Minutes of EGM held 9th February 2021 at 6pm via Zoom
Present: Simon Archer, Steven Bailey, Ciaran Barker, Simon Bennett, Anne Bott, Peter Bradburn, Neil Dady, Carl Falconer, Jack Finch, Cheryl Gilbert, Tony Grocott, Kevin Harris, Kashmire Hawker, Anita Midha, Sam Payne, Clive Smith, Ian Smith, Richard Southgate, Irene White, John Woodward (joined at 6.30pm after the voting took place).
Apologies: Peter Abbott, Mark Bullock, Kerry Harris, Dave Milton, Jonathan Taylor, Ian Walker
Anne Bott welcomed everyone to the meeting which was called to elect a new chairman in light of Glenn Aston’s resignation and then to ratify, or not, decisions taken at the AGM.
a) Statement of nominations for chairperson - only one nomination was received: Sam Payne.
Sam’s bio had been circulated to the membership prior to this meeting, he had been proposed by Ian Walker and seconded by Peter Bradburn.
Neil Dady suggested that as only one person was nominated a majority vote should be necessary. This was agreed by all present. Sam stated that he would not be voting, Neil was unable to vote electronically due to hosting the meeting (but was a vote in favour) and Mark Bullock had given Neil his vote to use at the meeting.
An anonymous Zoom vote was taken and Sam was elected as chairman with 88% of the vote. He thanked everyone for their votes and he proceeded to chair the rest of the meeting.
b) Statement of nominations for Interim Vice Chairman - this was an interim position due to Steve Brown being in hospital with Covid. It was agreed to hold this role open until March, as Ian Walker, the only nomination, was unable to attend tonight’s meeting, meanwhile the position remains open to other applicants.
c) A discussion took place as to whether members required a rerun of the en bloc committee election which had taken place at the AGM on 14th January. Sam had suggested that we rerun the vote for transparency but Neil felt that it would delay matters further to do this.
Anne explained that Jas Bahra had resigned yesterday from the FP committee and as a member but the constitution does allow for members to be co-opted as and when necessary. Therefore, it was felt that we did not need to replace Jas at present. Thanks to Jas for his work with FP.
A vote was taken and 100% agreed to maintain the committee as is. Proposed Sam Payne, seconded Neil Dady.
d) In respect of the Supporters’ Trust, Sam asked if members would confirm their support for continuing with the 3 motions passed at the AGM.
● Members support in principle of the establishment of a Supporters’ Trust
● If passed, members support that the elected FP committee plays an active role in forming the Trust and update members throughout the process.
● Following the establishment of the Trust, an EGM to be called to allow the FP members to vote on merging the FP into the Trust.
One vote was taken for all 3 motions, 100% in agreement.
e) A legal name is required for the Trust paperwork and Wolves have made it clear that they do not wish the name Wolves or Wolverhampton Wanderers to be used. Suggestions are needed for this name, which needs to include “Supporters’ Society Ltd”. A “known as” name can be created which differs from the legal name. Neil suggested that this is done at the same time.
Several suggestions had already been made -
● 1877 Supporters’ Society Ltd
● Old Gold and Black Supporters’ Society Ltd
● Old Gold Supporters’ Society Ltd
● 1877 Old Gold and Black Supporters’ Society Ltd
Sam asked if there were any further suggestions and Simon Archer suggested “Molineux Independent Supporters’ Society (MIST)”. Discussion took place as to whether Molineux could be used within any name, this would need to be checked with Wolves.
Kevin Harris asked if WW Supporters’ Society Ltd would be acceptable instead of WWFC which is most probably copyright. This would need to be checked and also it could be confused with Wycombe Wanderers.
Kashmire Hawker felt that all of the names were good but wasn’t sure which he would vote for immediately and felt that we should wait a couple of weeks before deciding.
Anne suggested that as there were relatively few members at the meeting it would be fairer to open up the naming to the whole membership. It was agreed that an email would be sent to all members asking for their suggestions and then votes for a winner, this would need to be decided within a couple of weeks and will be discussed at the next committee meeting. Neil asked which voting format we could use, was a meeting necessary or could it be done electronically?
AOB
Sam and Neil had both spoken to Dave Wood at Wolves last week and the club explained that they still wish to have fans involved with them via forums and would continue to approach the FP as one of those groups, thus maintaining a good relationship. Dave confirmed that if a trust is formed the club would engage with them.
An email has been sent to members asking for discussion topics and quite a few suggestions have been received so far.
● Covid-safe return to grounds
● Retail experience and kit design
● Ticketing allocation
● Stadium Redevelopment
● Matchday - Wi-fi availability, public transport and exit strategy on match days
● Corporate and catering
● VAR
As meetings are currently not being held at Molineux and the club is moving towards interaction with smaller focus groups, there is no longer a need to restrict FP membership numbers. Wolves have previously requested an upper limit. This being the case the committee will discuss at their next meeting how to invite those on the waiting list to join; application forms are available and any names would need to be checked with Wolves to ensure there are no banning orders in place.
Neil advised that, along with himself, Ciaran Barker is our new FSA rep, replacing Glenn Aston.
The VAR survey proposed by Wolves FP is now having the questions formulated by FSA, awaiting approval by the national FSA Committee before being circulated.
Also, Mike Riley has agreed to speak to the PL Network Group next week, FP members have been canvassed for questions via the WhatsApp and Facebook groups and the themes are relatively consistent amongst all PL fans’ groups.
Re VAR Sam suggested it would be interesting to poll the PL managers re for/against VAR in the light of recent decisions.
Ciaran Barker felt that it needs to come from players and managers to speak out against VAR when a decision goes for them as well as when it goes against them.
Kashmire felt that there were underlying problems,shown by the red cards overturned last weekend.
Jack Finch commented that the FP should follow up on the comment that Wolves that “they would rather have VAR than not”and that games without VAR that he’s watched this season are more enjoyable and entertaining.
Those present were asked about preferred start teams for Zoom meetings; most people voted for a 6.30pm rather than 6pm.
Next meeting - Steering Committee Members - Tuesday 23rd February 6.30pm via Zoom.
It was agreed that as the TV fixtures haven’t yet been published for March we would not set a firm full members meeting date; however, (subject to tv fixtures) Tuesday16th March at 6.30pm was suggested. This will be confirmed nearer the time.
Meeting ended 6.45pm
