TOPIC: Tonight's meeting at Penrith

A very quick update after the meeting at Penrith ( still trying to get sorted for the match at Mansfield so I'm rushing.

On the panel were Andy Hall, Suzanne Kidd, Nigel Davidson, Norman Steel, Dick Young and John Kukuc.

Meeting opened by SK :
The club pleased to work with the different groups coming under the umbrella of Supporters group.

ND Spoke about CUOSC being the new name for the trust. Cuosc now had recently had their AGM and two new young board members had joined . Cuosc was looking to give their board members more defined roles,
They were looking for volunteers to help the club, particularly on matchdays. Meet and Greet personnel being something they were looking into.
Cuosc felt strongly that there was a window of opportunity for a bigger more representative voice for the supporters and they were keen to communicate with fans and be more visible at the ground. They also now have a dedicated phoneline for fans to be able to leave messages for CUOSC.

NS stressed that this was the first time in ten years that the Trust (now Cuosc) had an official endorsement and the opportunity to work with the club and the fans was an opportunity that needed to be taken.


more shortly. . .

Attendance?

I didn't actually count them but I'd say no more than 20. More than one person mentioned that 6 pm was too early and this was noted by the panel.
The next meetings are later. Various members of the panel said that they hadn't expected a large turnout, that they know it's going to be hard work to build up trust and enthusiasm both for CUOSC and for the club. It was suggested that a forum that included playing staff, manager coaches etc would be of interest to more people and the panel said they would look at getting something in the future.

They also stressed that they felt they had to reach out to the fans even if only a very few came and hope to build for the future.

Thought it was CUOSC now or is that something different?

Bumble wrote:
So it`s finally dawned on them at last but maybe a new younger set of people involved will help - do we know if Lummy is still on board with his supporter plans which seemed to be stuff the fans would buy into as well

RonBacardi wrote:
Was just about to ask if theyd changed their name again already.

Dancingbear wrote:
Well there is no other is there, so no need to have "Official" in there!

NS was asked if they were any nearer getting a representative on the board. He said it had been on the agenda at a meeting this morning. There were still some things to iron out but nothing that he felt was insurmountable ande was hoping for an announcement in 2 or three weeks. There would probably be a short list of four people who the fans could vote for and the successful person would stand for a year, there would be nothing to stop the person standing again at the end of the year.

I asked how those 4 people would be chosen. SK said that they would be chosen by a panel made up of four people from the club plus representatives from : Sports Trust, Virgin Trains, Local Media, and CUOSC.

The successful rep would be expected to attend meeting about every 6 weeks, there would be some flexibility in the meeting times, to accomodate a persons work etc.

seesaw50 wrote:
You miss the point Seesaw. They rushed the change from the trust to the CUOSC now it looks like theyve changed it again. Unless of course Bumbles O isnt working on her keyboard

Definitely CUOSC, sorry, its one of those things that I keep missing the O out, but it definitely should be there. Rushing cos I'm workjing tomorrow and really need to prepare and get to bed, so no proofing on this stuff.

Dancingbear wrote:
Looks like she`s been in and edited it just for the sharp eyed among us........ and as I say, unless they envisage a rival to spring up no real need - eh! There you go all sorted!

Gd ne yu Bumble

You had more than 20 people attend as part of an informal forum in London organised by the London Branch just a couple of weeks ago....

SK - New ticket system in place for this season. The new system has a whole section dedicated to marketing and will hopefully mean that staff can start to personalise offers. Staff have had some initial teething problems but things are just about there now.

Some one asked if Phil King was settling in to his job., DY gave him a glowing endorsement, saying he was a breathe of fresh air. PK had met the business club yesterday and was all about communication.

Queues for food and drink at half time were mentioned. Sk said they had had various meeting with the caterers who had been frank and honest about what needed to improve and were investing time and effort to be better.

Fans mentioned that the bars and Foxy';s were looking tired and tatty, DY said they were being worked on at the moment. It was hoped to have somewhere for visiting fans to drink before the match. It was hoped that Legends bar would be used for a hospitality package.

Business club - Dy said after a successful launch the business club had stuttered a little of late but that there had been 2 new members joined this morning and he was hoping there waws light at the end of the tunnel.

Question from Ltufty - What was the story behind the club demanding money from local non-league sides for the warm up games and did someone see sense in the end and overturn the decision?
The original decision had come from the coaching staff. It was confirmed that no money had been paid to Carlisle at any of the friendlies.

Q" from Ltufty
In their opinion, are the bridges between the club/ custodians and the AL/ Brown investment group completely burned or would they expect to see remedial talks take place in say the next 12 months? They should realise that many supporters and sponsors are effectively boycotting the club under the current regime.

Didnt really get a direct answer to the question for this one but that may have been that I didn't make the question clear when I asked it. SK confirmed she hoped to strengthen links with CUOSC and with other businesses. AL wasn't mentioned except in that ND confirmed that whilst CUOSC had agreed to dilute shares when AL's investment was on the table that had not set a precedent and any future investment that wanted CUOSC to dilute its shares would be judged on its own merits.

There you go lbtufty, from a perfectly good question to a perfectly deflected answer a politician would be proud of.

"President"

Nobby Blue question - Have Suzanne Kidd & Phil King a remit to run the club within it's means or will we continue to make a massive nett loss as in the last few years under Nixon's stewardship?
SK said she had prepared the forecast for next season working to break even. The forecast based on gates of 4,300 and round 1 of the cups. She said that it was a very difficult industry to predict and every year since she started they had aimed to break even.


AH said that there was now two new people running the club on a day to day basis.
SK confirmed that JN had a new office away from the business end of the club where he dealt with things to do with the Football League and the manager.

President Nixon perhaps?

I would tell the smug faced get to rent his own office elsewhere.

more in the next couple of days.

There was no politicians' answers Melbourne, in my opinion. Just fans (admittedly just a few) coming together to talk about Carlisle United - face to face

wheres the answer to tuftys second question then re. lapping investment etc.?

Bumble wrote:
Tbh if i didnt laugh at what i have just read id cry .

Just for my own peace of mind,it was definitely said that JN has an office in the ground?

"forecast based on gates of 4,300"

No f*ckin' chance!

lummy8 wrote:
I will clarify this point with some one from the club but as I understand it. . .
JN used to have his own office in the admin part of the building, he no longer has this.
Structural changes have been made at the club and the coaches office is now down the corridor, The office that used to be the coaches office will now be used by JN and any other board member when they come in and need it for meetings etc, rather than use the board room .

So as I understood it, it was "has use of an office" not "has an office"

Seen as he appears to have been granted a lifetime Senior Citizen railcard, as long as the new office has a gravy train station, he should be able to get there ok no matter where it is.

melbourneblues wrote:
Exactly - and people wonder why Comical has to go along with the rest of them............send no-one involved with takeover discussions anyway and then insult anyone with an IQ of over 1 with the answer....

Bumble wrote:
Oh wow - we can all sleep easier then.....(ducks as squadron of pigs fly past)

lummy8 wrote:
Can i urge everyone to refrain from making jokes about the depth into the ground of this new office. Its not big and its not clever so dont do it

To finish off:

I changed a question from Oldham Blue to include answers from the whole panel, so I asked : Were the panel aware that fans from all walks of life simply do not believe a word of what had been put out recently , particularly about the billionnaire and JN leaving.

SK said she was very aware that there was a lack of trus between fans and club and that they had to work very hard to build bridges and repair the trust, she said she and the club were very willing to put the work in to do that.

NS also agreed he was very aware that fans were suspicious of the club and of CUOSCand that the Trust had been slow to communicate with fans in the past but he hope now, with new blood on the board and a new opportunity to take CUOSC forward that communication would improve. ND and JK agreed with this..

DY said he was very aware of the uncertainty and worry amongst the supporters. He said that he and the people working at the club had not known aqnythign regarding the new investment and the end of the AL deal until a few minutes before it went live on the website. He said fans and people working at the club wanted the same thing in a successful and family orientated club.

AH said he was very aware of the worries and mistrust coming from fans. He read the message boards every day and knew of the concerns raised there. He explained that whilst the club had signed up to an account on the message board and answered some questions for a while, it had been decided to stop doing so. The level of personal abuse made it not the place where the club felt comfortable to have a presence. The club had talked about finding way of answering questions brought up on the message board and were hoping to ask Mike and Bumble if they would come in and ask questions and report the answers back.

The message board was discussed with divided opinion both on the panel and from the floor.. JK thought it was a valuable tool to find out what fans thought , even if the feedback wasn't always good, that was worth knowing too.

People, both on the panel and on the floor, felt a big problem was the anonymity, which led to people being keyboad warriors and putting off debate. SK said that whilst sometimes, for instance, it would be brought to their attention about a problem in the ticket office. Whilst the girls could supply an answer to the questions they would not be comfortable posting on the message boards.

I said I thought it important that there was a strong independent message board where fans could post and vent their feeling but agreed that personal abuse was not acceptable.

The meeting went on for around 2 hours in total. I felt everyone on the panel came over well, there was a wish from everyone to move forward and have fan involvement. How this will evolve I don't know. I hope things move forward, both with the club and with CUOSC but (and this is strictly a personal opinion), until there is some resolution with the billionaire speculation I can't see fans feeling confident about the club.

Thanks Bumble, I'm sure most appreciate your efforts. Having been away, I certainly do.
Bumble wrote:
This is an interesting point, and one I'll follow up with the club. There's no reason they can't pop me an email and I'll post the answers. There is no room for personal abuse, and myself, Bumble and Mouldy do try to remove what we see - but we do all have other jobs and can't be online 24/7. I will stress again that hitting the 'report' option next to a post sends me an email so I will get instant notification. Abuse of this feature will of course have consequences, before anybody gets any ideas!

On that note, there has been good use of the report button over the last week or so - helps keep things on an even kilter and light hearted entertainment

Having read what I posted ( always a good idea), just want to make it clear, the club has taken the decision not to have a presence on the message board, not AH. The club have decided to depersonalise things by replying through Mike and me,not a club official.

Bumble wrote:
No offence to you and Mike, but that's utter bollocks...

I always said they shouldn't have registered in the first place, leaves open to all manner of questions, abuse, debate etc. When there is no reply, they get accused of hiding, turning the other cheek...

The Club should also not be using intermediaries to get stuff across on a Messageboard. Smacks of small-time kerfuffle for me. They should be concentrating on getting any criticisms put right, and advertising the fact. As lively as it is on here, it's probably far smaller a % of our fanbase than folk realise. Why focus solely on one outlet? They should be looking at more Forums, organising Fan Meeting's, utilising the role of the Fans Liason Officer (This could maybe be tied in with the role on the Board?) and the like, if folk can't be arsed to attend, seek the relevant folk out or ask questions via other means - tough shit!

There's so much needs done, let's hope it'll eventually get put right...

Thanks very much for that Bumble, much appreciated even though i didnt give you any questions. One thing i will say is i think the anonymity bit is a bit of a smokescreen. Im not from Carlisle and dont know a lot of people who post on here but i get the impression a lot of the posters do know each other so im not sure people are behaving as keyboard warriors due to it.

Bumble wrote:
So they will have an official presence then, it's just that they will need 4/5 people to be involved before any communication to the 'difficult customers' can be authorised.

I'm sure I will have met many of the regular posters on here but I don't think I could name more than half a dozen. A lot of people know who I am because I am pretty visible on match days but very few people identify themselves as message boarders.