Given that the new Board of the Trust wants to be more inclusive and to be a vehicle for all Leeds fans, would it not make sense for internet based discussions about the future of the trust to take place here on the Trust's own (and may I add rather good) message board. At the moment this message board is clearly secondary to the WACCOE message board and could be counter productive in terms of attracting people to the trust form aother areas. (The general attitude of some WACCOE members will definately be off putting to women, members of any minority including gay men and women, travellers and anyone who thinks that there are more words in the English language than the f, c and p words)

Why not change the sticky about the trust on WACCOE so that it links straight here and ask all the other message boards etc.. to do the same? Non members can read the posts here so that's no problem and if they want to join in the discussion let them join the trust first. Membership would increase if people are really interested and the idiots sniping on the touchlines would have to put their money where there mouth is.

I object to paying to join the trust and seeing it being discussed and possibly directed by those who can't be bothered to join. I also object to some of the more baser elements on message boards like WACCOOE, mainly because I can see their ill thought out rants tainting the Trust. There is always a time and a place for such things but not when you are trying to build a credible broad based supporters organisation.

Perhaps a statement about what the Trust is attempting to achieve at the earliest opportunity would help clarify things. Especially in terms of the Trust's relationship to the WACCOE message board. Whoever is moderating this message board must do this on a regular basis, not only answering questions but also responding and leading debate. That leadership would surely be the best tool to build the Trust at this stage in its rebirth.

I am trying to be positive here and offering a view from another angle (yes I know there are often many sides to a story and in the case of the Leeds United Supporter's Trust I'd say somewhere in the region of about 200 sides :-)

Should I start a Facebook group for LUST. Should I also join BBC 606 under the name LUST to attract new members.

all very valid and reasonable comments swinnow and discussions regarding the trust and its agenda, led on this forum, is something we will be positively encouraging in the near future and you are right to point out this is the place wehre such discussions should and could be best managed to ensure they are constructive, positive and that aims and objectives can be identified and set based on the independent principle which seemed to be so very important to the majority of fans.

please remain positive and allow the new board a chance to find its feet and get organised in what are very new settings for us. we come into this with open minds and a huge desire to achieve and build on the Trust's successes to date.

many thanks.

swinnow wrote:Given that the new Board of the Trust wants to be more inclusive and to be a vehicle for all Leeds fans, would it not make sense for internet based discussions about the future of the trust to take place here on the Trust's own (and may I add rather good) message board. -)

thanks very much

LUFC DAVE wrote:

swinnow wrote:Given that the new Board of the Trust wants to be more inclusive and to be a vehicle for all Leeds fans, would it not make sense for internet based discussions about the future of the trust to take place here on the Trust's own (and may I add rather good) message board. -)

thanks very much

I think he was meaning since I became Admin.

Lee D'su wrote:

LUFC DAVE wrote:

swinnow wrote:Given that the new Board of the Trust wants to be more inclusive and to be a vehicle for all Leeds fans, would it not make sense for internet based discussions about the future of the trust to take place here on the Trust's own (and may I add rather good) message board. -)

thanks very much

I think he was meaning since I became Admin.

Lee D'su wrote:Should I start a Face Book group for LUST. Should I also join BBC 606 under the name LUST to attract new members.

Funnily enough a Face Book group was going to be one of my suggestions as many people read Face Book whilst on the move, so to speak, so it would be a good way of making announcements which had immediacy. I certainly use it for announcements for organisational stuff. It also extends the idea of inclusivity for the new Trust Board. As far as BBC 606 is concerned I readily admit I don't know. What have other Trusts done? Maybe SD have some best practice in this area as there's no pint in reinventing the wheel.

Dave Boyle of SD is one of my friends on Face Book so I reckon they must be up to speed on these things. Then of course there is the Supporters Direct Yahoo Group - who is the dedicated LUST Board member on that group, which is regularly used for important information sharing amongst Trusts.

One of the founding tenets of the Trust Movement was for individual Trusts wherever possible to act as "umberellas" for supporters groups. Where this falls down is usually where individual groups fail to see the benefit of co-operation or where common threads have not been identified. To really make the Trust representative and thus effective I think using an umberella approach to recruitment is the way forward. Membership of the Trust should be seen as complimentary to membership of any other fans or affected organisation, complimentary to being a member of a message board, email group or website.

The nature of Trusts, their legal framework etc is intrinsically designed to be such a vehicle. mainly because they were always seen as being a way of supporters taking a meaningful, active part in the running of their clubs. The main thing that IPS status brings to Trusts should be credibility and this is normally displayed in the mature approach that they take as a result of that IPS status.

Although the whole concept of a Trust can seem complex and time consuming, it's just a vehicle and in the best cases a vehicle for positive change. If all the Trust ever did was bring a large cross section of supporters together and agreed a concensus it would have done something which in most football clubs never ever normally occurs. (Imagine a concensus on whether or not a Season Ticket Price is a good thing and what you wanted to do about it).

If you really want to see good communication with supporters in action by a Trust (and one which owns its team) you just have to look at FCUM the Manchester Trust team. Although it sticks in the craw, the people from the wrong side of the hill have done a cracking job on that front. Emails, text messages, news letters, meetings and endless things to make people feel included (unlike at a certain football club in Manchester from which they were spawned) and all this on top of making sure that the Trust operates according to its own rules.

Perhaps the rule of thumb at this stage should be "Let's not waste time reinventing the wheel" and use the best practice of other Trusts however difficult that may be in terms of allegiances. The Trust movement tends to break down some of these barriers fortunately which can only be a good thing.

yes it certainly is, we have a membership secretary putting togther a membership team and a recruitment strategy as we speak.

As regards the facebook strategy and other social media communications, I am currently creating the action plan for this. There will be lots of different things going on online but they all need to form part of a larger strategy. The facebook page is set up and ready to go but we are currently putting together the finishing touches on the overall plan and then we can make a move!

placidcasual wrote:I'm sorry for being slightly sceptical but why would you need an action plan to set up facebook, twitter, myspace, bebo etc?

coordination is key i think.

we could set up lots of things on lots of sites immediately, but we are still yet to have full access to such things as the accounts (audit yet to be completed) the membership data base, bank accounts, membership subscription adminsitration and so on, we need to ensure we can walk before we try to run. we need to make sure we can give full and considered attention to all aspects of the Trust and were not in position to do that yet.

our actions are formulatted and planned, preparation ensures we make the best use of the best people and achieve the maximum potential, that means a coordinated approach and strategy is essential.

we want to get this right and spend our time ensuring we do so, not apologising for being rash and unprepared

Billyisgod wrote:

placidcasual wrote:I'm sorry for being slightly sceptical but why would you need an action plan to set up facebook, twitter, myspace, bebo etc?

coordination is key i think.

we could set up lots of things on lots of sites immediately, but we are still yet to have full access to such things as the accounts (audit yet to be completed) the membership data base, bank accounts, membership subscription adminsitration and so on, we need to ensure we can walk before we try to run. we need to make sure we can give full and considered attention to all aspects of the Trust and were not in position to do that yet.

The Treasurer (Malcolm) has remained on the Trust Board, just as has the previous Treasurer - Gary, and so access to both the accounts and bank account has continuously been fully available to the reorganised Trust Board. True, the accounts to 2009 are being audited at this time but there should be no more than minor adjustments - if any - from the draft accounts which are available to the board members right now. All Previous accounts are available (to everyone) and are a matter of public record.

It was agreed quite some time ago that the use of the name LUST was to be avoided wherever practicable. For this reason if any facilities are being set up then something like The Leeds Trust or Trust at Leeds would be preferable as a name. The correct name of the organisation is in fact The Leeds United Supporters Society. You will notice that the name of this forum has avoided the U of United for this reason.

And of course telling us in a reply to a question that you are formulating a strategy for membership suggests an unfortunate but probably unintentional element of presumption. Rather than waiting to be asked what you are doing you should be laying your plans out in front of the membership.

Tell the membership:

1. Exactly who the new board members are, remember the trust membership did NOT elect you so we have not seen the CVs that we would have had at a properly organised AGM or EGM. What experience have the new board members got of running member led organisations? Any Registered Charity, Trade Union or Community Group experience? Any organisational experience at a mangeriual level in commerce or industry? Any previous history of running an IPS or co-operative organisation?

2. Tell members exactly who is responsible for which part of the board's activities and what qualities they bring to that activity: Secretariat, Membership, Finance, Communications, Liaison with Supporters Direct, the club and the other supporters groups. (Done correctly this will give members some reassurance that the organisation is in good hands.)

3. Give members a timetable for your plans so if you don't expect to run a membership campaign until December they can bear with you.

4. How you intend to get a grip of the website immediately as it your prime point of contact. Make sure that there are proper contact details there for each Trust function as outlined above in 2.

5. Tell members who your liaison contact with Supporters Direct is (again it's reassuring)

6. Explain how you intend to liaise with the important bodies in the city - the local councillors, the council officers, MPs and of course the community (one of the key aims of the Trust movement).

A quality Trust relies on its officers to be open and accountable and for its functions to be well defined. Having said that the basics of running any organisation should be fairly obvious and if they are not then that is what Supporters Direct is there to help you get right. You have to anticipate the questions, hopes and fears of both members and those who have a stakeholding in the Trust. Do that and half the job is done :-)

Steve from Swinnow in Bramley.