Shrimpsvoices

I’d say there’s some overly harsh comments in there but the sentiment is spot on! For anyone who isn’t a member of the Trust yet, join!

Someone suggested from the audience that the Trust `had missed a trick’ by failing to provide membership forms on the evening for anyone who had not already joined. Good point. The apparent Chairman seemed to accept this but it was clearly not appreciated by another member of the panel, who equally clearly took what I at least considered to be a constructive comment as a personal criticism of himself.

We see this attitude a lot don’t we! If you ask why the website is outdated both in news and design, you get a narky response of ‘well why don’t you join and sort it, we’re short on board members’. It’s in no way a criticism of the people who give up some of their free time to sit on these meetings, just a very obvious bit of constructive criticism as to why the trust had struggled for membership and influence, in my opinion.

Suggestion from the audience: “I would like the Trust to organise a protest march from the Mazuma to Morecambe Town Hall to present a letter to the local MP. I also think we should contact the Sports Minister and also Robin Walker one of the Worcester MPs involved in Worcester Rugby club fiasco with the Bond Group. We should contact BBC Look North and Granada Reports to publicise our plight. Time is running out and we have to do everything to help our club to avoid us following the likes of Bury into liquidation. The time for action is now!”

General applause – the loudest of the evening – met this suggestion. But it was rejected out of hand by the Chairman – without any further discussion.

Response:
“What have we got to protest about?” he asked – without any apparent irony at all. I would have liked to have asked him at this juncture `So what is the purpose of this meeting, then?’ – but, in the absence of a microphone, I was unable to do so. I will thus take this opportunity to answer my own unheard question here:

Agreed. We’re all meant to be in this together. Granted there were some horrific questions asked on the day from some members of the audience, clearly misunderstanding the entire situation even when it was spelled out to them, but suggestions like this is surely common sense. We have a right to protest against Jason. He’s hamstrung our club for two seasons in a row in league one, only produced a budget mid way through the transfer window this year (that’s still the lowest in the year), has charged the club stupidly high interest rates, voted a club legend out of the managerial position via a Facebook post, and has persevered for coming up to a year with a timewaster in Johal. Jason’s unfit to own the club.

The response of simply ‘Why bother?’ is a horrific stance to take, and it’s something I thought at the time. Why bother with anything? If it’s all so out of our hands then why bother turning up to games at all. The point is to drum up attention to the scenario and inform people!

I agree with all that. The Trust seems to be an amateur damp squib with no obvious purpose nor direction. I've no doubt at all that lack of volunteers is a major problem, but the few committee members need to be more open, more willing to engage, etc to attract new blood. Yes, it's achieved a few things such as the legend's wall, but the sheer lack of information and lack of organisation is the main problem.

It actually reminds me of the Winter Gardens restoration. I had nothing but respect for Evelyn Archer who secured it's initial preservation and the "friends" group who got it safe and secure for limited events, but she and The "Friends" simply weren't professional enough (and perhaps too blinkered some may say) to secure the funding and support it needed. Now it's being run on a much more professional basis and is coming on in leaps and bounds after about 20 years of just stumbling on. As I say, I've nothing but respect for what Evelyn and the Friends achieved over those decades as I suspect it would have been bulldozed has it not been for them, but they were never going to get the proper backing/support needed to do the renovation job properly.

Back to the Shrimps' Trust, the usual whingeing and moaning about lack of volunteers doesn't endear you to want to help them really. It's a form of emotional blackmail. And from what I've seen and heard, I don't think they're open to new ideas etc - I think they just want more volunteers to agree with them and do what they want you to do. That's a real put off for people to get involved.

And yes, the fiasco about venue was awful. Big mistake not to have it at the Mazuma, and the fiasco re disabled access was unforgivable.

It reminds me also of our local village parish council. They have a facebook page and website. A few months ago, the chairman went on facebook to complain that literally no-one attended the Parish council annual meeting, and made snide comments such as "presumably all the villages are happy with everything then and we won't be getting phone calls and emails complaining about things". He was roundly ridiculed when people responded pointing out that neither the facebook page nor website announced such a meeting, so how did people know about it? He responded with "we put up a couple of posters on the village notice boards and it's up to the villagers to look at them"!

I am away in Turkey at the moment Roger but I am happy for you to quote my concerns about our club. I too am a proud member of the Trust and I believe we need the Trust to organise action. Time is running out and the time to act is now.

I attended the evening as a lapsed member and found it a frustrating evening. I did though decide after to re-join the trust but haven't heard much since.

I guess for most fans, we need more engagement with the owner and the board on the current situation as its gone very quiet since May. If Johal is off the scene I think we at the very least need to know this.

Aside from the ownership, I'd like the trust to focus on away travel and get coaches going to every away match. Personally I'd charge double for membership, then use this revenue to subsidise travel and get more fans to away games.

UTS!

As I was not at the Trust meeting I cannot comment on the facilities or the way questions were answered (or not) but I have said on here before that I for one, and I'm sure there are others, who would be more than willing to contribute thousands of pounds to enable the Trust to obtain shares in the club. I know Exeter have a bigger fan base than us but they are doing well as a fan owned club. I appreciate that it seems a mountain to climb to get near to that situation but how do we know how big the mountain is until we know what backing to would receive?

Any impartial football fan would see us as a club in decline. A modest investment last January could possibly have saved us from relegation. Now with the lowest budget in League 2 we are expecting miracles from our shrewd manager. Off the field we have no new buyer and if we are not careful we could return to non-league. We need to highlight the farce of an owner allowing the decline of our great club and a prospective buyer who seems unable to show he has funds to actually buy the club. We are being messed around big time and we need to publicise this farce before we become the next Bury.

KenH wrote:I agree with all that. The Trust seems to be an amateur damp squib with no obvious purpose nor direction. I've no doubt at all that lack of volunteers is a major problem, but the few committee members need to be more open, more willing to engage, etc to attract new blood. Yes, it's achieved a few things such as the legend's wall, but the sheer lack of information and lack of organisation is the main problem.

It actually reminds me of the Winter Gardens restoration. I had nothing but respect for Evelyn Archer who secured it's initial preservation and the "friends" group who got it safe and secure for limited events, but she and The "Friends" simply weren't professional enough (and perhaps too blinkered some may say) to secure the funding and support it needed. Now it's being run on a much more professional basis and is coming on in leaps and bounds after about 20 years of just stumbling on. As I say, I've nothing but respect for what Evelyn and the Friends achieved over those decades as I suspect it would have been bulldozed has it not been for them, but they were never going to get the proper backing/support needed to do the renovation job properly.

Back to the Shrimps' Trust, the usual whingeing and moaning about lack of volunteers doesn't endear you to want to help them really. It's a form of emotional blackmail. And from what I've seen and heard, I don't think they're open to new ideas etc - I think they just want more volunteers to agree with them and do what they want you to do. That's a real put off for people to get involved.

And yes, the fiasco about venue was awful. Big mistake not to have it at the Mazuma, and the fiasco re disabled access was unforgivable.

It reminds me also of our local village parish council. They have a facebook page and website. A few months ago, the chairman went on facebook to complain that literally no-one attended the Parish council annual meeting, and made snide comments such as "presumably all the villages are happy with everything then and we won't be getting phone calls and emails complaining about things". He was roundly ridiculed when people responded pointing out that neither the facebook page nor website announced such a meeting, so how did people know about it? He responded with "we put up a couple of posters on the village notice boards and it's up to the villagers to look at them"!

Honestly the work the Trust do behind the scenes is ridiculous and when you read comments like this it becomes demoralising.
By all means come and show us We're we are going wrong but you're just a keyboard warrior.

thedoc wrote:https://shrimplythebestfootball.com/2023/08/03/shrimps-trust-emergency-meeting/

Rather unhelpful nonsense, with the new season only 2 days away. Why wait all this time to post this?

If you think that you can do better than put yourself up to join the Trust's Board.
Although I believe you are not even a member of the Trust (Taken from FB), so you really aren't in a position to say anything really.

If attacking hard working volunteers is how you get your kicks, then we are probably best off without you anyway.

fulwoodshrimp wrote:Any impartial football fan would see us as a club in decline. A modest investment last January could possibly have saved us from relegation. Now with the lowest budget in League 2 we are expecting miracles from our shrewd manager. Off the field we have no new buyer and if we are not careful we could return to non-league. We need to highlight the farce of an owner allowing the decline of our great club and a prospective buyer who seems unable to show he has funds to actually buy the club. We are being messed around big time and we need to publicise this farce before we become the next Bury.

I wrote a post a few minutes ago questioning that assumption. I've just listened to our manager who has confirmed that we do have the lowest budget in EFL2. As a result of that my original post has been deleted and I apologize to fulwoodshrimp for questioning his statement.

Old Man Kensey wrote:

thedoc wrote:https://shrimplythebestfootball.com/2023/08/03/shrimps-trust-emergency-meeting/

Rather unhelpful nonsense, with the new season only 2 days away. Why wait all this time to post this?

If you think that you can do better than put yourself up to join the Trust's Board.
Although I believe you are not even a member of the Trust (Taken from FB), so you really aren't in a position to say anything really.

If attacking hard working volunteers is how you get your kicks, then we are probably best off without you anyway.

I for one and I'm sure quite a number of others value the written contributions by 'thedoc' and feel that the above statement is totally uncalled for and disrespectful to someone who spends a lot of time and no doubt money providing a valued service to both regular and exiled fans.

Keep up the excellent work 'doc'.....

But it's alright for the Doc to be disrespectful to people for doing everything you just said the Doc does?

This article is one of the most offensive things I have ever read written about myself, as the (default) "chair" of the meeting. I had contemplated responding to some of the inaccurate points in it, but quite frankly it just cements my thoughts after the meeting that I will not be putting myself in that position again, and will be very much taking a back seat on Trust activities going forwards!

We are all committed to our club and squabbling amongst ourselves is damaging. We need to all work together- Trust, The Doc and all of us fans. The club is in a crisis and continuing to do nothing is not an option. This coming season is critical in the history of our club. Can the Trust form an action committee to consider all our options? I wonder if we can do some fund raising over next few months so if we are in trouble in the January window we might be able to help the manager to strengthen the squad? Just a thought but we have to do something!

I don't see the article being disrespectful or offensive. It's critical of some of the author's personal experience or perceptions and clearly it's not just thedoc who has those feelings / experiences.

It ought to be treated as a complaint. And it should be received as such.

A complaint is a free consultation.

Organisations receiving complaints should do so in a positive manner and review the complaint's validity.
Is there no truth in it?
Is there some truth in it?
Are there valid points?
Can the organisation address these points? If not, why not? For instance it may be that there is simply too much to do to, that the committee members don't have the time or personnel to make things better? If so, then that needs saying, clearly. It may be in saying that then positive progress can be made going forward?
This shouldn't be a squabble it should be a dialogue. It should be a place where people can express opinions, politely and without over-reaction.
Is it possible to have that meaningful dialogue? Where can it be had? if not we are in danger of wholly losing the value of our supporter's trust.

fulwoodshrimp wrote:We are all committed to our club and squabbling amongst ourselves is damaging. We need to all work together- Trust, The Doc and all of us fans. The club is in a crisis and continuing to do nothing is not an option. This coming season is critical in the history of our club. Can the Trust form an action committee to consider all our options? I wonder if we can do some fund raising over next few months so if we are in trouble in the January window we might be able to help the manager to strengthen the squad? Just a thought but we have to do something!

Totally agree

I was a member of the OMFSC and then the Fans Club and now a fully paid up member of the Shrimps Trust. I believe it's important for supporters to have a voice and the Trust gives us this voice. I don't think people realise just how much work Trust committee members undertake, all voluntarily and without pay. It's so easy to be critical when things are going wrong but we should all be joining the Trust and if possible, volunteer for roles within the Trust. It's really not fair to expect just a few members to give up large amounts of their time and energy and then to be criticised for doing their best. I've travelled many times with the Trust to away matches and cannot praise them highly enough. I'm sure it must take hours to organise these trips, all done by a member who is not getting paid. The away match travel is one aspect of the work the Trust undertakes, but i'm sure there must be loads more work undertaken by the committee that we, as supporters would not know about, so please let's praise the committee rather than criticise. PS, I'm not a relative of any of the committee members, just an ordinary long time supporter who cares about the club and it's long term future.

Wild Bill wrote:

fulwoodshrimp wrote:We are all committed to our club and squabbling amongst ourselves is damaging. We need to all work together- Trust, The Doc and all of us fans. The club is in a crisis and continuing to do nothing is not an option. This coming season is critical in the history of our club. Can the Trust form an action committee to consider all our options? I wonder if we can do some fund raising over next few months so if we are in trouble in the January window we might be able to help the manager to strengthen the squad? Just a thought but we have to do something!

Totally agree

As do I.

I do feel the criticism of the trust is a little unfair. There isn’t a long queue of people lining up to take part and run the trust so people should be very careful about criticising the few who do give up their time. Beggars and choosers comes to mind…

Old Man Kensey wrote:

"Rather unhelpful nonsense, with the new season only 2 days away. Why wait all this time to post this?

If you think that you can do better than put yourself up to join the Trust's Board.
Although I believe you are not even a member of the Trust (Taken from FB), so you really aren't in a position to say anything really.

If attacking hard working volunteers is how you get your kicks, then we are probably best off without you anyway."

I realise there are a quite a lot of big words in it, but why not read what I actually wrote again? I explain early doors why I have published the article at this juncture. If you go back to FB, you will see the reason I am not putting my name forward to become a trustee. I fear you may not understand this, just as you obviously didn’t understand the clearly stated fact in the article that I have renewed my membership of the Trust again – just as I have now for several years in a row. Feel a bit silly now? I would. What I have written is based on fact – I explain my reasons for doing it which you – or anyone else – have a total right not to agree with. However, this doesn’t extend to simply inventing the kind of crap which I have just quoted from you. If you want to make a sensible comment, please at least try and get your facts straight first – it’s easier to just mindlessly moan, admittedly: but you could at least give it a go...

Morecambe Jack wrote:This article is one of the most offensive things I have ever read written about myself, as the (default) "chair" of the meeting. I had contemplated responding to some of the inaccurate points in it, but quite frankly it just cements my thoughts after the meeting that I will not be putting myself in that position again, and will be very much taking a back seat on Trust activities going forwards!

"Offensive?" You want to go on the Milton Keynes site, mate and read what they write about me...
I'm truly sorry if you're offended by what I have written - that wasn't my intention. However, please don't be shy: what are these `inaccurate points' in what I wrote? You can send me a private message if you want and I will address them directly in my blog - that's a promise.

redrobo wrote:
I for one and I'm sure quite a number of others value the written contributions by 'thedoc' and feel that the above statement is totally uncalled for and disrespectful to someone who spends a lot of time and no doubt money providing a valued service to both regular and exiled fans.

Keep up the excellent work 'doc'.....

Aw Shucks... Thanks for that; I appreciate it...

thedoc wrote:

Morecambe Jack wrote:This article is one of the most offensive things I have ever read written about myself, as the (default) "chair" of the meeting. I had contemplated responding to some of the inaccurate points in it, but quite frankly it just cements my thoughts after the meeting that I will not be putting myself in that position again, and will be very much taking a back seat on Trust activities going forwards!

"Offensive?" You want to go on the Milton Keynes site, mate and read what they write about me...
I'm truly sorry if you're offended by what I have written - that wasn't my intention. However, please don't be shy: what are these `inaccurate points' in what I wrote? You can send me a private message if you want and I will address them directly in my blog - that's a promise.

You literally could have sent private messages to the Trust but you didn't.
You posted this to the whole world.
I know that people on the Trust are having 2nd thoughts now about what they do.
This is a sad day

BHmfc wrote:I don't think people realise just how much work Trust committee members undertake, all voluntarily and without pay.... ...i'm sure there must be loads more work undertaken by the committee that we, as supporters would not know about...

Therein, lies the problem. We need to know what is going on, and what The Trust are doing. We need regular communication, even if that communication is, 'we asked the club about... ...but have not yet had an answer'. It is crazy that Sarbjot Johal still appears to be 'buying the club' despite 'doing so' since 2022, and there is [apparently] no pressure from anywhere for answers. The fans need to know what, if anything, The Trust are doing, and if not doing anything, then why?

The Trust has always let its MEMBERS know what they are doing. Nothing has changed Keith