morning all

to keep you all up to speed with whats happening the new logo (Greeg's design) and website including the social networking sites should be up and running imminently, Lee has been away on business in the far east and so we are a little behind schedule with the launch and rebrand but much better late than never and we cant hold it against the fella just because he's busy (swanning round exotic places enjoying the weather and the luxury, leaving us here in the freezing bloody cold waiting on him, bloody media and marketing bods )

the leeds legacy bid is now complete and has been submitted to the cooperative society for consideration, as discussed we are looking to fund a number of tickets for each home game next season for kids from the local community who are perhaps less priviledged or likely to be able to attend games than most due to social/medical or other reasons and should we be succesfull in our bid we will be working with partner agencies such as barnardo's, the PCT and local schools amongst others to identify deserving candidates. i have to say many thanks to aiden who has put in a lot of hours to ensure the bid was presented in an appropriate formatt and written as the panel like to read, he was assisted greaty by linda from the coop and jacqui from supporters direct who truly are great friends of the trust and i thank them too. we expect to here the outcome of the bid later in march so fingers crossed.

membership applications are still trickling in prior to our rebranding and at the latest count we were up to 282 so since the AGM weve added a further 19 members, i remain confident in Steve and his teams ability to meet their target by the end of the year post rebrand.

and finally Lee and I met with the chief exec, Shaun Harvey, last wednesday morning for the first time since the changes to the trust board last october. the meeting was very positive as you would expect, we brought mr harvey up to speed with the changes at the trust and what our plans are for the future, we made it clear that our ethos would be of the fans, for the fans and for the betterment of the fans and the club and that our independent status was paramount to us. we explained the 'one voice, your voice' principle and explained we have no agenda other than that set by our members, that our willingness to work with all partner agencies was beyond question and that we seek only to work with the club in a positive manner encouraging a good relationship between club and trust. mr harvey listened to all we had to say and welcomed the opportunity to work with the trust making it clear he has always worked with fans groups in the past, he was very honest with us in explaining that it will be highly likely the trust approaches the club with difficult questions as raised by its members from time to time and there will be times that those questions cannot be answered for a multitude of reasons and we accepted and appreciated his honesty. both Lee and I came away from the meeting happy with the outcomes and looking forward to working with the club in the future, we are both confident that a working relationship based on honesty and mutual respect can be nurtured and developed over the forthcoming weeks and months and look forward to proving to be as good as our word.

John is still trying to finalise a date for the next board meeting which i would hope will be during March (diary conflicts providing) after which i am sure there will be more updates to follow.

cheers.