
May 2014
Updates on:
1. Meetings
2. Fundraising
3. Campaigns
4. Other
- THST Q2 Board Meeting
- Annual General Meeting completion
- THST THFC Board to Board Meeting
- Swindon Spurs AGM
- Police Safety Forum Meeting
- Premier League Support Liaison Officer & Fan Representative Meeting
- Supporters Summit 2014
- FA Challenge Cup Committee Meeting
2. Fundraising
- Mount Snowdon Climb
- Save the Antwerp Arms
3. Campaigns
- Safe Standing – Survey Results
- The Y Word – Freedom of Information response
- Stop StubHub – Ethical ticket exchanges
4. Other
- Ledley King’s Testimonial Award
- Bill Nicholson Balcony Banner
- Surfing Flag
- Official Supporters Clubs
- Website and database improvements
1. Meetings:
THST Q2 Board Meeting
The first meeting of the new THST Board was held on 22 April. Full minutes can be read here.
Annual General Meeting
THST completed the AGM process for this year on 30 April by presenting fully audited accounts to a quorum of members. The accounts can be viewed online here.
THST & THFC Board to Board Meeting
The Board of THST met with the Board of THFC on 13 May to discuss key topics and concerns from both the previous campaign and the season ahead. Full minutes of the meeting can be viewed here.
Swindon Spurs AGM
Katrina Law and Suraj Sharma represented THST at the Swindon Spurs AGM, providing an update on the work THST has delivered over the past year and participating in an open Q& A session with club members. We thank Swindon Spurs, Roman Piotrowski particularly, for their hospitality.
Police Safety Forum Meeting
Representatives of THST will meet with Haringey Council, the Metropolitan Police and THFC on 9 June to discuss all aspects of match day policing/stewarding, transport (including CPZ) and any safety issues in and around the stadium. We invite input from our members to this agenda. Please email info@THSTOfficial.com should there be any areas or topics you would like raised at this meeting.
Premier League Supporter Liaison Officer & Fan Representative Meeting
A representative of the THST Board will be present at the second annual SLO/ Fans meet on 14 July in Cheshire, at the invitation of THFC. Full details will be confirmed closer to the date.
Supporters Summit 2014
THST Board members will be attending the annual Supporters Direct/ Football Supporters Federation Summit on 25 and 26 July. The conference will be held at Wembley stadium this summer. It is open to all fans so please visit www.supporterssummit.co.uk for more details and to book your place.
FA Challenge Cup Committee Meeting
Representatives of THST, Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, Chelsea Supporters’ Trust and the Spirit of Shankly will be meeting with the FA over the summer to discuss ticket allocations throughout the FA Cup competition, including the Final. This is a follow on from Spurs receiving only 5186 out of a possible 9000 tickets for the 3rd Round tie at the Emirates on 4 January.
2. Fundraising:
Mount Snowdon Climb
At the invitation of Wrexham Supporters’ Trust, two volunteers will be climbing Mount Snowdon on 29th June to raise money for THST. We are incredibly grateful to Gary Parker and Ryan Lewis for stepping forward to take up the challenge. Their fundraising pages can be viewed here.
THST is a fan funded, non profit organisation and relies solely on membership fees and donations to exist. Please sponsor Gary and Ryan if you are able to as this will ensure we can continue our work on your behalf over coming seasons.
Save the Antwerp Arms
The Antwerp Arms is the oldest pub still operating in Tottenham. It’s under threat of closure. To save the pub, local residents have set up a community venture to raise funds through a share issue in order to buy the pub for the community. Those of you that use the pub on match days are part of this community.
Shares are £50 each and are available to buy at www.microgenius.org.uk and further information about the share issue is available on the website, too.
The Antwerp Arms Association needs to raise a minimum of £125,000 through shares by 12pm on 22 May.
THST has pledged to purchase shares in the pub and urges all members and Spurs fans in a position to help to do so as a matter of urgency.
3. Campaigns:
Safe Standing
THST ran a survey to ascertain the support for Safe Standing in Dec 2013. The findings were presented to the THFC Board on 13 May and published on the 14 May. The results can be read in full here.
Commenting on the findings, Donna-Maria Cullen, Executive Director of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club stated:
“We have noted the findings of the survey which clearly show that fans would like the choice of safe standing. The new stadium is designed such that, should current legislation be amended to allow for safe standing, we would be able to accommodate this in the appropriate areas, subject to rigorous safety regulations.
We are keeping a watching brief on any developments around the issue and will look to discuss the matter with other Premier League Clubs.”
The Y Word
THST finally received a response to the Freedom of Information request relating to the Community Impact Assessment undertaken by the Metropolitan Police in Haringey last year to ascertain any tensions around the use of the word ‘Yid’ in the local community. The response can be read here.
Whilst there are portions of information redacted (as is allowed under the Freedom of Information Act), the information we can see, in particular the ratings, shows tension within the community to be normal. We believe there to be nothing in this assessment to back up the change of stance by the Police which led to the arrest of 3 Tottenham fans.
Stop StubHub
THST continues to liaise with other supporter groups, industry experts, the Premier League and ethical exchanges to offer a viable alternative to secondary ticketing platforms such as StubHub. THFC has agreed to listen to the options available over the coming months. The current StubHub deal ends next summer.
4. Other:
Ledley King Testimonial Award
THST presented Ledley King with an award on behalf of our members at his Testimonial match on 12 May. Named in memory of the late Joint Chairman of THST, the Darren Alexander Award for Outstanding Service to THFC was presented to Ledley pitch side ahead of kick off by 4 members of the THST Board.
The trophy can be viewed here.
THST intend to present the ‘Darren Alexander Award for Outstanding Service to THFC’ intermittently moving forwards, when the recipient is truly deserving.
Bill Nicholson Balcony Banner
The first fan-funded banner for the Park Lane balcony was delivered on 12 May. This features the Bill Nicholson quote, “It’s been my life, Tottenham Hotspur, and I love the club”, alongside an image of Bill himself.
View the banner here.
At 20 metres long and costing almost £550, the banner will be in place throughout next season. We will be looking to start fundraising for our next banner over the summer. Please look out for communications on our website and via Twitter.
Surfing Flag
THFC has agreed to lobby Haringey SAG for a larger surfing flag which can be used in the Park Lane Lower. Discussions will start over the summer and a new design will be agreed.
The original “Can’t Smile Without You’ surfer has been used to great effect as a static flag in the South East Corner for the Benfica match and for Ledley King’s Testimonial game.
We are hopeful of a permanent position for the ‘Can’t Smile Without You’ flag next season.
Official Supporters Clubs
THST is exploring ways of formally engaging with Supporters Clubs to strengthen our collective voices with the Club. Should you be a member of an Official Supporters Club and wish to help us shape our proposition to you, please get in touch on info@THSTOfficial.com. We’d love to get your feedback on initial ideas.
Website and database work
THST is busy working in the background to improve the look and feel of our website, and to simplify the registration process to make sure it’s as straightforward as possible to join THST as either a free, Associate member or a paid, Full member.
Expect improvements over the summer!
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