AGM Minutes 2015

Last updated : 12 July 2015 By Bournemouth Co-Ordinator

Minutes of the AFC Bournemouth Exiles Club AGM

4th July 2015 at the Royal Oak, Tabard Street, London

 

Attendees: Nick Wallinger (Chair), Graham Pearcey (Secretary), Richard Barker, Frank Barnes, Andy Burton, Peter Carley, Chris Churchill, Michelle Churchill, Julie Fry, Les Fry, Phil Henstridge, Pete Ladyman, Steve Lewis, Clive Loader, Phil Nesbitt, Jack Parker, Graham Pearcey, Jim Pruden and Robin Stieber.

1. Introductions and welcome

The Chair opened the meeting at 14:01, welcomed all the attendees, and made special mention of the fact that this is the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Exiles Club.

2. Apologies for absence

Apologies were received from Neal Andrews, Sean Barker, Mark Basden, Melissa Bell, Jon Blake, Richie Clift, David Cordell, Tim Cowland, Simon Darch, Tony Deegan, Callum Deverell, Clive Deverell, Ellis Griffin, Brian Hughes, Peter Kenward, Trevor Lambert, Paul Lamper, Nicola Lewis, Dave Linsay, Mick Manning, John Munro, Ann Rochester, Robbie Sargent, Grahame Sewell, Julia Tomlinson, Geoff Turner and Peter Wicks.

3. Minutes of the 2014 AGM held on 28th June 2014

The minutes were agreed unanimously as a true reflection of the meeting.  All matters arising (i.e. actions devolved to the Executive Committee last year) were held over to be picked up later in the meeting.                     

4. Reports

a. The Chair (NW), reported as follows:

“Well in the end it all looked rather comfortable. We topped the table with the most points, the most goals scored, the best goal difference and the least games lost. The rollercoaster ride of emotions that we found ourselves on as the season drew to its close was surreal. From that sinking feeling after 15 minutes against Birmingham on Easter Monday and the last minute penalty for Sheffield Wednesday forgotten as others slipped and we hit 3 past both Bolton & Charlton. To then be crowned champions with just minutes to go, truly crowned our best season ever with Eddie joining that small band of managers who have guided their club through all the divisions.

“Cue the silly season on the players we are supposedly chasing and debate about the size of Dean Court, the cost of our season tickets, & now the points system for away tickets.

“For me the Season ticket price is a moot point and only to be expected given the step up to the Premier League. The increase certainly wasn’t as much as I was expecting so some positive and realism from the club. As for the ground then I am not wholly against retaining the status quo but I thought some change would be made if only to accommodate some of the increased demand from our own fans. This said changes I am sure will follow but maintaining an air of realism should be key in that would we or could we fill a 20000 stadium should we find ourselves falling back down the leagues.

“As for the points allocation for tickets well we discuss that in more detail later.

“In terms of personnel then our model has many benefits in terms of building a close team unity and ethos. I am not sure bringing in marque signings is Eddie’s style and he will maintain that current ethos of young hardworking players that complement his system and has been so effective for us in the past.

“I have a positive feeling on the season ahead and that we can make a mark. Realism does rule in that it will take an incredible amount of hard work on behalf of Eddie & the squad to stay up but with Eddie and his coaching team we have a set up that could just do it.

“Finally my thanks to the committee for all its endeavours during the past season, in particular a huge debt of gratitude goes to Andy and his work on collating our ticket requests and their allocation. From only a few seasons ago when this was a fairly simple task the rise of the Cherries has seen an incremental rise in the time and resource required by him. I can only imagine the demand already building up for the season ahead and I would strongly recommend we look to providing Andy with additional support this season.

“My thanks to the other committee members whose efforts are always much appreciated.

“So roll on the 8th August, or not depending on Sky’s requirements, and here’s hoping for a great season, Up the Cherries.”

b. The Secretary (GP) reported that, apart from a few hastily arranged meetings to discuss financial matters and ticketing arrangements, it had been a quiet year secretarially – all the ‘real’ work being done by AB.

c. The Treasurer (PN) reported the Financial Position, as of 3rd July 2015, as follows.

Balances: Current Account £2115.00, Deposit Account £1069.45, Petty cash £16.58.

Amounts paid over the past year not including match ticket sales: Player of the season trophy £21.70, Association of Provincial Football Supporters Clubs In London (APFSCIL) £5.00, Andy’s expenses £44.37, Postage and stamps £14.26, Loss on Forest ticket £8.00.  A cheque for £1965 has been issued for 2015/6 season tickets but has yet to be cashed.

Receipts over the past year: Merchandise £10.00, Footymad £134.62, Donation £26.00, Interest £6.66, Cash payment fees £64.00, Ticket income £1520.00.  We shall receive a refund of £225.00 on season tickets as we have been moved to an outer block.

PN pointed out that we have more funds available than at this time last year.

d. The Membership Secretary (AB) reported that the total number of members had been 89 this time last year and now stood at 101, plus several pending (because membership has been temporarily closed since the end of last season).

e. The London Travel Advisor (Jim P) reported that his role is a limited one, advising no more than six people per match.

f. The Marketing and Website Officer (AB) reported that there had only been one sale of merchandise (which LF was wearing at the AGM!).

g. The APFSCIL Representative (RB) reported that £5 was not a major outlay (the membership charge hasn’t increased this year) and membership may give us added value this season as we travel to bigger clubs.

h. The (Home) Match Report Officer (AB) and (Away) Match Report Officer (RB) reported that all matches were covered last season.

i. The Pub of the Season Officer (CL) reported that 50 pubs were visited and scored last season (an increase on 37 the previous season).  The winning pub for the second season running was the Dove Street Inn at Ipswich.  A pennant was presented to the Dove Street Inn during the season and a friendly email was subsequently received in response to this.

j. The Tickets and Club Liaison Officer (AB) reported that we continue to enjoy a good relationship with the club.  £12.00 was spent on gifts to ticket office staff to thank them for their help.  AB handled £12336 worth of tickets during the season.  There are already signs that demand for tickets will increase next season (especially for the Liverpool match).

5. Election of Officers of the Executive Committee for 2015/6

GP took over the chair and NW was re-elected as Chair unopposed (proposed by GP, seconded by CL).  NW took over the chair and the following were all re-elected unopposed.  Secretary: GP (proposed PN, seconded CC), Treasurer: PN (proposed MC, seconded PL), Membership Secretary: AB (proposed PL, seconded LF).

6. Discussion on the rights/privileges of membership, subscription charge for 2015/6, and dealing with new membership applications

There was a wide-ranging discussion on this subject and the meeting agreed that (subject to the criteria to be agreed later under items 7 and 8) membership only entitled members to one ticket per match.  Additional ticket requests for friends or family members can only be accepted if either (i) these are for named family members already listed on the database, or (ii) all requests have been met for a given match and there are still tickets remaining.  In future this fact would be made clear each year when members (re)register.  It was agreed to accept all new members who have applied for membership during the period of temporary closure, i.e. since the end of last season, but these new members will not be allowed to nominate ‘family members’; all such ‘family members’ will need to register in their own right.  The subscription charge for the season 2015/6 was agreed as £0.00.

7. Discussion on the allocation of tickets for away matches 2015/6

AB outlined the system adopted last season whereby season ticket holders were asked 8 weeks before a match whether they wanted to attend it.  They were given 2 weeks to respond before their customer numbers were made available to non-season ticket holding exiles.  PN then presented a proposal that was discussed at some length, and redrafted several times, before the following final draft was accepted.

“We currently have access to 36 customer references for the purchase of match tickets. Only 1 ticket should be made available to each member and all current known family members are to be made full members for this purpose. Any member requesting a ticket for non-members will see this request fall into Tranche 4. Any new members will not qualify for tickets, unless any are available for Tranche 4, until they have been a member for 1 year.

“Tranche 1. Members who have made their customer reference available to the Exiles and who have enough points on the football club's system to obtain a match ticket in their own right automatically use that ticket. At present this is 31 members and any of these who do not take up their ticket will see that ticket transferred to Tranche 3.

“Tranche 2. The top ten regular users of the Exiles’ ticket allocation will have access to the remaining 5 tickets in a descending order of preference from the most frequent user. This is such that if one of the top five does not require a ticket for a match then it is allocated to the sixth from the regular user list and so on. Any member of this top 10 who do not receive a ticket from those available in this tranche will be added to members in Tranche 3.

“Tranche 3. Any members that joined before the end of last season and do not qualify for tickets through Tranches 1 or 2.

“Tranche 4. New members who joined after the end of last season and any guests of members.

“In the likelihood that there are not enough tickets to satisfy the requirements of Tranche 3 then a draw will be made by a member who has no interest in the process to allocate the tickets. Husband and wife or father and son etc. will be drawn out together but if they are drawn out with only 1 ticket remaining this ticket will be redrawn. In the probably rare event that there are tickets available for Tranche 4 then a similar draw will also be held but we recommend that anyone in Tranche 4 also tries to obtain tickets through the football club.”

This proposal was agreed unanimously.  It was also agreed that the process be reviewed by the Executive Committee, to see how well it’s working.  Action: the Executive Committee.

8. Discussion on the allocation of season tickets for home matches 2015/6

The charge for using an Exiles Season Ticket in the 2015/6 season was agreed as £33.  In future home tickets can be purchased the same way as away tickets, i.e. by bank transfer to the Exiles bank account, so the fee of +£1 for cash will apply to both.  There was some discussion about changing the system for determining who gets use of Exiles Season Tickets, but as people had already been ‘booking’ tickets for the past month it was eventually agreed to continue as we are (i.e. first come first served) for this season but review it before 2016/7.

9. Election of remaining positions

The following were all re-elected unopposed.  London Travel Advisor: Jim P (proposed PN, seconded PH), Marketing and Website Officer: AB (proposed PN, seconded LF), APFSCIL Representative: RB (proposed CC, seconded PC), Match Report Officers: AB and RB (proposed PL, seconded LF), Pub of the Season Officer: CL (proposed AB, seconded Jack P), Tickets and Club Liaison Officer: AB (proposed PN, seconded LF).

10. Any Other Business

It was agreed to organise an event to mark the 30th anniversary of the formation of the AFC Bournemouth Exiles Club.  Action: the Executive Committee to deal with this.

It is proposed by the Treasurer and agreed by the meeting that we continue to bank with Santander.

There was discussion about the role of Exiles President, and then nominations were requested.  Steve Fletcher, Jason Tindall, Stephen Purches (the current President) and Joe Roach were all nominated and the matter was put to the vote.  7 voted for Steve, 2 for Jason, 2 for Stephen and 5 for Joe.  Steve Fletcher was duly elected.  Action: AB to write to him.

11. Close

There being no further business, the Chair thanked everyone for their time and closed the meeting at 16:35.