FC United board report - 17 December 2012

The latest FC United board meeting took place on Monday 17 December. Board member Chris Hammond reports.

All eight current board members attended December’s board meeting on the eve of the Judicial Review proceedings and not surprisingly one of the main items on the agenda was an update on the process and the arguments being raised, as well as the potential outcomes that could arise, including the possibility of a delayed judgement. There was a feeling that we have marshalled and prepared our response as well as possible and we now have to trust the judicial process.

The meeting also took a look in detail at some of the issues relating to the initial stages of the groundwork for the build. While projects of this scale always meet challenges, nothing found thus far on site presents an insurmountable obstacle to our build.

Detailed management accounts were presented at the meeting and the main item of note was a shortfall against budget in match-day income. Two reasons were identified - fewer home games in the last month and lower attendances at those games that did take place. Strategies were considered for tackling this in early 2013, including various forms of promotion and advertising, but it was noted that often attendance is higher in the latter stages of the season and compensate for the pre-Christmas dip and postponements.

The Development Fund and fundraising in general will be important this year and branches have a key role to play in this, but it was recognised that this has to be through a co-ordinated and structured approach. Partner funding remains securely in place, although should the outcome of the JR be favourable we will need to act quickly to make final arrangements.

We reviewed some of the issues raised this month on the members’ forum. All board members were keen to provide answers to all questions raised, but recognised that answers to some questions were already available elsewhere in minutes and other forms of communication and that often board members did not have the detailed knowledge to provide quick answers without recourse to staff who are generally already working at or beyond capacity.

Turning to football matters, we are fairly close to being able to announce full details of a Euro away in summer 2013 and a programme of interesting friendlies is starting to take shape for pre-season 2013-14. It was noted with disappointment that we continue to pick up bookings for dissent and three players are to receive suspensions on totting up, but our overall disciplinary record is good.

The board away day is set for 18 January 2013. A board meeting will be held on the day as well as sessions on governance and elections, the business plan for the new ground, fundraising, allocation of board roles and responsibilities and consideration of the board meeting schedule will also be included.

Finally, the board had received a paper from member Sam Mullock seeking to summarise the club’s position with regard to televised games. In the wake of the recent resolution passed at the AGM, it was proposed that it may be useful to have a reference document on the website outlining FC’s relationship with TV and the evolution and key moments in this over our history. It was agreed that with a few factual amendments to the text that this be implemented.

The next meeting of the board will be on 18 January 2013.

If you are an FC United member and have any questions or comments on the board and its deliberations, then visit the FC United co-owners’ forum.