LUSN AGM Meeting – Thurs 15th August 2024
Attendees: Jacqui (Hampshire Whites), Tony (Invicta),). Mark Jordan (Blackpool Whites), Carl (Shropshire Whites), Gary (Shropshire), Alan (LUDO), Dean (SLI), Clive (LUSN), Ryan Padgett (Thames Valley), Jonno (LUIS), Momchil (Bulgaria), Thorir (Iceland), Paul (Essex), Shirley (Hampshire)
Apologies: Chris (Bay Area Whites), Steve Griffin (Thames Valley Whites), Anders (LUSS), Suzanne (LUDO), Andy (Manchester Whites), Arnie (Iceland)
Chairman’s Report
Clive opened by providing the Chairman’s Report
He expressed congratulations on behalf of the LUSN to John Mallon who had been appointed as a Peace Commissioner in Ireland.
He stated that this would be his last meeting as Chair and outlined his view that the role should be time limited to ensure the breadth of skills could be exploited.
LUSN now believed to be largest supporters’ group with over 10000 members across 50 groups and had been successful in challenging the status quo. In comparison the Trust 1,175 members and LUSC around 3,500.
This makes the LUSN the largest supporters body by far and the intent needs to be in the next phase to move the club into a more pro supporters attitude, although this will not be easy given the reputation of the 49ers.
Clive called out the efforts of Carl in promoting the growth of the LUSN, and Tony for his efforts as Treasurer, and others in managing the social media channels, including Mark, Ellie, Carl and Dev. Clive highlighted Mark’s contribution to campaigning and the positive impact this had had. He also called out the role of Jacqui in respect of organisation and facilitation
Clive highlighted the 40% growth in engagement on social channels but stated there was still often a gap in content.
Website growth has been slower c.10% but the primary focus had been on media and press engagement which has been positive
This increase in numbers had resulted in positive changes in a number of areas. But it was also important to be able to register in opposition in areas where the club-maintained decisions that were not in the interests of supporters e.g. banning supporters from the pre-season tour of Germany which was a club decision.
There have been conversations with the club regarding ground expansion but it is clear that was often used to distract from negative news, and conversation it seemed clear that the club does not own the ground but the Council would be open to sale subject an agreement on residents and price.
The difficulty of the role of the SLOs was highlighted given the hostile attitude of some within the Club.
Positive relationships with other supporters’ bodies including Brentford, Newcastle and Spurs were highlighted.
With respect to Charities, the question had been looked at, and there had been come conversations Andy Howarth who is a Leeds Season ticket holder and runs The Howarth Foundation which is focussed on supporting the homeless by helping to find employment. Relations with the club were good and has resulted in some roles being secured at Thorpe Arch. There was an opportunity to potentially also support in this area.
It was highlighted that several members of the committee had supported Stix over the past year and he had been re-employed by the club in a voluntary, on-paid role. However a number of promises that were made at the time of his reappointment had not been fulfilled, including the role in completing matchday tours.
Clive revealed he had a number of interesting conversations with respect to the 49ers but it was too lengthy to cover in the meeting and would be published on LinkedIn and the LUSN website.
Clive closed by expressing condolences on the death of Ray Fell, and acknowledging the role he has played over many years in supporting Leeds United supporters.
Clive passed on his best wishes to the next Chair and confirmed that he would remain a member of the Committee.
Treasurer’s Report
Tony provided a short update on the latest financial position for LUSN covering FY23 – FY24 (Aug 23-July 24)
At the start of year, the balance was £515.85
Income was a £75 donation from LUST
There were just two items of expenditure which were for the monthly website hosting £14.39 a month and £172 68. for the year and the domain hosting fee which is an annual charge every October of £29.99
This meant total expenditure was £202.67. When deducted from the balance of £590.95, that leaves a balance of funds going forward of £388.88 on 1 August 24
Projected expenditure for this year were expected to be £202.67 for the website. This meant existing funds should be sufficient to cover the remainer or this year and half of the following year.
Dean stated that he had spoken with the Secretary of the SLI, and they would be donating £250 to the LUSN.
Tony highlighted that was per the LUSN constitution, affiliation fees could be charged to members, but this had not been done for the first two years and therefore proposed that a fee not be introduced this year given the healthy financial position.
A vote was taken, and it was agreed to continue not to charge a fee.
It was discussed that this could be a limited factor to growth or activity, and that this decision would be revisited at next year’s AGM. If funds were required for a specific purpose, then there was the facility to do this if the need arose.
Elections
Dean was proposed as the new Chairman
The new chair was unanimously elected
Steve Griffin, the existing vice chair had been limited in his capacity due to work pressures. To keep the committee strong, it was felt it would be beneficial to have two vice chairs, one with an inward focus (across LUSN and other supporters groups) and one with an external focus (Football League, Football Association) and this would offer maximum support for the Chair
Steve’s relationships and knowledge across the fanbase, and Mark’s record of campaigning meant regarded as strong candidates for the internal Vice Chair (Steve) and external Vice chair (Mark) roles.
Both vice chairs were unanimously elected to their respective roles.
Dean was proposed as the new Chairman
The new chair was unanimously elected
Jacqui was proposed as the new Secretary and unanimously elected
Tony agreed to continue is his role as Treasurer and was unanimously elected
Constitution
Jacqui highlighted some minor changes to the Constitution to enable the affiliation of groups with less than 20 members, and references to the charging of affiliation fees and other matters which were not assured.
It was proposed that the changes to the Constitution be ratified which was unanimously agreed.
Website
There were issues with the website which has been stagnant
Shirley and Carl had agreed to support Jacqui therefore with making updates to the website, including more content and photos.
There was a need to find more dedicated support from within the Network as the website provided an opportunity for engagement and recruitment.
Dean provided a note of caution regarding ensuring that any pictures uploaded had permissions from the owner of the picture as some branches had issues with images sourced from Getty images.
Supporter’s Advisory Board (SAB)
There was a discussion as to whether the LUSN should affiliate with the SAB. The reasons for the LUSN currently being outside of the SAB were outlined. The Club had again asked the LUSN to join and have a representative on the SAB Board, but the club had been evasive in their responses, with a lack of transparency and serious questions still regarding the independence of the Chair of the SAB.
It was suggested that having a SAB representative on the Board would be better to ensure an understanding of what is taking place from the inside
The risks of being collectively complicit with the misinformation from the Club if LUSN were to take a seat on the SAB were highlighted.
There was a lengthy discussion as to the benefits and risks of the LUSN taking a seat on the SAB with Dean to be the representative if the LUSN was to join.
A vote was taken, and the vote was 6 to 4 for LUSN to NOT join the SAB.
Jacqui confirmed that she would write to the club to communicate the decision and to request the next meeting.
There is a meeting arranged with Lisa Nandy, MP, to discuss the government’s stance on Fans representation which LUSN will attend.
AOB - FSA
Mark said that at the next meeting a proposal to join the Football Supporters Association would be brought. There was a question over the requirements for joining, but this did not seem prohibitive. There would be a main agenda item on this at a future meeting.
AOB – Shirts
Concerns had been raised regarding the quality of the shirts. It was clear that the club were accountable for this and if there were any issues with quality defective items needed to be returned to the Club.
AOB - Junior Tickets
Concerns were raised regarding the increase in price for junior tickets from £10 to £22.50 for an under 11. This was out of line with the rest of the Championship where the average price for an Under 11s ticket was £8.50 and how inconsistent this was with the past statements from Angus
It was flagged that this would be an area where the LUSN would challenge the club.
AOB – Beckford & Becchio Tour
It was highlighted that there would be a Beckford and Becchio event coming up across the number of supporters branches and that this would be promoted through the network. Shropshire Whites - Friday 6th September at Shrewsbury Town FC. Essex Whites - Monday 9th September at Colchester United FC.
Chris and Kev – Commentative 25 years Football Tournament
Dean highlighted that a commemorative football tournament would be organised Iin memory of Chris and Kev, with the winners to receive a trophy from the SLI / LUSN.
Details were to be confirmed as to whether this would be 5 a side or 11 a side and whether the games would be in one location of across the country with the different supporters groups.
Dean asked that members engage their groups regarding provision of teams and other supporters groups would be engaged too.
Podcast
Dean highlighted that a SLI / LUSN podcast has been discussed and details would follow.
Ticketing Issues
Mark highlighted a number of ticketing issues and inconsistencies that he would be raising with EFL directly and requested members reach out if there was anything they wanted to be included.
