The Sky Blue Trust... (1 Viewer)

[jimmyhillsfanclub]

...Genuine question...I've seen a few mentions of the SBT in recent posts but.....

What do they actually do?

How many members have they got?

What have they actually achieved since forming?


I have browsed their website, looked through their meeting minutes, read the blurb....

....I'm none the wiser.....

 

[WillenhallSkyBlues]

They are nobody's who do nothing but crave abut of attention for being cove most nauseatingly annoying fans, don't think they plan on doing anything either

 

[psgm1]

Its that bloke Jan's little lot. They couldn't arrange a boycott against the most hated owners in Cov's history, but expect fans to cough up £1k a piece to buy the club!

They seem to think its easily achievable to get 5000 fans to cough up £1k a piece to buy the club!

Basically CWR and Telegraph cannot be bothered to get real fan's reactions, so go to this guy whenever they want "fans" reaction.

Pathetic really

 

[Steve.B50]

Do not want to start another slanging row but the Sky Blue Trust is a group pf over 700 members who are genuinely trying to get organised so that when or if anything happens they have some sort of plan.

Firstly, psgm1 where have you got that information from? Also what are you doing to try and save the club?
leicesterarenotourrivels; Why not actually get to a meeting and put your ideas forward?

No idea if they will ever solve our situation but at least some people are trying to do something rather than just knock others for trying.
Rangers trust was set up to late to save there club, same as Darlington and Rushdon and Dimonds
Swansea Trust own 20% of there club, other trusts own all or part of clubs, Portsmouth will go out of business if there trust cannot save them.
"!Pathetic really" ? Whats your solution?

 

[Nick]

What has been achieved so far? At what stage is everything at?

 

[SkyBluegilby]

Everyone happy to sit at their keyboard and moan about them. Are you all members I take it? Do you attend the events they organise?

They are people who have jobs/families etc yet take time out of their own lives to try and sort stuff out!!!!! and then get to see people on a COV board slagging them off?????

What a joke!

 

[gary_ccfcforever]

for the record... we are currently in the process of building the trust back up, it was dormant for over 2 years and all the old members had lapsed. We've gone from 4 board members and a few life members to 700 members and a board of 11 with differing skillsets. We've worked tirelessly in the city centre over several weekends increasing membership because without a significant number of members we wouldn't have the power to act.

Since then we have several people working away in the background attempting to put the ground work in place for if or when the 'shit hits the fan' which lets be honest could be anytime. You are all entitled to whatever opionion you decide to take, but i for one have put hours of my personal time into building up the trust memebership and several people i know are working tirelessly.

We have a meeting in the casino (lady gs) before the pompey game... 3 members of the pompey trust are coming down to talk to us about how they have put their bid together and Ben Shave from supporters direct will be joining us and you can ask him anything you like about how trusts can and have saved their football club.

Will we be able to do something similar? i really dont know it depends on if we can bring together high net worth people from around the city like Pompey have done, but i'd rather at least try because life under sisu is grim and likely to get grimmer.

If you feel you can offer something or disagree why dont you get involved? its not an exclusive club its just a group of people who want to see CCFC a) Survive and b) prosper rather than this slow lingering death at present.

 

[gary_ccfcforever]

oh and it was the old skyblue trust that raised 70k to save the CCFC academy remember and where would we be now without that?

 

[Nick]

The only thing that puts me off is how the SBT tend to talk on behalf of the fans.

 

[WillenhallSkyBlues]

Stick to watching football and leave the proper stuff to the proper people, if your so bothered about getting involved in some club then start a Sunday league team

 

[WillenhallSkyBlues]

The SBT are nothing but laughed about at games/pubs/train journeys to away games, at the minute it sounds like they've done nothing but take £1 off 700 people

 

[wingy]

Stick to watching football and leave the proper stuff to the proper people, if your so bothered about getting involved in some club then start a Sunday league team

I Know My Place............SISU proper get real !!

 

[Steve.B50]

leicesterarenotourrivals.
Sean, you have no idea about away travel, trains or pubs, you should be at school at this tiome of the day. If you dont like what the Trust is doing, stop knocking others when your doing nothing yourself.

 

[Nick]

Does the trust have any links with the club currently?

 

[wingy]

The SBT are nothing but laughed about at games/pubs/train journeys to away games, at the minute it sounds like they've done nothing but take £1 off 700 people

I think you're confusing other fans opinions on CCFC.imp:

 

[Nick]

The thing is when people don't agree all they get is "Well what are you doing to help save the club?". Why not ask why people think it is a joke or why people think it is pointless rather than the "we are better than you are as we are helping and you aren't" stuff?

What has the sky blues trust done so far to help the club?

 

[Block19]

700 hundred members seems quite a few as the trust is only in the early days. The problem is as Coventry supporters we are all divided as soon as someone try's something they get slagged off for being a publicity hungry and the rest are keyboard warriors. Until we all unite and show SISU the trust is something had has a bit of power among the fans this club will be asset stripped by SISU trying to claw someone money back. Personally I think we should look at teams like FC of Manchester and Wimbledon whose fans have set up real football clubs and moved on and upwards. We have 2 options sit back and watch the club die and settle for years in div 2 or non league (if you don't think that's possible see Luton ad an example, I think the clubs going the same way as Luton at the moment) or try and do something and give a big finger up to SISU.

 

[Nick]

Does the trust have any power though?

 

[SkyBluegilby]

Nick,

Its the age old question - what came first, the chicken or the egg?

Power comes by having a voice. For the SBT to reach potential it needs members to make that voice louder.

It has 700 members which is no mean feat, the larger it grows the more funding/voice it will have.

For people asking what it does, it as already arranged meetings with Pompeys trust to look at how it can emulate what they have achieved and look at their model.

Only costs a £1 and for those saying it does nothing you will get the opportunity to input into what you want doing.

 

[Nick]

What's the quid for?

So they have had meetings with Portsmouth's trust?

Do they not have any plans to liaise with the club and help fans out? Do they arrange discounts on tickets and special offers? Do they try to make the matchday experiences better?

(They may well do, I am just asking the question)

From reason on here and other websites people are saying to join up just in case something happens to the club and saying how fans own some of swansea and that pompey's fans are trying to buy them out? What about if I am just a fan who wants a better matchday experience and don't want to get involved with all the politics and heirachys of fans groups?

 

[SkyBluegilby]

I am a member not on the board so I cant comment on everything that they are doing - you have just completely ignored what I have said IE members means a louder voice though.

How do you expect them to offer discounts on tickets? etc... I know they offer a discounted coach to away games.

I would imagine the £1 is to help market what they are trying to achieve but to be honest Its one pound Nick, they could give it to a tramp if they wanted for all I care.

 

[Nick]

No I understand that with more members there will be more power, I am not sure how I ignored that? Will it get to the point where SISU will be scared of them? The SISU who are playing hard ball with the council? I doubt it.

I don't expect them to offer discounts but as you say a fans group surely they can speak to the club and work with the club with what the fans want?

 

[Steve.B50]

It was the Trust who saved the Academy, It was the Trust who set up the SCG, Its the Trust who have contacted other Trusts, organises low cost away travel, Legal Advice and financial people.

 

[hill83]

I'm a member, but all I've done is pay my pound and thought nothing more of it.

No need to slag it off though really is there.

 

[SkyBluegilby]

I don't think you can answer that question Nick until it gets to a level of where it needs to be. In time what you have suggested may happen but it needs members to do so. I don't want to be involved in the politics of running a football club but for the sake of a £1 when they do make contact with the club they have 701 members instead of 700. If another 1000 people thought like that it snowballs on and on etc.

I know a couple of lads took an afternoon out to stand in the pissing rain all day at Godiva to promote interest, can you imagine what they think coming on here and seeing people slating their efforts?

 

[We'll_live_and_die]

So what seems to be the answer to the question....What do the SBT do?

Well the 11 board members meet up with some guys from the Pompey trust that are up here for the game and they organise a cheaper bus to away games.

Your Pound goes in a pot so that the cheap buses can be paid for in advance and is then replenished when you pay for the coach.

Considering the club could go to the wall at anytime (people are suggesting) the trust seem to lack urgency, even cancelling the last monthly meeting.

Oh and they meet up once a month to get pissed (if they don't cancel it).

 

[Nick]

See, this is the things you should be advertising more. The trust saved the Academy, I had no idea about that until this thread so why not say "this is one of the things we have done" and make it more well known.

What is the legal advice and financial stuff for? Does the average fan worry / care about that?

Yes, it is good that things are being prepared just in case, but it just needs to appeal to a wider audience rather than the protester types surely?

I am not slagging anybody off, just trying to give a bit of input!

In terms of promotion, how many members are there on here? I did offer to help out by sending out an email / creating a sky blues trust section to help publicise it but nobody was really interested.....

 

[hill83]

In my opinion, the huge amount of cynicism and negativity in and around this city, be that football or the population in general, will be the downfall of things like the SBT and eventually the club.

It's a shame, but even this thread shows what the majority of people are like. I appreciate I'm also being negative now before anyone jumps on it.

 

[covcity4life]

I'm a member, but all I've done is pay my pound and thought nothing more of it.

No need to slag it off though really is there.

your such a good fan

 

[hill83]

your such a good fan

It's about time you decided if you want to be taken seriously on here with your 'football knowledge' or want to be a WUM.

 

[TurkeyTrot]

JimmyHillsFanClub

"...Genuine question...I've seen a few mentions of the SBT in recent posts but.....

What do they actually do?

How many members have they got?

What have they actually achieved since forming?"

Have all your "genuine" questions been answered?

 

[ashbyjan]

Nick to answer your question about contact with the club then yes we have an ongoing dialogue with the club both directly with the powers that be and via the Supporters Consultative Group. The Trust basically has two aims one as already stated is having stuff in place should the brown stuff hit the fan and these plans are coming together but as I am sure you can imagine it takes time to try and unravel the web of financial intrigue that our owners have woven, as well as all the legal aspects of administration, the rules of the Football League etc. What we want is that if and when the worst happens (and lets all hope it doesn't come to it as it won't be pretty) then we have all the facts, contacts and a game plan for how to try and save the club. Secondly we never claim to represent all fans but our members only, obviously the thoughts, concerns etc of Trust members are not going to be much different from non members so when we speak to the club they know our membership represents a significant percentage of home support but the more members we have the bigger cross section of opinion we can gather and more clearly represent the overall views of more fans - the more members the more seriously the club has to take our collective views. Like any organisation there will always be a range of opinions about subjects but we try and be as democratic as possible and speak with one voice.

The Trust is simply a group of like minded fans who are prepared to stick their heads above the parapet and try and improve things by talking to the club, council and a variety of other organisations. We welcome constructive input and opinion from members and non members - why are you a non member? what would you want the Trust to be doing? what would convince you to join and become involved?

 

[lordsummerisle]

I know a couple of lads took an afternoon out to stand in the pissing rain all day at Godiva to promote interest, can you imagine what they think coming on here and seeing people slating their efforts?

Godiva was called off wasn't it?

 

[ashbyjan]

Yes LordS it was but rather than give up their plans because of the cancellation and the torrid weather the lads in question took their recruitment efforts directly to the City centre and continued to try and get new members and succeeded in signing up a significant number of members.

 

[Snozzer]

I gave my quid quite happily but haven't heard a thing since. Its all a bit disheartening to be honest.