Ask Neil (6 Viewers)

To be fair when want something off amazon I pop to the amazon warehouse and shout what I want to order at the side of the building. They know it’s a real order then.

Grendel said:

You might be more liked as you’ve got a real name and photo - but you could of course be lots of the other people as well

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YES!

That fact he thinks only thins 6-10 people disagree with the trust speaks volume to me.

I don't understand why the Trust are always last to react to a statement. When they do react it generally fits in with he Anti Sisu message that have come out via wasps or CCC. I like many others would like to see the trust protest and criticise all parties.

Re Facebook group, Been a lot of Anti trust,waspa and council stuff on there. I assume the fake twitter mob don't read that part. There may be 16k members but only around 200 max actively engage on posts.

Nick said:

No he said it about online / here in general so I asked him about OSB specifically as well as the fundraiser done by people on here....

Apparently if you aren't using your full name you have no credibility, yet he doesn't seem to know some of the basics that have gone on but has his full name?

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Isn’t he “EveryFilmNeil”?

Nick said:

It was more because it was online, he has also tried to discredit based on Twitter followers.

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basically he's trying to dismiss anyone who doesn't go along with the trusts narrative by the sound of it.
In which case why is he wasting peoples time making out he want to hear everyone's views and he is trying to unite the fanbase. Just tell everyone its business as usual.

JimmyHillsbeard said:

Isn’t he “EveryFilmNeil”?

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Hey you have lots of followers and use your own name, so begone with you

jordan210 said:

That fact he thinks only thins 6-10 people disagree with the trust speaks volume to me.

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I just think it needs a reality check and a little bit of market research. When Knowl from gmk did a poll and it showed out of 556 people, 86% didn't feel represented the first response was to try and make a smart comment about Les Reid.

At any point has anybody said.

"Why don't people feel represented by the Trust?"
"What would we need to do for people to feel represented?"
"What could we improve on to build relationships again?"

The irony is that because a few blokes in a pub agree it means everybody must do.

What he needs to be made to realise will never happen unless he motions it. I'd love the trust to represent me, but sadly it doesn't and polarises most of my views.

The trust under its current format doesn't represent anything like the number of fans that it purports to and as such won't have the respect from those people either. I'm not suggesting it disbands or reinvents itself, but they simply need to charge annual rather than lifetime membership.

That offers a number of things. Firstly it raises revenue that could help the club (something the current regime don't seem interested in). Secondly it tells them who is and isn't in support of what they're aiming to achieve and if the numbers don't stack up, they have the data that allows them the ability to evolve. Thirdly and more importantly it allows the club to see those numbers and give weight to any arguments they put forward as a representation of the fan base.

I'm currently a member as I'm sure most of you are too. I post on here. I attend L&W meetings. Do any of those represent my voice? Absolutely not and if you had a poll on any of the sites they would always be skewed as would Twitter where I am active and Facebook where I'm not. It should be about finding ground based on representing the large portion of their members and fan-base, but for the past number of years have only used it as a vehicle to promote their own tunnel-vision agendas and that's why they have zero credibility.

L&W hold far more voice in the club and yet promote no political agenda nor ever try to represent fans, that isn't the aim, but they sponsor games, back the team and even present a PotS award on awards night. The difference being it's about the club we have rather than waiting to surface if and when a takeover happens and then try to claim some part of the success. This can only be for personal gain and massaging their own egos and to appear as an important voice within the club. Where are yo when we need you most? What are you doing to help bring us home? What are your main objectives as a Trust? What are you doing to help the team and manager?

"Why don't people feel represented by the Trust?"
"What would we need to do for people to feel represented?"
"What could we improve on to build relationships again?"

All valid questions Nick that the Board need to consider

oldskyblue58 said:

"Why don't people feel represented by the Trust?"
"What would we need to do for people to feel represented?"
"What could we improve on to build relationships again?"

All valid questions Nick that the Board need to consider

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Also maybe reach out to the other fans groups, obviously Leamington, Bedworth etc aren't about the politics but there's no reason they shouldn't be able to work together on things.

After David Johnson was trying to make out they backed the court cases and were SISU lovers and all that nonsense there could probably be a bit of bridge building there too.

It's well and good the Trust and Neil saying they want to bring fans together, they seem to be sat on the outside by trying to discredit those groups and refusing to mention things like the season ticket fund which do bring fans together.

Nick said:

No he said it about online / here in general so I asked him about OSB specifically as well as the fundraiser done by people on here....

Apparently if you aren't using your full name you have no credibility, yet he doesn't seem to know some of the basics that have gone on but has his full name?

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On this basis, I say take away all Brazilian World Cup wins

Thanks for doing this Grendel.

Number one priority for me for the new Trust has to gaining the capacity to be truly representative. People who are more expert than I will know the best ways of doing this but maybe refreshing membership and getting clear one person one membership contact details for voting, having a survey, doing polls on key questions, holding regular well-run meetings i.e agenda published in advance, opportunity for members to submit motions for approval, published minutes and being visible e.g having members available for discussion at matches etc.

Number 2 would be having a clear basic position on where we are and a narrative to explain that. For example every party is equally to blame, the Trust will not side with any party unless that stance is approved by the whole membership, what our objective is - back at the Ricoh under rental or shared ownership etc.

Third thing is that the Trust needs to really connect with fans, all fans. They need to inspire us all to play a part in getting out of this mess. It’s not impossible - small example but I wasn’t sure about getting a season ticket at SA but was encouraged to do that by the debate and positivity on here. The Trust should have been encouraging people to do the same and helping make it possible - such as work with places like Dhillons on their transport options. And above all else MMJ,s fundraising showed what a bit of leadership, clarity of purpose, and shared objectives can do

I don’t get the impartial crap, they’re the Coventry City Trust! If anything everything should be biased towards the club

HuckerbyDublinWhelan said:

I don’t get the impartial crap, they’re the Coventry City Trust! If anything everything should be biased towards the club

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There's no reason they can't be biased towards CCFC, that doesn't mean biased to SISU.

HuckerbyDublinWhelan said:

I don’t get the impartial crap, they’re the Coventry City Trust! If anything everything should be biased towards the club

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If I remember correctly wasn’t it essentially rebooted a few years back as purely part of a SISU out campaign. I remember signing up in town just round the corner from the litten tree. That’s still what it is at it’s core to the detriment of everything else. CCFC included.

Grendel said:

Orca as you’ve logged into the forum why don’t you find how many members are here yourself and then argue theme case Facebook site has 16,000 (30% more than watched the club last year)

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7,500 - but it's not a competition. Both deserve representation.

Grendel said:

These are the key elements and crucially the method the trust goes about to understand and address

I’ve no knowledge on trusts and how popular they are but there should I would have thought be greater alignment and interest in it.

The alienation of the club is an issue. I have suggested they invite Robins to a meeting - it would increase numbers. The issue is the trust board have at least one who called him a sisu puppet

Given Neil has media and PR experience he could facilitate a q and a with Robins

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Robins the SISU mouthpiece? That's the issue, the Trust and people around it have alienated themselves with stupid shit like that while the 4 or 5 old boys like Lionel Bird pat them on the back.

They genuinely don't seem to understand the reaction that people like David Johnson got so just say it's 6 people rather than trying to figure out why that reaction happens.

Currently 51 members online, plus 166 viewing who aren't logged in (unique IPs). Most members logged in at one time on the current version of the forum is just short of 1,000.

Grendel said:

These are the key elements and crucially the method the trust goes about to understand and address

I’ve no knowledge on trusts and how popular they are but there should I would have thought be greater alignment and interest in it.

The alienation of the club is an issue. I have suggested they invite Robins to a meeting - it would increase numbers. The issue is the trust board have at least one who called him a sisu puppet

Given Neil has media and PR experience he could facilitate a q and a with Robins

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It's a great point. The players and staff have shown they are more than willing to turn up to fan groups to support them. Not sure why the Trust aren't doing this too.

HuckerbyDublinWhelan said:

I don’t get the impartial crap, they’re the Coventry City Trust! If anything everything should be biased towards the club

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That does mean holding the club to account however.

Grendel said:

Given Neil has media and PR experience

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I had / have high hopes because of this that he'd improve things. It's off to something of a rocky start however!

Deleted member 5849 said:

I had / have high hopes because of this that he'd improve things. It's off to something of a rocky start however!

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A predictable one.

Deleted member 5849 said:

That does mean holding the club to account however.

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Yes, but the point I’m trying to make is that they never back the club. They should lean towards them.

Wasps evict us “understand wasps” is what they say - what it should be is - “why have you evicted us? What are your terms?”

Not bloody applauding them for doing so

There should be some targeting of the City of Culture. It should be made clear that as one of the Coventry's biggest cultural assets, it is untenable for the football club to be playing outside of the city during this year. Threatening protests at planned events leading up to the City of culture year should start to focus minds.

SonofErnie said:

There should be some targeting of the City of Culture. It should be made clear that as one of the Coventry's biggest cultural assets, it is untenable for the football club to be playing outside of the city during this year. Threatening protests at planned events leading up to the City of culture year should start to focus minds.

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That was raised on here when CJ asked.

It was also raised about making a point about the local economy and what it stands to lose out without CCFC here. There will be plenty of businesses who will suffer, can canvas them for their views and what they stand to lose.

The view of our Twitter fan base can be seen in the attached thread. If someone could ask a similar question on the Facebook forum, then surely it cannot be dismissed as 6-10 people?

HuckerbyDublinWhelan said:

Yes, but the point I’m trying to make is that they never back the club. They should lean towards them.

Wasps evict us “understand wasps” is what they say - what it should be is - “why have you evicted us? What are your terms?”

Not bloody applauding them for doing so

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This is where getting cosy with other parties clouds judgement.

ccfchoi87 said:

The view of our Twitter fan base can be seen in the attached thread. If someone could ask a similar question on the Facebook forum, then surely it cannot be dismissed as 6-10 people?

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When that was raised it got a strange response to do with Les Reid to insinuate that people who disagree must be him.

I think it needs to re-define its aims and objectives:

The Trust’s Aims are to:
1. To build and maintain membership of the Trust;
2. To secure supporter involvement in the ownership and management of the club;
3. To advocate financial stability for CCFC, with a business model based on avoiding unsustainable debt, and profits being reinvested directly in the Club;
4. To have City fans recognised as the lifeblood of the Club and at the heart of everything CCFC does.

1 - Pointless aim (inwardly looking and great at day 1)
2. Why needed and why should we have, what do we bring to the party?
3. Owned by a fund - pointless and non achievable so don't set an aim/objective that is not achievable.
4. How do you define recognised - eyes of the beholder

I think it needs refresh and has to be based on working with the club on communication, also on still holding all 3 parties to account on finding a solution that sees a football club play its sport in its home town and what they are all actively doing to achieve this.

Nick said:

This is where getting cosy with other parties clouds judgement.

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Clouds judgement if getting cosy with the club too. Supporting the club is to ensure that the governance of the club is not accepted without question.

Deleted member 5849 said:

Clouds judgement if getting cosy with the club too. Supporting the club is to ensure that the governance of the club is not accepted without question.

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It depends really on what defines cosy with the club.

Decisions from both the club and SISU can still be held to account while having a good relationship if it's done properly. Mouthing off about Mark Robins being a SISU Mouthpiece after writing an essay about why the council are blameless that was checked over by an Ex Council Leader is hardly the way to go about it.