There was a question from the floor suggesting that Bernard and Graham were implicated both in the poor disciplinary record and the high wage bill during 1999-2000, which had helped to cost Mark Ward his job.

Mark Harris underlined that players' wages had not been determined by either Bernard or Graham. In future, all wages would be determined by the Board as a whole and not just the Chairman. It was agreed to move the meeting on to the subject of Supporters' Trusts but the question of the management of the Club would be continued towards the end of the meeting. Mark Harris is pictured left with Steve Finney.

Mr Brian Lomax, of Supporters Direct, was given the floor. He revealed that he was originally an Altrincham supporter and recounted some amusing anecdotes of his youth such as when he was allegedly the Robins' only away fan and used to travel on the team bus to away games c1960. He explained how in 1992 the first Supporters' Trust had been set up by him and colleagues at Northampton Town, which had been the Club supported by his daughter. The Cobblers had been £1.6 million in debt and had a ground not even up to Southern League standard.

The Trust got two reps onto the Club Board and managed to reduce the debt by negotiation to half a million pounds, which was paid off in four years during which the Club had a trading profit. The Council funded a £4.5 million new stadium primarily because there were supporters on the Board and because the Trust had espoused goals such as Equal Opportunities and Disabled Access which were aims held also by the Council. The Council could thereby gain reflected good publicity for such initiatives at the football club.

Brian explained that a Trust differed from a Supporters' Association in various respects. A Supporters' Trust is a legal entity with one member, one vote. It also must be affordable; the cost is £5 per member at Northampton. A Trust must also be representative of all fans and not just a splinter group. The best model for such a Trust is for it be a co-operative, registered with the Registrar of Friendly Societies.

This guards against corruption. A Trust can acquire Club shares and elect Board representatives. Brian underlined that the future for all small Clubs is a partnership between business, the local authority and the supporters. Once a Trust has shares and a member or two on the Board, fans will return to the Club as they begin to see that it was being run by and for local people.

Mr Lomax noted that unlike Northampton, Altrincham supporters already had a supporters' association Director on the Board (Mark Eckersall) and had a satisfactory stadium. However, whereas Northampton's Council had only Northampton Town as a major sports entity, Trafford had Manchester United as well as Sale Sharks rugby club within its territory, which made things more difficult.

Supporters Direct had received three years' funding from the government's Football Task Force and in the 8 months since last July it had grown from an organisation of 6 Trusts to one of 22, with 112 clubs showing an interest at all levels from Premiership to non-league. Non-league trusts were operating at Aylesbury, Enfield and Bromsgrove. Supporters Direct covers the legal costs of clubs gaining legal registration advice and can give grants of 50% (up to a total spend of £1,000) for setting up a Trust. It also provides a support service.

Questions from the floor elicited further information. A Supporters' Trust would normally acquire new shares not existing ones. In respect of this, Mark Harris indicated that, contrary to earlier Club statements, the Board had decided the day before this meeting that it would call an EGM for the current shareholders with a view to getting them to agree to the issue of new shares.

Regarding practicalities, a public meeting of supporters is needed to pass a resolution to form a Trust. The next stage is to set up a Working Party to prepare the ground. This Working Party then brings its recommendations to a second public meeting which carries the matter on to create a Trust. The whole process normally takes 4 or 5 months. The new Trust and the SAFE Supporters' Association could exist in parallel.

However, there was some feeling from the SAFE representatives that the two organisations might in some way merge so that supporters' efforts were not spread too thinly. As regards the concept of setting up a Trust, Mr Lomax conducted a straw poll of the meeting and gained almost unanimous support for such a body on a show of hands. Rob Muir was thanked, in his absence, for his hard work in setting up the meeting and researching the topic for Altrincham supporters. For more details visit the Supporters Direct website.

The meeting then returned to Club matters and Mark Harris was asked if the Club still had ambitions to get back to the Conference, despite the financial situation. Mark indicated that the reduced wage-bill next season was still likely to be the biggest in the Unibond Premiership and that Altrincham "cannot afford to stay in the Unibond". Mark was pressed about the identity of applicants for the managership but would say no more than that interest had been expressed by current Conference and Unibond Premiership managers- with the stress on the plural in each case.

There had also been interest from other quarters. He also clarified that Terry Brumpton was sharing his commercial duties at Altrincham with similar duties at other clubs. However, as Mr Brumpton's company, Westpoint, used telemarketing and other procedures he did not need to be physically at Moss Lane all of the time. His appointment was still being finalised; he was being properly contracted and would only be paid by results.

As for the team, the Acting Chairman underlined that the emphasis in future years would be on youth players rather than "ageing ex-professionals or journeymen". Asked about whether the existing team could be largely kept for next season, Mark indicated that he hoped that those who were wanted would elect to stay. Citing Leigh RMI, whose wage bill is £4,500 a week, Mark thought that this showed what could be achieved on limited finance. He then explained that quotes in the press that Mark Ward would receive a £60,000 pay-off for his dismissal as manager were wide of the mark.

Ward's managerial contract had not been for two years, though his playing contract had been and he remains registered as a player at Moss Lane. Mark Harris went on to emphasise the need to increase home attendances by encouraging children and families and other initiatives. He also fielded some complaints about poor publicity of forthcoming matches around the ground and the town.

Asked whether the Club could afford to attract a "top class" manager, Mark indicated that we could attract such a person without forking out "huge sums". He emphasised that the Board would be "open" about future developments and would try to build trust with the supporters. He was thanked from the floor for being more open about the financial situation than previous regimes at Moss Lane. Presumably, now, a meeting will be called to start the ball rolling towards the creation of a Trust.