New beginnings - 25% Truth, 80% Bollocks

[JanAirplaneMan]

Not a great look is it, be interested on the Trusts view here?

Strikes me that the club expect goodwill from the fans, but in turn are happy to sh1t on said fans at every opportunity to squeeze every single penny.

I can only offer my own view on this in that i think its no different to what other companies do offering internships. In my view its a great opportunity for both sides. i..e the club get people with skills in these areas to support them and help them move forward, and the person(s) get commercial experience in these areas for their CVs and to gain future employment in these areas, and we all know companies love juniors to have actual commercial experience as well as any relevant qualification.  Its a win win in my view on both sides. I know people who have come into the club in the past via a similar approach who have proved themselves and gone onto join the club in a paid role.  My own company offers this sort of agreement so the club are no different.

[DiV]

It’s exactly what it is, isn’t he?

The club want young people looking for experience and quite obviously that’s all they will get. It’s geared up for students or people fresh out of University.

…and all the club will get out of it - is someone to help part timeish for a few months and then they’ll probably use the experience to move on onto a proper job.

Think for the most part it works for all involved - apart from the fact that it’s geared up to add no long stability to that function.

It’s a bit like getting someone in on loan…!!!

[Laddy in Red]

Voluntary temporary position/experience is good for the CV so can see the benefit to someone doing this and a bit different to the volunteer deliveroo driver position.

[RobertT]

I am not an expert here, but the club may need to tread very carefully.  You can certainly offer unpaid internship roles, but I believe they need to be linked to a degree course requirements to do so.  I do not think you can just offer "voluntary" work to anyone without having to pay National Minimum Wage for any hours completed.

The club cannot take voluntary roles on without pay - unless they are registered as a charity.

https://www.gov.uk/employment-rights-for-interns

If it is a true internship, then fair enough.  That works well for all parties and is a clever use of free labour that also delivers results for the student in the long term.

[DMC]

Unfortunately i think every league 2 team do this, it's just the nature of the business.

I think the club should increase season tickets and pay for these staff members personally as everyone seems to be happier if the club are paying for things when they don't really need to

[Bogus Dave]

It’s a shitty business practice, and the fact that others do it too isn’t good enough justification.

Like the ‘not paying our non-playing staff a living wage’ position

[DMC]

Well it is good enough justification.Just because you don't like it isn't reason enough either for them not to do it If you don't like the way the business is being run then stop funding them?

I am questioning it myself for what it is worth and not a pop but if so many things are against what you like i don't get why people keep on insisting on going and putting up with it when it appears there is literally not thing they enjoy about supporting the club anymore

[Nemo]

Conversely, if we had to agree with every position and decision of the club in order to support it, none of us would support a football team. One of the worst things about online football fandom is people supporting things that are obviously wrong just because it's their team that does it - sportswashing for absolute bastards at the extreme end, but things like poorly treating staff at the lower end.

I think a fair bit of it is just expecting better from the current management of the club, who clearly are (at least mostly) fundamentally good people who want to do the best for the club, even where they don't directly affect the results of the first team (something like integrating the women's team for example, or appointing a Chief Sustainability Officer). Nobody would have expected anything else of the previous regime.

Just on doing unpaid work to "break into" an industry - I know it's 100% the done thing now across a bunch of creative industries, and I'm sure we're not the worst offenders for it. But this sort of thing completely excludes people who don't have the ability to support themselves financially whilst doing this. In this case, they have to provide their own equipment and car, so we're not talking 16 year olds who are at college, we're talking young adults who probably need a wage. If we want everyone working in football to be from a background where they could do a couple of years unpaid, then fine, but I don't think our club (or most others) would say that aloud - they just create the conditions with shit like this.

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

One of the worst things about online football fandom is people supporting things that are obviously wrong just because it's their team that does it - sportswashing for absolute bastards at the extreme end, but things like poorly treating staff at the lower end.

See a lot of this online, not just for football but all sorts of things.

[Bogus Dave]

I dunno, if I was only interested in a football club that did things right or were ‘good’ in every sense of the word I’d whave long stopped following!

A lot of what this club does is great (ground purchase, integration of STFCW, the advisory board notes) but they’re not beyond reproach or criticism of other bits.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Much the same as some wouldn’t go because of di Canio but were happy to support the club under Power’s stewardship when his business history of fucking people over without a second thought, being connected to 17 bankruptcies and obviously bleeding the club dry was OK.

[The Million Pound Man]

people moan because they fking love the club and want it to be the best on and off the pitch.

i find the backlash to anyone pointing out things they get wrong incredible, its no wonder LP had our pants down for so long with people just blindly accepting whatever the club do as fantastic.

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

i find the backlash to anyone pointing out things they get wrong incredible, its no wonder LP had our pants down for so long with people just blindly accepting whatever the club do as fantastic.

There is backlash to any negativity, constantly.

The term happy clapper wasn't born irrationally. I've said it before but I truly do think a lot of our blind support no matter what fanbase have a bad case of toxic positivity. Sometimes things are not right and you can question them and sometimes thinks are fucking shit and its ok to say they're fucking shit out loud and not pretend otherwise.

I still see people across socials completely unironically telling people off for being negative because 'Clem saved the club/we still have a club' despite it being a total meme for how long now? A year? More?

[RobertT]

The problem is the fact that clubs were born of their local communities but have evolved in the past 30 years to become pure business entities.  Obviously we are not swallowed up in the Premier League nonsense of sport washing, but we've long since been removed from the "ownership" of the club in any true sense.  Fans are invested in their community club still, but the business itself is now very independent and many times that is a bad mix.  Reg would bemoan the loss of membership style status  Swindon had in the pre-70's foe example.

[RobertT]

Oh, and I still think someone at the Trust should look into the regulations with regards to Unpaid "work" - we all know the level of corporate and football experience at the club is limited.  It would not surprise me that they looked at this as a great idea to keep costs down and get some many needed hands onboard but not understood some employment law implications - regardless whether not other people do it.  Other people smuggle prostitutes across Country borders, it's still against the law.

I am also firmly OK with working with Universities in the local area to develop some sort of internship program.