FAO Everyone...

Another point Glassboypaul touched on was the 150 club situation and that fans don't go to those evenings to express the points of view. The only trouble with the usual environment and nature of a 150 club night, which is directly after training, it is not always the best and most comfortable time to approach anybody. The management and committee are all sat round laughing and joking with a few pints, a few players are all still milling around. Unless you were on good mates terms with the management and committee members,in that atmosphere I can understand maybe a certain awkwardness in approaching the people in question. I feel that if the Question and Answer session is to work then it has to be a formal sort of evening, as myself and DA mentioned in earlier posts on this thread,with Gary and Andy P hosting. People would feel more comfortable in asking questions as it would feel like that's what is meant be be happening rather than imposing on someone sat relaxing with a pint.

Nath wrote:I am indeed the very same Nathan that organised the meeting at the club a few years ago with the aim of setting forming a fully functioning supporters club and at the same time hosted a Q & A session with Gary. The meeting was well attended, everybody from a supporters perspective very keen on my ideas and suggestions. As Glassboypaul mentioned, there were certain prominent officials from the club who were quick to pour cold water on everything due to needing constitutional reform,and such like. This was a load of nonsense as the club does still have an open Supporters Club account and constitution in place, all it needs is for it to be fully functional, membership subscriptions to be met again,etc. I know all proceeds that I used to take on the raffle and football card went into the supporters club funds. The whole point of a Supporters Club is that it can be run as a separate entity from the Football Club, monies generated for example being held in the separate Supporters Club account and donated to the club in a way where Supporters Club members see fit. This could obviously be put the vote amongst members and fully democratic.
When Nick Pratt was club secretary,he did in fact about 5 years ago approach me with the proposal of me joining the committee as a supporters representative. Ian Pilkington was Chairman at the time. I obviously said I would be very interested. Unfortunately this all came about towards the end of Nick Pratt's time as Secretary and the change in the committee set up. Nothing else was ever mentioned again under the new committee.
As Devil mentioned in a previous post and Baggiestour has mentioned, I think it's important for a small club like Stourbridge to be proactive and open with the supporters and potential supporters. As Glassboypaul mentioned, all those people who used to follow Stour everywhere have all been made to feel alienated by the club or completely disillusioned with the way the club is now. When the novelty of all the recent cup runs has worn off and the new support has drifted away, which it will, the club will suddenly realise that they are very much reliant on the hard core of the 150 or so of us that used to be there. Those people were as much as part of the fixtures and fittings as anything at the club.

Thanks for your reply. Yes it was very well attended and that made it all the more disappointing that nothing came of it; as you say due to certain individuals (not "the club" generally but certainly some people high up at the club) resisting it.

I remember Nick Pratt, he was a really nice chap and its a terrible shame that he is no longer involved in the club as the work he put in was terrific; I'm not altogether sure why he left and it seemed to be quite sudden. Was he not made welcome by the new regime? Andrew & Sandra as well.

Nathan, do you know what has happened to the people I mentioned? I am genuinely interested as I don't know them well, but knew of them so to speak, and it was a surprise when they no longer came especially as nearly all of them followed us home and away pretty much religiously.

Nath wrote:Another point Glassboypaul touched on was the 150 club situation and that fans don't go to those evenings to express the points of view. The only trouble with the usual environment and nature of a 150 club night, which is directly after training, it is not always the best and most comfortable time to approach anybody. The management and committee are all sat round laughing and joking with a few pints, a few players are all still milling around. Unless you were on good mates terms with the management and committee members,in that atmosphere I can understand maybe a certain awkwardness in approaching the people in question. I feel that if the Question and Answer session is to work then it has to be a formal sort of evening, as myself and DA mentioned in earlier posts on this thread,with Gary and Andy P hosting. People would feel more comfortable in asking questions as it would feel like that's what is meant be be happening rather than imposing on someone sat relaxing with a pint.

These are extremely good points Nath,i went up once to chat with Gary and although Gary was incredibly welcoming and open to having a chat it felt very uncomfortable because of the number of people "earwigging" and jumping in with their own comment,it just didn't feel like the right environment in which to have a discussion.

Like you said,people are sat with a pint in hand after a long day at work and a training session.

glassboypaul wrote:What did happen to Nathan, Nick Clarke, Beast, Simon, Alex, Bernard, Martin, Mike from the Mitre and Cradley Bloke and all the lot who used to be in the Shed End out of interest? Quite a few of them used to sponsor the club quite substantially in some cases I believe? Bernard & Martin used to sponsor every other game in the MFA days? Have they moved on to other things?

Nathan is still around, as is Alex. Beast moved away and stopped attending for reasons other than SFC. Nick, i'm not sure, he was there at the Blaby away fixture so still on the scene to a degree. Simon had financial problems I believe, Martin, well, I think most people know why he stopped coming. Cradley Bloke got into a spot of bother I understand. Mike became dissalusioned. As for Bernard, no idea what happened to him.

The point is, people do come and go, I only get to attend about a dozen home games and half a dozen away fixtures. That's not down to Stour's performances, it's personal circumstances, work committments etc. I rarely missed a game back in the 90's and early noughties, the majority of which, we were crap!

I'll be honest DA, I don't recall you at all before the last 5 or 6 years mate! Do you remember me?

I believe it's only the glory hunters of the past 3-4 years that stop coming just because it's not as 'fun' anymore.

glassboypaul wrote:

Nath wrote:I am indeed the very same Nathan that organised the meeting at the club a few years ago with the aim of setting forming a fully functioning supporters club and at the same time hosted a Q & A session with Gary. The meeting was well attended, everybody from a supporters perspective very keen on my ideas and suggestions. As Glassboypaul mentioned, there were certain prominent officials from the club who were quick to pour cold water on everything due to needing constitutional reform,and such like. This was a load of nonsense as the club does still have an open Supporters Club account and constitution in place, all it needs is for it to be fully functional, membership subscriptions to be met again,etc. I know all proceeds that I used to take on the raffle and football card went into the supporters club funds. The whole point of a Supporters Club is that it can be run as a separate entity from the Football Club, monies generated for example being held in the separate Supporters Club account and donated to the club in a way where Supporters Club members see fit. This could obviously be put the vote amongst members and fully democratic.
When Nick Pratt was club secretary,he did in fact about 5 years ago approach me with the proposal of me joining the committee as a supporters representative. Ian Pilkington was Chairman at the time. I obviously said I would be very interested. Unfortunately this all came about towards the end of Nick Pratt's time as Secretary and the change in the committee set up. Nothing else was ever mentioned again under the new committee.
As Devil mentioned in a previous post and Baggiestour has mentioned, I think it's important for a small club like Stourbridge to be proactive and open with the supporters and potential supporters. As Glassboypaul mentioned, all those people who used to follow Stour everywhere have all been made to feel alienated by the club or completely disillusioned with the way the club is now. When the novelty of all the recent cup runs has worn off and the new support has drifted away, which it will, the club will suddenly realise that they are very much reliant on the hard core of the 150 or so of us that used to be there. Those people were as much as part of the fixtures and fittings as anything at the club.

Thanks for your reply. Yes it was very well attended and that made it all the more disappointing that nothing came of it; as you say due to certain individuals (not "the club" generally but certainly some people high up at the club) resisting it.

I remember Nick Pratt, he was a really nice chap and its a terrible shame that he is no longer involved in the club as the work he put in was terrific; I'm not altogether sure why he left and it seemed to be quite sudden. Was he not made welcome by the new regime? Andrew & Sandra as well.

Nathan, do you know what has happened to the people I mentioned? I am genuinely interested as I don't know them well, but knew of them so to speak, and it was a surprise when they no longer came especially as nearly all of them followed us home and away pretty much religiously.

I'll try to answer all your queries the best I can Glassboypaul. Nick Pratt did indeed work extremely hard for the club,the role of club secretary is quite under valued, lots of time chasing up and down motorways,sorting out players contracts,registration documents,etc, negotiating and dealing with league representatives,match officials,etc. Nick did have a couple of fall outs with the club over the years due to certain differences of opinion. In fact he left once before only to return. I think the final end came over an issue with his son Ryan's junior team. Nick kept threatening to walk out so the club felt that it was important to have a more stable situation with the secretary.

As far as the fans that you mentioned go, Martin was 'relieved of his duties' doing the raffle as he was caught red handed by Brian fiddling the takings. It was a cup match against Hucknall, he was charging away supporters and anyone he didn't recognise £2 for a raffle ticket as in his words "it's gone up because it's a cup match"! Hugh approached me during this game and asked me to take over the raffle and football card from then on.

Simon no longer comes as he used to have his season ticket at start of the season and then pay it off during the course of the year due to his financial situation. He finished a season a couple of years ago still in debt to the club and the club were reluctant to write this off so therefore he feels he can't show his face now. It's a crying shame. Simon went everywhere with Stour, lovely bloke,very witty.

The Beast is in a similar situation to Simon. After his Mom and Dad died, again the same as Simon, he was left to fend for himself. The Football Club was his life. He struggled to cope in the outside world on his own, his social workers got involved and made his situation even worse. Us lot down the Moorings all looked after him until all the politically correct do gooders got involved and ruined it for him. He is now in a bedsit in Digbeth.

Not sure what Nick Clarke is up to, I know he was a bit disillusioned. He was spending a lot of time in America.

Mike from the Moorings/Mitre also got totally disillusioned and fed up with the way the club was going. He did indeed sponsor the club quite substantially, this at a time when the club didn't really have anything. He subsidised the coaches to away games,bought the club the new telly in the clubhouse, helped the club financially towards the cost of bringing Leon Broadhurst back from Leamington,sponsored the Youth team, amongst other things. After the cup runs, all of a sudden Mike's cash was no longer essential so the club didn't really bother with him and I know he felt puhed out and not wanted. Another crying shame, great bloke,had some great laughs over the years. I could write a whole chapter on some of the away days in the old LDV with me at the wheel!

Bernard went back to his first love, Birmingham City. As he lives over that side and not being the most mobile of blokes, I suppose it a a lot easier for him to hop on a bus or cab to St. Andrews than it is to get to Stour. It used to take him half hour to walk from The Moorings to the ground! What a legend though and equally as much respected at the Blues too I believe.

While on the subject of Bernard, who can forget the day him and his little mate Phil ended at up Oxford United instead of Oxford City. They got train to Oxford and on arrival instructed the taxi driver to take them to the football ground. They watched half hour before realising it wasn't Stour playing!

Another occasion, we had the usual red LDV van full going to Brackley, me driving. Upon arriving at the ground, we were told by the jobsworth steward we couldn't park in car park as it was officials and disabled only. On hearing this we all piled out of the van,flung the back doors open and said "what about him?". Bernard was lying flat on his back in the back of the van unable to move or get up! Hilarious. We were allowed to park there.

Bedworth away in the Southern Midland, pissed down of rain all day, think we won 3-0. Some right nasty sods amongst the locals. Bernard never moved from the bar all day,didn't see a ball kicked. We were all huddled under the tiny strip of shelter behind the dugouts and could hear loud cries of "come on Stourbridge" at sporadic intervals coming from Bernard inside the club house,totally oblivious to anything that was actually happening.

To me, this is all what non league football is all about. Not where are we getting next sponsorship deal from or what people with a bit of dough can we get along to the club. These people are what made the club, salt of the earth, huge personalities. It just seems that the club has sort of outgrown the likes of all the people mentioned today, that they don't really fit in with the type of people wanted at the club. Now the crowds have increased and the coffers are full with cup money, these legends of Amblecote are easily disposed with.

To me there are two, inter-connected, points here. The first is that people come and go. There were loads when I first watched Stour who have stopped or attend less for one reason or another - Johnny H, Rob & Phil Clark, Steve Whatmore, BFD had stopped some time before he died, TRM had to curtail his involvement for a while. Others have come and gone - John McGuinness & his lad, that lunatic from Willenhall, Elvis and the others mentioned here. I've gone through times when I've hardly made a match all season and others when I've been a regular. The worry is that when you look around the ground now there isn't the sort of young lads on their own who we might convert to being regular supporters for a few years that there used to be to replace the ones who've gone. There's plenty of kids with their parents and older 'fans for the afternoon' but not many in the middle. I hope that makes sense.

The other point is that with the best will in the world you can't have it both ways. You can't have the old MFA days of sub-200 crowds where everyone knew each other and the players were mates with the supporters, then expect the club to make progress through the leagues and be run more professionally. I suppose it's the dilemma that a lot of clubs at this level face - doing well will always mean getting rid of things that attracted a lot of us in the first place.

Aled wrote:

glassboypaul wrote:What did happen to Nathan, Nick Clarke, Beast, Simon, Alex, Bernard, Martin, Mike from the Mitre and Cradley Bloke and all the lot who used to be in the Shed End out of interest? Quite a few of them used to sponsor the club quite substantially in some cases I believe? Bernard & Martin used to sponsor every other game in the MFA days? Have they moved on to other things?

Nathan is still around, as is Alex. Beast moved away and stopped attending for reasons other than SFC. Nick, i'm not sure, he was there at the Blaby away fixture so still on the scene to a degree. Simon had financial problems I believe, Martin, well, I think most people know why he stopped coming. Cradley Bloke got into a spot of bother I understand. Mike became dissalusioned. As for Bernard, no idea what happened to him.

The point is, people do come and go, I only get to attend about a dozen home games and half a dozen away fixtures. That's not down to Stour's performances, it's personal circumstances, work committments etc. I rarely missed a game back in the 90's and early noughties, the majority of which, we were crap!

I'll be honest DA, I don't recall you at all before the last 5 or 6 years mate! Do you remember me?

I believe it's only the glory hunters of the past 3-4 years that stop coming just because it's not as 'fun' anymore.

Aled,

It wasn't the "Jonny come lately" fans i was referring to in my post,it was the people who now run the club.

I'm a similar age to many of them and i knew some of them before they knew who i was and this is way,way before recent times,i'm talking back in the 80's and 90's.

I have a good memory for faces,i'm not good a much but i don't often forget a face and what i'm saying is that i don't remember any of them being there when i was a teenager in the 70's and through the 80's and 90's.

I myself had a "sabbatical" during the Midland Alliance days,i freely have admitted that on here before,i became totally disillusioned with the way the club had declined,i'd watched Stour play in what is the Conference Premier and Conference South equivalent divisions and the Welsh Cup Final and be the dominant Midland/Worcestershire non league team and drop down to almost Lye's level and be told by the FA that there was no way back,this along with a job that had me covering a quarter of the UK and three young kids saw me take time away.

I started watching again for a simple reason,Rob Taylor!

I'd been playing with Rob in Sunday league football and when i took over as manager i converted him from centre half into an attacking midfielder,he scored nearly 60 goals in a season for me so my brother recommended Rob to Gary Hackett as he knows Gary pretty well but Gary didn't think he'd be up to Alliance level so Rob went to Lye.

I started watching Rob at Lye and then followed his progress at Stour and that re kindled my interest.

So,i've been very regular for the last six years and hardly missed a home game from 1975 through to Midland Alliance days apart from when i was at West Brom watching.

Fan's do come and go with success/failure and that's normal,my main point is that the "super fan's" who we all know of do deserve to see one of their number on the club board,these fan's are a "constant",they will be here 20/30 years from now ( God willing ) when other people will have lost interest on the board and moved on.

I can think of at least ten people who could easily be put forward.

I might suggest you yourself old chap,that'd be interesting for them

dave w wrote:To me there are two, inter-connected, points here. The first is that people come and go. There were loads when I first watched Stour who have stopped or attend less for one reason or another - Johnny H, Rob & Phil Clark, Steve Whatmore, BFD had stopped some time before he died, TRM had to curtail his involvement for a while. Others have come and gone - John McGuinness & his lad, that lunatic from Willenhall, Elvis and the others mentioned here. I've gone through times when I've hardly made a match all season and others when I've been a regular. The worry is that when you look around the ground now there isn't the sort of young lads on their own who we might convert to being regular supporters for a few years that there used to be to replace the ones who've gone. There's plenty of kids with their parents and older 'fans for the afternoon' but not many in the middle. I hope that makes sense.

The other point is that with the best will in the world you can't have it both ways. You can't have the old MFA days of sub-200 crowds where everyone knew each other and the players were mates with the supporters, then expect the club to make progress through the leagues and   be run more professionally. I suppose it's the dilemma that a lot of clubs at this level face - doing well will always mean getting rid of things that attracted a lot of us in the first place.

Great post Dave, can't argue with any of that. Yes, the reason I for one started watching Stour on a regular basis was my disillusionment with professional football. The loss of terracing,the over zealous stewarding and policing,the commercialism,the Premier League,Sky T.V,foreign players,high admission prices,etc,etc. The final straw up the Albion for me was when the bloke on the PA announced a message "could customers in the Birmingham Road End please refrain from standing". I'm not a f***ing customer, It's not a bloody supermarket, I haven't spent my life following the Albion because the pies there are 10p cheaper than the Villa. It was a disgrace and summed up the way football has gone. The Albion didn't give a shit about loyalty,the 400 of us at Hartlepool for a 0-0 draw on bonfire night in the 3rd division in 1991,the 200 of us who were the very first Away Season Ticket Holders. No, didn't give a crap. We weren't important,just a reference number on the club's database. Stourbridge in the Alliance days was a breath of fresh air from all that. If I wanted to tell the ref he was an effing useless tosspot I could,If I wanted to stand up,I could. It felt like my few quid I paid to watch Stour on a matchday actually made a difference. This is because it DID! It was close knit,local lads, passionate,full blooded,intense games,people played with pride, everything that professional football was losing. Dave W is right, it's a double edged sword. With progress we are seeing a loss of the ethics of non league football and of Stourbridge Football Club that we all loved in the first place. That above all else is why we have seen people such as those mentioned on here today fall by the wayside to be replaced with the new breed of post cup run supporter.

Nath wrote:

Great post Dave, can't argue with any of that. Yes, the reason I for one started watching Stour on a regular basis was my disillusionment with professional football. The loss of terracing,the over zealous stewarding and policing,the commercialism,the Premier League,Sky T.V,foreign players,high admission prices,etc,etc. The final straw up the Albion for me was when the bloke on the PA announced a message "could customers in the Birmingham Road End please refrain from standing". I'm not a f***ing customer, It's not a bloody supermarket, I haven't spent my life following the Albion because the pies there are 10p cheaper than the Villa. It was a disgrace and summed up the way football has gone. The Albion didn't give a shit about loyalty,the 400 of us at Hartlepool for a 0-0 draw on bonfire night in the 3rd division in 1991,the 200 of us who were the very first Away Season Ticket Holders. No, didn't give a crap. We weren't important,just a reference number on the club's database. Stourbridge in the Alliance days was a breath of fresh air from all that. If I wanted to tell the ref he was an effing useless tosspot I could,If I wanted to stand up,I could. It felt like my few quid I paid to watch Stour on a matchday actually made a difference. This is because it DID! It was close knit,local lads, passionate,full blooded,intense games,people played with pride, everything that professional football was losing. Dave W is right, it's a double edged sword. With progress we are seeing a loss of the ethics of non league football and of Stourbridge Football Club that we all loved in the first place. That above all else is why we have seen people such as those mentioned on here today fall by the wayside to be replaced with the new breed of post cup run supporter.

I totally agree with the reasons why you started watching Stour; they're much the same as mine and a lot of others. I do disagree a bit about why the people mentioned have stopped - in most cases it's a change in personal circumstances; moving away, families, other interests taking priority. Some have stopped for reasons best kept off here. My concern is that when people have stopped over the years others have always taken their place but that doesn't seem to happen now. It might sound strange considering we've just had our biggest league gate in four decades but I do wonder how many of them will be here once the novelty's worn off.

Yes Dave, I mentioned in another thread yesterday the worry of what will happen when the novelty factor from the cup runs of recent years has worn off and the fact that it is inevitable that it will. We have had a lot of 'drinkers' starting to come over the last couple of years or so but just how much football they actually watch or how interested they are in Stourbridge Football Club is another thing. The committee probably aren't that bothered at the moment because they are getting their tenners at the gate but long term we are going to need the likes of Me,You,Mike from the mitre,Simon,Beast,Nick,etc because we do and will still care about the club.

Start time on Thursday now brought forward to 7.30 pm to give more time if needed.

TRM wrote:Start time on Thursday now brought forward to 7.30 pm to give more time if needed.

Any idea what is the format of the evening is going to be Rich?

Nath wrote:

TRM wrote:Start time on Thursday now brought forward to 7.30 pm to give more time if needed.

Any idea what is the format of the evening is going to be Rich?

Not really. My guess is it will depend on how many turn up as to how formal or structured it is.

Very small point.
Barcelona Nick is now living in America, shacked up with a bird.
He came over for the week and managed to get to the Blaby game with his brother.
I doubt he remembers much of the game because he was absolutely Steaming.

I like Nick a lot and miss him,he was one of the first to make me feel really welcome when I first started watching Stour.
Another one I really miss is you Nath.
Start coming again mucka.

Bloody hell it's a bit lively on here.

Who is popping down on Thursday?

I think one point ought to be made before Thursday that it was probably Andy P and Gary decision to have an open meeting.

To me that shows that they care about the club and care about what the fans actually think and for that I think the fans should be appreciate.

Some Chairman and managers in both league and non league wouldn't care a stuff about the fans.

stoursi wrote:I think one point ought to be made before Thursday that it was probably Andy P and Gary decision to have an open meeting.

To me that shows that they care about the club and care about what the fans actually think and for that I think the fans should be appreciate.

Some Chairman and managers in both league and non league wouldn't care a stuff about the fans.

Exactly Si, it shows that people at the club do listen and respond to what the fans are saying they want. Lets just hope that on Thursday that the Question and Answer session for reasons I touched on earlier is conducted in a more structured way and not in a casual general chit chat manner.

stoursi wrote:I think one point ought to be made before Thursday that it was probably Andy P and Gary decision to have an open meeting.

To me that shows that they care about the club and care about what the fans actually think and for that I think the fans should be appreciate.

Some Chairman and managers in both league and non league wouldn't care a stuff about the fans.

Well said Si.

Tricky Tree wrote:Very small point.
Barcelona Nick is now living in America, shacked up with a bird.
He came over for the week and managed to get to the Blaby game with his brother.
I doubt he remembers much of the game because he was absolutely Steaming.

I like Nick a lot and miss him,he was one of the first to make me feel really welcome when I first started watching Stour.
Another one I really miss is you Nath.
Start coming again mucka.

Cheers for the kind words mate. It was Jane getting me all emotional last night, now it's you doing it!

A very interesting development, i'm struggling to make it  unfortunately.

To pick up on some of the threads, I've been a regular for 5 years, so can't comment on the midland alliance days, even in this short time the club has changed considerably.  I was a glory hunter with the Walsall cup tie, trying but failing (and rightly so) to get a ticket when i'd never been before, coming down not long after that, I recall 220 being a good Saturday league gate, the tannoy crackling  into life as the players walked out and  a committee.  Now there’s increased gates, a board and  more announcements (as well as the endless music, which  I detest), the club has become much more professional in that time and  some of the things are the price to be paid for progress up the pyramid and I’m sure that would increase tenfold, if (hopefully when) we made it to conference North.

I think it is a fantastic club and  I’ve enjoyed every minute (some more than other’s, obviously!) I wouldn’t have imagined being a season ticket holder when football wasn’t in my top 3 sports and hope to be around watching the glass boys for many years to come.  The management have done an unbelievable job during their tenure, unfortunately  victims of their own success, having raised the bar to a high level and falling short of it so far this season.  Without the  FA cup runs, I would think the current league position would be overachieving for Stourbridge, those runs have certainly pushed the club on at a fast rate.   The management is not above criticism, it’s been tough this year in a different league  (and a more difficult one I think) and the horrendous injury list, but  even allowing for that some of the football has been very poor, as I hope they would be the first to admit.  Some comments from the terraces are not liked, but anyone who has paid to come in is entitled to their opinion and  less time should be spent on looking for the guilty party and then responding to it.

The chairman doesn’t like some comments on here, I know for a fact, I think he has done a great job  to progress the club off the pitch, particularly relations with the cricket club, the ground lease and the youth development.  There could be more transparency from the club at times, Mccone’s brief stint last year, the promotion situation two years ago, some conflciting remarks on the latter.
   
And of course the Geddes saga, it would be good for the club to put it’s side across on this matter on Thursday and then lay it to rest, it is a big loss - saw  his great goal on Midland’s today earlier - but a line does need to be drawn under it.

One final plea...

I would urge supporters who are going along on Thursday night (or who are intending to email any comments if they cannot be there) to focus on the FUTURE.

You all have your views on the past, whether good, bad, indifferent, or a mixture of all three. The past is what it is, and cannot be changed.

The future can be shaped and moulded, starting from now.

TRM wrote:One final plea...

I would urge supporters who are going along on Thursday night (or who are intending to email any comments if they cannot be there) to focus on the FUTURE.

You all have your views on the past, whether good, bad, indifferent, or a mixture of all three. The past is what it is, and cannot be changed.

The future can be shaped and moulded, starting from now.

You are surely joking!?

We now have this "Thought Police" approach to what can and can't be asked.

Absolutely pointless having the meeting in my opinion,i'll give it a miss in that case thanks.

One question though,same as last night's question and still i believe within the confines of being allowable,

Can someone please get a definitive figure of how much the club has in the coffers?

I sgree you can't change the past, but supporters will want answers.
You can't have an open forum and tell them not to ask questions on certain matters............
Things I would like to know is, has the budget been slashed , thus resulting in average players bought, why hasn't more money ( FA cup money) been spent on the ground?
But we can't ask those questions because it is in the past??????
May as well go Xmas shopping down merry hell

Baggiestour wrote:I sgree you can't change the past, but supporters will want answers.
You can't have an open forum and tell them not to ask questions on certain matters............
Things I would like to know is, has the budget been slashed , thus resulting in average players bought, why hasn't more money ( FA cup money) been spent on the ground?
But we can't ask those questions because it is in the past??????
May as well go Xmas shopping down merry hell

I agree with both this message from Baggiestour and DA's previous comment. How can it be an open Q & A session if we are being governed on what we can and cannot ask?? It sounds unbelievable and yet again seems very dictatorship-like. The club appear to be appeasing the public on one hand by making themselves approachable and then immediately taking it away with the other, this just equates to a closed door policy on the clubs affairs. It seems very cloak and dagger if the club want to skirt around certain issues and only answer things that they don't mind us knowing about. It does nothing to help the committee/supporter relations.