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County Board / Coop Meeting Report

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Report of Meeting of Stockport County Board and the Stockport County Supporters` Co-operative Board

3 March 2016

Present:
Club Board: Steve Bellis, Gary Burton
Co-op Board: Pete Towey,Dave Marchbank, Ian Brown, Caroline Burt, Paul Charnock,


Issues raised by the Co-op Board

Debt
There is a 1.16m debt that features in the 2014 accounts of Stockport Community Leisure, and the Board asked whether this was additional to, or inclusive of, the debt we have previously been made aware of.

SB stressed that this was not an additional debt.

What is the state of play with the 5 year plan?
The 5 year plan was due at the end of January but due to all the changes at the club, this has now been pushed back. Ideally it would be released before the end of the month.

One of the reasons for the delay is that the plan will also include details from the footballing side. This will include the Development Squad which Jim Gannon is keen to see develop.

The Co-op Board will see the plan before it is released publicly.

The Co-op Board suggested the launch of the plan should coincide with a Fans Forum. SB agreed, adding that the plan could be released the week before a Forum to give people chance to read it first.

Stewarding
Coop Board advised that the long awaited meeting of the Co-op Board and Gordon Taylor had finally taken place, and the following summarises same?.

One of the main concerns is the segregation of fans at away grounds. Fans were being told that this was being done on the advice of someone at Stockport County. GT said that he doesn`t contact the host clubs, they tend to phone him and ask his advice. GT says that he leaves any decision to them whilst outlining how he deals with the situation at EP.

The issue of stewarding at home games was raised, specifically the Nuneaton game where stewards were brought in from Oldham who had been overly aggressive. GT had promised to look into this.

GB explained the frustration involved with stewarding games at Edgeley Park due to the influence of the Police and the Council. Every home game should have 57 stewards, but the Club have got this down to 48/49 and are hoping to reduce this further.

It was suggested that some Co-op Board members sit in on a meeting of the Safety Advisory Group to understand the issues.

Catering
The sought after meeting had not yet taken place, but SB explained that Matthew Barlow was desperate for the meeting to happen. He was absolutely the man to see to get things done, but had been extremely busy of late. The meeting would go ahead as soon as possible.

GB said that the Club were aware of the issues on match day. Takings however, were up over recent times increasing the Clubs income accordingly.

SB confirmed that at Fleetwood he spoke to one of the Club Officials and we are making more money from the catering than they are and they have all theirs in house.

Lottery
The meeting with John Giles of the Co-op Board and Tom Quayle and Chris Davies from the Gold Bond Lottery has now taken place and the Co-op could now be lottery agents receiving 15% commission on every member we sign up.

In an aside, GB advised that the Club were on track for the previously forecast £90k loss situation this season and should break even next year which would make the club a much more attractive proposition for investors.

11-a-side Tournament at Edgeley Park
The Co-op expressed their disappointment and not being able to hold an 11 a side tournament at Edgeley Park during the close season, and more importantly, at the reason given that the Club were “unimpressed by some of last year`s hirers who left us with a mess to clear up at significant expense.”

After the efforts the Co-op, specifically John Giles, went to before and after the Half Marathon to clear up, it was felt that this response was unfair.

SB stressed that this was just an example and wasn`t aimed at the Co-op, who he confirmed did an outstanding clean up job after the 2015 Hatters Half Marathon..

GB explained that the Stockport FA wanted to play some of their cup finals on EP, plus it would be good for the Stockport County Ladies to have a match on there, and he felt that playing on the Edgeley Park pitch should be kept exclusive to make it worth the money from the big sponsors who will pay to play.

Hatters Half Marathon 2016
The Coop Board confirmed that the Half Marathon had been given the go ahead and was open for entries.

SB promised that the Club would support the event in the same way as last year, including the vouchers for a match day ticket aS the take up response was really good last time.

A meeting with Joma was suggested to see if they could help out and have a pop up shop on the day.

Grants
The Coop Board reported that they had recently met with Louise Sutherland from the Heritage Lottery Fund regarding the sorts of grants that would be available to the Co-op.

As a result, a working party has been set up and have decided that a County museum somewhere at the football club would be a good first project.

Once a small grant has been applied for, received, and put to good use, it will put the Co-op in a position to be able to apply for larger amounts in the future.

SB & GB fully supported this and suggested the ground floor bar in the Main Stand.

Beer Festival
The Coop Board confirmed that this was going ahead on the Thursday night 2 June and that the Coop would be selling tickets, all the proceeds of which will support the Guardian Account..

The Stockport County Supporters` Co-operative would like to thank Steve Bellis and Gary Burton for their time.

[Ian Brown]

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1 comment

  • cropped says:

    Cannot see if we are going to be a 100% fan-owned club how the debts will be cleared. Just can’t see our creditors just writing off their debts. Fingers crossed though.

    Catering at EP is very, very disappointing. No way I would by any of the fare on offer – either ridiculously over-priced, poor quality or both!

    Can’t we take catering back – local produce. Lords of the pies…. local real ales?

    At least club abd co-op are talking. Stronger together folks!

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