
- Ground share survey
- Members’ Meeting (20 May)
- Vote Football initiative
- CFC Safety Meeting (23 April)
- Bradford City Fire Disaster 30th Anniversary
- Dave Mackay’s Memorial Service (30 April)
- Fan Forum
- Police Safety Forum (13 May)
- Surfing flag at Hull City
- End of Season Survey
- Twickenham Tour (18 June)
- Swindon Spurs AGM (13 June)
- Media Training (27 April)
- CPST Board Meeting (6 May)
- Database improvements
Media:
- Latest Haringey Independent article
- ESpurs podcast
- Shelf Side Spurs interview
- Spurs Show
1. GROUND SHARE SURVEY
THST opened a survey on 1 May designed to gauge thoughts on some of the key issues surrounding the proposed Ground share season. This survey will run until 15 May and we strongly urge all fans to participate.
To start the Survey, click here.
2. THST MEMBERS’ MEETING – 20 MAY
We get all too few opportunities to get ordinary members and the Trust Board together to discuss the work we’re doing. Feedback from members is vital, so we’d like to encourage as many of you as possible to come to our next members meeting on Wednesday 20 May at White Hart Lane stadium. Bookings are now open.
We’re also very fortunate to have secured THFC’s Safety Officer, Sue Tilling, as a guest speaker for this event. After Sue has spoken, you’ll have a chance to ask questions – and then we’ll be opening up the floor for a discussion around the new stadium, the ground share and other key issues such as ticket pricing.
This is an important opportunity for members to tell the Trust Board if you are happy with what we are doing and how we are doing it, and for us to find out if we are representing you as well as we should be. We look forward to welcoming as many as possible of you on the night.
3. VOTE FOOTBALL
Ahead of the General Election and the high possibility of coalition negotiations afterwards, THST joined other Trusts and the Football Supporters Federation in an initiative to encourage fans to lobby their MPs and prospective MPs for football reform. The Vote Football site enables fans to easily mail their MPs and Parliamentary candidates to push the case for legislation to reform the way football is run. As this newsletter was completed, fans of 97 clubs had sent 7,164 messages to 2,683 of the 3,971 candidates standing in the election, raising the issue of football governance reform in 437 of the 690 constituencies.
The same technique has been used successfully by fan groups before, and the framework will stay in place after the election to help fans lobby on the detail of any proposed legislation. The site organisers have asked Trusts backing the initiative to help offset costs, and the THST Board will be discussing an appropriate contribution within our means.
We also posted details of any party policies on football on social media as and when we became aware of them.
4. CFC SAFETY MEETING - 23 APRIL 2015
Representatives of THST met with Chelsea Football Club on the evening of 23 April to discuss the delays experienced by many of our fans accessing Stamford Bridge at our league match on 3 December.
A full report from the meeting can be read here.
It’s safe to say the lead-up to this meeting was one of the more difficult we’ve experienced, as you’ll gather from the report. But, despite the problems, we were determined to bring the experiences our fans had got in touch with us to report to the attention of CFC and the appropriate authorities, and to at least start to establish that fan complaints should be dealt with properly. We also wanted to push the point that fans should be involved in the planning of matches such as this.
It’s positive that we have established the principle of consultation after a number of years in which our fans have experienced problems at Stamford Bridge. We need to make progress in strengthening communication with the police, and in ensuring that the police, stewards, clubs and the fan groups involved in games are aware of each other’s approaches and issues, and that there is a co-ordinated response to any problems.
We’re pleased that some constructive discussion was had at this meeting, and look forward to preparing for the next game at Stamford Bridge in detail with representatives from both clubs, the police, and supporter groups.
5. BRADFORD CITY FIRE – 30th ANNIVERSARY
THST has liaised with Bradford City Supporters’ Trust and with THFC to arrange a bucket collection ahead of our home game v Manchester City on Sunday 3 May.
All monies will go to the Bradford Burns Unit, with the PL matching all funds raised by fans on the day. THFC also agreed to make a donation of £500. Please look out for our collectors and donate whatever you can spare.
6. DAVE MACKAY MEMORIAL SERVICE - 30 APRIL
THST was represented by Kevin Fitzgerald and Keith Sharp at the memorial service for Dave Mackay, which took place at St Stephen’s in Enfield on 30 April. All fans are still welcome to sign the book of remembrance in the family room of the West Stand of WHL. THFC posted this report after the Memorial Service, also.
7. OTHER
Fan Forum
We’re waiting an alternative date for the Fan Forum with Daniel Levy, Mauricio Pochettino and a first team player. THST will have five places available for full members who are also members of One Hotspur and we’ll let you know how you can enter into the draw for one of those places shortly.
Police Safety Forum
The next meeting of the Police and Safety Forum will take place on Wednesday 13 May at White Hart Lane. We look forward to continuing our work in this area as we push for formal fan representation in the planning of matches in future.
Surfing Flag at Hull City
The new 12m x 10m surfing flag – ‘The Game is About Glory’ – will be unveiled ahead of the last home game of the campaign – Hull City. We will need c 12 volunteers who are sitting in the Park Lane lower at that game to step forward and help co-ordinate the surf. More details to follow but express interest to info@THSTOfficial.com in the meantime, should you wish.
End of Season Survey
THST is busy updating and refining its End of Season Survey and we will be sharing with members and non members during w/c 25 May. More details will follow but there will be key questioning around the new stadium included in this survey.
Twickenham Stadium Tour
THST thanks Trust Member, Philip Newfield, for kindly offering a bespoke tour of Twickenham stadium to both THST and THFC to enable us to focus on areas of direct relevance and importance when building our new stadium. This will take place on Thursday 18 June.
Swindon Spurs AGM
Once again, THST is delighted to have been invited to the Swindon Supporters’ Club AGM on 13 June 2015, where we’ll talk about the work of the Trust over the past year, share experiences and discuss lots of new ideas for making both our and THFC’s Supporters Club proposition even stronger.
Media Training
THST engaged a media professional to undertake 3 hours of training to assist Board Members with an ever demanding media schedule including TV, Radio, press and podcasts. All board members present found this useful.
Crystal Palace Supporters’ Trust Board Meeting
THST has been asked to send representatives to the next meeting of the CPST Board on 6 May to discuss our work in the community, our stance on ticket pricing and member engagement/ recruitment. We are always happy to help fellow Trusts by sharing knowledge and experiences.
Database improvements
We are hoping our membership database will be fully overhauled by the end of the first week in May, with membership renewal and payment now automated as far as possible and the user experience significantly enhanced. This has been a major piece of work since the Trust was relaunched and we’d like to thank Alan Landeryou for his initial work, and Board member Suraj Sharma for overseeing the latest developments. Now comes the fun bit when it all goes live!
Media
We submitted a comment column to the Haringey Independent, around the challenges brought by the new stadium.
ESpurs podcast
Co-chairs Kat Law and Martin Cloake asked to appear on the e-spurs podcast after an episode that was quite critical of THST's approach was broadcast. Feedback from that appearance was positive, and we were able to clear up a number of misconceptions and clarify and correct a few points on a show that saw a significant rise in audience. As we said on the podcast, people won't always agree with what we do or the way we do it but we are always open to constructive debate if people want to contact us.
https://www.spreaker.com/user/e-spurs/s2e18-tottenham-hotspur-supporters-trust
Shelf Side Spurs interview
Co-chair Kat Law was interviewed for the Shelf Side Spurs forum. This can be read here.
Spurs Show
Co-chair Martin Cloake appeared on the Spurs Show on 15 April in his capacity as an author and fan, and was able to mention some of the work the Trust does. Link available via spursshow.net.
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