Summary of PST Elected Board Meeting, Held on Monday 29Th December 2014

Summary of PST Elected Board meeting, held on Monday 29th December 2014

At Snows Mini, Bilton Way, Portsmouth at 18.00

Present: PST Elected Board Members - Steve Tovey (ST), Mike Saunders (MS),

John Kimbell (JK), Dan Fearnley (DF), Tom Dearie (TD), Ken Malley (KM),

Mark Trapani (MT), Pam Wilkins (PW) and Mick Williams (MW).

Secretary Mark Farwell (MF) and Assistant Secretary Jo Collins (JC).

Actions from the meeting:

i. MS will check if planning permission will be required for the “Wall of Fame”.

ii. ST will send details of EPL insurance to all BMs.

iii ST to speak to AB about getting a signed shirt for the Southampton General Hospital sensory room charity raffle.

iv. JK will speak to Anna to confirm which the new Club badge design is.

v. MF will contact the London Supporters’ Club to arrange a date for a PST Q&A meeting in London.

1. Welcome by Chair

In Ashley Brown’s absence KM chaired the meeting, welcomed all and thanked MT for his hospitality.

2. Apologies: Ashley Brown (AB) and Membership Secretary Steve Hatton (SH).

3. Minutes of PST meeting held on 24th November 2014

It was proposed by MT and seconded by TD that the minutes of the PST board meeting held on Monday 24th November 2014 should be accepted as a true record. Motion carried nem con

4. Matters Arising

i. Mick Williams had surveyed Board Members on their preferred meeting day. Monday is the preferred day for the majority.

ii. AB had sent details and a quote for the “Wall of Fame”. There would be an additional cost to add anti-graffiti laminate. The final design would be printed onto vinyl, laminated and then applied on to aluminium panels and fixed to the wall. The panels would have an expected life of 5-7 years. SH has a list of the shareholder’s names to go on it.

MT is still waiting for an alternate quote, he wondered if we are doing the right thing in covering such a large area, ie the length of the North Stand, and pointed out it would be expensive to maintain and to change the design in future if the sponsors are changed. MF is awaiting a quote from Andy McLachlan in Waterlooville. MT said there is no rush and it would be better to get this absolutely right. PCFC has not yet been consulted. MS thought the panels would require planning permission.

It was agreed the wall will be discussed at the next PST Board Meeting when further quotes have been obtained. MT said the wall will need to be ratified by

Mark Catlin and the PCFC Board. MS will check on planning permission, but they will need to know the details.

ST asked about the Tifosi wall at the training ground which MS said is already underway with brick shaped tiles, possibly half sized. There are only around 240 names there.

ST suggested getting a costing from the stonemason who had completed the Pompey Pals memorial.

iii. AB had spoken to Mark Catlin (MC) and Colin Farmery (CF) regarding the PPA shares and they understand the PST point of view regarding lack of consultation on this news item. Hopefully this sort of thing will be avoided in future.

iv. SH has spoken to CF about the use of the Club’s survey monkey licence to ask members opinion on the PST logo, CF is happy for us to use it. It is possible to import a list of members and they will receive a link to the survey which will enable them to make one vote. The survey can include multiple choice questions and/or text responses. This should prevent other team’s supporters voting.

5. Election of Chairman

Under the PST Constitution the PST Chair has to be elected at the first board meeting after the AGM. The current Chair AB had said he is willing to continue and he was aware that a vote would be taken in his absence.

There was discussion on the role of the Chair and who should be elected.

PST is at a crossroads, there is a lot of work to do to get credibility, a sense of direction, more members and the purpose of the Trust. It has been a pretty poor year for PST and the Chair of the Trust should concentrate on just pushing PST forward.

There could be a future clash of interests if the PST Chair is a PCFC Board Member.

AB has done a fantastic job but has a huge amount of work on his plate.

PST has a huge job to do, we have achieved our initial goal and but need to review the status going forward. A new strategy and three year plan needs to be decided giving clarity for a new membership push.

The PST Chair should be able to challenge the three Trust PCFC board members which our members expect us to do. People view PST as being the same as the Club so we need a separate figure head.

MT and MW did not think the PCFC Board would have an issue with the PST Chair not being on the Club board.

The role of PST Chair needs defining, it is overseeing PST. The Chair cannot be co-opted; they must be an elected PST Board Member.

KM said he is willing to stand until the next PST elections although cannot confirm he will then stand for re-election.

MF thought the role of the PST Secretary needs to be developed and felt some of the things that AB has been dealing with should be the brief of the Secretary. Both roles need to be clearly defined.

In the long term there could be a conflict of interest so it would be better for the PST Chair and Secretary not to be PCFC board members.

AB has done a very good job as Chair.

It was proposed by MW and seconded by DF that Ken Malley should be elected as the PST Chairman.

Motion carried by a majority of 6 votes for with 2 abstentions.

The PST Board would like to express sincere thanks to Ashley Brown for all his hard work and leadership as PST Chair over the last few years especially during the successful take over of PFC.

It was proposed by JK and seconded by ST that Tom Dearie should be elected as PST Vice-Chair. Motion carried by a majority of 6 votes for with 2 abstentions.

6. Appointment of Jo Collins as Assistant Secretary and PST Legal Advisor.

It was proposed by MT and seconded by TD that JC should be appointed as PST Assistant Secretary and Legal Advisor. Motion carried nem con.

7. Appointment of PCFC Directors and Alternate Directors.

i. PST Forum posting by MT on 4/11/14 (for discussion)

• Our PST Board Meetings should follow the PCFC Board Meetings within the Max of 7 days.

• The PCFC Board meetings are not on a fixed date so it would be difficult to do this. MT said he thought this would improve communications between the two boards.

• The PCFC Directors should produce a set of bullet points that are circulated to all PST Board members before they next meet.
• TD suggested a separate page on the PST forum where these bullet points could be listed.

• In between Board meetings a weekly summary should be circulated on the message board covering any 'inside stories'. If Ash was to start this, Mick and MT could top it up as the week progresses. It will probably transpire that you hear 'inside news' ahead of some of the PCFC Directors!

• My next point may be more controversial and has not been discussed with anyone! Ashley, Mick and MT should appoint a deputy (almost a Director in waiting) who may possess the necessary desire and skill set to be the next PCFC Director. The appointed person would meet with the Director on a fairly regular basis and would be briefed on the activities completed by that person.

MT said he felt that as in other businesses, PST should have deputy directors in waiting who could step into the director’s roles. He felt this would improve knowledge and communication. PW and TD thought this a good idea.

KM asked what the PCFC directors do. MT deals with catering and banqueting and disabled supporters; AB is responsible for fan issues; MW had initially been responsible for the stadium, he is on the development committee of the lottery and pays any bills over £10,000. The President directors do not have specific roles although Mike Dyer gives legal advice, for which he is paid. JC asked how important it is for the 3 PST directors to be at Club Board meetings. MW felt the PCFC board would not be happy with extra people turning up at meetings. PW pointed out it is up to PST who represents us. DF said he thought he could help with catering problems and had not necessarily thought this would mean attending board meetings. MT said he thought the deputies could shadow the three and if necessary attend a board meeting to present a report.

MF pointed out this is covered on page 27 of the Annual Report, PST Board and Club Board Policy, in section 3:2 and 3:3 regarding a suitable deputy attending.

DF catering, MS stadium and JK will be the three deputy directors. MT said there needs to be a clear strategy and a decision on how this moves forward. It would be courteous to inform the PCFC board.

It was proposed by TD and seconded by DF that AB, MT and MW should be elected as the PST directors on the PCFC board.

Motion carried nem con

It was proposed by ST and seconded by PW that MS (shadowing AB), JK (shadowing MW) and DF (shadowing MT) should be elected as the three deputy directors.

Motion carried nem con.

• My next point may be even more controversial. A Director of PCFC should not chair the PST Board.

Discussed during election of Chair.

• Let me continue in this vain. The PST Directors who become PCFC Board members should only remain there for a Maximum of three years (subject of course to PST election rules).

MT said it would not be sensible for all three to stand down at the same time, so if this was agreed the introduction would have to be staggered.

KM objected to the idea and felt the directors could stay as long as the PST board want them to be there. It is a yearly PST board decision. They have to be an elected PST board member to serve on the PCFC board. Meeting decided against MT’s idea.

8. Options Committee (Future Funding and PST Shareholding) MT

MT has agreed to chair this group for PST, eight members have volunteered to be on the committee. MT said there needs to be a strategy document before this committee can move forward and hold meetings, or they could be at odds with PST.

A brainstorming session is needed, it was felt this would be better at a meeting rather than on the forum. DF said in the next two years what are we going to do that we can measure and who is going to do it. The measures need to be practical and understandable. MW suggested this is something that could be done at the next meeting with Greg Brown. TD said Greg could guide us on how to do this. TD offered to help MT with this group. The next meeting with Greg Brown is on the 19th January 2015.

Apart from David Maples the people who proposed this idea have not volunteered, MT thought if they were chased up there may be too many in the group.

9. Progress on PST accounts and FCA Return 2013/14

ST said the accounts audit is booked for the 5th and 6th of January 2015. The audit will be done but the signing off of the accounts still cannot be done as James is still waiting for figures.

KM said that at the last meeting there had been discussion on Tony Foot paying a fine himself to the FCA last year. KM has spoken to TF who says no fine was paid but he had paid for the annual FCA subscription, which may be more this year.

ST said he had reported to AB that there has been a hacking problem with the PST TSB account details being used fraudulently to pay by direct debit a subscription for RAC membership. The bank says this is quite common and will refund the money taken fraudulently within 48 hours and an indemnity claim will be put in to the RAC.

ST has spoken to the RAC but because of data protection they cannot divulge who the person is but say it happens daily with charity accounts. Our bank will investigate.

TD said he has seen this with the Verisona account. KM said there is no way to safeguard against this other than to not publish our account details.

Budget going forward – ST said the amount PST has to spend will tie in with MT’s future funding group. Even if we take into account future income streams we have to take care there is no conflict with the Club. This year PST has received some sponsorship from Jobsite, but there is no guarantee we will get the same next year.

TD suggested asking people to bequeath money to PST in their wills, perhaps for specific projects. This is something PCFC doesn’t do at present.

ST said the Events Public Liability insurance has been paid. He will forward to details to MF. KM asked ST to forward details to all BMs.

JC asked if the Co-op account is being closed, ST pointed out that there are direct debits and Paypal payments going into it. ST had tried to obtain a quote to use Metro Bank rather than Paypal but they had not produced anything. KM said Paypal is the best value for small amounts. ST said shares paid from overseas had been difficult to accept into the TSB account and TD said payments into the Verisona account did not always end in .00 because of currency conversions on payment from abroad. They had decided to accept this because it evened itself out.

ST has updated all membership payment by Paypal and sent the details to SH.

.

It was proposed by MT and seconded by MW that PST should formally adopt the 12thMan Account as a PST account, as previously agreed at the meeting held on 25th November 2013 and shown in the minutes of that meeting.

Motion carried nem con

ST suggested that once everything is sorted out the signatories on all three accounts should be changed at the same time.

10. Correspondence

MF had received a letter from Southampton General Hospital asking for charity sponsorship for a Sensory Room for children with a rare congenital disease. They are planning a Buddy’s ball at a Botley hotel in April. TD said the request had come to PST because of toys donated previously. JC said PST cannot spend money on sponsorship. TD said he is looking for eight charities for the Ride from York in April and could possibly donate to this as one of them. He needs to know how much autonomy he has in choosing the charities or should they be run passed the EB. The target is £40,000 which would give each charity £5,000, including PST and PITC.

TD would like the charities to be local. MT thought charities should be something with a close affinity to the Club or supporters. TD suggested nominating a charity each year which would mean registering 12th Man as a registered charity; this would also mean more could be raised on gift aid.

He said the person who set up Pompey Pals is willing to help set 12th Man up as a charity. MF will reply to Southampton General.

TD suggested PCFC could donate a signed shirt for their raffle; ST will speak to AB about obtaining one.

11. Training Ground

MS said the Club has now moved into the training ground. There are two outstanding planning applications, one due to be decided in mid January and the other for the extra two pitches is due to be decided in early February. The new pitches are better spec and it is likely that the first team will use them, or that the use of pitches will be rotated. TD suggested that the Club media people should be putting pictures on the website, MS & MT said this is in hand. JK said there is talk of PST members having a tour round the facilities. KM suggested the PST board should be able to. MS said there is still some landscaping and branding to do, so it would be better to do the tours when work is finished. ST said because the spec is not as expected and reserve games are being played there they are cutting up badly. It takes a year for the pitch to bed down so this could cause problems. MS said once the extra two are completed their use can be rotated. DF asked how PFC chooses the firms to do work like the car park and pitches. MT said they had picked the people who are supposed to be the best.

12. Other Reports and plans

(a) Communications – JK

i PST Logo

Designs 3 & 5 were decided on by the EB and these two designs plus the original will be put to the members to choose from. The choice of logo is holding up making the flags for the North Stand. MF said the flags are paid for and can be produced when the design is decided.

KM asked if we need an incentive for people to vote, TD suggested a signed shirt for next season with the new badge on it. JK will speak to Anna at PCFC to check what the new Club badge will be. The three designs will then be put to the members using the survey monkey, which will prevent supporters of other clubs voting.

PW said a lot of people asked for a PST badge and there are none left, is it possible to have more when the logo is decided.

ii Shareholder Dinner

JK asked if we want to go ahead with a shareholder fundraising dinner, possibly March/Easter time. The Club will be holding an end of season dinner and the Legends dinner is Friday 27th March.