STFU

From reading the article, nothing. The Trust will keep banging their head against the wall by trying to speak nicely to the club. The club will keep making the same empty promises about working to improve things and sharing information when they can that they've been saying for the last 6/7 years. Fans will continue to drift away and those stealing a wage will continue to do so because not enough people are willing to take a proper stand against them. Death by a thousand cuts

If he has applied, then that's on him. I wouldn't advocate for him being pressured into taking it for the reason you give.

It seems that Ryan Esson has thrown his hat in the ring for the Manager's job. I think we could do worse than give him a shot till the end of the season, with an extension if he earns it. He already knows the players, is one of the most qualified coaches in the country, and has been performing well with the U18s. He also wouldn't cost us anything on the compensation front and if Kellacher becomes his assistant, then we could also save a wage or two over bringing in a new management pairing.

He's so out of touch that he doesn't even realise that his drivel only serves to confirm what many already know, and that is the fact that he thinks fans are stupid, and that he will direct all fault for fan discontent to on field performances to try and deflect from the larger, ever growing, discontent for how the club is failing off the pitch and at the highest level of management. Unfortunately, work will prevent me from attending the fans meeting, but if fans stream from there to the game afterwards, then he will only view that as vindication for his view that fans are fickle and they should/will just suck it up. Furthermore, I'm becoming increasingly disappointed in our local journalists who are doing nothing to challenge him or ask the questions that need asking. I'm sure they all read these forums and social media and know that fans are questioning Gardiner's position as much, if not more so than We did Dodds', yet not a single mention of that in these articles. It's weak and pathetic.

I can't speak directly for Kellacher, but I doubt so many successive managers would have held on to him if they didn't value his input and contribution. You don't coach at a club for 17 years (and, FYI, that HAS included promotions and cup wins) if you're not good at your job

And we have a club full of them at the moment!

The reason Pele is remembered so fondly, for me, is that he truly believed that his team could beat anyone, and he had the players believing it as well. That meant that win, lose or draw, the football was always exciting to watch. Unfortunately that became harder for any manager to maintain as we progressed through the leagues and the cost of failure brought with it a fear of losing. Focus then shifts to being defensive and the priority being to avoid relegation. It also becomes more expensive to just stand still as a team/club and whilst we've been blessed (for the most part) with people willing to throw money into the club, the returns diminish. I have no issue with us being a Championship level club, or even a league 1 or 2 club, but it scunners me that we no longer have that sense of community and the entertainment has totally gone from the football.

What we need right now is a strong experienced head who will get the best from the players, protect them to allow confidence to be regained and not take any nonsense/interference from above. Unfortunately, there's not a hope in hell that our current CEO/Chairman are going to employ anyone other than another buddy/yes man. They're certainly not going to risk employing a manager that might call them out on the BS way they're running the place.

Just another indicator of how out of touch the CEO/Chairman are with fans views.

You cannot solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that got you in to it.

Gardiner/Morrison will be hoping that takes the heat of them for a bit. We can't let it. The club is rotten to the core and whilst Dodds needed to go, so do the aforementioned.

I didn't say fans shouldn't do anything (have you read any of my posts on here recently?), just pointing out the mentality of the kind of people we've got running the club just now.

Not convinced it will register with decision makers. They already have money from Season Ticket holders and home walk ups are/were minimal anyway. Not showing up away makes no difference to us financially, and as we're easy points then it may actually encourage larger away support at our place which, bizarrely, will be more financially beneficial in the short term. Not suggesting this is a deliberate move by the club, just posturing on why they may choose to continue ignoring fans and fan actions.

I agree. My post was not intended as any kind of defence of the situation. If anything it further highlights how far out of his depth Dodds is.

Our goals conceded record in the league isn't terrible, and I think we're focusing too much on the wrong end of the park. Just a quick napkin calculation, but if we'd scored about 1 in 5 of the chances created, we'd be doing pretty well.

You're probably right. 5 years of refusal to communicate isn't really giving them a fair chance.

So what is the meeting about? From the poster I'd assume it's in relation to the Matchday Survey?

You forgot the "when the board manage to muster a set of balls between them and get rid of the chairman, ceo and Robbo" option, as I can't see just one of the ménage à trois leaving/being paid off on their own.

Many have tried already, which is why we find ourselves where we are. Communication is two way, and unfortunately the club are standing with their fingers in their ears shouting lalalala at anyone who has tried to communicate with them. What's the next step?

I was going to take the time to respond to your post in full, then you pull this at the end. The most sanctimonious thing I've seen on here from a fellow fan in a long time. Very disappointing!

There has definitely been posts on here by board member/s, now ex board member/s peddling the line that they need more members to be representative, and accepting the clubs position on that. This is part of the point I'm making about ex trust board members and volunteers being the ones making excuses on their behalf. This is the kind of information that they should be presenting officially themselves and not just to friends/those close to board members. Unfortunately that just screams "clique". Two years and still no call to action from the Supporters Trust? Hopefully that changes soon. Better late (hopefully not too late) than never. An outcome which should surprise nobody, and was why I raised concerns about the amount of resource being put into it when there was other, more immediate, concerns to be focusing on I wonder how many of those who played a part in hounding him out of the club now regret their actions? No argument from me on any of these points, sadly.

He's been Gardiner's biggest fanboy since he arrived at the club!

Those highlights made for painful viewing, but not as painful as listening to Dodds post match interview. He's either very deluded, or thinks fans are stupid, probably a bit of both.

Did you read the link I provided about the Supporters Trust objectives? Their core remit is to represent the interests of the ENTIRE fan community, regardless of whether they are members or not. That is the expectation they have created themselves. As I have said before, they have to give fans something to get behind as an organisation, otherwise they are no better than the club in asking fans to blindly throw money at them in hope that they'll do something, sometime, maybe. I'll welcome the open meeting when it happens, and hope it doesn't just become another "watch this space" in the same way as the minutes of meetings between them and the club did, or the feedback on the meeting with the club following the matchday survey that we're still waiting on. The Trust Board exists to lead the organisation. Sitting back waiting for fans/members to tell them what to do and/or bleating about the lack of members is a cop out and dereliction of their own stated objectives. Take a stance or, at the very least, poll the community on whether or not they would like to see some action. Whilst I do not believe for a moment they are in cahoots with the club, the silence gives the impression that they have no objection to the way things are going.

What I'm seeing in this conversation is that there are fans who would like to see some action being taken, even though there's no real consensus on what that should look like. There's even a growing number of fans who were against the idea or sitting on the fence who are moving towards the idea that something needs to be done. The biggest hurdle to any action being taken by fans seems to be the lack of leadership/organisation. No group is better placed to do this than the Supporters Trust, and it is part of their objectives to represent fans/community in these matters - https://www.ictsupporterstrust.org/the-trust In my opinion, they are complicit in their total silence and lack of acknowledgement of the the fans' concerns outlined in this thread and on the wider forum. This only serves to strengthen the club's position that fans don't/should not have a voice, and can be ignored. We've had all the excuses from ex trust board members and volunteers. Time for the chair/board themselves to show face, tell us what they are going to do, or give reason for why they are doing nothing.