Representatives from the Trust met with the club on Friday afternoon.
Few highlights from the meeting to keep our members in the loop about discussions and some of the things that the Trust have been up to.
At the recent EFL meeting in Portugal, it was voted that rules were changing regarding pitches. If a club shares a pitch with another sporting club, as we do with Rochdale Hornets, then the pitch would have to be a hybrid pitch from 2019. Given some of the prices that get quoted for hybrid pitches, concerns had been raised about the implications for ourselves. Our minds were put at rest that all pitch work is budgeted for and it would not be a problem for us. Indeed, this was something that the club voted in favour of at the EFL meeting.
As a Trust we haven’t done any fundraising for the club since we donated £30,000 towards the floodlights back in 2014. We are keen to undertake a similar project. Various ideas were discussed and will continue to be discussed in the next few weeks and we hope to have a plan in place before the start of the season. As always, any donation will be at the discretion of Trust members who will be given a vote on it.
The Trust started work last season at forging relationships with former players, with Shaun Reid, Steve Taylor and Steve Whitehall all returning to the club as part of our matchday sponsorships, and also Whitehall being the speaker at our Curry Night along with Mark Stuart and Dave Thompson. This will be built on during the next few weeks, with initial ideas looking at a supporters poll to find our “Greatest Team of the 80’s” with follow up plans. Tentative talks took place about forming a “Former Players Association” that we have looked at before but struggled due to lack of numbers on the Trust board.
Other bits include the Trust having a presence at next week’s Open Day at the club, and we hope to be able to confirm a date in the next few days for the traditional pre season Fans Forum. Our Exiles Day has been booked and will be announced very soon, and we’ve also selected our three matchball sponsorships for 2018-19 before the ink on the fixture list was even dry.