AGM REPORT
NTFC Supporters Trust held its 2023 Annual General Meeting at the Obelisk Centre in Northampton on Thursday 22 February.
A summary of the meeting is as follows:
Chairman's Report
Andy Roberts told the meeting:-
The Supporters Trust has experienced a challenging year, the biggest disappointment being the failure to build a relationship with the football club’s owners David Bower and Kelvin Thomas.
Following a difficult 2022, which I spoke about last year, I personally felt it important to try and build bridges with club chairman Kelvin Thomas, alongside Ashley Brown from the Football Supporters’ Association. I thought I owed it to members and the wider fan base and, while the meeting was not altogether productive, the chairman made it clear to both myself and the FSA that he would sit down again with the Trust following the election of a new board.
In February last year, six new members were elected to the Trust board to help shape a fresh mandate going forward. In July, following the outcome of the Judicial Review between West Northamptonshire Council and Cilldara - over whether or not the council had followed correct process in provisionally agreeing the sale of land to the club’s development company - the Trust offered the club a meeting.
But we were firmly batted back by a letter which contained a litany of falsehoods and misinformation. So it appeared that the club had never had any intention of brokering a future relationship with the Trust, this in spite of a new board, the introduction of a social media policy and the organisation of community-based activities which sat neatly alongside an update on the stand and land deal.
Again last year, I said that I would welcome the club leading on directing an appropriate way for all Cobblers fans to communicate with each other on social media platforms but nothing was forthcoming from the club, presumably as it suits their narrative to influence and present the Trust as being anti-club.
Certainly they have sought to marginalise us and discredit us at every turn for having the temerity to ask some awkward questions over the years – as any self-respecting Supporters Trust should do.
We remain in contact with many Supporters Trusts given the ongoing debate on the fan-led review – interestingly at Swindon Town, the Trust there has been accused of being too cosy with the club’s owners. It is a very difficult balance to achieve.
We should finally see the land deal signed off in the coming months and we trust the East Stand will be completed to a satisfactory standard by the present owners as part of a mutually-robust enabling agreement with West Northamptonshire Council.
The Trust, alongside the vast majority of the club’s fans, has always favoured prioritising the completion of the East Stand above all else.
But the team’s excellent progress in League One, coupled with the biggest home attendances for 55 years, has brought the debate of stadium expansion and increasing the capacity of the North and South stands into greater focus.
The current board could likely now prefer that the two ends of the stadium should be addressed first and foremost and so we will be engaging with our members, and the wider fan base, within a few weeks to gauge opinion.
Membership report
The Trust’s current membership stands at 681.
Treasurer's Report
Bob Clarke told the meeting:-
The accounts year ended 31st August 2023 are being prepared with Clifford Towers, the Independent Reporting Accountants, in accordance with the requirements for Industrial and Provident Societies.
There is no requirement to have accounts fully audited and the board considers the accountants report and opinion sufficient to provide transparency and credibility.
Our income in the financial year was £2,897 as shown in the Trust’s main Co-op account, plus £8,685 in the Club 500 account at Nat West – a total of £11,582, up from £4,449 last year.
We are still trying to get full and final control of the other two active Trust accounts at Nat West - the Trust Travel account, which stood at £18,023 this time last year, and the dormant Business Reserve account £80.
It requires a change of signatories to remove three former board members from the accounts.
This has proved difficult owing to incompetence on the part of the Nat West and intransigence on the part of the Trust’s former Treasurer.
The Trust has lodged three complaints with the Nat West – in respect of the active accounts mentioned above and also an historic dormant Trust account which will shortly be closed.
The complaints will hopefully be resolved in the coming weeks – as a full accounting picture cannot be presented at this meeting, I recommend full information be re-circulated to members when available and that adoption of the accounts be deferred until then.
Expenditure was £6,042 of which travel was £1,615 and merchandise £2000.
Accountancy fees doubled, as forecast last year, at £960.
Meetings of the Trust Board continued to be held on Zoom, which proved successful, and the cost was modest at £176.48.
There was a small net surplus for the financial year of £1,097.82.
Working on the provisional figures, our balance sheet improved through the combined value of the active bank account balances for Club 500 £20,602.89, Trust Travel total £18,023.77 (provisional) and Co-op £48,536.51.
Fixed assets of £71,954 is the shares of £1 each held in NTFC at cost
Our fully paid and called up Share Capital is £721.
Board appointments
Andy Roberts informed the meeting that the board is carrying five vacancies with five resignations during the last year – Rob Duncan, Heidi Green, Tom Packer, Jeffrey Roy and Bhyll Stephenson.
At the AGM, two board members were required to stand for re-election and all did so. Nominations were received from the following:-
Ian Atkins
Robert Souster
As the number of members putting themselves forward was fewer than the number of vacancies, all were elected unopposed.
John Morgan, who has been serving as the Trust’s acting secretary and legal adviser for the last year, told the meeting he was prepared to continue as secretary going forward.
Board meetings
Any Trust member interested in attending a monthly board meeting should email ntfctrust1992@gmail.com
