It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of my fellow Trust Board members to present the Trustees’ Report for 2011.
The 2011 AGM saw Chris Ashton re-elected to the Trust Board with Duncan Bayes being elected to the Board for the first time. David Beck was re-elected as Supporter Director for a further two years.
Imps fans will always remember 2011 for the wrong reasons as the Football Club endured a torrid run of form towards the end of the season which resulted in relegation from the Football League. We would have all held our own post mortems and come to terms with life in non-league football. Unfortunately the start to life in the Blue Square Premier was far from encouraging and the poor run of form and performances continued resulting in Steve Tilson and Paul Brush being relieved of their duties. So another year, and yet another new face takes the manager’s position with David Holdsworth being given the chance to turn around the Imps season.
Following the relegation, an open meeting was organised for fans to put their questions to members of the Club Board including Trust-elected representatives David Beck and Jean Foster. There was some tough questioning as emotions were still running high. The meeting was also aimed at a way of getting fans and the Club united in moving forward.
Later in the year the Club and Trust would work together to launch the IMPvest initiative designed to raise funds for the Club through the many schemes operated by the Club such as player sponsorship and the Birthday Lotto, as well as the Trust initiatives like Gold membership or the newly introduce Silver membership which gives some extra benefits to that of an ordinary Trust member. Gold members support continues to be key for the Trust and the Club with funds raised by the scheme exceeding the £100k mark which is an incredible amount of money. The Silver membership offer is in its infancy but we hope it will grow to be a big success
The Trust website continues to be an excellent read at impstrust.co.uk and remains the best place to find out all the latest Trust news and information as well as giving supporters a chance to vote for their man of the match after each game. There is regular input from the Supporter Director as well as the Trust Board members and news from other trusts and the world of football.
Gemma McFaul continued her great work as a Community Development Officer, working in partnership with various organisations to deliver some new and exciting activities and projects based at Sincil Bank. Her different projects are aimed at the range of groups within the community around the Football Club such as running youth clubs, training courses, activities for the over 50s, environmental work and even Slovakian street hockey! Gemma’s post is funded through a successful grant application to the Tudor Trust. This is an excellent example of how the Trust can bring significant money into the Club through different methods other than traditional fundraising. With help from Gemma we made big progress getting young supporters to become more involved in the Trust inviting them along for a series of activities at Sincil Bank including a stadium tour and a chance to meet Trust members and LCFC players. The event was a huge success and we hope to have many more in the future.
Another successful Trust event was held at the Bentley Hotel with a dinner in honour of Graham Taylor and his 1975-76 championship winning team. It was a tremendous evening of reminiscing with entertaining speakers and it was great to see Graham and a number of backroom staff and players present to celebrate.
Honorary membership was given to Colin Murphy because of his achievements at the Club and to the Sacred Sports Foundation which was set up by Keith Alexander and his family to help educate and encourage deprived St Lucian youngsters through the game of football.
The Trust continued to show the professional approach it takes by organising an externally facilitated future strategy process, covering a range of topics such as income generation, investment and customer service. The findings from the session were shared with both the Club Board and Trust members with positive feedback.
The Trust Board held an surgery session to speak with members about the Football Club General Meeting which had been called by a group of shareholders who wished to make changes to the make-up of the Board As well as the surgery, members were also asked to write to the Board to express their feelings on the matter. The response we had was excellent and the decisions to oppose the proposals put forward at the General Meeting was based wholly on the views given to the Board by its members. It was an excellent example of a Trust Board listening to its members – a vital ingredient to a successful Trust.
Your Board have taken on many roles and responsibilities throughout the year and we hope that this report has given some idea of what the Board has achieved in what was a busy 2011. We look forward to reporting on a progressive 2012 at the AGM next year.
Statement regarding LCST Financial Statements
It is with regret that the Board of Lincoln City Supporters’ Trust are unable to provide a copy of the financial statements for the year ending 31st December 2011 with the other AGM documents you have received. This is due to circumstances beyond the Board’s control. It is hoped that the accounts will be made available on the website prior to June 21st and copies will also be available at the AGM.
Chris Ashton
Chairman
