The Trust Board of Society Elections.

It’s election time again and this time the BoS is having an overhaul. There a few key points for me in moving forward. i want to see the Trust and the Club push towards a firmer financial footing. Certainly the re-development of the ground longer term has the capacity to  drastically improve our situation. However, we cannot allow ourselves to be in a position whereby we rely on player sales or large gates to bring in money. Ideally we would be running a profit before sales and based on average gate of 3,500 which is about as low as we will go in my estimation however bad things may get at some future point. This of course is not an easy task but those members elected to the BoS will need to be enthusiastic and capable of tackling this very difficult issue.

Much has been made of the poor communication of the Trust, especially in internet circles, probably harsher than is deserved but certainly not without some grounding in fact. The Trust all too often fails to capture the imagination either  of the fan base or the general public. I would like to see more information available through the main club website and some limited use of sites like EXEWEB. I would also be keen to see the club make more of an effort to expand the brand of ECFC. I understand the limitations we are under but sometimes you can achieve a lot more by committing funds and effort to selling the club rather than providing information on fly stickers.

I don’t mean to persuade anyone else of my views and I mean no slight on any of the candidate who I am not going to vote for but I thought I would put a few thought forward about those who I will.

Firstly the stand-out candidate for me is Laurence Overend. As a solicitor with his own law firm he would I imagine bring with him some very valuable skills indeed which will undoubtedly be needed not least regarding the stadium redevelopment. I certainly agree with his ideas of advertising the really very good work the club does but often goes all to unnoticed (the branding I mentioned earlier). I am very keen on the idea of (working with other Trusts?) lobbying the government. I see this kind of action not only as a way toward improving the financial fair play and sustainability of the greatest leagues system in the world but also as a way to tackle the issues like that of the terracing ban. he also wants to tackle the serious issue of communication…..good luck!

Secondly Ian Bond stands out for me. Not so much for the quality of his CV but because even though i have never met him personally I do know who he is. He has always appeared to be a dedicated city fan and will bring a certain youthfulness which the board appears to be lacking currently. I get the impression that he will go to great lengths to improve the communication of the Trust and to help engage the membership. he brings all the relevant skills to the table as well according to his CV (not sure this is the right word/phrase actually but there you go).

Finally, I think I will mention Roger Conway. He played a role in the excellent redevelopment plans which I cannot have enough praise for. He also has a clear focus on the financial basis of the club and working to ensure we can remain competitive at this level and if luck might be on our side beyond if only for a short time.

I would like to thank all those who have put themselves forward. I have limited myself to three votes as I feel that this will ensure that I am voting for the people who I want and not just for the sake of full-filling my allocation of six votes. However, I urge every trust member to examine the candidates and their CVs  and vote according to your own opinions as voting for the Board of the Society is how we as the grass-roots members really affect the direction of the club.