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by I am pretty certain that most Trust members will have seen the critical article below of the trust on another website, but probably not all which is why I have copied it on to here.
One of the reasons I find this forum preferable to WACCOE is due to the lack of childish posts that just degenerate into online insults.
I suspect the poster of these comments has some previous form with the current board and his comments may not be fair or constructive, but I do think that the current board members ought to a least rationally defend themselves from some of the criticisms made in this article on the trusts forum.
‘Regular readers of this blog (all 6 of you) will be aware of the recent activities at the Leeds United Supporters Trust (LUST), where some of the strange people from WACCOE (Google “childish forum for the lonely and intellectually challenged”) have taken over the board in a negotiated coup, proclaiming a “new broom” (lets ignore the fact the new Secretary was a long standing board member, perception you know is king in these matters) and themselves as “representing all Leeds fans on what you want us to represent you on” (here forth for the benefit of this article now to be known as “The Sponges”) whilst in truth just looking to get friendly with Bates! Regular readers won’t need a nano second to work out what Clarkeonenil thinks about all this, but to be fair, it was difficult for LUST to be any less effective, on any platform or policy direction, than it was pre Spongers so the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
This blog has already commented that the Sponges were already in credibility deficit when they agreed to run with Bates agenda on who he was or wasn’t prepared to talk to. Classic inconsistency, proclaim independence from the club and then let the same club dictate the terms of engagement. Now this behaviour in itself should have been enough to send alarm bells ringing amongst anyone with a smigging of understanding of what a “Supporters Trust” is for and what levels of behaviour can be expected, but so far the Sponges have been able to assume control without the simple formalities of procedure, elections, EGM’s, AGM’s etc, mainly because the membership levels were so low. At the moment a lot of excuses about “legal stuff” is being used as a justification for delaying doing even the slightest veneer of democracy.
I do hope Supporters Direct are keeping an eye out on this.
The other aspect of the early days of this flawed coup is the drive to increase that low membership. Based on the fantasy that something other than its irrelevance was holding people back from spending the significant sum of £5, the Sponges are articulating the following sales pitch “sign up for membership and then Bates will take us seriously”. Sorry run that by me again, Bates will take seriously LUST when it’s got over 100 members despite the fact he treats the 30,000+ supporters club members with utter contempt? No Bates won’t take LUST seriously even if the membership figures were 100x present levels because he doesn’t given it to anyone! But what is worst about this is the whole idea that Bates has the right to apportion who he can take seriously.
The whole LUST strategy is predicated on a man with NO credibility proclaiming that the organisation is one he is prepared to talk to. Again it’s the concept of independence rendered impotent simply to open up some futile lines of communication.
Despite the already referenced democratic deficit the Sponges have been proclaiming there “Leeds fans for Leeds fans” credo as if it means jack. They use their own forum, and others to lay down some initial markers, full of bland statements that would shame a politician. There latest is to suggest they are about to open up a glorified consultation process by which “we” tell them what the top 3 things we would want them to say to the club. Despite the contractions involved in that let’s take that on board, I have replied via the Squareball forum version thus:
1. The honest public declaration of the beneficial owners of the club with immediate effect.
2. For the club to agree a full independent audit/inquiry into the business activities from January 05 to the present.
3. A clear undertaking by the newly identified beneficial owners, through their glorified fund manager Mr K W Bates, to sell the club to new owners, clearly identifiable and “fit and proper” who are prepared to fund the repurchase of Thorp Arch and Elland Road (without the need to bother LCC) at the earliest opportunity.
Now the irony in this is that the 3 points above should be basic to a Supporters Trust but in this case such sentiments have no place because they cut against what the core Sponges want to achieve. Already the new Chair has replied suggesting I’m being a little cynical, in short the new board of LUST isn’t interested in asking the basic questions that are of any importance to the clubs future, its more interested in asking about Chicken Balti prices. It is that, and the tendency of the new chair to repeat the mistakes of the old chair by replying to every post it deems as critical with defensive comments (or in one case just engaging in a name-calling fest, which to be fair to the Sponges they have practised well on their home forum) that show clearly the agenda of appeasement is set. No matter how many Leeds fans want an organisation that STANDS UP to Bates they are not going to get it off LUST.
The previous regime at LUST at least gave the odd acknowledgment to the concept of “supporter ownership”, the new Sponges don’t give a tick about that. All this begs a question, why call yourself a supporter’s trust? Alongside the concept of independence, trying to pretend your something your not is just cynical to the point of a disgrace. I really do hope that when the delayed EGM happens those long standing members of LUST who value both concepts grill the Sponges to the point where they realise organisations have CORE principles that can’t be wished away.
So whilst “new” LUST practices self delusion what can be done to make some real independent supporter thought and progress? Well its never easy, see http://clarkeonenil.co.uk/front-page/contributions-on-the-leeds-united-quagmire/leeds-united-throwing-tacks-into-a-wind-in-your-face for the proof of that, but don’t fully despair, if you look here http://www.loveleedshatebates.com/ on and off over the next few weeks you might find something more worthwhile and useful to Leeds supporters than soggy murky Sponges'.
One of the reasons I find this forum preferable to WACCOE is due to the lack of childish posts that just degenerate into online insults.
I suspect the poster of these comments has some previous form with the current board and his comments may not be fair or constructive, but I do think that the current board members ought to a least rationally defend themselves from some of the criticisms made in this article on the trusts forum.
‘Regular readers of this blog (all 6 of you) will be aware of the recent activities at the Leeds United Supporters Trust (LUST), where some of the strange people from WACCOE (Google “childish forum for the lonely and intellectually challenged”) have taken over the board in a negotiated coup, proclaiming a “new broom” (lets ignore the fact the new Secretary was a long standing board member, perception you know is king in these matters) and themselves as “representing all Leeds fans on what you want us to represent you on” (here forth for the benefit of this article now to be known as “The Sponges”) whilst in truth just looking to get friendly with Bates! Regular readers won’t need a nano second to work out what Clarkeonenil thinks about all this, but to be fair, it was difficult for LUST to be any less effective, on any platform or policy direction, than it was pre Spongers so the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
This blog has already commented that the Sponges were already in credibility deficit when they agreed to run with Bates agenda on who he was or wasn’t prepared to talk to. Classic inconsistency, proclaim independence from the club and then let the same club dictate the terms of engagement. Now this behaviour in itself should have been enough to send alarm bells ringing amongst anyone with a smigging of understanding of what a “Supporters Trust” is for and what levels of behaviour can be expected, but so far the Sponges have been able to assume control without the simple formalities of procedure, elections, EGM’s, AGM’s etc, mainly because the membership levels were so low. At the moment a lot of excuses about “legal stuff” is being used as a justification for delaying doing even the slightest veneer of democracy.
I do hope Supporters Direct are keeping an eye out on this.
The other aspect of the early days of this flawed coup is the drive to increase that low membership. Based on the fantasy that something other than its irrelevance was holding people back from spending the significant sum of £5, the Sponges are articulating the following sales pitch “sign up for membership and then Bates will take us seriously”. Sorry run that by me again, Bates will take seriously LUST when it’s got over 100 members despite the fact he treats the 30,000+ supporters club members with utter contempt? No Bates won’t take LUST seriously even if the membership figures were 100x present levels because he doesn’t given it to anyone! But what is worst about this is the whole idea that Bates has the right to apportion who he can take seriously.
The whole LUST strategy is predicated on a man with NO credibility proclaiming that the organisation is one he is prepared to talk to. Again it’s the concept of independence rendered impotent simply to open up some futile lines of communication.
Despite the already referenced democratic deficit the Sponges have been proclaiming there “Leeds fans for Leeds fans” credo as if it means jack. They use their own forum, and others to lay down some initial markers, full of bland statements that would shame a politician. There latest is to suggest they are about to open up a glorified consultation process by which “we” tell them what the top 3 things we would want them to say to the club. Despite the contractions involved in that let’s take that on board, I have replied via the Squareball forum version thus:
1. The honest public declaration of the beneficial owners of the club with immediate effect.
2. For the club to agree a full independent audit/inquiry into the business activities from January 05 to the present.
3. A clear undertaking by the newly identified beneficial owners, through their glorified fund manager Mr K W Bates, to sell the club to new owners, clearly identifiable and “fit and proper” who are prepared to fund the repurchase of Thorp Arch and Elland Road (without the need to bother LCC) at the earliest opportunity.
Now the irony in this is that the 3 points above should be basic to a Supporters Trust but in this case such sentiments have no place because they cut against what the core Sponges want to achieve. Already the new Chair has replied suggesting I’m being a little cynical, in short the new board of LUST isn’t interested in asking the basic questions that are of any importance to the clubs future, its more interested in asking about Chicken Balti prices. It is that, and the tendency of the new chair to repeat the mistakes of the old chair by replying to every post it deems as critical with defensive comments (or in one case just engaging in a name-calling fest, which to be fair to the Sponges they have practised well on their home forum) that show clearly the agenda of appeasement is set. No matter how many Leeds fans want an organisation that STANDS UP to Bates they are not going to get it off LUST.
The previous regime at LUST at least gave the odd acknowledgment to the concept of “supporter ownership”, the new Sponges don’t give a tick about that. All this begs a question, why call yourself a supporter’s trust? Alongside the concept of independence, trying to pretend your something your not is just cynical to the point of a disgrace. I really do hope that when the delayed EGM happens those long standing members of LUST who value both concepts grill the Sponges to the point where they realise organisations have CORE principles that can’t be wished away.
So whilst “new” LUST practices self delusion what can be done to make some real independent supporter thought and progress? Well its never easy, see http://clarkeonenil.co.uk/front-page/contributions-on-the-leeds-united-quagmire/leeds-united-throwing-tacks-into-a-wind-in-your-face for the proof of that, but don’t fully despair, if you look here http://www.loveleedshatebates.com/ on and off over the next few weeks you might find something more worthwhile and useful to Leeds supporters than soggy murky Sponges'.
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