AGM Feedback

[sandy]

Is disappointing all things, considered.

[Fawlty Towers]

Good to get an update on this (could have been done a few weeks ago but that is another issue).

The issue of lack of numbers behind the scenes at the club is one that has been a constant since I started taking a more active role as a fan a number of years ago and there never seems to be a resolution to it. To use the football analogy if you chop and change your defence game to game you probably won't keep many clean sheets and if you keep changing staff on a regular basis you won't get decent outcomes from those departments.

[Very Bitter Jag]

I appreciate the update and I want TJF and the Board to succeed, but to me this is just yet another example of 'bear with us, just a couple of sticking points and we will be sorted' statement that we are getting over and over again. Unless we start to see improved leadership and stability (including a Chairperson and CEO type appointment) from the Board, particularly over the close season, I truly believe it really will start to implode. 

Edited April 1 by Very Bitter Jag

[Albert's Ghost]

43 minutes ago, Very Bitter Jag said:

I truly believe it really will start to implode. 

I'm trying to follow here.  What will implode?

TJF?

The club board?

The club?

The basin?

[dl1971]

Without the TJF the club would have imploded already..

[partickthedog]

6 minutes ago, dl1971 said:

Without the TJF the club would have imploded already..

Out of likes, so will happily say that I am in agreement with the above!

[Albert's Ghost]

32 minutes ago, dl1971 said:

Without the TJF the club would have imploded already..

Not imploded, but probably in the seaside league.

[Very Bitter Jag]

1 hour ago, dl1971 said:

Without the TJF the club would have imploded alread

1 hour ago, Albert's Ghost said:

I'm trying to follow here.  What will implode?

TJF?

The club board?

The club?

The basin?

IMHO the membership of TJF, then the ability to remain fan owned and competitive. 

[Very Bitter Jag]

1 hour ago, dl1971 said:

Without the TJF the club would have imploded already..

Agreed, but unless we start seeing all these plans and updates and improvements we have been promised, it will just have delayed it. 

[Lambies Lost Doo]

Its bonkers how the ec Chairman just suddenly quit.  Give some notice and handover please 

[Norgethistle]

On 4/1/2026 at 3:22 PM, dl1971 said:

Without the TJF the club would have imploded already..

Correct, but TJF money needs to stop being used to balance the budget and just handed over. It should be used for marquee projects and based on performance conditions.

We are 4 years on from having to use TJF money to prop up the club after mess left by Lows board, we should have progressed from their to being sustainable through commercials and sponsorship WITHOUT them money from TJF

[Albert's Ghost]

17 minutes ago, Norgethistle said:

Correct, but TJF money needs to stop being used to balance the budget and just handed over.

I'm happy for my money to be used like that. 

[lady-isobel-barnett]

12 minutes ago, Norgethistle said:

Correct, but TJF money needs to stop being used to balance the budget and just handed over. It should be used for marquee projects and based on performance conditions.

Agree. An assisting tool for TJF with regards to keeping and growing its membership would be to use funds for more tangible projects.

Put another way TJF would be a more marketable organisation if members and prospect members could physically see the benefits or at least be aware of ring-fenced benefits. Specific TJF targeted projects as opposed to simply handing money over to prop up the kitty.

[eljaggo]

Why does TJF apparently hand over their money without strings.  Surely they should be stipulating how their money should be spent.  I must confess that I find the whole set-up bizarre and don't really understand how it is supposed to operate.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

7 minutes ago, Albert's Ghost said:

I'm happy for my money to be used like that. 

To avoid confusion, personally I too am not unhappy re current use of my money. But I'm a strong supporter of TJF. There'll be many more on the wavering side of things. Certainly it'll be easier to attract new members if TJF could display earmarked projects.  

[Albert's Ghost]

Just now, lady-isobel-barnett said:

To avoid confusion, personally I too am not unhappy re current use of my money. But I'm a strong supporter of TJF. There'll be many more on the wavering side of things. Certainly it'll be easier to attract new members if TJF could display earmarked projects.  

Why not say the same about season tickets?

[erty13]

41 minutes ago, Norgethistle said:

Correct, but TJF money needs to stop being used to balance the budget and just handed over. It should be used for marquee projects and based on performance conditions.

We are 4 years on from having to use TJF money to prop up the club after mess left by Lows board, we should have progressed from their to being sustainable through commercials and sponsorship WITHOUT them money from TJF

The reality of fan ownership is that the money contributed by the fans is needed to be used in the running of the club. I am happy if my money was used to sign some of the players, and I think most supporters would feel the same. Why not just ask the TJF members on their views.

I also think that the TJF also need to look at how the £10 per month is not just eroded by inflation over time. The buying power of £10 three years ago has reduced by all the inflationary running costs increases. Why not ask the members if they would be happy to increase it to £12.

[erty13]

On 3/30/2026 at 8:02 PM, Lambies Lost Doo said:

Why would you say that?

I can not see anyone employed by the club with this level of expertise,  or anyone on the board with the exception of Donald.

Has the board engaged with any fans who have this expertise.  The former chairman had started that process.

[Woodstock Jag]

4 hours ago, eljaggo said:

Why does TJF apparently hand over their money without strings.  Surely they should be stipulating how their money should be spent.  I must confess that I find the whole set-up bizarre and don't really understand how it is supposed to operate.

To be completely honest it's a legacy of the circumstances in which the pledge first started. It's not where I'd start from if we were starting from scratch today.

I suppose it hasn't been considered necessary to ring-fence TJF donations because, as one of the two trustees, TJF's board is asked to sign-off on the Club's budget proposals each season (under the Club-Trust Agreement) anyway. We therefore have a clear indication of the balance of spending priorities and the wider budget of which pledge income is a part.

There is a risk that ring-fencing or similar could end up being an entirely artificial process, as if TJF decides to fund something that have been happening anyway, the Club Board might then simply bank the saving on that budget line and allocate the up-side somewhere else.

How did the Pledge start?

Regular monthly TJF contributions to the Club of £10kpm started in July of 2023, after a one-off £50k donation made in June 2023. This financial support was committed to because a financial disclosure exercise in the first half of 2023 indicated that the Club was at risk of running out of cash, following substantial losses. It was TJF's way of "doing our bit" to help keep the lights on while the Club sought external investment (later delivered through Donald McClymont and his wider network).

Why was the Pledge done as a donation?

There was some internal debate on TJF's board at the time about whether our financial support should be (a) a donation or (b) a subscription for shares.

In the end (a) was chosen as the mechanism because it was the simplest to deliver in short timescales and it involved zero administration costs. The June donation and the follow-on pledge provided the Club with a guaranteed £160k of income for the 2023-24 season that could be factored-into the 2023-24 budget.

One of the consequences of it being a donation is that it counts as "income" on the Club's Profit and Loss account and therefore makes the Club Board's task of delivering an (on-paper) breakeven budget (significantly) easier. Had we gone down a cash-for-shares or soft loan route, it would have shored up the balance sheet/cash reserves but wouldn't have positively impacted the P&L.

Initial lack of member consultation

Because the pledge was introduced relatively urgently, there was not time to seek formal approval for it from members at TJF's summer 2023 AGM (the papers for the business had already gone out).

However, a commitment was made to seek member consent for this financial commitment to continue beyond the 2023-24 season at the summer 2024 AGM. Member feedback to the pledge announcement was overwhelmingly positive and there was significant membership and donations growth around that time.

Academy Pledge

Separately, in November 2023, we consulted about starting the Academy Pledge at £2kpm. This was endorsed by a membership vote and started in December 2023. This is technically not a hypothecated donation either, and it goes straight to the Academy's bank account to use as it sees fit. But another way of looking at this is that it sort of is a hypothecated donation, insofar as it must be used for the Academy rather than for just any purpose at the Club.

Renewal of the Club and Academy Pledges and introduction of the PTWFC pledge

During the 2024-25 budget discussions in April 2024, TJF's board was asked by the Club Board what level of direct financial support it felt able to provide for that year ahead.

TJF's board indicated that, at the then subscription levels, we could probably commit to increasing the pledge to £12.5kpm (£150kpa). However, we stressed that this would be subject to member approval at our AGM.

At the summer 2024 AGM, members were invited to approve three pledges:

• £12.5kpm (£150kpa) for the Club
• £2kpm (£24kpa) for the Academy
• £5k for the 2024-25 season for the Women's team

These were overwhelmingly endorsed by members, with either one or zero objections.

Pledges exceeded for 2024-25

As with the previous year, the Takeover and other sponsorship actually meant the support given to the Club directly in season 2024-25 was in excess of £170k.

The Women's team pledge was similarly exceeded by over £2k, thanks to a series of auctions/raffles on the PTWFC Foundation Shirts and our sponsorship for the Petershill Takeover event.

Pledges renewed for 2025-26

As we approached our summer 2025 AGM in mid-June, the Club Budget had not yet been agreed. TJF had indicated, to help the Club Board, Academy and Women's team with their respective planning assumptions, that TJF's board would recommend to members renewing the pledges at existing levels and on the same terms. Members (again) decisively endorsed all three pledges at the AGM.

There was no desire at that point in time to pull the rug from under the Club Board at precisely the point when it was clearly struggling to develop viable proposals for a breakeven budget.

Greater member input into allocation of funds.

There was some discussion at TJF's summer 2025 AGM about whether TJF's contributions should be in some way ring-fenced (and one member suggested it should be ring-fenced to the playing budget). His view was that this would be a major driver for additional sign-ups and donations.

We agreed to explore options for greater member input into how pledges/spending is allocated, and that is something that is now being taken into account as the Club Board develops its 2026-27 budget proposals.

[eljaggo]

Thank you Woodstock Jag for a very clear explanation.  Short term ring fencing for specific actions would perhaps give TJF some measure of control, and be closer to the fan operated club model that was anticipated.

[jagfox]

Maybe if say an increase was proposed that money could be allocated to repairs and infrastructure.

We need more clarity here the money into the club is being used. It just seems as said it is just plugging a hole in the balance sheet.

Just as well we should have a few quid extra from the manager and his staff and  players performance on the park.

Things just don't seem to be working off the pitch on a lot of levels.

[Norgethistle]

6 hours ago, erty13 said:

The reality of fan ownership is that the money contributed by the fans is needed to be used in the running of the club. I am happy if my money was used to sign some of the players, and I think most supporters would feel the same. Why not just ask the TJF members on their views.

I also think that the TJF also need to look at how the £10 per month is not just eroded by inflation over time. The buying power of £10 three years ago has reduced by all the inflationary running costs increases. Why not ask the members if they would be happy to increase it to £12.

It’s not at Motherwell 

[Norgethistle]

6 hours ago, Albert's Ghost said:

Why not say the same about season tickets?

Your season ticket money is in exchange of admission to matches. 

[erty13]

14 hours ago, Norgethistle said:

It’s not at Motherwell 

Motherwell are an established premier league club benefiting from the additional revenue of bigger prize money and larger average attendances. They have also been very successful in the transfer market. Being in the Premier league gives you financial stability,

It is completely different financial model trying to win promotion to the premier league where you are competing against clubs with parachute payment, or owners who would throw in an extra £250k to try to secure promotion. 

If you want promotion you have to invest in the team, then stabilise your financial model. 

[Fawlty Towers]

I had hoped that we would have had the Q&A from the AGM published by now, the sooner that has been dealt with and the strategic plan unveiled the better.