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Paul Nicholas is a bank manager who is best known on this site for his frequent missives to the press - usually pulling them up on one point or another.
Like many Swans fans, Paul caught the fever in the First Division 70's and after a prolonged spell with no symptoms, thought he was cured.
But then along came Molby and the disease resurfaced.
In his own words ... "and now I got it bad again doctor."
Tuesday, December 03, 2002“Hello darkness my old friend I've come to talk to you again” (Paul Simon) I am still not sure what I'm doing wrong, but something isn't happening that should be. I really do not understand the obvious policy of the Trust board with its lack of response to the various, and I hope in the main, constructive points that have been raised in my recent articles. The ignoring of these issues is now entering its third week, and with no sign of abating. If I was trying to be totally destructive, and raising points with no substance, then I would understand, perhaps, their decision to avoid responding, but from some private e-mails and phone calls that I have received following my last two columns, it is becoming clearer by the day that the issues I have raised are key factors in the future of the Trust, and ones that really do need to be addressed. My feint hope in all this is that these points will be discussed in the next Trust board meeting, and a formal, but hopefully not too formal, response will be forthcoming. If this is the case, then why not just respond to that effect so that I and others know that all is not lost, and that someone out there is reading, listening, thinking - anything. Can I state something a bit radical at this point? I, and many others, joined the Trust on the premise that an elected body of people, i.e. the board, are there to represent us the fans, and that out of that body of people, one person now has a position on the board of the club as a supporters' representative. Assuming that my understanding of that is correct (and I feel fairly confident in that respect), am I fairly safe in further assuming that in carrying out their duties of representation, we could or rather should expect responses to questions that we raise? How else, other than talking to a small, hand picked number of people, can the board of the Trust even start to understand or address the issues that are of concern to the supporters? Furthermore, how will the fans ever know that points they have raised have ever been debated? If the content and outcome of Trust board meetings were to make their way into the public domain, via the website, fans would at last be able to have first hand knowledge that points of concern or interest that they have raised have been considered, and possibly acted upon; this would be a major step forward to improving the communication chain. I do believe that this is something that will happen in time The view at the moment is that the board members are representing no one but themselves, and this is major chink in their armour. That is not the formula to encourage more fans to join and it matters not one iota if they consider this to be incorrect, it IS the perceived view, and this is what has to be changed. This will only happen when confrontation takes place – not unpleasant confrontation – and fans are given the chance to talk and listen. The monthly forum is there for all to attend, I accept that, but they are not well patronised and it is a challenge for the board to gain greater support for these by whatever means it can. It is in the Trust board's interest to get more fans surely, so some swallowing of pride may be necessary along the way, but that shouldn't be an issue given the cause. It is good to see the Q&A page up on the website at last. I'm not sure about the way it is laid out at the moment, but hopefully it will prove more accessible than the board to date, and fans will start to ask some questions, and get some answers that way. The Trust has continued to receive good media coverage, and I am sure that with a few more success stories, and a visibly closer alignment to the fans rather than the club (perception!) we will see more request from the local press, radio and television for the Trust's involvement in debate and comment, and they will soon lose the 'dead' image that apparently some in the media seem to have of them. Moving on to membership, can someone answer me whether a 5,000 member Trust would have any greater influence over board decisions, or have a more attentive listening ear, than our Trust does with a current membership of 902 (Trust Website 1/12/02)? Personally I would guess not, but obviously in financial terms, an additional 4,000 members would bring in a further, say £17,000 per annum allowing for some junior members. This is the major issue of membership levels surely, and if people were told the proposed use of the funds raised from this source, and the importance, then reaction might be a little more enthusiastic. Fund raising purely for additional shareholding is not always attractive, as we can see little or no difference in having 50,000 of the 1,000,000 shares, or 250,000 of them; we will still have one seat on the board so our influence will not increase. Let's have a look at what was been collected in the Trust's first year, and the means by which this was achieved. Figures are taken from the Income and Expenditure account for the year ended 31 August 2002 on the Trust website. I have only looked at the gross income for each activity at this stage, for reasons that will be clearer later.
That gives a gross total fundraising achievement of £23,668. It is difficult to apportion costs to these events to calculate a precise net figure. From the figures on the site, £7,660 is directly apportioned to raffle expenses. So let's just include those expenses and we have a net fundraising total of £16,008 for the year. Obviously elements of postage, printing and stationery can be attributed to the fund raising efforts, which would further deplete the net result. The point I am aiming at here is that the recent Loan Appeal saw over £20,000 raised in a very short space of time, because the purpose was well stated, and the benefit to all fans – members and non- members – was very clear for all to see. That's more funds raised in one appeal in a month or less, than in the whole of the first year. There are lessons to be learned from that, and I would guess that they already have, that if the target (purpose and financial) for fund raising is something tangible and made clear, the fans respond. One question on the financial reports; there is £590 expenditure in respect of merchandise, but no mention of what has been generated from sales of the same. I would be interested to know the success of this as a fundraising idea. There is no doubt an element of apathy amongst some of the fans towards the Trust, that is inevitable, but there is I believe a far greater level of ignorance as to what the Trust stands for, its ambitions, and its vision for an ongoing involvement within the club itself. The apathy finger can also be pointed quite directly at the Trust board members themselves, as for a long time they appear to have chosen to either ignore, or avoid, the reasons behind the decisions of people not to join. Many members are not found among the 3,500 hardcore fans, as they live away, and I am still convinced that the reasons for the lack of local membership are all based around communication. “And in the naked light I saw - ten thousand people maybe more, People talking without speaking - people hearing without listening” (Paul Simon) Over the past week or so, I decided to make some enquiries of my own, and ask some die hard fans, who have supported the Swans for a minimum of 25 years each, why they have not yet joined the Trust. I decided to do this because, if there is lower than expected membership of anything, then there must be a reason. If you want the membership levels to rise, then surely you have to root out the underlying reasons first and address them, rather than express amazement at the lack of support being received. I am not sure whether the Trust board themselves have gone out into the masses and asked questions, but it is clear (and these are genuine quotes despite the names being omitted - at the fans' request) that the Trust is not getting its message across and that the unaccepted perception does exist. Many of the people quoted have actually donated a lump sum into the 'Stop Moaning' fund, and their reasons for not joining the Trust are certainly not financially related in any way. Had the Trust carried out its own fan survey, asking a few simple questions, then I am sure that it would have enabled them to identify shortcomings in their tactics, and the results would surely make them sit up and take note. They should have asked the fans long ago, well in advance of the expected membership reduction as the crisis, which drove up numbers initially, eased. They could then have collated their results, and duly re-aligned their strategy based on their findings. Whether they have a strategy to re-align is open to debate, but let's assume that they are working to some plan, and if so, then they must in some way marry up their activities to the course of greatest response. The loan appeal has proved that there are people out there who are prepared to donate cash to help improve the fortunes of this club, not just simply to save it financially when it is tottering over the precipice. What the Trust needs to do, is to find more of these people, and overcome the barriers. What follows is a series of quotes from genuine people: When the Trust was formed, I was in full support of it. But it quickly became apparent that the direction in which it was being taken was not what I envisaged. From what I can see some of those in control are in it for personal reasons, mainly self-interest and shoulder rubbing with the club personnel etc. I may join the Trust in the future, but I would have to be convinced that it existed for more than simply collecting money off people. I suppose I have been a bit apathetic towards the Trust so far, but it seems that you have to be able to do something to help them and I just do not have the time due to work and family commitments. Why don't they organise events that families could go to, and that way they would get a lot more money in because a lot of non-members would be coming. I am not too sure what the Trust stands for, as I do not think they have sold the idea very well, and I do not know what good they do. I have given £65 for the loan appeal though. I have no confidence that well meaning amateurs will make a significant difference. There appears to be a total lack of direction, and I have little confidence that any monies invested would have the desired effect. “………But my words, like silent raindrops fell…” (Paul Simon) There have been questions asked this week regarding whether any work is taking place at the Morfa. There certainly seems to be very little noise creeping over the picturesque hoarding that surrounds the hallowed field, and maybe when the council do eventually complete the stadium, the soundproofing qualities of this hoarding would make it the ideal defensive wall for the Trust to house itself behind. There again, we can always hope that these barriers, defences and vows of silence will have been totally removed long before, and that sufficient progress will have been made to see unity and support for, and within, the Trust at a level we have yet to witness. There will always be arguments, but these need to be healthy and constructive, in the way I hope mine have been, although the disappointing lack of response from the Trust Board to date sadly leads me to fear the worse. Please prove everyone, including me, wrong. “And the vision that was planted in my brain, Still remains, within the Sound of Silence” (Paul Simon) If anyone has any feedback to give me, I'd love to hear from you at pauly@scfc.co.uk You can comment on this article by visiting the guestbook Previous articles:
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