Thetownend.com

I know many (including myself) feel like there should be some sort of protest happening now, ideally before the end of the season aimed at Clem.
I also don’t believe this is possible, or will happen, without the Trust organising, or at least supporting one.

So my questions are:

How many on here believe the Trust should be organising a protest of sorts?
Have any members Trust members on here contacted them regarding this?

Depends what the end goal is

 I have no idea what the Trust does or should be doing

The trust should be wound up.

19th in the league and people are accepting it. There were people around me today getting angry at those booing, what needs to happen for these people to wake up.

Not against protest but it's needs to be for something, we can't just protest against being shit.

The fans aren’t the problem - the ownership is the problem FFS.
Also, to be fair if the players don’t have any leadership how does booing actually help them?

I don’t give a shit what fans do - I booed and cheered in the same match get over it. It’s not about one set of fans and another set of fans.

I never said that, what I said is there are people accepting of where we are now. Of course you can cheer and boo in the same game you moron.

I think the problem is we don't know what the Trust now stand for and we won't until they tell us with the new board in place. I am hoping they tell us soon as that is key to whether myself and lots of others (i would guess), I think continue supporting them financially.
We know they are key to the JV but what else ? That's key

They should be as the direction of travel of the club is obvious

I cancelled my membership though as disillusioned with the set up

…and my point was who gives a fuck. The fans aren’t the problem.

So to change my tune, yes of course that is a problem!! If the fans accept our current ownership nothing will change!

Rebellion against the current ownership is essential now.
My Orange hat was very lonely today. I see on here, and FB lots of supporters unhappy yet nothing happens.
Stop moaning on social media and do something. That will get press interest and off we go.

Totally agree and most importantly stop giving the club money that’s the only thing that will drive change

The Trust in its current guise doesnt appear willing or able to organise protest...I will fully support protest, as Clem has in 3 short years turned us into a badly run club, underfunded, poorly staffed in key positions and destined for National League. It will be too late if we dont protest soon: season ticket boycott would be the most effective and demonstrations at home games.

Both the OSC and the Trust are starting to become negligent in their silence. They have a responsibility to lead and influence. Both are neglecting their duty. The time for collaboration with the club has long since gone. Liars and convicted criminals, and they need to be hounded out.

Absolutely.

This remains crucial.  What's the alternative? 

When the old trust campaigned against Diamandis they had Bill Power and then Andrew Fitton as the alternative.

What do we have? Nothing?

I agree this is historically shit, but we need a positive alternative.

I don't know what it is, though.

Season ticket boycott be most effective whether to renew or not is personal choice but I’m not renewing as I feel this will just prolong Clems tenure

In previous posts you said you weren't a member anymore...

At the minute, there is zero proof of any actual wrongdoing at the club, plenty of mistakes and mismanagement but no concrete evidence, no smoking gun, wages seem to be being paid... Trust/OSC can't be expected to protest poor results and substandard/inadequate staffing levels and 'turtle on a gatepost' hiring choices. The fans can boo and jeer and complain, organise their own protests etc, but unless there's solid proof to go along with the plumes of smoke at the minute, there's not a lot the OSC/Trust folk can do officially.

Most are not attending though. That is pretty clear from how empty the ground looks. 7k home fans my arse.

Last game of the season we should be making an effort for the stay aways such as myself to attend and kick off.

Hopefully its a dead rubber and we're not still fighting for a football league status. That'll give nobody any excuses.

Who cares if we're winning and kicking off. None of this "support the team" bullshit. Some things are more important and 90% of the cunts don't deserve the support and won't be here next year anyway.

I kind of want to say goodbye to Austin last match!

TBH I would rather let Charlie manage the team for the last few games instead of the clueless Gunning.

Agree.

This 100%. I don’t buy a single thing at the ground no more, no food, no beer, no merchandise nothing. We need the vast majority of fans NOT to renew ST’s so Clem & Co don’t get a pay day bonanza. His Axis empire is crumbling and once the cash stops rolling in here he might not be in a position to demand silly money for STFC. Why would a prospective consortium give Clem & Co £15M when if they wait for the inevitable to happen they can acquire the club for a fraction of that?

No need for a boycott - can’t see many renewing anyway. The club seem to be doing their own dirty work quite well.

Problem is a lot will renew regardless. Holding onto your money will as we say force his hand- those that renew should ask themselves are they happy with our position? Think they know the answer to that

It's not as simple as that though, for some people it is the most important part of their week, some people have kids that they don't want to disapoint, for some people it might be the only time that they see their grown up kids during the week - this is not a simple black or white decision, in a lot of cases the decision is emotive.

If people are renewing or not based on how they think it will effect the ownership then you are right, this is the time to take a stand, but those that are personally invested in the club for other reasons other than how it is being run, and buy their season tickets for personal reasons should be allowed to do so without being called out as a owner sympathiser and part of the problem.

 :thumb:

Let’s hope that those who buy an early bird ST. Are not asked to fore go that money and purchase another one in August… Lightening does strike twice doesn’t it.

I will be renewing as I live out of Swindon and it's the only chance I get to see my mates from my youth and get my kids going to games. Hate the current set up but can't stop attending and love my seats

Exactly my point, depending on the circumstances it's not a straight forward decision

Agree, everyone can donl their bit to starve the bastards out though.

Cut back on Merchandise, get your chips from a chippy, drinks from a pub etc.

All builds up and hits them where it hurts.

I don't feel that it is the Trust's role to organise or even support a "protest" at this point.  That may change depending on circumstances.

It has been brought in closer to the club.  That closeness has the appearance of having come at the expense of its independence.  

It is in my view time to hold that Regime's feet to the fire in terms of disclosure, timetables and setting out precise questions that need an answer and evidence.  Waffle is no longer acceptable.

If it means the Trust being told to lump it or distanced from the Club, then so be it.  The Trust does have standing in the local and footballing community.  There is an opportunity to publicise any demands for clarity and evidence that are resisted or refused.

Other than the JV itself, the whole purpose of the Trust is foster positive stewardship of the Club.  If that is not happening, then it is not the role of the Trust to abet or appease a Regime that is acting against the interests of the Club.

Any obfuscation or dispute initiated by the present Regime in response needs to become the subject of publicity and be met by appropriate responses from the Trust.  That could be to:

1. link in with protest groups why not  (they need promoting to achieve some "mass" - booing, a few placards etc is fine but won't change anything, imo)
2. link in quietly with others in the Community
(such as past owners or directors of repute who may have their own contacts, the likes of Sam Morshead or other similarly minded media operators, possible new owners whether from Abu Dhabi  ;)  or Fan Ownership proponents, concerned Sponsors)
3. publicise itself as an an enterprising and positive partner for new owners willing to be pro-active in developing support and even revenue

Good sensible post

problem is, no money to the Club now may lead to administration for a third time and then we're out of the league. I wouldn't want to cause that.

yeah, we couldn't cope with a 10 point deduction

You aren’t causing that, the crooks within the club do that themselves. Unfortunately I don’t believe all the money generated into the club stays within the club.

Less money into the club just means they will cut the outgoings.
So we’ll have less players on less money therefore even less quality. The only thing that will increase is the people moaning about how rubbish everything is on social media.

The protest of not paying/going to games doesn't work sadly. Unless you can get widespread support for that action it has no effect. Like it or not there are a significant number of fans that will continue to buy tickets and support the club, so in effect the protest of the minority just hurts the club, without it having its desired effect.

I would much prefer for fans to still go and protest at the game. Its so quiet there, sure there are boos at ht and ft on Sat, but imagine the townened singing non stop in protest at Clem, or gunning or whoever. That forces media outlets to cover it a little more, as opposed to it just being apathy. Protests outside the ground, hell someone can sell orange hats near by maybe. 

Though I have to wonder who at the club is even there to get a feel for what the fans think. Hall is there, but the guy is a grade A moron. Who reports back to Clem about what happens? Fuck does Jamie Russel even attend these games, he is in charge on the footballing front, shouldn't he be there to judge his signings and the performance of Gav!

I’m not sure the media would bother to cover some singing in the Town End.

If you want media cover you’re going to have to delay or postpone the game & I’m not sure we have the fanbase for that.

Plus, what exactly are we protesting against & what do we want out of it?

Reading, Charlton etc. seemed to muster quite a lot of media interest when bombarding the pitch with pigs and tennis balls

How do you smuggle a pig into the CG? All that squealing will surely give you away.

….take it in, in bacon form

I was doing a little bit of background reading on the Blackpool situation when their fans basically had a boycott for what seemed like years.

https://thesetpieces.com/latest-posts/turning-back-love-blackpool-fans-enduring-protests/

Ultimately, the take away part for me was this sentence -

"A week on from a joint-protest between Blackburn and Blackpool fans at Ewood Park, in which a rain-soaked demonstration and shower of tennis balls grabbed a good deal of media attention outside of Lancashire, this is back to the grind of weekly protest. Outside the Jimmy Armfield statue, Blackpool Supporters’ Club deputy chairman Christine Seddon is handing out flyers, urging away fans not to spend any extra money on programmes and pies."

I think it basically confirms that the only real way to get media attention is going down the lobbing tennis balls onto the pitch

Makes sense, and thats sort of my point. Its far more effective still attending games and making protests in some form, than it is for 10-20% of people to just not turn up, and those that do barely protest.

(Sorry Bennett)

The Trust stopped being a serious outfit for me when Jed McROARy bought the club for a quid.

You are dead to me, you know I was definitely on the board when that happened

Not sure we are the stage of concerted organised protest just yet.

A bombardment of tennis balls would need to be in the hundreds to be effective for example.

Some chanting in the remaining home games might be a good start if only to gauge the degree of push back, if any.

Apathy & disenchantment should turn to an anger which encompasses the ownership if the current downward spiral  of form continues on to its logical conclusion next season.