Please find- below- the agreed minutes from our Board Meeting on 30th September. We meet on the last Monday of every month, so our agreed schedule so far is as follows:

28 October 2013

25 November 2013

23 December 2013 (moved to accommodate the Christmas holidays)

27 January 2014

24 February 2014

24 March 2014 (as 31st is Easter)

28 April 2014

26 May 2014

Please feel free to email secretary Gill on secretary@ctfcsa.co.uk with any issues you would like us to discuss. We also meet every 4-6 weeks with the CEO at CTFC, so if you have anything you’d like us to take forward to those meetings, email Ian at comms@ctfcsa.co.uk and we’ll be happy to help.

Crawley Town Supporters Alliance
Board Meeting Minutes

30th September, 2013
7.30pm
 
Present:

Ian Townsend
Matt Putland
Joe Comper
Carol Bates
Owen Pickering
Gill Courtnell
Tracey Cole

Apologies:
Steve Leake
Ken Blackmore
Simon Smith

1. The Club’s share of 50/50 proceeds and how we spend it

The club have asked us to fund some medical equipment with proceeds from the 50/50 draw and have given us a “wish list,” containing four items. The total cost is four thousand and five pounds- but the club are aware we don’t yet have this amount. Currently we hold around one thousand five hundred pounds.

After discussion we agreed to purchase three items from the list as follows:

a) IAM Tool (Graston Technique) -helps to detect and break down scar tissue (muscle tears, tendon injury, post surgery).
b) Gameready kit-vital in the early stages of injury to help reduce swelling and contain damage (used for all lower body injuries)

c) Hand held dynometer for muscle testing- helps to calculate muscle weakness after injury to aid rehab progression (used for all muscle strains, tears).

Total Cost- two thousand, two hundred and ninety five pounds- so we will be anticipating future earnings.

The agreement was always that we would spend the clubs share on items which would be of club/community/supporter benefit. It is the view of the board that with the small squad we have any injuries would leave us in difficulties and as such it is entirely appropriate- and has an obvious club/supporter benefit- that we fund items such as this. The decision was unanimous.

2. Balls for Schools

JC had written a proposal for this initiative which we had already agreed in principle. In brief, it would aim to give the CTSA and the football club an increased presence in local schools by providing football equipment, predominantly footballs in appropriate sizes. We would purchase these- if a good pricing agreement could be reached- directly from the club, brand them appropriately, then provide them directly to schools who are particularly short of this vital equipment. In return, we will additionally get advertising at the schools involved to the benefit of all concerned, and Joe has already agreed ongoing press coverage with the Obby.

All agreed that this was a suggestion we should be pursuing. JC to speak to CTFC re provision of the equipment (he has already had a preliminary discussion) and put together a letter to send to twenty primary schools in Crawley. We will start with St Margaret’s Primary where a need has already been identified, with perhaps Gossops Green Primary the next one as they have also expressed an interest.

We agreed a maximum of one hundred pounds per school – which apparently will buy a rather large amount of equipment- with an annual budget of two thousand pounds.

3. Community Initiatives

We discussed the ongoing schools coaching and whether we were getting the amount of positive recognition from this investment that we should be- and whether it was the best use of our funds. The consensus was that we hadn’t really had an effective return on our investment and that other initiatives for funding may be a sensible step. We haven’t yet made a commitment for this season.

It was agreed that we would focus on our “Balls for Schools” initiative for this season instead as the impact would be greater, and revisit this coaching scheme at a later date. This would still be done in conjunction with the club so the benefit would still be shared.

We discussed other options such as a community schools sports festival which we could run in conjunction with the club- JC will discuss with the club and we shall discuss further at the next meeting.

4. Membership

Membership is coming along nicely. We will however make less as compared to last year as we reduced the prices, so may need to consider our investments in light of this.

5. Travel

All going well. Three Hundred and Thirty Five pounds in profit so far this season- but we will of course be looking to break even over the course of the season and will price accordingly- and the insurance will be due in January. Matt will be looking to publicise travel more frequently- the Obby have been particularly helpful, as of course have the football club, and Matt will be emailing them- and the Argus- with all details. Clarkes have been exceptional, as always.

6. AS Roma Draw

We’ve so far sold around 400 tickets. Apparently the winner and companion will also meet Mr Totti himself as well as being flown to Rome, put up in a nice hotel for a night and watching a game in the Olympic Stadium. Second prize is a signed shirt.

We agreed a draw date of 28th December v MK Dons and to sell tickets at Midweek home matches up until then. We had agreed that the funding from this initiative would go into the Football In the Community Scheme and Matt is going to talk to Simon Pearce at the club to see whether his team can also sell tickets.

7. Friends of the CTSA

Matt will email companies who offered support for the golf day and were happy to work with us in future. We will not be charging any of last year’s companies any money for this season as a thank you. We will also give each advertiser a free family CTSA membership. Matt and Owen to work on this initiative. Ian to remove Ruby Murray and Papichinos as they have changed owners/managers as per Owen’s instructions. Owen will speak to the rest.

8. A.O.B.

a) Golf Day- mark two – organisation has already started. Owen will suggest dates and then we will speak to the club. On this occasion we will split the profits between our club/community initiatives and give 20 per cent to Chestnut Tree.

b) Ian updated on his article on the CTSA website- “Should we be more like AFC Wimbledon.” It was the most read article the website had ever hosted, with more than 2000 views, but the response was disappointing. We received three emails from members in favour of the CTSA holding a small stake in the club and asking for more transparency, six emails against, and twelve emails from AFC Wimbledon supporters. There was also a thread on the forum discussing the matter but unfortunately that was more full of infighting than anything constructive.

c) Meeting with the CEO, Thursday 3rd October at 1630-meet in the car park at 1625.

9. Date of Next Meeting- Monday 28th October.