Trust News

A New Year’s message from Trust chair, Tim Hartley

The results have been a mixed bag of scraped wins and points surrendered but the City are still projected to end the season knocking on the door of the playoffs. I think we deserve to be in the race to the bitter end so let’s see what changes Russell will ring in this New Year.

The atmosphere at the stadium needs improving. We await some action on supporters’ flags across the empty seats but it was good to hear that fans behaviour is not a major issue of concern and that we now have a very low number of people banned from the ground.

Off the pitch the Trust is still very concerned about the governance and finances of the club. Each one of us as Trust members are shareholders in Cardiff City and we were disappointed at the way we were treated at the recent extraordinary general meeting. Who are the directors of CCFC and what has their contribution been to date? If re-elected what contribution would they make to the future good governance of the club? We deserve to be told and we are writing to the Chairman and Chief Executive asking for an explanation.

It was good to see Brian Burgess, the chair of Supporters Direct, at the recent game against Brentford. He met Trust members at the office and explained the increasing importance and influence of the Trust movement. We await the government’s response to the report of the Government’s Expert Working Group on football governance. If the football authorities won’t act then surely it is time for government to.

It was interesting to see the Welsh Conservatives ask for safety at sport grounds to be devolved to Wales with a view to allowing safe standing at football. We worked with the Bristol Trust to get the club to agree to support a safe standing trial and will be canvassing members’ opinions on whether we campaign for such changes.

The recent Trust board meeting revamped our business plan and we are working out what actions we need to carry out around our priorities. They are: Dialogue with the club, increasing supporters’ influence, community activities and working with others.

Remember that we have a great night in prospect at the Rose and Crown in Pontypridd on Thursday,  January 21. Rare BBC Match of the Day footage from 40 years ago will be screened with club historian Richard Shepherd, ex-Echo sports reporter Peter Jackson and  Bluebirds legends Gary Bell, Leighton Phillips and Bobby Woodruff. Trust members wishing to should email help@ccfctrust.org Bring a friend! If you would like us to organise an event in your area then do get in touch.

Help us to build the Trust. If you are interested in volunteering in any way or have ideas for us then contact help@ccfctrust.org or call into the Trust office at the stadium on match days and have a chat. It’s between gates 4 and 5.

Bluebirds!

Cardiff City Football Club [Holdings] Ltd

Shareholders Meeting Monday, December 21^st, 2015

David Craig, the Trust vice-chair, attended the above meeting on behalf of the Trust as a shareholder. The meeting was held at the Cardiff offices of Capital Law solicitors.

According to the formal meeting notice, the purpose of the meeting was for shareholders to vote on a series of seven resolutions for the removal and then the possible re-election of the existing seven members of the company’s board of directors.

The start of the meeting was delayed on a couple of occasions but eventually started over an hour late. Those shareholders in attendance were told that the meeting would start but the chairman, Steve Borley, would open the meeting and immediately adjourn it.

This did happen but there was no reason given for the adjournment. None of the seven resolutions set out in the original meeting notice were considered. A pack of focuments provided for each shareholder listed one resolution only.

The wording of this resolution was:- “That Michael Isaac be removed from office as a director of the Company with immediate effect”.

Following the closure of the meeting, Michael Isaac’s legal representative requested that shareholders who had been sent e-mail correspondence regarding the matter should treat that correspondence as confidential and that it should not be released to third parties.

The Trust has not received such correspondence, is unaware of its content, is unaware of who the recipients were and why it was not sent to all shareholders.

If, and when, the adjourned meeting is reconvened and when some of the issues relating are clarified, Trust members will be updated accordingly.

The Trust is very disappointed at the way in which the events on Monday unfolded.

Minority shareholders were denied the opportunity to ask about the directors who where up for re-election; what their contribution had been to date and, if re-elected, what contribution they would make to the future good governance of the club. Unfortunately, an opportunity for the sharing of information and transparency was missed.

Trust vice chairman David Craig reports on a meeting between Trust board members and executives of Cardiff City on Saturday, December 12, 2015

The Trust Board felt that, with changes to insolvency law, the imminent publication of the report of the Government Expert Working Group on football governance and the shareholders’ meeting announced by the club, the time was right for a meeting with the club’s management.

In attendance were Mehmet Dalman (Chair), Ken Choo(Chief Executive), David Beeby (Company Secretary) and Trust Chair, Tim Hartley, Keith Morgan (Finance Officer) and David Craig (Vice-Chair).

Tim suggested that the issues identified by the Trust were interlinked and that it would be helpful for the club and the supporters to discuss them. He said that the Expert Working Group Report is likely to emphasise the need for transparency about ownership of clubs and the value of having a structured relationship with fans which could include a supporter director on a club’s board.

Keith highlighted the changes to insolvency law and how they might impact on a football club’s financial activities and responsibilities.

Mehmet told us that the club had already started on a review of the club’s management board, the number of directors and their roles. He said that Vincent Tan is involved in this discussion. Mehmet reported that the inclusion of a supporter director would be considered as part of this review.

He did not envisage any problems for the club arising from the changes to insolvency law. The club has lawyers looking into the issues of transparency in its arrangements and that there is still concern about the high level of players’ wages which is compromising the ability to balance the books.

Keith said that there are real issues arising from the changes, like those currently facing Bolton Wanderers AFC even though their insolvency has been greatly improved beyond the immediate future due to the owner and principal creditor agreeing to write off all debt owing to him. This does make it far easier to bring in new investors to take the club forward.

We told the club that, as a shareholder, the Trust would attend the meeting at which club directors would be chosen. There was a desire amongst supporters to have information about who the directors are and what contribution they could make.

The Trust is grateful for this opportunity to meet the club chairman and chief executive and hope that meetings like this as well as the very successful evening with Russell Slade will continue.

In conclusion, the Trust’s representatives wished it to be recorded that the courtesy and openness with which they had been received was much appreciated as was the openness in approach evident at the recent meeting with Russell Slade and Ken Choo.

Rare BBC Match of the Day footage from more than 40 years ago will be screened at an evening for Trust members in Pontypridd.

Club historian Richard Shepherd will host the evening at the Rose and Crown pub in High Street, Graig, on Thursday, January 21, starting at 7.30pm.

Alongside Richard will be Peter Jackson, who covered Cardiff City for the South Wales Echo during the Jimmy Scoular era. Former Bluebirds legends Gary Bell and Leighton Phillips have accepted invitations to attend and we hope more ex-players can attend.

Trust vice chair David Craig said: “Richard will tell the story of his discovery of the films and restoring of film which everyone thought was lost.

“Excerpts from the restored film covering the period between 1969 and 1972 will be shown in chronological order with Richard giving a brief introduction to each one and then opening a discussion with ex-players.There is 40 minutes of restored film.”

All the matches are from the Match of the Day Wales opt-outs at the time.

Numbers are limited so Trust members wishing to should email help@ccfctrust.org

We’d like to wish all members a happy and peaceful Christmas and a prosperous new year

Brian Burgess, the chair of Supporters Direct, is visiting the Cardiff City Stadium for the Brentford game on Tuesday, December 15th.

SD works with supporters in more than 20 European countries. It helps fans to set up trusts and to have a bigger say in their clubs.

Brian is keen to meet as many Trust members as possible and will be at the Trust office at 6pm.

If any fans is interested in finding out more about the Trust movement and the work of Supporters Direct then come along and meet him. The Trust office is between Gates 4 and 5 at the stadium.