Fans vote in the Boardroom (1 Viewer)

[CovScott88]

I'm just following up on something that was mentioned by the guys that went to the 'Tweetup' with Leonard Brody, Paul Clouting, Ugo Onye (???) and the rest on Sunday.
It was said that the board were toying with the idea of charging fans slightly more for a season ticket or having them pay a small fee each, to have a say in boardroom decisions.
So if something had to be run through and voted on by the board, all the fans that were eligible, would cast their vote and then the majority would be used as 1 vote in the boardroom. How does everything feel about this? Do we think it would be worth it? Could it work?

Say for example they decide to open it to everyone and say that you pay £50 a month to be a part of it, and 5000 accept, that is 250000 extra a month going into the club and cutting our losses aswell as us having a say in how the club is run (I am just throwing out a random number there by the way). I know alot of people will say "I refuse to give a penny towards SISU" etc etc, but would anyone do it?

 

---

[ajsccfc]

I wouldn't personally, but I like the idea. Plus anyone doing it wouldn't be giving their money to SISU, they'd be giving it to Coventry City.

 

[Marty]

£50 a month is a hell of a lot of money to give you a tiny % of 1 vote, I was thinking it would be closer to around £10 a season. I do think it's a good idea but Its going to be a nightmare getting the vote system set up,

 

[CovScott88]

£50 a month is a hell of a lot of money to give you a tiny % of 1 vote, I was thinking it would be closer to around £10 a season. I do think it's a good idea but Its going to be a nightmare getting the vote system set up,

I did think it was a tad excessive, but I just picked a number. Good job im not leading it eh?! Ha!

 

[Jimthor]

The way i understand it from the meeting:

I think £50 a season was the amount mentioned, although i think that was just an example. The idea is that any season ticket that wanted to pay £50 extra to be a part of this could, and anyone that didn't want to didn't have to.
There's then a seat on the board created that's essentially the "fan's seat", meaning we get a say on all major decisions.
So basically, all the fans vote on a yes/no decision (e.g. "should Andy Thorn be manager?"), and if 60% of fans vote yes and 40% vote no, then the "fan's seat" on the board votes yes in the boardroom vote.

The money would be going into the club to replace falling TV revenues.

There are a number of hurdles to this. Some Leonard mentioned were that everyone "on the board" would have to be approved by the FA, and there might also be some issues in that not everything raised in the boardroom is legally allowed to enter the public domain.

It should be said that this is not necessarily going to happen, it's just one idea the board have come up with, which would serve two purposes (helping with revenue, and giving the fans more of a say on matters).

I think it's a great idea if all these sorts of issues can be overcome, but it sounds like it would be very difficult.
More importantly though, i like how the board are trying to come up with new ways to involve the fans, and are being creative in their search for new revenue streams.

 

[Gaskell]

They should listen to the fans without having to try and cash in at every opportunity they get. :jerkit:

 

[Jimthor]

They should listen to the fans without having to try and cash in at every opportunity they get. :jerkit:

Slightly unfair i feel, considering the board met with fans at the Ricoh on Saturday, we have one board member ever-present on twitter, and that they're looking at other ways to formalise decision-making, e.g. voting on merchandise designs.

 

[Sutty]

They should listen to the fans without having to try and cash in at every opportunity they get. :jerkit:

Actively allowing the fans to vote on boardroom matters is more than just listening to the fans though. The fans could actually end up swaying the board's decision.

[cynic] Unless of course they take the money, watch the fans' vote and manipulate the board vote to still give them the result they wanted. [/cynic]

 

[ajsccfc]

There's always one.

 

[Godiva]

They should listen to the fans without having to try and cash in at every opportunity they get. :jerkit:

The fans ... you mean you? Or do you mean me? Or the one who shouts in frustration? Or the one who speaks softly in resignation? Or ...

The idea raised by Brody holds some positives, but in reality we - the fans as a group - may end as hostages.
They clearly want to move a bit closer to us to avoid again being appointed villains by a stampede of frustrated fans.
It's a nice thought - giving the fans a vote - but in reality it will never be a truly decisive vote, merely a voice.

 

[Covstu]

In theory its a great idea to get our fans engaged with key decisions, this issue will be about how much information we have to make an informed decision. Taking a new manager as case in point, do we recruit Thorn as manager? Yes or no.... Thats fine but the key decisions would be who else is in the meltingpot and costs, i.e. we have had interest from Thorn at £3Kpw, Mourinho at £20K pw and O'Neill at £10K pw, who do you chose!!!

I know thety would not show this amount of detail to the public but this would obviously be the key decisions to be made.

 

[rob9872]

If Ranson, Hoffman and Eliott can get out-voted on board decisions what chance does a single fans vote have?

It's spin to make us think we're involved and free cash for them. If Fans were prepared for a £50 investment then I would happily administer for free to collect the 10,000 fans x £50 (£0.5m) and go to them with a protected value to actually buy us a % share that our vote would reflect as a proper investor.