Supporters Trust Public Forum - 7pm 2nd July, Newcastle Town Hall

As title suggests.

The supporters trust is still working towards being a reality. This public forum is the next peice of the puzzle.

It will be held at Newcastle Town Hall, which has a capacity of over 800, at 7pm on the 2nd July.

We will have a host of guest speakers there, working on some fairly exciting ones which I am hoping will come off. Including some old KB United players.

I am relying alot on word of mouth so please head to twitter (@newytrust & #powerwiththefans) and Facebook (Newcastle Jets Supporters Trust) to spread the word. Invite people to the event, share the posts on your page. Etc.

We are trying to form something that would be different to anything else this far in the australian sporting landscape and changing the face of football in the hunter forever hopefully.

Much appreciated. Any questions I will answer if asked here, twitter or Facebook, or by email (powerwiththefans@gmail.com)


If you think you can help out anyway please contact me. And please come along to the forum and listen to what we are about.

I will post the any articles about the trust here as well, however I am still waiting on one that was meant to be up in tuesday morning.

Cheers

what supporters....

sd will ruin this.............ffs

Hamma01 and Superdylan will be car pooling to this together.

Good to see your sticking to your guns with this mate. I'll do my best to get up there for this, any of the F3MDR lads who need a lift let me know.

solidarity mother****ers

viva la revolucion

What I really need is people to show up on the night. There will be an article in tomorrows Newcastle herald. This is good due to the higher circulation numbers on Saturdays.

Should have the speakers locked in by Monday. Announce Tuesday. One in particular would be a real draw card should it come off.

This forum will be an excellent display of the support that the trust has. Please as I always say, let people know. If you have Facebook link and share our posts and invite people to the event.

Cheers

Robbie Middleby seemed supportive when I spoke to him, will have further conversations with Northern, HSG and Jets, and expect a representative of each to attend the event to give their support behind the initiative

Just some links,

The Facebook Page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Newcas...78161318896058

The Event:

http://www.facebook.com/events/472570269423819/

Have stickied the thread for the time being.

i'd love to make this, but my scheduling of holidays is absolutely terrible.

good luck with it toby. I hope it is a successful beginning for something great for newcastle football.

i will share and retweet your event.

Herald Article.

Quote:

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Mills trusts in loyal Jets fans
BY JAMES GARDINER
26 Jun, 2012 04:00 AM
DEVOTED Jets fan Toby Mills felt like someone had punched him in the stomach when news broke that Nathan Tinkler had relinquished the club’s A-League licence in April.

Mills was working at a nursing home in Beecroft in north-west Sydney when he saw a television report outline the developments.

‘‘I felt sick,’’ the 21-year-old recalled.

‘‘It was as though someone had punched me in the guts.

‘‘We were re-signing players one day and the next day he was handing the licence back.’’

Desperate for his club to survive, Mills put into action a plan for a supporters’ trust he had been working on for 18months.

Three weeks later Tinkler, after receiving a number of concessions from Football Federation Australia, reaffirmed his commitment to fund the Jets for the remaining eight years of the term of his licence.

Despite Tinkler’s about face, Mills has forged ahead with his plans and will hold a public forum about the supporter’s trust at Newcastle Town Hall next Monday at 7pm.

‘‘The room seats 800 and hopefully we can fill it up with people interested in forming a supporters’ trust,’’ Mills said.

‘‘I’m hoping to lock in some key speakers from the likes of Northern NSW Football, local councillors and people interested in football.

‘‘We may not have a stake in the club but it is important that the fans have a unified voice.

‘‘Currently Nathan Tinkler has eight years to run on the licence and he might keep it for another 10 after that.

‘‘But there is no guarantees. It is about putting things in place so that in eight years time or 10 years time or even next year, if he decides to pull the pin, there is something there.

‘‘If Tinkler does stay there and we don’t take a direct stake in the club, the trust is there to support it.

‘‘Just like there is a union for workers, this would be a union for supporters. We would speak with one voice and make sure we are heard.’’

Mills has been supporting the Jets since their inception and came up with the idea for a trust when former owner Con Constantine ran into financial difficulties.

‘‘When Con’s issues came up I started the process of researching and writing things down, highlighting different examples of ownership models,’’ Mills said.

‘‘I think the idea of fans owning the club or having involvement is such an important thing.’’

Mills has put together a 16-page draft for a supporters’ trust which is inspired by lower-tier English clubs Exeter City and Brentford, where fans buy a share in the club.

‘‘I have looked at a lot of supporters’ trusts and supporter ownership structures and have basically taken bits and pieces which I think would really suit Newcastle,’’ he said.

‘‘Those plans will be outlined at the forum.

‘‘We will probably ask for a show of hands to see if their is support for it and there will be pledge forms available at the end.

‘‘Hopefully we will get a few volunteers to form a working committee which will work towards registering the trust as an organisation.’’

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/loc...px?storypage=0

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On 442 I was asked some questions about the trust, thought I would post them here for those interested. (answers in red)

Quote:

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Operation of the Trust

> Is its aim to hold funds in case of an event in the future the requires urgent funding to keep the club going? I guess I am asking, what is the primary (and any other) objectives of the trust?

The primary objective of the trust is to continue the growth and prosperity of football in Newcastle and the Hunter, realising that the Newcastle Jets are Newcastle's football flagship and therefore are key to the continued growth of football in the region. There are 7 listed objectives all of which are related along this line. However there is also the objective which is to "encourage the club to take proper account of the interests of its supporters and the community it serves in its decisions". As to the application of funds there are three areas where this comes into play: To maintain prudent reserves is one of them, pretty much as you say incase of urgent save the club need. The other two relate to the objectives of the Trust.

> Does it have the support of the Newcastle Jets/HSG? Actually what is HSGs official line on this? It leaves them in an interesting position. My initial thought would be they should dismiss it because anything other than that could indicate they are not confident they will continue to hold the licence for a long time to come. However, if they do totally dismiss it then it creates a pressure point with fans, especially ifthe trust is simply a backstop in case of such an event occuring. What reason could they have to have an issue with a safety net being put in place by the fans? How Robbie and the Jets respond may be a totally different matter to how Tinkler see's it. If the Trust gets going and starts raising some funds, will there be an angry response from Tinkler?

The Jets and HSG recognise the significance of supporters and their imporatance to the club. To date there has been respect from them for what we are trying to achieve, discussions continue towards their support of the Trust, hopefully come public forum day they will be willing to announce their support.

> Will there be any connection between the trust and the club, or are they totally seperate entities? For example, will the club assist in raising funds or even act as trustee?

It is essential that the club and Trust remain as separate entities, this will prevent the improper use of funds, also means that should the current (or any) ownership structure pull out they would not be able to lay claim to funds set aside to rescue the club from any such situation. Also there are issues that arise in football clubs that shouldn't be played out in the light of day for all supporters to see (player negotiations etc.)

> Will there be an end date for the trust, for example in 30 years if the club is very stable and there is no real need for a back stop, and hopefully the trust has some good resources, will it cease collecting funds? How would distribution work at this time, would it go back to the contributors (very difficult to do)? To the club? Spent on supporter events (ie buses for away trips, banners, membership discounts/merchandise etc)?

The term "trust" is not used in the usual legal sense in this case. Think of it more as a co-operative. It is an non-profit organisation, therefore there is no financial benefit to the members of the trust. ever. Should the membership decide that the trust is no longer needed and cease to exist, the funds saved would be used on projects that fullfil the objectives of the trust, or to another non-profit organisation that has similar objectives to the trust, or dispersed among the grassroots (e.g. building all weather pitches)

> Has there been any work/discussion performed with FFA on this? At the end of the day, even if remarkably enough was raised to bankroll the club for one season and Tinkler did pull the pin, would the FFA allow the licence to be transferred to the Trust anyway? I would suggest not.

The FFA themselves have not responded to attempts to contact and meet with them in regard to the trust (I was warned not to be surprised by this). However I agree at this stage it seems unlikely that control would be passed over to a trust, however a trust could form of a consortium as an approved model by the FFA

> Has there been any work/discussion with Andrew Poole? He seems to quite vocal in support of community ownership models and could well have good insight (sorry, exremely good business insight).

Andrew Poole could form some part of for example the above mentioned consortium, however no official contact has been made with him.

Finances of the Trust

> What will be the primary methods of raising funds? Ie on-line donations, game day raffles, game day collection buckets, donation add on option to club memberships?

Yearly membership fees would be the highest form of income for the trust, followed closely by bank interest. The trust is there to work with the community and in doing so is wary of taking money out of the pockets of local football clubs by stepping on toes when it comes to fundraising. Things like lucky door prizes at trust meetings and AGM's would be one exception

> Under what specific circumstances can the trustee distribute funds from the trust? Ie for what purposes? To whom? Will there need to be a vote before it can be released? If so, who gets to vote, are votes weighted by an individuals contribution, is it only a 50% majority or higher needed etc.

There isn't a trustee as such, as mentioned above the Trust isn't a traditional trust. There would be a board, who would be 60% voted by the membership, with the other 40% co-opted onto the board for containing specific skills the board requires for the operation of the trust. The Board however can look at the funds and decide, say 90% is going to the savings for a rainy day, and the other 10% will go to grassroots programs, which through association with Northern NSW Football, who would put forward programs requiring funds, which would then be decided by the membership, by a 50% vote or a 75% of vote if it usage outside the objectives of the trust.

> Who will be trustee? How will this be elected etc?

Trust Board members would be elected at the annual AGM through ballot papers. The maximum consecutive terms a person can spend on the board is 2 (1 year each term), this helps to prevent self interest.

> Will there be investment restrictions on the trustee? For example, I would say that funds held can only be invested in Cash & Cash Equiv Assets, and not invested in riskier investments such as shares.

All investments require a vote by majority of 75% or more of the membership

> Is there a general fundraising aims you think would need to be reached to make a difference in the event of another issue around the licence?

In my mind we have 8 years to come up with a large trust membership base and gather the funds to run the club for 1 full year ($5-7million). Fundraising I have touched on above

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So tomorrow people are playing and watching football. Would be great if some of you that play in the local leagues could get out there and let people know about the event. Hijack a PA system. Have a wander talk to people about it. Convince the nice mum at the canteen to tell every person she sells to about the public forum.

If you go to state league games, Hijack their PA system.

If your headed to the airport, Hijack probably isn't the right word to use in this location, borrow their PA system.


It is only 3 sleeps away! get excited.

#Powerwiththefans and join the discussion.

Public Forum tomorrow.

Who is coming?

I am

I'm coming and bringing a mate.

I'll be heading up

night will now be a success. Maybe I should have opened the bar? Just for todd's sake.

there is still time, make the call!!!

The difference is the change from a free venue to a need to pay for it. Sorry mate.

Looking forward to it

I will be there as well, and I will be recording the proceedings to release as a podcast for those who are unable to make it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by furns

I will be there as well, and I will be recording the proceedings to release as a podcast for those who are unable to make it.

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perfect

Sorry tobs et all dont think i will make it into newy after work :(

Toby, my pledge still stands.

How did it go? Getting there wasn't an option for me, but I am still interested in how i pans out.

Can anyone that was there update those of us who couldn't?

I went along to see what happened & my observations were

The Newcastle Lord Mayor spoke first & I got the impression that this was aiming up to be a total takeover from HSG. I also got the impression he didn't want to piss Nathan Tinkler off in anyway. After the other speakers had finished, I also felt that he had a better understanding of how supporters' trusts worked around the world (as did I) and any trust would be complementary to the A-league licence holder.

The second speaker Melina (?), from the International Year of the Co-Operative secretariat had limited football knowledge, but spoke with enthusiasm & showed what could be achieved. It was also good to know that there are organisations out there that can offer support.

Blackmac then spoke extremely well, outlining what he had researched over the past 18 months/2 years. I wasn't previously aware of how supporter's trusts worked or how common they were, even in the large leagues. (Barcelona anyone ?) Congratulations & thank you for all your hard work. I can't imagine the hours he'd spent researching this.

There was a call for volunteers to start a Steering Committee to begin drafting a draft plan/constitution, but I'm not sure if anyone did. (I had to leave straight away)

It was also interesting to hear that a group of supporters from Western Sydney has also started this process for the WS Wanderers.

I will have the audio up in the next 24 hours. Apologies for the reduced sound quality as I had to use my dictaphone for the recording, I was unable to connect the sound system at the Town Hall to my mixer/laptop setup to record it properly.

Blackmac79,

Well done organising this. You had a good turnout for the start of something. I'm fully supportive of it.

I've been reading the public comments about the trust without delving into the detail and I haven't listened to the podcast yet, so I may be saying things that you've already answered. There are a few things that I find a bit confusing which I want to comment on:

1. The purpose of the Trust. I find this very vague. To be talking about the football community in general makes it hard for me to pin down what the short, medium and long term objectives are of the trust ie. to give it purpose now and in the future. Football gets very political and the organisation could lack direction or be forced into a negative direction by a rogue board if it starts to accumulate money or wield influence. The members need a clear vision so that they can keep the board honest over time. It will be clear that the organisation is doing what they signed up for and if it isn't they can see this clearly and vote the board out. Given that members will not be able to get their money back, I think this is important.

I would recommend something simple like: (a) to represent the collective interests of Newcastle Jets supporters (our members) in dealings with the club; and (b) to ensure a team from Newcastle is always represented in the National competition.

To me this gives the trust a direct purpose. I would feel that as a member of the trust, I could count on it to act as my voice in a collective when talking to the club about things like ticket pricing, seating, season scheduling issues, supporter communication and relations. This gives it a direct and clear purpose now. It would give the trust legitimacy and authority to work on my behalf whilst acknowledging that the trust may not represent every Newcastle Jets supporter.

Essentially, if 2,000 people say that they delegate authority to the trust to deal with the club on their behalf, it would be silly for HSG not to listen to the trust.

2. My second point is about the trust acting as a contingency fund. I see that the short term and long term objectives of the trust may conflict with each other. You will quite easily be able to attract members who want to use it as a form of union in dealing with the club, so long as the annual fee reflects that role ie. maybe $10 per annum. However, if you want to build a fund to be ready to take over the club, you may scare away people who don't want to contribute. To me, a reasonable target of the fund needs to be set on which ordinary members will contribute eg. to raise $100,000 by the time Tinkler's A-League license expires ($10 x 2,000 people x 10 years should be enough to achieve this). I can't see anyone agreeing to fork out enough money to raise $5million. People can donate more to a fighting fund if they want, and you can fundraise, but hopefully over time relations will be so good between HSG and the trust that you will have advanced notice of his intention to withdraw and you can negotiate a planned takeover well in advance and can build the finances quickly from your member base if needed. I would much rather keep the money in my pocket but by signing on as a member year in and out show that I am prepared to tip in if the trust was going to buy the club outright.

3. The only other thing is I saw that Andrew Poole was mentioned on 442. I don't think it is a good idea to form a framework which is seen as a threat by HSG. Not only will that prevent you acting as a supporters union in the short term but it might also make them outright hostile toward you and undermine everything you are trying to achieve.

Anyway, best of luck. I think more people will be attracted once the structure is in place and they can see the value in it. Good start.

Blackmac,

Well done, my hat is off to you.
You spoke wonderfully, clearly and passionately.
I have no skills to offer, but will do anything I can to help.

Where can I get a commitment form?

And thanks to Furns for recording this.
(was great sound quality, until question time!)
Anyone who hasn't listened to the podcast ...... Listen to it!
And get everyone you can to listen to it too!

Just wanted to say that I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth. I have just been doing night shifts since getting back from the public forum and so I haven't had time to sit down and go through things yet, debrief, so to speak.

Will get to this tomorrow.

Anyone wishing to add their name to the database (pretty much the idea of the commitment forms), should send an email to powerwiththefans@gmail.com containing:\

Name:
Email:
Suburb:
Phone (optional):


I will finally finish updating the database tonight and be sending out emails tonight as well. Its time to get back on this horse.

Minutes from the public forum:

Quote:

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Minutes

NUCOST Public Forum – at the Newcastle Town Hall
Monday, 2nd July 2012 at 7:00 pm

Welcoming address by chairman Graham Hills, Men of Football Inc.

Graham warmly welcomed the audience and introduced the panel of

Speaker 1: John Tate, Lord Mayor of Newcastle

Speaker 2: Melina Morris, 2012 International Year of Cooperatives

Speaker 3: Toby Mills, Spokesman for NUCOST

Attending: David Eland, CEO NNSW Football

Apologies: HSG was unable to send a representative

Graham explained that the aim of the meeting today is to inform the community about
the objectives of the Supporters’ Trust, to foster and maintain a good relationship
between the flag ship of football in the Hunter region, the Newcastle United Jets, the
grassroots movement, youth development and the supporters of football in general.

He recounted that the local A-league football team was reborn too many times and the
Supporter’ Trust is about sustainability for the Newcastle United Jets.

Graham invited Mayor John Tate to speak.

The Mayor acknowledged the important role the ‘Jets’ play for the Hunter region.

He recommended that any group associated with the ‘Jets’ should be complementary to
the existing structure put in place by the HSG and progress into the future.

Financial security is not a given and support for the local development involves also the
funding through the government/council.

He committed to listen to the speakers and the questions from the audience to get
informed about the Supporters’ Trust.

Graham invited Melina Morris to speak.

Newcastle United Community Ownership Supporter’s Trust

Melina first clarified the definition of co-ops:

Co-operatives are businesses owned by their members.
Co-operatives make profits to benefit their members.
Co-operatives are democratic and locally based.

Co-operatives include eg: credit unions, farmers and electricity producers as well as
multi-million dollar businesses and global brands such as Sunkist, The Associated Press
and many more with a participation of over 1 billion people worldwide.

Co-ops in general create community cohesion, reduce poverty and enhance the
socioeconomic status.

For the footballing community it means that the fans can be stakeholders in the club
and own it collectively. With legal structures in place, the benefits are staying local and
supporter community ownership can contribute to the sustainability and prosperity of
football clubs.

All over the world are thousands of sporting clubs operating as co-ops or Supporters’
Trusts under various models.

The UK has an umbrella organization, ‘Supporters Direct’, with the goal to promote
sustainable spectator sports clubs based on supporters' involvement and community
ownership. Since 2000 it has helped to set up over 170 Trusts.

Germany has adopted the ’50 + 1’ model where the supporters maintain a majority of
their football club with a controlling share.

Unlike many other football clubs, FC Barcelona is fully owned and operated by its
150,000 supporters. It is the world's second-richest football club in terms of revenue,
with an annual turnover of €398 million.

Melina pointed out that, through its flexibility, the Supporters’ Trust is complimentary
to any existing structure. In addition to that it encourages loyalty in the community,
embraces also inter-generational participation and puts ‘bums on seats’.

She commended Toby for his passion and drew attention to the growing trend of
development of co-operatives.

Toby welcomed the audience and thanked the panel for their valuable contribution.

After a short preamble of how the idea of the Supporters’ Trust became to be significant
he continued to lay out the main objectives:

To give the supporters of the ‘Jets’ the opportunity to speak with one voice.
To have a ‘One member – One vote’ policy.
To maintain a democratic and transparent process and social inclusion.
To be a ‘Not for Profit’ organization.

Newcastle United Community Ownership Supporter’s Trust
To raise enough moneys to keep the ‘Jets’ flying for 1 year should unforeseen
circumstances arise.

The objectives of the Trust are through itself, for the benefit of the community and acting
under its control:
• To encourage the Club to take into proper account the interests of its supporters
and the community it serves in its decisions.
• To benefit present and future members of the community served by the club
by promoting, encouraging and furthering the game of association football as a
recreational facility, sporting activity and focus for community involvement.
• To provide and maintain facilities for the enjoyment of professional football in the
area.
• To promote and widen interest in association football, regardless of gender,
religion or ethnic origin of those involved.
• To further the development of the game of association football nationally and the
upholding of its rules.
• To encourage and promote the principle of supporter representation on the board
of any company owning or controlling the Club, and ultimately to be the vehicle
for democratic elections to the board.
• To promote, develop and respect the rights of members of the community served
by the Club and people dealing with the Trust, and having regard in particular to
the need to provide information to members and conduct the affairs of the Trust,
in accessible and appropriate ways.

Toby cited a friend: “Newcastle, in football terms, can be compared with a sleeping
giant. Why not wake him up and turn him into a powerhouse!”

Toby referred to pledge forms which were available for people who are interested in
formation meetings of the Trust.

Graham invited the audience to Open Question Time.

Q: Peter: Does FC Barcelona also receive government subsidy?

A: This question could not be answered outright with yes or no, but the co-operative
model leaves room for other stakeholders, such as the government or businesses being
collaborators.

Q: Grant: What is the timeframe to get the Supporters’ Trust up and running? Does the
Supporters Trust pose a threat to the HSG?

A: There is no exact timeframe for the Supporters’ Trust. We will gather information and
work on the legal side. We will work closely together with the HSG and there will be a
direct link between the club and the community.

Q: John: Are there already similar Supporters’ Trusts in place in Australia?
A: The Brisbane Broncos are a listed company and similar Trusts a found in the AFL.

Newcastle United Community Ownership Supporter’s Trust
Q: Greg: Is the position of the FFA in favour of the Supporters’ Trust?
A: The FFA has encouraged strong community involvement in the process of setting
up the Western Sydney Wanderers and has welcomed the supporters as an involved
consortium. There is a realization that the numbers are with the members and the task is
to connect the people with the idea of a Supporters’ Trust.
A: David Eland addressed the audience:
He thanked the panel sincerely for the informative meeting and expressed his positive
reception about the objectives of the Trust. Being on the Board of Directors for the
Northern NSW Football Association, which works closely together with the ‘Jets”, he also
expressed his willingness to put across the concept of the Trust to the HSG.

Q: Alex: What can the Supporters’ Trust do if Nathan Tinkler hands the A-League
licence back to the FFA again?
A: Nothing at the moment! The Supporters’ Trust relies on membership fees and
fundraising. The aim at present is to raise funds for the next 8 years (Tinkler’s
commitment). Should then the need arise, the Trust can keep the ‘Jets’ afloat for 1 year
and look for alternate investors in the meantime.

Q: Robert: How will the Foundation Group finance itself in the beginning?
A: Mostly through volunteer work and goodwill. A good example is the ‘Men of Football
Inc.’ who has lent a hand with the preparation of the present meeting.

Q: Timmy: Why is no representative from the HSG present?
A: Robbie Middleby was very supportive of the meeting and apologized that he was
unable to attend.

Q: Jack: What is the minimum number of members or amount for investment required?
A: The minimum number of members for a co-operation is 8 members; a Trust can start
with 20 members. Leeds United started with 50 members and is counting now 5,000.
There is no minimum amount of moneys.

Q: Timmy: Who else is pushing for the Supporters’ Trust?
A: Toby is in contact with various people who could not attend the meeting tonight due
to different reasons.

Mayor John Tate addressed the audience.

After a greatly instructive meeting, the Mayor expresses his agreement for the idea of
the Supporters’ Trust to the panel and the audience. His recommendations are to put in
place a solid constitution and to stay in communication with the HSG.

Graham Hill thanked everybody for attending and especially the panel and David Eland
for their contributions. He complimented Toby on all the good work he has done so far
and pledged his support for the cause.

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New email sent out to those on the database (31/7/2012)

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Fellow Supporters,

Firstly I would like to apologise for appearing to drop off the face of the Earth for the last few weeks. As is the unfortunate way with life there is always something to do. For a long time through the lead up to the Supporters Trust public forum, everything else in my life took a back seat. I could not continue ignoring important issues that kept arising, and so the Supporters Trust took its place for a while on the back seat. It was however not forgotten.

I hope that you, like myself, have been enjoying the last few weeks without the future of our club being up in the air. It has been nice to be able to focus on the upcoming season and all the delights that it will bring without the worry of a perilous situation.

However despite this period of perceived stability should in no way discourage us from our goal of the fans having a say in our club. It should encourage us to continue this journey, and work towards this goal in an effective manner. Further, this period of stability gives us time to develop our idea, our goals, and how best to achieve these.

The public forum was the first step forward towards our end goal, a voice for the fans. For those of you that were unable to attend the night, I have attached the minutes from the forum. However if you would prefer to listen to the audio from the night a podcast is available by searching for "Jetstream Podcast" in iTunes.

Thank you to those that were present and contributed to the night. It was a successful evening that enabled the conversation to begin in the wider community. So where to from here?

After some discussion from the night, and afterwards we have decided on 5 key points, key steps, that we believe will enable us to build for the future and continue to reach our goals. These goals are:

1. Create a formative committee from those present tonight, those who have already expressed an interest, and those who hear of our plans and wish to contribute.

2. Build an organisation that invites and allows the community to be involved

3. Inform and keep the community informed of our progress and of the opportunities to be involved

4. Encourage those, who commit to get involved, to invite their friends to join us as we grow

5. Foster and maintain positive relationships with organisations within the football community, and the general community, so as to enhance and contribute to community building in the Hunter.


I would like to bring your attention to the first point, as this is the primary point of this email. The next step in the creation of this revolutionary organisation is the creation of a committee to steer its direction and draft the would be constitution.

I have received expressions of interest already about joining such a committee, and I ask for others now. No special skills are required to have your say, in what will one day be your organisation. However if you believe you have any skills that would be beneficial to the development of a Supporters Trust and are willing to lend them to the cause then that would be fantastic. If you have already expressed your interest in joining the committee, I ask that you maintain your patience with me and express it again, I have well forgotten many names of those who had. Those that wish to do so can respond in this email with their expression of interest and if applicable any skills that they think would be beneficial to the development of the Supporters Trust.

I would also like to note that if you have received this email then you are part of the Newcastle United Community Ownership Supporters Trust Database, and that you will continue to receive updates about the Trust's progress and any activities organised by the trust. If you would like to be removed from the database then please respond to the email saying such.

Please feel free to distribute this email and forward it to other people you think may be interested in the development of the Supporters Trust. At this stage word of mouth is our greatest asset to growth. If you are reading this email but have not received it directly from Powerwiththefans@gmail.com, then please feel free to send an email to that address with your details to add to the database.

Over the coming weeks I hope to provide a regular news letter which will provide further information regarding Supporters Trusts, community ownership and related information from other sources overseas and here in Australia. There will also be regular emails with updates to our own progress.

I thank you for your support and commitment to the cause. I hope that I can continue to provide hope that one day football in the hunter will be owned by those that are football in the hunter, the fans.

Thank You,

Toby Mills

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yo blackmac

i have no idea where else to put this news, thought if you hadn't seen it already you'd be interested.

http://www.football365.com/news/2155...ng-Portsmouth-

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Fans close to Portsmouth deal
Pompey Supporters' Trust has moved a step closer to buying Portsmouth after agreeing a sale with the club's administrators.

The only stumbling block to the sale appears to be over the purchase of Fratton Park after owners Portpin rejected an offer for the ground.

Trevor Birch, PFK partner and joint administrator of the club, has confirmed an application has been submitted to the court for permission to sell Fratton Park.

Portpin, the investment firm owned by former Pompey owners Balram Chainrai and Levi Kushner, has a legal charge over the ground after it was used as security for a £6m loan to the club.

Portsmouth Supporters' Trust chairman Ashley Brown told their website: "We are thrilled and proud to have signed a sale agreement with the administrator to buy and run Portsmouth Football Club.

"We hope to finalise the sale by Christmas, and go into 2013 with a fresh start for our great club. This is a special day for the thousands of Pompey fans who have stood by their club and stood up to be counted."

A statement from Birch on the official Pompey website read: "We can confirm that we have signed a sale agreement with the Pompey Supporters' Trust (PST) to acquire the business of Portsmouth Football Club.

"Portpin has rejected the Trust's offer for Fratton Park, so the sale has to be conditional on receiving the Court's permission to sell the ground. We are therefore in the process of submitting an application to the Court.

"I'm sure every member of staff, every player and every supporter will join me in wishing to see a speedy resolution to what has been a protracted administration."

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