Supporters Trust Statement on CEO Departure

[ICT Supporters Trust]

We issued a statement this morning following yesterday's announcement by the club. Our members should already have received a copy, but if you have not for any reason, please contact us at [email protected].

A copy of the statement is here: enjoy the fireworks over the stadium!

https://www.ictsupporterstrust.org/post/ict-supporters-trust-statement-on-ceo-departure

Like our previous releases, this has had good coverage in the local media, and a Trust Board Member has featured on TV today.

The Trust Board is grateful for the continued support of members, and for all the positive messages received during the last few troubled months.

As well as supporting the efforts being made to stabilise the position at the club, we will continue to work on behalf of our members and the wider fan base and, if you are not currently a member, joining is easy using this link (and only £5, or £1 for Under 16s):

https://www.ictsupporterstrust.org/join-us

[+snorbens_caleyman]

I would have made it a more positive message, welcoming Savage back to the club as the headline statement.

I don't see what need there was to spell out some of the things that you think that Gardiner was responsible for, especially since the Board, who remain, were complicit in all of it. 

And as for the fireworks....   All a bit too much "Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead!".

No mention of Seventy7 either?

[buckett]

46 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

I would have made it a more positive message, welcoming Savage back to the club as the headline statement.

I don't see what need there was to spell out some of the things that you think that Gardiner was responsible for, especially since the Board, who remain, were complicit in all of it. 

And as for the fireworks....   All a bit too much "Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead!".

No mention of Seventy7 either?

I agree.

These "Supporters' Trust Statements" seem to be written very impulsively.

i wonder if they are the views of one person, or of a group of persons presuming to represent the views of the ICT support.

The previous statement welcoming the Seventy7 thing makes me suspect the former.

Perhaps the Supporters' Trust could clarify. 

[Duke of Inverness]

Next step is to voice fans displeasure for the Gardiner trolls - DF and GB. 

Once they are gone then we can rejoice. Not just the tactics they deploy, but the way they ignored and mistreated players last season and mid season. They need to be gone to finally rid us of the foul taste in our mouths. 

Edited August 14, 2024 by Duke of Inverness

[+DoofersDad]

You have to bear in mind that regardless of how awful anyone involved in running the club may be, the Supporters Trust have to do their best to work with them.  If the Trust publicly slags off these people, then the club simply stops engaging with the Trust.  That is in nobody's interest.  Given what the Trust has had to put up with from Gardiner over the years, I think a bit of "Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead!" is perfectly justified.

There's a message in this for the Club Board too.  The Board were the ones responsible for making the decisions at the end of the day and they were the ones who kept faith in Gardiner.  By publicly slagging off Gardiner, the Trust are indirectly criticising the Board. The Trust will need to keep working with the Board, but by enthusiastically welcoming Alan Savage and simply not mentioning the Board at all in the statement, the Trust is giving a message without giving the Board any excuse for not working with the Trust.

The Trust statement ends with an appeal to fans to join the Trust and to get involved.  People can criticise the Trust all they want, but the simple truth is that the Trust is what the fans make it.  It's a democratic body.  Anyone is free to join and contribute to the process of voting for the Trust Board members or even putting themselves forward for the Board.  Anyone is free to help out in any other way.  The more people who come forward to help or simply to join the Trust, the more effective the Trust will become.  Collectively, we fans have a lot of power.  We can use that power or we can open the door to another Gardiner or Makwana.   Personally, I prefer supporter power.

 

 

[+CaleyHedgehog]

Those who are not happy with the way the Supporters Trust relays information, should perhaps think about taking a more active role in the trust's work. Remember we are all part of the trust (if we are members).

Personally I have been really glad to have their take on events over the last few months to help steer me through it all. 

[big cherly]

I understand the argument and case for the ST presented. Fair enough they duly represent the fans as the recognised artery between the club and fans. I personally don’t have any issues with this line, ‘It’s good to talk’ so the saying goes.
It’s clear the ST also have to balance any communication in such a manner that doesn’t jeopardise that relationship. 
My own view for what it’s worth (none ST member), is that the Trust, in the short period I have observed, and I say it with due respect and no malice intended, have been too compliant and reactive to the debacle we have witnessed over the past two years. I have went on the record to say I believe without the ST ‘Kelty’ just may have happened. That said the ST were not the leading force behind the ‘revolt’. It was the fans that was the energy behind any action. The ST in my view only acted when faced with overwhelming pressure from the fans. Ie Boycott, season tickets, protest!! 
 

In regards the S7V and Ketan Kahwana takeover bid the ST (again in my view), were too eager to be seen to endorse this bid without offering any serious consideration to whether S7V was in any way a fit and appropriate company to take over the club. I would argue without (I exclude myself here ), some serious and knowledgeable people on this forum (probably most if not all ST members) the case and momentum for A Savage to get involved to stop the S7V takeover may not have happened. 
 

So my argument (all along) is I believe the ST should be more vocal in representing all the fans views and not just a select group of comrade individuals. For the immediate future it looks like the club is saved from a deeper hole that it would have been if S7V had succeeded. That said for every Alan Savage out there, their is a Ketan Kahwana. It can happen again!

I will resist the invitation to sign up to join the ST, not that don’t think it’s a good organisation for fans to be and express their views, I simply prefer to support the club in my own way and be free to voice or state my opinion without any constraints. 
I close by wishing the ST well in future. 

bc

[+DoofersDad]

8 minutes ago, big cherly said:

I will resist the invitation to sign up to join the ST, not that don’t think it’s a good organisation for fans to be and express their views, I simply prefer to support the club in my own way and be free to voice or state my opinion without any constraints. 

 Why would you feel constrained? The Trust Board need to know what the members think so that they can better represent the members!  It is only those on the Trust Board who need to support the Trust's stance in public and are subject to any constraints.

[ICT Supporters Trust]

13 hours ago, buckett said:

Perhaps the Supporters' Trust could clarify. 

We are happy to, and to provide some comments that may assist non members in particular.

The Supporters Trust Board currently comprises eight members, who all voluntarily give their time and effort due to a shared passion for the club and for ensuring that fans' voices are heard by those running the club. The Board covers a wide range of ages, skills and experience. For example, the youngest member is 19, whilst others have significant business experience.

One Board member leads on media activity, but all Board members have the opportunity to comment on draft Press Statements, and they are only issued once the Board agrees them.

We make no apologies for the content of yesterday's statement, and we are grateful for the significant positive feedback on it from members. We had seen the club's announcement on Tuesday, and knew that the media would be speaking to Alan Savage. We therefore wanted to have a different emphasis and put our message across from the perspective of fans, linking back to key outputs from the Fans Meeting in May:

Walking away from the Kelty plan.

Securing the future of the Academy.

Having a change in the leadership of the club, particularly the departure of the CEO.

We wanted to recognise the significant role of all fans in these outputs being achieved.

Our release had to be founded on facts, rather than rumour, speculation or opinions. That is why we did not explicitly refer to Seventy7 Ventures, but it was implicit in our welcoming of Alan Savage.

There have been comments that the Trust was in some way endorsing the Seventy7 Ventures attempt to take control of the club. That is simply not the case. We did welcome the announcement that new investment had been found but we were clear that we needed to understand their vision, motives and plan. We were promised a meeting, but we received none of the details that we had sought.

The fireworks were intended to bring some welcome light relief, and reflect the joy and relief fans are feeling with the confirmed departure of the former CEO, and the relief that Alan Savage has become involved.

Now the former CEO has departed, it is time to move on, and that is what the Trust Board has been doing since his resignation was originally announced.

Board members have been having significant engagement and dialogue with other key stakeholders, including Alan Savage.

We recognise that there is a long road ahead, and there will be many challenges and twists along the way, but we are ready to play our part in that.

As mentioned in our Press Statement, we are about to issue a survey to allow fans to show how they can play their part and join the Trust in working more closely with the club. This has been ready to be issued for some time, just waiting for confirmation of the departure of the former CEO, but we did not want to bombard members yesterday. We know that many fans are ready and willing to give their support.

We also intend to continue with Fans Meetings this season, and details will be provided once the first date is set.

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2024 by ICT Supporters Trust

[buckett]

6 hours ago, ICT Supporters Trust said:

We are happy to, and to provide some comments that may assist non members in particular.

The Supporters Trust Board currently comprises eight members, who all voluntarily give their time and effort due to a shared passion for the club and for ensuring that fans' voices are heard by those running the club. The Board covers a wide range of ages, skills and experience. For example, the youngest member is 19, whilst others have significant business experience.

One Board member leads on media activity, but all Board members have the opportunity to comment on draft Press Statements, and they are only issued once the Board agrees them.

We make no apologies for the content of yesterday's statement, and we are grateful for the significant positive feedback on it from members. We had seen the club's announcement on Tuesday, and knew that the media would be speaking to Alan Savage. We therefore wanted to have a different emphasis and put our message across from the perspective of fans, linking back to key outputs from the Fans Meeting in May:

Walking away from the Kelty plan.

Securing the future of the Academy.

Having a change in the leadership of the club, particularly the departure of the CEO.

We wanted to recognise the significant role of all fans in these outputs being achieved.

Our release had to be founded on facts, rather than rumour, speculation or opinions. That is why we did not explicitly refer to Seventy7 Ventures, but it was implicit in our welcoming of Alan Savage.

There have been comments that the Trust was in some way endorsing the Seventy7 Ventures attempt to take control of the club. That is simply not the case. We did welcome the announcement that new investment had been found but we were clear that we needed to understand their vision, motives and plan. We were promised a meeting, but we received none of the details that we had sought.

The fireworks were intended to bring some welcome light relief, and reflect the joy and relief fans are feeling with the confirmed departure of the former CEO, and the relief that Alan Savage has become involved.

Now the former CEO has departed, it is time to move on, and that is what the Trust Board has been doing since his resignation was originally announced.

Board members have been having significant engagement and dialogue with other key stakeholders, including Alan Savage.

We recognise that there is a long road ahead, and there will be many challenges and twists along the way, but we are ready to play our part in that.

As mentioned in our Press Statement, we are about to issue a survey to allow fans to show how they can play their part and join the Trust in working more closely with the club. This has been ready to be issued for some time, just waiting for confirmation of the departure of the former CEO, but we did not want to bombard members yesterday. We know that many fans are ready and willing to give their support.

We also intend to continue with Fans Meetings this season, and details will be provided once the first date is set.

 

 

 

Thank you for clarification. 

[Scotty]

6 hours ago, ICT Supporters Trust said:

We are happy to, and to provide some comments that may assist non members in particular.

The Supporters Trust Board currently comprises eight members, who all voluntarily give their time and effort due to a shared passion for the club and for ensuring that fans' voices are heard by those running the club. The Board covers a wide range of ages, skills and experience. For example, the youngest member is 19, whilst others have significant business experience.

One Board member leads on media activity, but all Board members have the opportunity to comment on draft Press Statements, and they are only issued once the Board agrees them.

We make no apologies for the content of yesterday's statement, and we are grateful for the significant positive feedback on it from members. We had seen the club's announcement on Tuesday, and knew that the media would be speaking to Alan Savage. We therefore wanted to have a different emphasis and put our message across from the perspective of fans, linking back to key outputs from the Fans Meeting in May:

Walking away from the Kelty plan.

Securing the future of the Academy.

Having a change in the leadership of the club, particularly the departure of the CEO.

We wanted to recognise the significant role of all fans in these outputs being achieved.

Our release had to be founded on facts, rather than rumour, speculation or opinions. That is why we did not explicitly refer to Seventy7 Ventures, but it was implicit in our welcoming of Alan Savage.

There have been comments that the Trust was in some way endorsing the Seventy7 Ventures attempt to take control of the club. That is simply not the case. We did welcome the announcement that new investment had been found but we were clear that we needed to understand their vision, motives and plan. We were promised a meeting, but we received none of the details that we had sought.

The fireworks were intended to bring some welcome light relief, and reflect the joy and relief fans are feeling with the confirmed departure of the former CEO, and the relief that Alan Savage has become involved.

Now the former CEO has departed, it is time to move on, and that is what the Trust Board has been doing since his resignation was originally announced.

Board members have been having significant engagement and dialogue with other key stakeholders, including Alan Savage.

We recognise that there is a long road ahead, and there will be many challenges and twists along the way, but we are ready to play our part in that.

As mentioned in our Press Statement, we are about to issue a survey to allow fans to show how they can play their part and join the Trust in working more closely with the club. This has been ready to be issued for some time, just waiting for confirmation of the departure of the former CEO, but we did not want to bombard members yesterday. We know that many fans are ready and willing to give their support.

We also intend to continue with Fans Meetings this season, and details will be provided once the first date is set.

 

 

 

The reality is that you can't please everyone all the time. I used to try that on here and it was a nightmare that had you tied up in knots and running around in circles. Once I accepted that there are those who like the site (and/or me) or did not like the site (and/or me) for whatever reason and learned to live with it and not give a **** then it all got easier. I do my best, and if you don't like it, or have a fundamental disagreement on the site ethos and views then P&B awaits if you so desire. since we stopped trying to be everything to everybody, we just get on with things.  I think the only people we have banned in the last couple of years are bonafide spammers who get through our security from time to time. 

I have been on the supporters' club committee back in the day as well as others including the local Pool league and the amateur Football league, and know that it doesn't matter the organisation, there are always the same few faces on each who do things year in and year out, and many of the same faces doing the complaining about what you do but not willing to get involved. It is easy to criticise, not so easy to be criticised when you are doing your best. 

For my part, no-one has been perfect through this. Our (former) CEO is apparently litigious according to sources who warned me early on about saying too much online and I have been very careful to try and state only opinion and fact, not slander or defamation. I keep those particular opinions to myself. I could have said a lot more but I am happy to have been consistently against recent developments from the start as my somewhat dull social media will attest to. Similarly, over the years, I built up relationships with various board members and chairmen, and these relationships were built on trust. Sometimes I could and would say things, more than I should sometimes, and at other times, I had additional info or background that gave me more context but was not for sharing. It takes a long time to get to that trust level with ICT and it should not be taken lightly as it can be of great benefit in getting info to fans. I currently don't have any of that inside track since Rae/Crook/Gardiner et all, so it is somewhat refreshing to be able to shoot from the hip and say what I think rather than what I think I am allowed to say.   

Might I have worded some of what has been said by the ST differently? Perhaps. However, they do have to walk a fine line based on trying to keep 3 sets of masters mollified. first and foremost are the members and like any organisation you are never going to please all of them so you do your best. Second is their own rules and articles which mean they do things in a certain manner for the good and benefit of the supporters and the club, and that might include watering down statements or being party to privileged info that you can't share so that you don't burn bridges for future revelations from the same source, and finally the club itself. Its a complicated balancing act. 

 

 

[Alan]

Well said Scotty

[ClickbaitProponent]

On 8/14/2024 at 7:42 PM, buckett said:

I agree.

These "Supporters' Trust Statements" seem to be written very impulsively.

i wonder if they are the views of one person, or of a group of persons presuming to represent the views of the ICT support.

The previous statement welcoming the Seventy7 thing makes me suspect the former.

Perhaps the Supporters' Trust could clarify. 

They certainly reflect my feelings! And I know a lot of other people feel the same!!! 

 

[buckett]

11 hours ago, ClickbaitProponent said:

They certainly reflect my feelings! And I know a lot of other people feel the same!!! 

 

And mine too, most of the time. I'm actually a member.

But I was quite alarmed by the enthusiasm with which they welcomed the Seventy7 thing, whilst most of us were VERY cautious! They certainly did not reflect my feelings on that occasion.