Please see below a letter from Pam Duxbury, CEO of Hartlepool United. The Trust Board discussed its content at the open meeting held last night, and agreed to forward a quick response which would convey our disappointment at the continued delay in the inspection of the accounting records, together with other associated matters. A request for an urgent meeting with her is to be made to express our dissatisfaction, and hopefully agree a positive way forward.
We are hoping to have this meeting in the week commencing 9th October.
Supporters’ Trust Update – 2nd October 2017
I hope that your evening goes well and is productive in you all getting to know the board. I apologise for not being able to come along and join you this evening, but I am more than happy to answer questions via the Trust or via the club if anyone has any.
I have sent Jo Grylls a copy of the proposed structure I put together in May as my vision for the club. I am behind on the audit and the due diligence process, and this is mainly that it has bottlenecked with me as I have underestimated how much work I have had to do. Securing the shareholding over the summer and work in the club over the summer was more intense and time consuming than I ever expected, however initiatives and what has been built over the summer is hopefully shining through in our recent performances on the pitch and with the community work and business networking I have established.
I am in touch with Supporters’ Direct and I am planning to move the process forward as soon as possible, but have mainly been constrained by workload. I would expect our 30 June 2017 audit to be largely completed this month, with the information then being supplied to Supporters’ Direct after this.
I have discussed with Supporters’ Direct and the Trust about some roadshows about fan ownership and the implications. There are many misconceptions around the fact that people think the Trust will be running and managing the club. This is not the case. Whatever the ownership structure looks like going forward, this is likely to be made up of directors that I will appoint to the board to assist me in executive and non-executive roles, with one being a representative of the fans. This may or may not be a Trust member.
There is much to explore, however, my main goal is that whatever happens, whenever the shareholding arises, the fans get a say in the club and I am absolutely committed to a high level of fan engagement, which hopefully I have already demonstrated. Without the fans, there is no football club. I want the fans to have a football club they are proud of and one that they deserve.
Pam