Swans Trust Online Q & A

CroJack

CroJack

Key Player
Swans Trust Online Q&A Transcript - 15th October 2020


Hi all, welcome to this evening's Q&A session and thanks for attending and being a member of the Swans Trust!
Please ask any questions on this thread and I'll respond accordingly. We have some previously submitted questions
we'll add into this chat as we progress. Thanks!


Q. Question previously submitted by Gwyn John "Hello Andrew, there appears to be much action this week on transfers in and out, as a Trust are we ever informed in advance of any changes pending in the playing staff and where this will take us. Obviously this is a concerning time for the fans who have witnessed a good start to the season but we would quickly come unstuck if we lose players, and faces are brought in which are simply not good enough."


A. Thanks Gwyn. Stuart McDonald, our Supporter Director, meets with the club's management team, such as Julian Winter and Gareth Davies (our CFO) every week, so is kept abreast of the general situation. Things can move quickly so we're not consulted on individual signings but we are aware of the general plans.
Obviously, we share our views and the fans concerns on various things. For example, on the Joe Rodon situation we all see the press reports of Spurs coming in with an offer we'd see as ridiculously low, and that opinion is shared. We understand that view is shared by the club. If we received an offer we couldn't refuse then obviously we would need to replace and strengthen the squad. It is the challenge for Julian and his team, so we will see!

Q. Hi Andy, what dialogue has Trust had to date with Jake Silverstein?

A. Hi Ian. Funnily enough, we had our first conversation with Jake Silverstein this evening. It was very civil and he
came across well but obviously we shared our concerns with how the recent board changes have been handled and the general lack of communication, which has been a historic issue. Of course, we also told him all about the historic issues between us and the other shareholders. We shall see how that progresses, but it was a generally positive first meeting.

Q. good news that the dialogue has started

A. Agreed. Long overdue.

Q. With the Swans Facebook page recently sharing a petition to allow fans to return to stadiums, have the club considered any way that they would be able to manage this if the government decide to consider it? Any
suggestions over percentage attendance that could be safely managed, or thoughts on what could be sufficient to put in place to allow a return, if the government agree?

A. Unfortunately, at the moment, there are a lot of unknowns. We know the UK, and Welsh, Governments are not
countenancing fans attending sports stadia at the current time, and what that phased return would look like needs to be agreed between the clubs and the Governments. I don't think there's been enough engagement in that area to be honest.
I know the club have done some work to look at how they can facilitate that, but unfortunately, I don't think we're
close to returning. We also have the local lockdown situation as well of course.

Q. Dear Trust, Due to Swansea's remarkable recent history and pleasing playing style, Swansea City has fans from across the UK and indeed worldwide. What actions are the Trust taking to engage and inform fans beyond press releases? With fans obviously not able to physically engage with the Trust because of Covid-19, I think this is a pressing issue. I appreciate this Facebook Q and A is a positive step in this direction. One suggestion I would have is could the trust co-ordinate / organise a virtual fan night over zoom? Something akin to Swansea City Pub Quiz or perhaps talks about the history of the club. Thanks. Tom

A. It's a good idea Tom! Today is just an attempt to kick things off. We'll see if this works and go from there. Maybe a Teams/Zoom call for a Forum could work too, or maybe something in the social area. We'll have a think and go from there, but this is definitely something we want to improve upon.

Q. The trust has been offering a 50% discount on trust membership to new members recently. Has there been an
increase in people joining since the discount was offered?

A. Yes there has been a very positive take-up. We have over 300 new members in the last couple of months, so thank you all who have re-joined, and of course thanks all to those who had joined previously who we automatically extended for this season!
 
CroJack

CroJack

Key Player
Q. With Jenkins and Morgan still listed as directors, what part of any do they still play in the club? Do they still
attend board meetings, meet with Silverstein/Winter etc?

A. I don't think HJ has attended a board meeting since he resigned as Chairman. MM does though, and I know he's often there on matchday. In terms of involvement, I'm sure he also speaks to JW and JS too, but to what level he speaks to other shareholders I couldn't really comment. As he is a director of the club, that's not surprising though I'm sure.

Q. We had an earlier question from Phil "I have a question for the Q&A session, can we have an “update” on the Trust’s legal action against the takeover?"

A. Thanks Phil. So last month we updated that we had two tasks that needed to be completed before we could issue proceedings, firstly to conclude the activities with our QC, and then conclude an agreement with a litigation funder to enable us to fund legal action in a way that protects the Trust. The first of those activities is now complete, so we are focusing all our energies on concluding discussions on that funding question. This will take a few weeks I'm afraid so bear with us on that. It is quite a complex task and, as it involves legal teams, can take a lot of time and effort to go through the detail.

Q. Thank you Andrew for your reply, it’s good to see the Trust at last taking the necessary steps to try to achieve
some justice, and I would like to thank all of the Trust members who are working for this action.

A. No worries Phil and thanks for your kind words. It's nobody's idea of fun but resolving this has to be fundamental to what we do, because it impacts what we can do as a Trust, both now and in the future. It's a shame it's not been resolved before now, but in the absence of any real efforts to resolve the issues from elsewhere we have little choice
but to proceed.

Q. Next question previously submitted is from Richard ... "Thanks for this, good to see you're doing it. I am not
sure if I'll be able to attend but hope that someone will ask if we can take a position on the 'Project Big Picture'
idea as I see many supporters’ groups have taken a position (against) this idea? All the best"

A. Thanks Richard. It seems this has been kicked into the long grass as the PL clubs have rejected the proposals, but we shall see what comes of the next few weeks.
We've just sent out a statement to members on what we see as the pressing issues. The current crisis means that many clubs, particularly in L1/2 are weeks away from being unable to pay the bills. They need urgent support, so a financial package is something that needs resolving very quickly. We see that short-term loans have been offered but that doesn't resolve the issue.
I think we'd be dead against anything that impacts a team's ability to progress through the leagues. Promotion and relegation are the lifeblood of the league and must always be in place.
Something we've called out on many occasions is the need for proper, independent governance of the football industry in this country. Clubs can't be trusted to just do the right thing, and often need protecting from themselves.

The UK government promised a fan-led review of football and governance prior to the election and we urge them to honour that commitment. It is needed now more than ever.

Q. It appeared initially as if there wasn’t going to be a Swans/Poppy Badge this year but It looks as if common sense has now prevailed.

A. I'm glad that was resolved, and seems there was a bit of a missed communication as to why it was missed in the first place.

Q. Hi Andy How has the pandemic impacted on the Trust’s schools’ initiative which seemed to have gained a lot of support locally. Alan.

A. Hi Alan, good to see you! At the moment, school visits are not practical, so things are generally on hold until schools are able to engage more fully. Roger, as our lead on this, is keeping engaged with the schools but we are rather limited in the current climate unfortunately, but it remains very much central to what we want to do going forward.

Q. A question received from Barry earlier...."The posters on my small forum feel, rightly or wrongly, that the Trust is proving toothless in respect of the proposed action/litigation against the owners. So, my question on their behalf is - when can we expect real progress in this respect? Thank you again.

A. Hi Barry. Hope my earlier answer covers where we are on this. Appreciate it can seem like this has dragged on, and it has, however unfortunately a lot of the necessary steps in order to proceed with this in the correct way take a lot of time, and that situation has been exacerbated in recent months.
I can assure you we are still very much committed to the process mandated by our members and we are progressing it as quickly as we can. I hope that increased communication will help our members understand the progress made and the timelines. I would hope we can conclude the remain step in the next few weeks but just like any negotiation it can take longer than we would wish.

Q. This is from Tim..... "Dear Trust. I think I’ve been a member of the Trust since its inception and, in an ideal
world, would like to see the club owned 100% by our supporters.
A couple of questions about the progress of possible legal proceedings against the current / former owners.
I disagreed with the Trust’s decision to seek to force the sale of Trust shares to the current or former owners, and
still do. The decision seems contrary to a number of the stated aims of the Trust,(I can’t see how forcing present / past owners to purchase our shares squares with our stated aim to ‘maintain and increase a stake in the club’). I thought that there were other stated Trust Aims that the process also contradicts, but these seem to have changed on the website. Have any modifications been made recently to the Trust’s aims, as advertised on the Trust website and, if so, was there a mandate for the changes?
How much has the Trust paid so far for advice to establish a legal case If the case is successful, how much might the Trust hope to gain, and how much might ultimately be paid to consultants?”

A. Hi Tim, thanks for your questions! I'll answer as detailed as I can.
You're absolutely right, one of the stated aims of the Trust is to have a stake in our club. The reason for that, IMO at least, is that, in an ideal world, having a stake means having being able to influence and affect things in the interests of our members. I think one of the fundamental issues at the moment is that, as a result of the 2016 sale, our ability to do that has been diminished. Partly in practice, due to one party being able to make the decisions they want, and has been doing that without consultation on far too many occasions, but partly this has been written into the Articles
of Association that govern how our club operates. Without those things changing, our ability to influence how our club is run is impacted.
In terms of costs to date, our annual accounts which are published on our website show the financial position of the Trust at the end of each financial year, which include the outgoings, which largely relate to legal costs. At the current time, our costs in relation to overall legal expenses are around the £250k mark.


Hi all, it looks like we have come to the end of the questions, so I'll wrap things up now. Thanks all for attending and
let us know how you think this evening as gone, whether it is helpful, how it can be improved etc.
I'll answer any further questions when I see them, but thanks all for attending!
Andy Godden
15th October 2020
 
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