A Statement
Thursday, 27th Sep 2001 00:00

A Statement From The Supporter's Trust

We, as the current custodians of The Supporters Trust cannot and do not condone personal attacks and genuinely believe that the person responsible for the ' Alias Pauline Thomas debacle' is not a member of the working party.

If, however, it is proved that this posting was made by a member of the then working party the current AFG ( AGM Focus Group) would like to apologise to Mr Davies on behalf of the Trust. The other members had no idea of the posting nor agree with it. The person responsible will be asked to leave the AFG ( if still involved).

We'd also add that it was never intended to give Mr Davies the ' cold shoulder'. This would have been detrimental to what the Trust hopes to achieve. The minutes ( open to all members - and open to the public once the Trust website is revamped) records that Mr Davies was present at the meeting in Cwmbwrla on the 22^nd July. The minutes also record that a date was set at the time for the next meeting of the working party ( 5^th August 2001, 1200 to 1500).

Mr Davies did not attend this meeting and then accused the working party of not informing him of its date. No one was informed of this date as it had been agreed at the previous meeting. Again we can only apologise for any misunderstanding but the minutes are there to be seen. In fact the present AFG wishes that people would come forward to join rather than discourage them which is what is inferred.

In respect of the comment ' With only 400 or so members to date I don't think the trust will achieve its goal' the AFG would just like to point out that Northampton Town, the first and most famous supporters trust has less that 500 members. Swansea City Supporters Trust already has 500 members and we, unlike Chesterfield, Bournemouth and Lincoln do not have a club on the edge of extinction. This is a good start and only goes to prove what great supporters Swansea City Football Club has.

This whole episode has shown no gains for the Trust, in fact it has been detrimental, but Mr Davies' Company, Amman Sports, will have benefited from the media coverage when the offer was first made in the Evening Post. Amman Sports does a sterling job for the supporters of the club and we wish Mr Davies the very best in his crusade to bring away travel to the fans at affordable prices.

There is no hidden agenda within the Trust. It is here purely for the Fans of SCFC and we want to ensure the survival of our club for future generations to come.

A lot of hard work has gone into forming the Trust and this is continuing in the build up to the AGM and board elections. We continue to publicize via Fanzines, The Evening Post, Swansea Sound, Radio Wales and Websites and as long as these outlets continue to hear us then we will try to advertise as much as we can.

At present we are a group of approximately a dozen people working to get the AGM properly set up. We have begun the process of talking to the business community about getting involved. However we do all have full time jobs as well and the amount of work involved means that we can't always do what should be done and would like people to come forward and get involved.

Elitism and hidden agendas have no place in the Trust. It defeats the fundamental basis of its creation. Only a handful of the present working party want to stand for election to the Board at the AGM. All are working it to try to ensure that Swansea has a football team in the future. There is an open invitation for anyone to join the working party.

The voting process for the AGM will be by postal ballot and it is open for any paid up members to stand. Nomination papers will go out this week. If you support the aims of the Trust ( and we're sure you do) and want to see those aims achieved then please sign up as a member, put your name forward and get involved. That way you get the Trust you want to see.

Our next meeting is in the Builders on Oxford St on Thursday 27^th September starting at 7-30pm to discuss the AGM . If you wish to become involved then come along to the meeting and see at first hand just how much effort is going into making this a success. We must warn that you will be required to help pack the letters and lick the stamps! -

After all it is your Trust. The original Working Party/ Steering Group/AFG, call it what you want has just been about getting the whole process moving. It now needs others to help carry it forward.

SCFC, currently isn't in administration' unlike other clubs where supporters have hastily formed Trusts, but if the worst was to happen then you THE FANS AND MEMBERS will have a vehicle already in place. This is in stark contrast to the last time our club was in trouble. Then, we the fans, raised money but had no voice at the end of it. This time it is simple - if we were to go into administration and you donate money to the share fund then you, as part of the Trust, will either have a voice on the board of the club to show for it or if we failed then your money back.

Don't forget we are bound by a strict legal constitution and have to abide by those rules.

Once again it is your Trust not ours. We want you to get involved and share the workload. The more of us out there working, the bigger we will become.

One final point. Those that helped start this are ordinary fans and had no prior experience of what a Trust involved. It has taken a lot of hard work and dedication and there have been mistakes made along the way. We are learning from these. We know there are Swansea City Supporters out there that feel that they can add something to what this Trust set out to achieve. Please let yourselves be known, and help the Trust in anyway possible so we can secure professional football in Swansea.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Local Businessman Removes His Support For The Trust