Liaison Meeting Minutes - 28th February 2011

[Shrimperstrust]

Minutes from the Liaison Meeting held on Monday 28th February 2011 are now online here (http://www.shrimperstrust.co.uk/home.asp?page_id=13&nid=340).

[ldnfatso]

Paul, can you please tell me who gets these complimentary away tickets mentioned and use of the Hospitality Box? Are they sold on to raise funds for the trust or are they distributed to local good causes? or just given to Trust Committee members as freebies. If it is the latter as i suspect then is there a register of whom among the Trust Committee has received what benefits?

[big_rich]

why should the trust get complimentary ticket for away game they only sponser the youth team not the first team

[TrueBlue]

Paul, can you please tell me who gets these complimentary away tickets mentioned and use of the Hospitality Box? Are they sold on to raise funds for the trust or are they distributed to local good causes? or just given to Trust Committee members as freebies. If it is the latter as i suspect then is there a register of whom among the Trust Committee has received what benefits?

Well I dont get anything

[Badger74]

Along with free coach travel no doubt!!!

[ldnfatso]

Well I dont get anything

I'm not accusing anyone Scott but Someone does, any ideas?

[Fiftyone]

I heard that the complementary tickets are given to The Late One to keep him sweet.:winking:

[Shrimperstrust]

As part of our Youth Team Sponsorship we are entitled to receive 4 Match Tickets to around 15 Away Games per Season (I am sure you are aware that normally Sponsors get tickets to every home game – so there is nothing unusual in this, other than it does not cost the Club anything in lost revenue). This has only actually occured around 3 or 4 times this Season as not all Clubs, especially those in League Two give out Comps.

When we do get Away Comps we are normally only notified the day before, and these Comps are given to those that Travel on Trust Coaches to away games. If no one requires them we then offer them to other Southend Supporters at the Away Ground.

And just to respond to Badger74 no one Travels for Free other than the Organisers of each Coach.

As for the use of a Box at one Home Game a Season, this again is part of the Sponsorship Package that we very rarely use, in fact we will be doing so for the first time shortly. It is not used by Committee Members as a 'perk', we offer the use of the box to local charities and even then the Trust pay for the Food & Drink etc. so as not to financially burden the Club.

[Matt the Shrimp]

For all the hard work they put in, I don't begrudge the Trust committee member the odd comp at away grounds... Besides, it doesn't look like any of them have been getting any comps recently!

[ldnfatso]

Is there a register for whom has received what over the years?

As The Trust is a Charity, shouldnt it refuse those comps (i include the freebies for coach organisers). I was under the impression that those who comitted time to run the coaches and Trust did so on a voluntary basis.

[Gremlin]

Is there a register for whom has received what over the years?

Serious question here. If you discovered that some regular Trust coach traveller got a freebie at, say, Cheltenham Town a few seasons ago, what would you do with that information?

[ldnfatso]

Serious question here. If you discovered that some regular Trust coach traveller got a freebie at, say, Cheltenham Town a few seasons ago, what would you do with that information?

Nothing, but the question remains, Should the Trust (beit Committee members or Trust Members) morally take freebie tickets at all with the club in such dire straits?

[Shrimperstrust]

Nothing, but the question remains, Should the Trust (beit Committee members or Trust Members) morally take freebie tickets at all with the club in such dire straits?

Steven, please read the response earlier in the Thread. These are AWAY Match Tickets and do not cost the Club anything. They are Comps given to the Club by the Host Club.

When we first Sponsored the Youth Team we were offered Tickets to Home Games (as are all other Sponsors) but we turned these down in favour of Away Tickets thus not costing our Club anything.

[The Flying Scotsman]

I don't see the problem with committee members who work voluntarily getting the odd perk. I refuse to believe that it gets anywhere close to offsetting the time they spend working for free.

[The Late One]

And just to respond to Badger74 no one Travels for Free other than the Organisers of each Coach.



So that asks the question - how many "organisers" it takes to run each coach nowadays ?? Maybe the Trust would like to confirm

[Shrimperstrust]

1 or 2 as you already know.

And before you say it, yes we all know it was only 1 in your day, but times change, and it was agreed by the Committee to allow for 2 Organisers per Coach if required.

[The Late One]

1 or 2 as you already know.

And before you say it, yes we all know it was only 1 in your day, but times change, and it was agreed by the Committee to allow for 2 Organisers per Coach if required.

Maybe this is one of the reasons that the Trust have to charge their passengers more per trip than another certain coach travel provider

[united we stand]

I don't see the problem with committee members who work voluntarily getting the odd perk. I refuse to believe that it gets anywhere close to offsetting the time they spend working for free.

100% agree, some people just like a moan and always assume the worst of others

[Fiftyone]

100% agree, some people just like a moan and always assume the worst of others

I wonder who you mean?.:winking:

[OldBlueLady]

1 or 2 as you already know.

And before you say it, yes we all know it was only 1 in your day, but times change, and it was agreed by the Committee to allow for 2 Organisers per Coach if required.

Can I ask, just out of curiosity, is it not in some massive raft of paperwork that it is advisable to have two "organisers" on each coach in this day and age? To me that would seem a logical move on a full coach, and I'd imagine it's certainly easier to have two people for taking round drinks. I know with the school kids that we have to have a certain ration of adults to kids, I'm just wondering if it's similar in a situation like this. I know tour coaches are different but then you're locked into a package as such aren't you?

[The Late One]

Can I ask, just out of curiosity, is it not in some massive raft of paperwork that it is advisable to have two "organisers" on each coach in this day and age? To me that would seem a logical move on a full coach, and I'd imagine it's certainly easier to have two people for taking round drinks. I know with the school kids that we have to have a certain ration of adults to kids, I'm just wondering if it's similar in a situation like this. I know tour coaches are different but then you're locked into a package as such aren't you?

If it is easier why stop at two organisers (freebies), one person could be justified in checking people getting on, you could have one taking the money, one checking it (just in case the first person makes a mistake), one person sorting drink orders and another serving the drinks then another doing future bookings while yet another organiser arranges a collection for the driver. All seven could go for nothing as they are all helping in some form - obviously the loss of income could be covered my a small additional cost on each seat for the remaining paying fans.

You do cannot justify an extra organiser by comparing the amount of adults needed when you have a coach full of school kids to travellers going to a football match, since any under 16's shouldn't be travelling without an adult who is responsible for them anyway.