The meeting commenced at 10.40 and The Chairman welcomed all present and commented how nice it was to see more members than Committee for once.
Committee present: Adi Mowles, Paul Mitchell, Nick Warrick, Daniel Ferguson Thomas, Craig Buckley
Apologies: Paul Donnelly, Andy Mills, Paul Starr, Ben Donnelly
2009 minuted approved.
Chairman’s Report
In my opinion PISA has once again had an outstanding year. It was never going to be an easy or seamless transfer from a non subscription system to one where we expected long term members to part with their hard-earned cash. However, I was delighted that the decision was so well received and I feel we have rewarded our members for their loyalty.
Although not as high in numbers the coaches we ran were enjoyed by all - despite the results rather than because of them.
Although some may disagree we are proud that we led the movement to put pressure on the Peterborough City Council that eventually led to their decision to purchase the ground. It was not our intention that they allowed themselves to pay the inflated price demanded by Mr. Hill but to be honest the alternative was not worth thinking about. Rest assured that we will never let them forget that they had a chance to buy it in 2003 for next to nothing. I sincerely hope that since his purchase of the Great Northern Hotel no members go there and put any more money into Mr. Hill’s pockets.
Our greatest feat this past year has without a doubt been our incredibly successful organisation of the clubs 75th anniversary evening albeit a year late! Considering it was all done in three months it truly was a remarkable achievement and one PISA can feel very proud of. The donation we received from Mr MacAnthony was greatly appreciated of course but it is fair to say that it is doubtful the club could have organised such a great do.
All of our thanks need to go primarily to Paul Donnelly for organising the evening but all the committee members contributed in their own individual ways and it truly was a team effort.
Can I also assure everyone that despite how it looked our beloved Chairman - DMac not me - won the raffle for the brilliant painting done by Nick Warrick fair and square. He had after all bought about 200 quid of tickets! To see all those players from years gone by was emotional and what made it extra special was to see them recognise ex colleagues they hadn’t seen in some cases for decades.
The DVD for the event put together by Boozy was without doubt the very best of all those he has done and that is saying something. For those who haven’t had the pleasure feel free to order one today or in the future.
We donated to the club two boards that frame the tunnel and are easily seen by both teams as they wait to go on the pitch. ‘This is London Road’ they proudly state ‘Home of The POSH’ with the club badge and a not very subtle reminder of who paid for them PISA 2000 around the top and the bottom of both boards.
Our finances are as good as they have ever been and we are confident that over the forthcoming season we can support many events and look after our members in different ways making us remain without doubt the leading supporters group of our little club, ( I view the Trust as much more than just a supporters group)
I hope that all of you here today spread the word and continue to support us in the way you have done so brilliantly for ten years.
We will continue to represent you in an independent way, despite what has been reported our relationship with the club is fine. We simply decided to stop attending a monthly meeting that lasted an hour and where although it was handy to express some views and find out some info was not nearly as useful as we'd have liked.
We have shown our support to the club already this season by our - or more accurately Nick Warrick’s - amazing effort in getting every kit POSH have worn since 1934 painted on the concourse walls of The Glebe.
They look brilliant now but he and his band of helpers have a bit more work to do until they are complete, they should all be done by the next Saturday home game and along with the superb large photos the club have done of various hall-of-famers they will help brighten up The Glebe and make the match day experience that much more enjoyable.
It is a shame that it has taken us so long for to get the project under way but once again we can all blame Colin Hill for that as we were refused permission time and time again during his ownership of the ground.
At any time during the next year if you have a question, a complaint or a point of view you wish to express please feel free to approach any committee member on any Saturday home game or indeed send whatever it is to our blog.
We will be updating the blog on a regular basis and hope that it is appreciated as it is the easiest way for us to communicate with you our members.
Lastly to commemorate this our 50th year in the football league we will be producing some shirts in various styles with the original club badge.
Enjoy the season.
Keep it POSH and of course, Fry Out.
Adi Mowles
PISA 2000 Chairman.
The AGM then continued with The Treasurers report.
Treasurers Report
An ultimately successful year for the organisation, mainly due to the 75th Anniversary Evening.
The coaches we ran during the season broke even mainly, one would imagine, because the team were so awful away from home and only a minimum of people wanted to travel.
All in all we are in the best financial position we have been for some time and will endeavour to use the funds in the best way and represent our members responsibly.
Hopefully at some time in the next year we can offer members some kind of event that will be enjoyable and cheap for those able to attend.
Rest assured you will all be notified of all major financial transactions that affect the coffers during the year.
Membership Report
The transition to subscription has gone well and the figures are slightly more than what we anticipated. Our membership is approximately 275 at the moment
I have all the details of all our members on a data base and this can be updated if any details change. This makes it easier to contact our membership via e mail or the blog.
We hope to bring in new members this year and with the family card which will be discussed later we are also hopeful it will encourage a more mixed membership who hopefully will come along to Eb's and enjoy our facilities.
Committee Election
As is the norm the committee resigned their positions and the good news was that all the committee had volunteered their services for the forthcoming year. As there is nobody foolish enough to volunteer as Chairman the incumbent agreed to stand for another year.
Both the Treasurer and Membership secretary also agree to continue in their respective roles. In addition Dan Wood has joined the committee.
This year’s committee
Chairman: Adi Mowles Proposed by Barry Bennett, seconded by Outlaw – Steve
Treasurer: Paul Donnelly Proposed by Adi Mowles, seconded by Barry Matthews
Membership Secretary: Andy Mills – Proposed by Paul Mitchell, seconded Daniel Ferguson Thomas
Daniel Ferguson Thomas: Proposed Nick Warrick, seconded Barry Matthews
Nick Warrick: Proposed Barry Mathews, seconded Adi Mowles
Ben Donnelly: Proposed Craig Buckley, seconded Paul Mitchell
Paul Mitchell: Proposed Adi Mowles, seconded Nick Warrick
Craig Buckley: Proposed Adi Mowles, seconded Daniel Ferguson Thomas
Dan Wood: Proposed Adi Mowles, seconded Craig Buckley
Any Other Business
Members are reminded they have till 25/9/2010 to renew if they want to keep the same number otherwise they can renew any time.
Questions were invited from the floor.
PISA member Barry Bennett would like it noted that he feels PISA’s decision to pull out of the monthly meetings was a bad one and thinks we underestimate how much good we did and still can do. He was speaking on behalf of the Trust who are still attending the meetings.
On that subject Paul Froggit agreed to keep PISA up to date with events re any ground discussions in our absence.
AM said whilst he accepted the points made by the Trust and the PISA members who felt the same way there were a few matters that had pushed our decision.
One was the way that any suggestions put forward were ‘neutralised’ by the club although often at a later date put into action after our pulling out of the meetings.
Also the total contempt shown by the DoF towards the organisations invite to the 75th Anniversary evening when he pointedly ignored the several reminders and refused to contact us to inform us of his decision. We then withdrew the invite only to see him turn up anyway as the Chairman’s guest.
Lastly and perhaps most importantly we found that as the discussions were never minuted there was no way that much of the conversation could be reported to our members and anyway the substance was not always anything that was worth reporting.
However this decision is not irreversible and all agreed that it can be looked at in the future.
AM took the opportunity to thank the Trust for their continued support.
It was mentioned from the floor that updates would be appreciated after each committee meeting, it was agreed that this would be easy to do for those on email or with access to the blog but would prove difficult for the roughly 60 members who didn’t. It would be time consuming to phone them all up so AM suggested he ask his contacts at the ET to allow us to report a short summary of the meetings.
Barry Bennett, on behalf of the Trust, thanked PISA for great year and great evening celebrating 75 years of POSH.
Chris Sharpe asked if PISA coaches could be pre-arranged with a much longer notice period
AM has said he will try and make this happen though the away fixtures almost up to Christmas were not conducive to coach trips especially not where children would want to go.
An e mail had been received from a PISA member Mr Patrick McDevitt:
I understand that steps were taken to re-assert PISA's independent standing at the tail end of last season after one or two questionable positions on club matters, but can the committee ensure that the close personal relationship between the Chairman of PUFC and certain committee members will not cloud the organisation's judgement when representing their members?
AM answered that by saying that although he had a very good relationship with the Chairman he would never allow that to affect any decision that would affect PISA as an organisation or its members.
In fact part of the reason the decision was taken to ‘pull back’ from the club was that this was often perceived as being the case, something the PISA Chairman acknowledged in his letter to the members which is also on the blog and was posted on .net. If the member or indeed any member thinks they have reason to worry please bring the subject up at any opportunity. AM then said he was proud of his service to PISA but thought what limited diplomatic skills he had were best put to use through negotiation with the club rather than hostility. This would continue, indeed has already this season.
Last year was my first as a member of PISA. One thing that I noticed, which I found rather strange, was that the organisation does not consult its members before taking decisions on their behalf. Is their an inexpensive yet efficient method that the organisation could use to gain the consensus of its members before proceeding?
AM said he thought this had been discussed, regular e mails and use of both the blog and local media continued with access to .net. Also the committee has been elected to make decisions on behalf of the membership, but when major decisions have to be made we will consult as widely as possible. It is also worth noting that there are a variety of different opinions and strong characters on the committee so you can rest assured that each decision we make, however minor, has been the subject of vigorous debate. We will continue to work on making ourselves as open and as accountable to our members as possible.
Whilst no-one doubts the good cause, is it within the remit of PISA to donate sums to 'Free Kicks' and the like. I suspect that funds are limited and surely this money should be spent on matters concerning Peterborough United supporters?
AM said whilst he appreciated the viewpoint but pointed out that the organisation has also contributed to various charities and would continue to do so. PISA considers itself to be very much a community based association. However, there may be some confusion to the donations we make, very often they are a result of extra monies coming in to the organisation that have not been budgeted for and were therefore not directly from the coffers.
For example: a raffle or auction. Whilst PISA will always keep an eye on its finances they will also ‘look after’ charities especially local ones and Free Kicks being both local and Football related has always seemed an obvious and indeed popular choice.
Adi M closed by saying thank you and wishing for a successful season for POSH and PISA.
