As it is more than a week now since I was appointed as the new Chair of the Supporters Club I thought it is time to update our members, and the fanbase in general, to what I have been up to.
Firstly I would like to thank each and every one of you that has taken the time to wish me good luck in the role. There have been so many of you, especially at the Legends match last Sunday, and that reinforces my belief that there is still a lot of goodwill towards the Supporters Club and we will not let you down. I am delighted to report that offers of help have come from supporters who would like to join our Committee or have ideas to help us and I will be getting around to meeting and having a chat with each and every one of them.Some of these ideas would see us breaking new ground and taking on things that we haven’t before but as I said in my opening comments last week we have to modernise and appeal to ALL supporters of Bristol Rovers particularly the younger ones who we do not connect with at present. And we will.
A first, very positive, meeting has been held with the board of the Football Club and I would like to thank Tom Gorringe, Martyn Starnes and Chris Gibson for meeting with me and for their openness and honesty. There is a real will from all parties to draw a line in the sand under the past and to move forward together for the benefit of us all. Projects that may require funding from us both now and in the future were discussed and I fully expect positive outcomes to follow. Our Supporters Club appointments to the board through our Share Scheme Agreement were also discussed, again in a positive way, and we should have a presence in the boardroom again soon, which benefits not just the Supporters Club but all supporters.
Discussions have also taken place with the Community Trust and the Former Players Association with a view to the Supporters Club holding events jointly with both organisations. I would like to thank everyone involved in these discussions as I firmly believe that by working together we can achieve more. It is imperative that we offer our members more for their money than we did previously and give supporters a reason to join with us. This is a first step along that road.
I would also like to announce that Jamie Howarth and Patricia Gardener have both agreed to join our Committee, the first of several appointments. Jamie is a vital part of our Match Day operations and Patricia has a wealth of experience in events planning and they will complement our existing Committee perfectly and I look forward to working with them both.
It has been an extremely busy first week, one of the busiest I can remember, and I hope that the foundations are being laid for a successful future that will benefit us all. The door is always open to any supporter who wants to connect with us.
#UTG
David Thomas
Chair, Bristol Rovers Supporters Club