That's partly what any funds we have at the time could be used for.

I go back to a point earlier about people now expecting everything to be free. I'm as guilty as anyone,  be it downloading movies music for free,  using Twitter and forums.. Which in their own way are clubs... But free ones.

[Fulham1959]

BTTC ?

Amazingly, that's the 3rd abbreviation used on this website today that I haven't understood !

Anyhow, it's good to know that some supporters are willing to give up free time to establish or revive a line of communication with the club.  I hope that the FST can grow and prosper.  £10 doesn't buy much these days and organisations don't run on fresh air ;  Two Ton Ted's comment on this is well made.

[MJG]

LBNo11 we are not a million miles away from wanting the same things.
I'm happy to answer questions as I have today,  I don't want the FST to be seen as some elite organisation or secret club. I want us to be fully representative of all Fulham fans. How we will do that is being looked at over the coming months.

You all know me on here.. All I can say is that if I have anything to do with it,  the trust will be the place fans turn to with issues and information regarding fans and Fulham.

[MJG]

BTTC... Back to the cottage http://fulhamsupporterstrust.com/about-us/

[LBNo11]

BTTC ?

Amazingly, that's the 3rd abbreviation used on this website today that I haven't understood !

Anyhow, it's good to know that some supporters are willing to give up free time to establish or revive a line of communication with the club.  I hope that the FST can grow and prosper.  £10 doesn't buy much these days and organisations don't run on fresh air ;  Two Ton Ted's comment on this is well made.

...BTTC stands for Back To The Cottage, when we were pushing Mr Fayed to return us home from the place in W12. I paid out more than my fair share as a member to try to achieve that goal, which obviously we did, but once we returned to Craven Cottage the BTTC was somewhat left to wither on the vine but became the FST.

Re £10.00 not being a lot, some cannot afford to attend matches, and £10.00 is a lot out of personal disposable income, especially if students and OAP's or unemployed, and these people may have valid points to make to any fans group that represents the fans....

[LBNo11]

BTTC... Back to the cottage http://fulhamsupporterstrust.com/about-us/

...and still Friends Of Fulham is not shown in the links..!

[FFC1987]

LBNo11 we are not a million miles away from wanting the same things.
I'm happy to answer questions as I have today,  I don't want the FST to be seen as some elite organisation or secret club. I want us to be fully representative of all Fulham fans. How we will do that is being looked at over the coming months.

You all know me on here.. All I can say is that if I have anything to do with it,  the trust will be the place fans turn to with issues and information regarding fans and Fulham.

Firstly, I'm happy that people can discuss it so openly and not be berated for it. I think it's important for all organisations to state what exactly you actually pay for. As for the argument that we want something for nothing, the problem for me was, I felt I might pay for nothing, which again, we've cleared up. I think its also very important for people before signing up to ask these questions, otherwise you can get ripped off as many groups have done so before.

Thanks for answering honestly about this, I hope you understand teh questions asked are more for education purposes than accusations.

[MJG]

BTTC... Back to the cottage http://fulhamsupporterstrust.com/about-us/

...and still Friends Of Fulham is not shown in the links..!

neither is Vivaelfulham which I write for. As said before issue with site have meant we have not been able to make changes. But all this is on a to do list.

[MJG]

LBNo11 we are not a million miles away from wanting the same things.
I'm happy to answer questions as I have today,  I don't want the FST to be seen as some elite organisation or secret club. I want us to be fully representative of all Fulham fans. How we will do that is being looked at over the coming months.

You all know me on here.. All I can say is that if I have anything to do with it,  the trust will be the place fans turn to with issues and information regarding fans and Fulham.

Thanks for answering honestly about this, I hope you understand teh questions asked are more for education purposes than accusations.

Totally understand and when I joined it was tenner to find out more if I was honest. But to repeat myself that's why I ended up standing for committee,  so that people like yourself can be reached by the trust and hopefully join in the long run. Be it for a tenner,  a fiver or who knows... even for free.

[LBNo11]

BTTC... Back to the cottage http://fulhamsupporterstrust.com/about-us/

...and still Friends Of Fulham is not shown in the links..!

neither is Vivaelfulham which I write for. As said before issue with site have meant we have not been able to make changes. But all this is on a to do list.

...I appreciate that, as well as the fact that we have similar thoughts on issues...

[FFC1987]

BTTC... Back to the cottage http://fulhamsupporterstrust.com/about-us/

...and still Friends Of Fulham is not shown in the links..!

neither is Vivaelfulham which I write for. As said before issue with site have meant we have not been able to make changes. But all this is on a to do list.

I saw you had problems with people paying and no correspondence of confirmation occurring too. Is that still apparent or has it been fixed?

[MJG]

BTTC... Back to the cottage http://fulhamsupporterstrust.com/about-us/

...and still Friends Of Fulham is not shown in the links..!

neither is Vivaelfulham which I write for. As said before issue with site have meant we have not been able to make changes. But all this is on a to do list.

I saw you had problems with people paying and no correspondence of confirmation occurring too. Is that still apparent or has it been fixed?

that was discussed at last meeting and was an issue which I hope is sorted.  If you have joined and not heard anything back, please message me your full name and email address and I'll pass it on.

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

...Burt beat me to it with his list of questions. I know several members of the FST, both current and former, I have been asked to join to apparently add influence, not sure how or why, but the questions mentioned by Burt I have asked time and time again, directly to members and via the almost dormant facebook page, and I have always received vague, non-commital answers, and when repeated to one prominent member I got the politicians reply that you have already stated your position and have made it perfectly clear - but you hadn't and that was the reason for asking again!

The BTTC, of which I was a member, was a worthwhile organisation with a clearly defined purpose and goal and helping funding this goal was a natural response.

One of the only responses to what the FST did was that you had a signed Johnny Haynes shirt that the FST donated to the club now hangs in the Haynes place cafe. Very laudable but not sure how that represents the fans.

Re the charges, I have said this all along, I don't mind becoming a member but object to pay £10 a year without knowing how that money is being used, and for what end game.

This is not a dig at you MJG as I know you are trying to get such matters raised and discussed, and I know how hard it is to organise and put together a group of people for whatever purpose.

At the end of the day are you now trying to be the supporters voice like a supporters club, along with your other (?) raison d'etre..?

The one thing I still haven't seen, what does the £10.00 go towards? I'm in the same boat and I'm not entirely sure how the fee is justified. This isn't be having a go or a dig, but asking for the justification for the fee.

I would imagine general expenses such as printer inks, paper, envelopes, stamps etc  etc.

Also, I think this is a voluntary organization, and it's likely that the 'officers' use their own phones
and other things at their own cost ?

[Berserker]

Can I join as a woman?

[Logicalman]

BTTC... Back to the cottage http://fulhamsupporterstrust.com/about-us/

...and still Friends Of Fulham is not shown in the links..!

neither is Vivaelfulham which I write for. As said before issue with site have meant we have not been able to make changes. But all this is on a to do list.

I saw you had problems with people paying and no correspondence of confirmation occurring too. Is that still apparent or has it been fixed?

that was discussed at last meeting and was an issue which I hope is sorted.  If you have joined and not heard anything back, please message me your full name and email address and I'll pass it on.

Well, it lets you pay your 16 bucks and gives you a receipt number, so thats a good start!!!

So, what else am I expecting to receive Mike? Email, letter, complimentary first team (signed) shirt, personal invitation? Just kidding mate.

Look you lot, if we sign up for FST, then we'll all be backing a group of people that (finally) have an official direct line to the club and that cannot be a bad thing, can it? Yep 10 quid can sound a little expensive, and its not to be coughed at, but its also just the price of 3 pints (if my recent memory serves me correctly - though I was a little sozzled by the time the match started) so its not exactly mind-numbing either.

The same goes for FoF, we need funding as well, so I agree, everything costs money, and somebosy has to pay, but the more that pay, the cheaper it can be and the service can be better.

OK then, rant over, back into my box with the medication.   :wine:

Can I join as a woman?

Nope, but you can join as one of the Fulham Faithful    049:gif

[ToodlesMcToot]

Can I join as a woman?

Do you have a multiple personality disorder? Or just a grammatical one?  :005:

[Barrie]

So how long until we can hear about the meeting with the CEO. please?