In relation to last weeks news about the CTSA Board Structure, we would like to inform you of two changes:

1. Ian Townsend has agreed to step into the role of Chair which was recently vacated.

2. We are rather chuffed to let you know that Steve Leake has agreed to be co-opted onto the CTSA board for the forthcoming season. You’ll all be aware of the wealth of experience Steve has in the running of supporters organisations and quite how dedicated he is to the well being of our football club. We are delighted that he has agreed to be involved.

Below you will find the minutes of our AGM.

Crawley Town Football Club Supporters’ Alliance

Annual General Meeting

Thursday, 18^th July 2013, 1930 hrs

 

The meeting was opened by Paul Prendergast who welcomed all attendees to this year’s meeting. He passed on apologies from Chris Cheshire who could not be there due to prior commitments.

He gave the Chairman’s Address to the assembled members, in which he conveyed special thanks to Ken Blackmore, affectionately known to CTSA members as ‘Travel Ken’, who is standing down as Travel Officer, and to Ian Townsend, whose help had been invaluable throughout the last year.

He told the meeting that Carol Bates, Joe Comper and Tracey Cole had volunteered to join the board.

He then went on to talk about the recent changes within the club; Richard Low was a gentleman and had engaged with the CTSA board and the CTFC fans. Ryan Murrant had also worked very hard during his time with the club, taking the ‘Fan Engagement’ initiative forward. He also passed on his special thanks to Gayle Vowels, the club Secretary, who had done a brilliant job keeping the club on course for the last seven years. He wished her all the best for the future in her new role with Watford FC, and said she would be sorely missed by all, especially by Paul himself.

Special thanks to Clarkes of London, our coach provider for sponsoring the CTSAFC football kit. An official letter of thanks will be drafted and sent.

Furthermore he added that the year ahead would be tough; fans stay while others come and go. All the fans should get behind Richie Barker and the boys, and the owners of the club. Paul also compared himself to Marmite: you either love him or hate him! However he had enjoyed his year as chairman.

Treasurer’s Report – Simon Smith

The board has the proper mechanics in place for the Alliance’s finances, and all financial matters are dealt with by the board.

• Travel – Ken had done a sterling job using cost-effective pricing and had managed to come within £18 of breaking even, which is fantastic budgeting – well done Ken!
• 50/50 – in 2012 the Alliance spent money setting up the draw; this year a £3,000 profit had been made. Some of this fund had paid for the Little Devils’ costumes.
• Golf Day – a profit of £2,000 had been made, 50% of which was donated to Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice.
• Ongoing CTSA membership – the fund stands at £6,000. A surplus of £2,300 was used to fund football coaching for local children.

At the date of the meeting the CTSA has approximately £31,000 of members’ money in the bank.

Travel Report – Ken Blackmore

Ken thanked all those members who had travelled with the CTSA throughout last season. In total, we covered 8,254 miles and spent 146.5 hours sitting on coaches! It had been hard remembering everything involved sometimes, and it had been a steep learning curve. Matt Putland is taking over his mantle for this season with Ken’s full support. As always, the remit will be to break even. All travel arrangements have already been discussed with Clarkes. Ken is looking forward to having the choice to travel to away games or not.

Community – Matt Putland

Matt gave a report on the work we have done in local schools over the past twelve months.

Election of New Board Members

Chris Cheshire, James Laraman and Colin Bowman were leaving the board after serving for two years. The Chairman proposed a vote of thanks. The Chairman then proposed Carol Bates, Joe Comper and Tracey Cole as new board members; seconded by Ted Covey. After giving personal statements all three were elected unanimously. Carol and Joe will share the role of Community, while Tracey will assist with various aspects of the CTSA including travel.

Q & A Session

Prior to questions from the floor, Ian read a statement issued by the Crawley Town FC board on recent events. Susan Carter and Dave Pottinger had been invited to attend but sadly due to the short notice, neither was able.

Barb Robinson commented on the lack of publicity received/generated by the Alliance’s activities within the community last season. Matt Putland responded by saying that with the new team of Joe and Carol, this would be addressed and that they would ensure that any Alliance generated activities in the future would receive suitable publicity going forward.

Since the resignation of Colin Bowman from the board, we are looking to recruit another budding photographer to cover our away matches.

Ian Townsend thanked Clarkes Coaches for their superb support over the last season. We are one of the cheapest travel providers in the league, if not the cheapest.

Matt Putland was thanked for all his hard work concerning the CTSA survey- which is attached to these minutes. The final results will be published on the Alliance website. One outcome of the survey was that different places to stop en route would be investigated as an alternative to service stations on occasions where this is practical.

The question was asked as to whether the winning number of the 50/50 draw could be displayed on the electronic scoreboard? Matt agreed to look into this.

Meeting closed at 2020 hrs.

CTSA Customer Survey Results 2013