Club Engagement Process – Update

Dear Trevor,

Club Engagement Process

Following the Trust letter to you of 22 January, and the meeting of the new fan engagement panel on Saturday 23rd January we thought we should write with an update on the Trust position. The large number of supporter’s groups that were present at the meeting on Saturday in our view underline the need for clarity regarding practical process, please find a revised ‘practical process’ that we believe is necessary to make the panel work effectively and hopefully produce positive results. 

As we indicated in our letter of 22 January the new forum needs to have a constitution, the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Trust is willing to write a first draft of the constitution, which as we outline below, we believe is necessary to make this process successful, but we will not do so unless you provide written confirmation that you wish us to complete the draft. If the club prefer to write the constitution themselves then the Trust will consider the draft when submitted to us. 

Please note that the Trust must update our members on our view of the new fan engagement panel, and in the absence of clarifying discussion before then, our letter of 22 January and this letter will form the basis of a member update. Our general view is that we welcome club attempts to re-engage with fans, the process itself requires more detail so that fans can have confidence in it.

The Practical Process

An engagement process with multiple stakeholders on one side will need very careful planning and management if it is to be effective. We believe that a constitution is required for the forum to cover:

• How meetings are called?
• How many meetings there will be? 
• How are agendas to be put together? 
• Will the meetings be recorded? 
• Will the unedited recording of the meeting be released as a public record of the meeting? (This is the Trust’s favoured position)

• Who will attend on behalf of the club? 
• What authority will the club official have to answer questions and make decisions? 
• Can we consider any action they agree to as binding? 

If the club reject the proposal to release a recording of the meeting as the public record of the discussion, then the following questions become even more important than they already are:

• Who will write the summary of the meetings?
• Who determines which actions arise from the meeting and are to be included in the summary? 
• What is the process by which the summaries are to be agreed? 
• Who decides the date by which fans can expect the club to complete the chosen action? 
• What information is classified as confidential? 

We also believe the constitution should also set out the following: 

• The appointment of a secretary from among the fans to organise the agenda, take notes on behalf of the fans and progress chase agreed actions with the authority to request progress reports if necessary. 
• The appointment of a chairman from among the fans to chair the meeting.

Principles of Effective Engagement

Our views on the practical process are guided by the Trust’s desire to see that there is an effective and credible engagement process that leads to positive dialogue between the club and fans organisations. The Trust is willing to support and assist a process that delivers that. We believe that the club must be aware of the level of scepticism that there is amongst the fanbase about previous engagement processes - fans will need to see evidence that this new process will be different and better. 

The new process cannot be “window dressing” but must be a real process which leads to changes being made in the way the club is run and the decisions made. It will be actions flowing from the process that will build trust in the process itself. The return of the Steering Group, but with the addition of an agenda and written summary, will not be sufficient to have credibility with the fanbase. 

The new process needs to have the characteristics of openness, honesty, accountability and constructive dialogue (as opposed to just Q&A). Finally, the process must satisfy the minimum requirements under relevant EFL regulations, but it should really go further and seek to be an exemplar of its type.

The Role of the Trust

The Trust is a key player and is in a position to help build the credibility of the process the club wishes to establish – we can help make this work effectively, but the Trust will only do this if the process is worthwhile and is demonstrably delivering change and improvement.

The Trust is a democratic organisation with a legal infrastructure. The Trust is a voting member of the FSA and through the FSA is involved in dialogue with the EFL. For example, someone from the Trust will be present at a national meeting with EFL next week. In this regard the Trust is unique and is very different to any other fan organisation at SWFC. It should be seen and treated differently to a self-organised fan group.

The Trust has currently recruited 538 members inside 12 months of its launch. The reach of the Trust is much greater than that though, witness 6000 signatures in support of the open letter to the Chairman. The Trust can utilise this degree of reach and credibility into the fanbase to make the engagement process work effectively.

For the reasons set out above we are clear in our view that the relationship between the club and the Trust needs to be distinct. In our view, the club (the Chairman) should be meeting with the Trust at least twice per year and the Trust should be playing a leading role in shaping and managing the engagement process as we have described above. 

Therefore, this letter is a formal request for there to be at least two meetings between the Trust and Chairman per calendar year in addition the new process that the club has offered. We respectfully ask that the club respond to this formal request as a matter of some urgency.

We hope that the above is received by the club as a constructive contribution to trying to ensure that there is a meaningful process of engagement between the club, the Trust and other fan organisations. We hope that the club will respond in an equally positive manner.

Yours sincerely,

On behalf of the SWFC Supporters Trust

Join Today