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

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