OPEN FORUM - THURSDAY 18 MARCH 8PM

The Stockport County Supporters Co-operative (previously known as the Trust) has regrouped and is holding an Open Forum for all County supporters on Thursday 18th March from 8pm at the Railway Club, Edgeley Road.

A free buffet will be provided, and there will also be cheap beer.

The renewed mission of the Supporters’ Co-operative is to:

“help achieve a full and active partnership between Stockport County and its supporters, through an inclusive democratic supporters’ co-operative, and to raise the profile of the Club as an important contributor to the local community”

The aim of the forum is to bring together the supporters of the club and explore how best to get maximum benefit from the Club’s most significant resource - its supporters. With the take over of the Club apparently imminent, it is vital that the supporters are ready to hit the ground running in respect of being able to offer practical support to the new owners of the Club.

All supporters are welcome. Please do your best to attend.

SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING - THURSDAY 18 MARCH 7.30PM

Before the Forum there will be a formal Special General Meeting at 19:30 for members of the Co-operative, primarily to approve two changes to the Society’s Rules.

We have written to all our members, if you have received this letter, we consider you to be a member for the purposes of this meeting. If you have not received the letter and consider that you are a member please bring along a note of your membership number and I.D.

An electronic copy of the letter sent to all members can be found here.

An electronic copy of the Notice of Meeting sent to all members can be found here.

Trust AGM Minutes and 2009 Accounts
13th November 2009

The Trust AGM for 2009 was held on Thursday 12th November at the Bungalow Club by Edgeley Park. Minutes from this meeting, plus the 2009 accounts are now available to read.

The old Trust Board has now stepped down, and the New Trust Board will be spending the next few weeks completing the handover of all documentation and processes. After that it will then announce plans to communicate their next steps to the membership going forward - your patience is appreciated while the new Board settles in.

Electronic Copy of the minutes found here.

Electronic Copy of the 2009 accounts found here.

Trust Elections - No Ballot due to uncontested election; New Board details
29th October 2009

There were ten places up for election at this year's AGM. Five candidates have put their name forward. Because the number of candidates is less than ten, after verifying with Supporters Direct we can now confirm that this means the election is uncontested. All five will be duly elected to serve on the new Trust Board, which will commence at the AGM to be held on Thursday 12th November at the Bungalow Club by Edgeley Park with a 7.30pm start.

After detailed discussion with Supporters Direct prior to the election address period taking place, it has been determined that the minimum number of Board members can be four (4) for the Board to continue to function. With five people putting their names forward, the new Board will be valid, though expect a rule change to be put forward in due course to ensure the rules are amended to get full compliance. As previously discussed, the "old" Trust Board members (i.e. who have served longer than since the last election) are all standing down. The five candidates details are included below, their address comments have been included also:

Mary McGee Wood A Supporters Trust can be many things - it is too valuable to lose. But right now we need to take time and a fresh look. I believe that the new Board will need to listen and be humble and open-minded in trying to find its best way to support Stockport County. We have been promised help from Supporters Direct, the national organisation of Supporters Trusts, which gives me confidence that we can find a positive way forward. I have only been a County fan for about 10 years, but it is my local club and I care about it, both as a football club and as part of the Stockport community. I am a director of a small software company, married with two adult sons (one also a season ticket holder and Trust member), four cats, and a vegetable garden. I would see my role on the Trust Board as a caretaker, to get us back on our feet with a clear direction, but also as a relative outsider who can be open-minded and imaginative in looking for that direction. In time, Stockport County Supporters Trust can still make important contributions to Stockport County Football Club.

Graham Privett The primary aim of our Supporters’ Co-operative is to encourage the Club to take proper account of the views of its supporters and of the community which it serves. We do not strive to attain this goal because we are interfering busybodies, but because we know that Stockport County will benefit and become more sustainable as a result. Stockport County must move from EP to a modern facility, becoming master of its own destiny once again. The thought of this strategy being embarked upon without consultation with the supporters is inconceivable. For such an initiative to succeed, supporters must play their part. This is essential if County are to survive. I believe that the Supporters Co-operative is the best vehicle to present a credible voice, although I accept that it must reinvent itself first. Over the years I have always tried my best to help out whenever I thought that my participation would make a difference. Through my involvement with HISC, the James Gannon Testimonial Committee, setting up the Supporters Co-operative, and most recently with Help the Hatters, I feel that I have gained a reasonable understanding of Stockport County (this took a mere 18 years). I am still learning of course, and therefore humbly offer my services on the Board of the Supporters Co-operative for the next 3 years, if elected. If not, I will continue to support the Board and the Organisation as I have being doing in recent years through the Secretarial Subcommittee.

Mark Savery I’ve been a supporter of Stockport since the early 1990s and whilst I moved away from the area 8 years ago, I still regularly attend matches at Edgeley Park. I’m a Chartered Accountant, and the experience I have gained from working with clients gives me a great insight into the workings of a company and the financial issues that it faces. I have worked with companies that have ranged from not-for-profit organisations of a similar size to our Club, right up to multinational listed companies. I’m currently the Financial Reporting Manager of a FTSE-250 listed company that has a worldwide turnover of over £900m. I am responsible for reporting the financial performance of the Group in a clear and consistent way to investors and other stakeholders through the stockmarket and other media. The experience I have gained during my career and my love of football and Stockport County F.C. enables me to not only improve the level of communication within the Trust and supporters, but also enables me to assist in developing the future strategy and direction of the Trust, especially the financial aspects of our strategy. I believe that we will need to build and strengthen relationships with other County supporters’ groups, local businesses and the future owners of the Club, to ensure that we achieve the one aim we all want: To have a successful football club to support in the future.

Adam Gazeley

*NOTE: Adam was elected to the Board for one year at the 2008 election

I am standing to ensure a quorum so that the trust can continue to run and to allow members the opportunity to shape it's future away from the "heat" of recent events. If the current trust is wound up then supporters direct have informed me they cannot assist practically or financially in setting up and organisation. For the trust to continue it will need to rethought, renamed and relaunched with clear club and community objectives. I look forward to looking forward with other interested parties

Russ Harrison

*NOTE: Russ was elected onto the Board at the 2008 election

My first game watching County was away to Crewe in the eighties with a group of mates from the Cross Keys pub but it was when I married and moved to Stockholm road in Edgeley SK3 that I really caught the bug! Listening to the noise of the support wafting over the reservoirs proved too much of a draw. When my son Tom was born in 1994 he became the second season ticket holder in the house and he is now the Junior associate on the Trust Board. There are now four of us as my wife Tracy and daughter Sophie have been added who are all season ticket holders in LT2. Still living in Stockport I am General Manager of a packaging business in Leeds that employs 30 people. In this role I am responsible for all aspects of the business from strategic planning to ensuring that our customers get the product that they want on time and in full. I believe that the skills that I have can be of great benefit to the Trust and , although I myself was born in Manchester I realised just how much this club meant to me personally at the end of the Carlisle game a couple of years ago.

Trust AGM and Elections
11th October 2009

Notification of the Trust AGM, to be held on Thursday 12th November at the Bungalow Club by Edgeley Park with a 7.30pm start. The election process is now underway and all letters regarding the upcoming elections and AGM have been sent out to members by post at the start of the week commencing 5th October.

Electronic Copy of the letter can be found here.

Summary of Open Meeting 3rd September 2009
26 August 2009

A short summary of the meeting on the 3rd is now up: Click here for Summary.

What Next? Informal Discussion - 3rd September 2009
26 August 2009

At the SGM in June the members of the Stockport County Supporters Trust Board confirmed that they would remain on the board until the next AGM (due in November) when they intend to stand down. This will allow for the election of a new board to take the Trust forward in the future and details of the AGM election process will be announced in due course.

To prepare for this the Trust will be holding an informal open discussion on Thursday 3rd September at Edgeley and Shaw Heath Labour Club ( The Bungalow) next to Edgeley Park on Hardcastle Road starting at 7.30pm to discuss the future direction of the Trust. We have invited a representative of Supporters Direct who will be able to explain how they can help and support the new Trust board in re-invigorating the SCFC Trust.

The aim of the meeting is to regroup, and refocus the aims of the Trust and to ask members what they want the Trust to be in the future. The new board will have the full support of the existing board in the practicalities of running the Trust and in addition we can assist other Trusts from the experience Stockport County Trust has had from ownership of the Club.

We hope that in time a new Supporters Trust board will be able to represent fans to the club by having a well organised and representative Trust that will support Stockport County, build relationships with all stakeholders of the football club and represent the fans point of view.

Please come along to have your say at a meeting that will be forward looking, informal and we hope wide ranging when any point of view can be expressed

David Hoyle ( Chairman )

Trust SGM Minutes now available
16 June 2009

Minutes from the Trust SGM on 4th June are now available. Click here for SGM Minutes.

Trust AGM moving back to November 2009:
14 June 2009

The Trust AGM will be moving to it's usual date in November, rather than the previously announced date of July 1st.

This is due to the current circumstances around ownership of the Club. The Trust have taken advice from Supporters Direct on the best date to hold the AGM. As initially communicated, the reason for bring forward the Trust AGM was with the intention of holding elections so a new Board could be put in place. There were no applications to apply to stand for election by the end of May and therefore the Trust Board, as discussed with the membership at the recent SGM, will reset the AGM date back to November 2009 and re-run elections. Supporters Direct have also provided guidance on the best steps forward. The SGM minutes are currently being finalised and will be published as soon as possible.

Co-opted Trust Board member changes:
14 June 2009

Co-opted members James McCracken and Graham Noden have both independently decided to step down from the Trust board. The board on behalf of the membership would like to thank them both for their contribution.

Final reminder for Trust SGM on Thursday 4th:
3 June 2009

The re-arranged Trust SGM announced via the Stockport County Official Website on 24th May will take place on Thursday 4th June at Stockport College Barkworth Theatre, Stockport College, Wellington Rd South, Stockport, SK1 3UQ, and will commence at 7pm.The agenda will be the same as previously declared as it is a classed as a continuation of the adjourned meeting and as such the agenda must remain the same.

1. Apologies
2. Explanation of voting procedures
3. Changing the objectives of Stockport County Supporters’ Society Limited (the Trust) – see below for full details
4. Providing direction to the Board of Stockport County Supporters’ Society Limited (the Trust) in respect of the potential transfer of some or all of the shareholding in Stockport County AFC Limited (the Club)
5. Election Process for 2009 AGM

The Stockport County Trust would like to apologise for the slow updating of this site and no direct emails to members recently due to technical difficulties (now resolved).

However, significant communication to the membership for the SGM has been carried out including placing details of the rearranged SGM on the County Official Website, emails to all major SCFC community mailing lists, posts on the main SCFC message board and also details provided to printed media.

Statement from the Trust Board:
29 May 2009

Stockport County Supporters Trust has announced that the investor group it had brought together to offer to buy County has after much deliberation withdrawn its bid to the Club´s Administrators.

Trust Chairman, David Hoyle said: " With much regret the group the Trust had wished to join it in bringing Stockport County out of its current predicament and forward to a successful future, has been forced to withdraw from negotiations with Leonard Curtis & Co for the time being". The key reasons were uncertainty about a number of important financial items, including the position of the former manager, Jim Gannon, who has served us so well, and inadequate and inaccurate information together with a lack of time to investigate these areas and prepare a proper business plan for the future. As you know we had brought together a group of highly respected business people who have a keen interest in supporting County. They were ready and able to acquire the club achieving within two weeks over £1m of committed funding to help meet their plans for the future. However, they came to the conclusion that it would be unwise to pay the requested £200,000 pound non-refundable deposit given the level of uncertainty that surrounded the Club`s previous and current financial circumstances. Given the type of detailed business plans that are necessary to prepare the club for a sustainable future, the timescales imposed prevented the consortium from achieving a satisfactory business model that met all the investors prerequisites.

Mr Hoyle went on to thank all who had worked so hard in recent weeks in the attempt to place a meaningful bid, including the people at Cheshire Sports who were very supportive. He added that "the people who are part of the bid group are still very keen to see Stockport County being saved and would still be prepared to talk with the Administrator or other suitable parties if this could help bring the Club out of its crisis".

David Hoyle
Chairman

Statement from the Trust Board:
7 February 2009

The Trust Board have been in constant touch with Martin Reid and the County Board over the Clubs financial problems and we are very supportive of their efforts to get us through the present difficulties. Martin Reid and the Club Board are working round the clock to unravel the current financial issues, which as you can imagine did not arise overnight but were really the result of an accumulation of losses of around £1 million during the past three years.

The Club and Trust Boards have had to act decisively to stem and control these losses and get the Club to a point where all financial issues are known to the Club Board to get onto an even keel. It has not always been possible or practical to tell all and we understand how frustrating this is, as it is equally frustrating not to be able to correct and refute speculation and misinformation.

The Club Board are working round the clock to assess the current financial issues and investigate every option available. We are getting help and advice from a number of sources including the Council, who have been very supportive, and I would  like to pay particular tribute to Jim Gannon who has been brilliant under difficult circumstances.

The Trust Board can confirm that the Club Board have not received any approaches from consortiums or private investors wishing to take over Stockport County Football Club.

To listen to County Chairman Martin Reids interview about the short, medium and long term plans - please Click Here....