The SOC campaign is now nothing to do with Jan as he resigned due to the overwhelming (and in my opinion, wrong) feeling that opening any kind of dialogue with the club meant that the group were pandering to the demands of SISU and diluting the power of the campaign. However, the moment Jan left the group fell apart.
SOC organised the 'Back the Boys' event away at Reading. They put on cheap coaches for as many fans who were interested and the day was full of positive support for the team. However, within the portfolio of protest action against SISU I still struggle to see what the aim of the event was. Yes it was a brilliantly well organised day out which showed the players we were (and are) still behind them, but the event did nothing to progress the direct aims of the group to remove SISU. In fact, the Back the Boys event could even be deemed as a distraction for Gary, as his time and resources were focused on organising this. This created a period of silence for SOC who have still failed to clarify their aims and objectives since Jan (and others) have left SOC.
Communication and dialogue between SOC and the fans seems to be at an all time low. Gary seems to be the only person who is prepared to admit to being part of the group. This has led him to carry a heavy burden on his shoulders, and whilst we can all appreciate the hard work he has put in and the passion he has for the club, he has at times, possibly due to stress, come across as an aggressive individual. I am sure he is not and I personally have tried to reconcile with him on a number of occasions in order to re-open communication channels but he has never reciprocated.
Gary and the SOC group have failed to answer a series of direct questions about their policy and direction. When Jan was part of the group he would always enter into dialogue, whether himself and I agreed or not was not an issue as I felt he was committed to creating understanding. In fact, as an outspoken skeptic of the group at first, i came to understand the original SOC group and had begun to back it.
Jan would also post minutes from the SOC meetings to allow those who were not in attendance to keep up-to-date with its progress. Gary has often taken it as an offensive request to do the same, with any public statements often being poorly written and contradicting. For example, the SOC website claims the Hoffman bid to be credible, but Gary has admitted to not having any proof of any form that the Hoffman bid is credible.
The SOC group in its present format have also discussed a public demonstration at the Olympics. A move which I believe will embarrass the fans (not the club/SISU) during a world-wide event which is meant to be focused on peace and togetherness rather than politics.
SOC are also planning on going to London to rally the cause of their group to the Football League and the press. The aim of this action is to force these bodies to investigate what SOC (and all of us fans) see as poor management by SISU. However, with no reasonable speculation about SISU doing anything illegal, I can't see this being as productive as SOC may hope.
SOC started as an action group for the majority in the hope of including all fans to unify under a common cause. SOC is now seemingly managed by one individual and is intent of remaining the outspoken minority. I urge you all to keep up-to-date with the new proposed Trust, which Jan is part of, as it is not created to rival SOC, but to make us fans feel part of the club again as valued stakeholders.
