Your Jags Trust

[Mediocre Pundit]

There have been loads of comments recently about the Jags Trust, primarily concerning the lack of any...anything, really. It just doesn't seem to do much. To be fair, I've never attended a meeting, but think I will do so sometime soon and am intending to throw my hat in the ring for election next year.

 

So in the meantime can I ask all the posters on here to add their suggestions of what they would like the Jags Trust to be doing on an ongoing basis? It would be good to have all these thoughts in the one place.

 

My vision for the Jags Trust would then be for it to have a "message calendar", so to speak, with key dates for events throughout the year. They could then ask for volunteers for specific events in order to be able to do stuff. This would allow volunteers to come forward on an ad hoc basis for events they want to get involved with, while the JT would take more of a coordinating and communicating role.

 

That all seems simple, no? So add your comments below and let me know if this is the type of JT you would want, and would join and support. And if not - what would be? We have about 9 months to go before elections take place...

[Julie Ann]

change its name for a start. even reading those three words makes me cringe.

[Vom Itorium]

I would like our Jags Trust to be disbanded and something started again in it's place. It is tainted, it has failed miserably in it's many guises since it was brought into line with the rules it was supposed to follow. I personally see no future for it in it's current guise and think that something like you suggest above regarding events and volunteers being sought to actually do something to help the club is already in place, but is being ignored by the many fans who have ideas and should be better utilised. It's called WeAreThisle Fundraising and can be found here...

 

WAT Fundraising

Edited September 6, 2011 by Vom Itorium

[Phoenix]

Make its mind up what exactly it wants to be. Does it want to be the voice of the fans, puting forward the fans point of view to the BOD or does it want to be more involved in the community/ fundraising aspects of the club?

Either way the most important thing to get right is communication.

[Tom Hosie]

What kind of Jags Trust would I like to see?

 

There’s a perfect example of a worthwhile Supporters Trust not exactly a million miles from Firhill at Dumbarton.

 

The Sons Trust is an important part of the Club as a whole and performs a variety of important tasks.

 

Additionally they run popular, well attended events. I’ve been to a couple, a quiz night and a Comedy Night, and both have attracted a percentage of the Dumbarton fan base that puts the efforts our Trust to shame.

 

In short, therefore, I want a Trust that plays a role in the running of the Club no matter how mundane that role might be and a Trust that fosters a sense of community among the Club’s supporters.

[Willjag]

I'd like to see something totally new. A new Supporters Assosciation with one person responsible for represnting the Supports shareholding to the Club (preferably on the BoD). Treasurer to look after the cash, Secretary to look after any rules and paperwork, a Membership representative whose job it is to look after the Membership records and grow the Membership in as many ways as possible and the rest of the people on the committee would be there purely for fundraising. The only decisions to be made would be organise fundraising events. I'd invite this site to be the online representative of the assosciation and run the fundraising from here if the site admin were agreeable.

[Mediocre Pundit]

I'd like to see something totally new. A new Supporters Assosciation with one person responsible for represnting the Supports shareholding to the Club (preferably on the BoD). Treasurer to look after the cash, Secretary to look after any rules and paperwork, a Membership representative whose job it is to look after the Membership records and grow the Membership in as many ways as possible and the rest of the people on the committee would be there purely for fundraising. The only decisions to be made would be organise fundraising events. I'd invite this site to be the online representative of the assosciation and run the fundraising from here if the site admin were agreeable.

That would work for me. Would like to think it could be done with 1m shares in it's back pocket though, no?

 

Keep the comments/suggestions/thoughts coming everyone. I fully understand the apathy around this. I really just want to hear what people think to help me decide whether it's worth getting involved (I think it is) and if successful what "getting involved" should look like.

 

Admin, is it possible to pin this?

[twinny]

I'd like to see something totally new. A new Supporters Assosciation with one person responsible for represnting the Supports shareholding to the Club (preferably on the BoD). Treasurer to look after the cash, Secretary to look after any rules and paperwork, a Membership representative whose job it is to look after the Membership records and grow the Membership in as many ways as possible and the rest of the people on the committee would be there purely for fundraising. The only decisions to be made would be organise fundraising events. I'd invite this site to be the online representative of the assosciation and run the fundraising from here if the site admin were agreeable.

 

So basically the recreate the JT?

 

I jest, I actually agree with that. I posted in another thread that I would like to see more clearly defined roles. For example, does the current membership secretary do anything other than send out and collect membership forms/fees? As you point out, encouraging fans to join, providing reasons to do so and generally increasing membership numbers should be an important part of their remit. As far as I'm aware the JT is losing members. I feel there should be different levels of 'supporters club' board members, with a top tier including the treasurer, the secretary, membership secretary, board representative and fundraising coordinator. A second tier would have the fundraising coordinator as a line manager. This could fit in well with the suggestion (by Lady Isobel Barnett I think) that there should be a fundraising wing and a political wing.

[Willjag]

If I thought you could do it without any of those 4 particular roles Twinny, I'd get rid of them. I just don't see why anyone needs to make decisions at Supporter level other than a responsible person on the BoD who's sworn to secrecy anyway! For me, the person representing the fans should also be actively engaging with them, as many of them as possible, to get a better feeling of what we all want and take that back to the Board.

[MerryHell]

I don't think a place on the board is essential. After all, what use did it do? The club almost went into administration and The Trust were powerless/opted to do nothing.

 

If you can unite enough of the fanbase, the club will take you seriously and i'm sure they'll listen to your thoughts/ideas.

 

Focus on fundraising and generally uniting the fanbase/making people feel good about the club and i'm sure you'll succeed.

[Vom Itorium]

I don't think a place on the board is essential. After all, what use did it do? The club almost went into administration and The Trust were powerless/opted to do nothing.

 

If you can unite enough of the fanbase, the club will take you seriously and i'm sure they'll listen to your thoughts/ideas.

 

Focus on fundraising and generally uniting the fanbase/making people feel good about the club and i'm sure you'll succeed.

[Mad Mull Jag]

I like to see the trust become a pressure group, stop trying to get on the inside of the action wher eit is plainly known we are not wanted ubder any guise.

 

We should seek to raise funds , any use these funds to buy off smaller shareholders to increase the trusts shareholding in the club (see Fergus McCann- celtic takeover) thus eventually you build a strong base which BOD/Directors must take note of and deal with.

 

Also if we have sizeable sums of cash available , we can then give to the club in return for shares etc

 

 

Other alternative to this is the trsut becomes a fundraising arm for the club and seek no kind of power/ return for the donations given

[Munkey]

JT pull the plug on the Jags trust and transfer their shares to a new group.

I posted in another thread the approach Motherwell are taking.

The boss in work showed me the breakdown of membership yesterday, Can't be arsed registering for the Motherwell forum to get a link.

But basically they are launching the community club.

With 5 of 6 membership levels which require an upfront payment, then annual fees.

They range from the junior membership, something like £30 upfront and £5 a year, to the extreme £25K upfront and £2K a year.

The levels of membership get you varying grades of rewards, with the 25K package you are basically have a Directors position without a seat at the Board.

The whole group then have a guaranteed seat on the board and consultation on the day to day running of the club as well as major changes.

Ideally this is where I want an equivalent body of the JT to be.

But I think the Club needs to settle l before a new fans group would have any significant impact. Retrieve the shares owned by people who no longer darken our door, and have a clear and open discussion with fans on the exact position of the club.

[Blackpool Jags]

JT pull the plug on the Jags trust and transfer their shares to a new group.I posted in another thread the approach Motherwell are taking.

The boss in work showed me the breakdown of membership yesterday, Can't be arsed registering for the Motherwell forum to get a link.

But basically they are launching the community club.

With 5 of 6 membership levels which require an upfront payment, then annual fees.

They range from the junior membership, something like £30 upfront and £5 a year, to the extreme £25K upfront and £2K a year.

The levels of membership get you varying grades of rewards, with the 25K package you are basically have a Directors position without a seat at the Board.

The whole group then have a guaranteed seat on the board and consultation on the day to day running of the club as well as major changes.

Ideally this is where I want an equivalent body of the JT to be.

But I think the Club needs to settle l before a new fans group would have any significant impact. Retrieve the shares owned by people who no longer darken our door, and have a clear and open discussion with fans on the exact position of the club.

 

Some good ideas there, but I see the highlighted bits as difficult obstacles to be overcome.

[Munkey]

Some good ideas there, but I see the highlighted bits as difficult obstacles to be overcome.

Thats just the crux of the problem we have with the satus quo.

 

We need Change but the old guard will rather see the club dead than lose their honorary un-deserved shares. The JT I would put in the same bracket, although its not the un-deserved shares. Just the stewardship of said shares that is mis-guided

[glasgow boy]

personally speaking i don't give a f--k about shares ,

fed up hearing about them at the end of the day you have got a million

enough for anyone ,

 

fund raise yes but for the youth teams

 

so easy to start

 

jags trust subscription £5 a month,

 

start Saturday and one day a week coaching classes for u/5 and upwards to u/12s.

£5 a week .

get the kids in early treat them right and if they don't make it as players hopefully they'll comeback and support the club

[potty trained]

personally speaking i don't give a f--k about shares ,

fed up hearing about them at the end of the day you have got a million

enough for anyone ,

 

fund raise yes but for the youth teams

 

so easy to start

 

jags trust subscription £5 a month,

 

start Saturday and one day a week coaching classes for u/5 and upwards to u/12s.

£5 a week .

get the kids in early treat them right and if they don't make it as players hopefully they'll comeback and support the club

 

I'm sure someone will read that and it'll make sense.

[Guest fredthecheesecloth]

First of all, as previously highlighted, the name either needs changed, or we need a whole new representative body. Id tend towards the latter, the Jags Trust has been 'reincarnated' a few times over the recent years, with any impetus gained quickly slowed by infighting/lack of interest or whatever, we cannot dwell on this.

 

Secondly, people need to stop worrying about the shares. I am always of the opinion that if you can't do something about a certain situation then there is no point getting overly worked up about it. Same with the seat on the board, its been done to death and again we cannot dwell on this. We need something forward looking, representative, with a clear voice/strategy and as Mediocre Pundit suggested, a calendar of events etc.

 

There should be a clear and agreed calendar of events for the year, with appropriate 'marketing/advertising' for each event. These events should be tailored towards members and non-members, the new 'organisation' needs to have a warm and inclusive feel. I am no expert on how the best way to put together a membership package, but Munkey's idea seems a pretty good start point, even if it is more simplified for our model.

 

Mad Mull indicates that a 'pressure group' idea may work best, and i am inclined to agree. There would obviously need to be planning on how to show our views be it protest/meetings/petition or whatever other methods there are, but this may work best, and would, I believe, capture the best interest and feeling of the Partick Thistle Football Club support.

 

The key thing to remember through all of the above, and everything else in general is that we are working for the greater good of the football club and the team on the park. We all want to see a successful football club. I would urge (and I have been quilty of this in the past) that there needs to be lines drawn in terms of North West Bus involvement and other issues that have been done to death. The whole thing needs to be forward looking, and grounded in the Jackie Husband Stand, and the thoughts and feelings of its inhabitants on a Saturday, and also those who for whatever reason cannot make it.

 

I would also be happy, and would intend, to put my name forward to be involved in any forward looking plans. I have maybe used my account in the past to be a slightly nonsense character, but I want the best for this football club. I am young, and I want PTFC to be around for my children and grandchildren.

[Vom Itorium]

How many members does the Jags Trust currently have out of interest?

[potty trained]

How many members does the Jags Trust currently have out of interest?

 

 

Amore accurate gauge would be:

 

How many people have paid for their membership this season.

[Vom Itorium]

Amore accurate gauge would be:

 

How many people have paid for their membership this season.

That's true. I'm still receiving correspondance even though I made it quite clear that I wanted nothing more to do with the Trust a long time ago. Half a dozen second class stamps have been wasted in the last few months alone.

[MerryHell]

First of all, as previously highlighted, the name either needs changed, or we need a whole new representative body.

 

...

 

I am young, and I want PTFC to be around for my children and grandchildren.

 

Not much to disagree with in any of your post.

[Col]

I'd like to see something totally new. A new Supporters Assosciation with one person responsible for represnting the Supports shareholding to the Club (preferably on the BoD). Treasurer to look after the cash, Secretary to look after any rules and paperwork, a Membership representative whose job it is to look after the Membership records and grow the Membership in as many ways as possible and the rest of the people on the committee would be there purely for fundraising. The only decisions to be made would be organise fundraising events. I'd invite this site to be the online representative of the assosciation and run the fundraising from here if the site admin were agreeable.

 

Thanks Willjag, we would definitely be up for getting involved in something like this. Will email you tomorrow to ge some more details.

 

Cheers

[Trotter]

That's true. I'm still receiving correspondance even though I made it quite clear that I wanted nothing more to do with the Trust a long time ago. Half a dozen second class stamps have been wasted in the last few months alone.

 

I was going to post this exact same thing last night as i'm exactly the same! It's been a good few years since I was a Trust member yet still receive correspondance re AGMs etc. Wonder if we're being counted in the membership list?

[B.C.G. JAG]

I was going to post this exact same thing last night as i'm exactly the same! It's been a good few years since I was a Trust member yet still receive correspondance re AGMs etc. Wonder if we're being counted in the membership list?

I doubt it. I get lots of post and emails from the different organisations I've worked for despite not being on their books. If you wanted entry into a Trust only event, your name would be cross referenced with how up to date your membership fees were. I don't think there is anything wrong with the Trust sending out info which could be of interest or use to the broader support. It's hardly the worst crime. You also have to take into account that some people just forget to renew and it's a way of keeping them in the loop. I think there is a wee bit of grassy knoll syndrome going on here.

Edited September 8, 2011 by B.C.G. JAG