S.A.F.E. (Save Altrincham's Football Existence)- The Altrincham F.C. Supporters' Association
S.A.F.E. MEETING, 12 November 2000
About forty SAFE members attended the meeting, which was held in the Noel White suite before the Gainsborough game (11 November 2000). The Club was represented by manager, Mark Ward, players Steve Hawes and Stuart Coburn, as well as Director, Mark Harris, and Company Secretary, George Heslop. Peter Read chaired the meeting. The following are edited highlights only.
Mark Ward indicated that Mario Daniel, a 16 year-old Youth Team player would be in the squad for the Gainsborough match, as would his 17 year-old team-mate, Otis Thomas. On the injury front, Kevin Ellison's injury has been identified as "stretched cruciate ligaments", which is not as bad a diagnosis as it might have been.
However, he is still out of action for some time. Mark Maddox, Eddie Turkington and Mark Ward himself are hoping to play in Tuesday's Unibond Cup match versus Ashton. Ward admitted that he himself had played too soon after his recent operation. Stuart Coburn has now been put on stand-by for the Unibond XI representative match, whilst Steve Hawes is a late addition to the opposition FA XI.
In response to a question, Stuart Coburn confirmed that his trial at Crystal Palace had not led to an offer and that, so far, no other club had made a bid for him. Steve Hawes was asked about the difference in playing at League, Conference and Unibond levels. He went on to stress the importance of winning home games, given the poor pitches at some away Unibond venues.
Mark Ward confirmed his interest in Richard Burgess of Bromsgrove Rovers but that he faced competition for his signature. Mark had been a team-mate of Burgess - in Iceland! The manager went on to answer a query about outgoing transfers and confirmed that no firm offers had been received for Leroy Chambers or Richard Landon. Landon remains listed even though Mark has been impressed by Dickie's "great attitude" and performances recently. However, Ward indicated that he might change his mind about Landon's current transfer-listing. The manager has also been impressed by Alex Hay's mobility.
He went on to explain that John Aldridge and Kevin Sheedy at Tranmere had been willing to allow Alex to come to Altrincham after being impressed by our style of play in the pre-season encounter between the two teams. Unlike other non-League outfits, Altrincham were seen as a side which tried "to play football".
Asked about the Club's supporters, Steve Hawes was full of praise for the support received, especially at away games. Stuart Coburn confirmed that the players do hear adverse comments made by a small minority of fans but that he always told the younger, impressionable players to ignore them.
Asked about the highly "verbal" management style of a certain other manager in our League, Mark Ward underlined that he preferred a quieter approach, with half-time being seen as the key time to sort things out on match day.
Both Marks, Ward and Harris, were unsure of whether Emley were still eligible or not for promotion. (As reported earlier on these pages, an official at another Unibond premier side has publicly stated that the Yorkshire Club has until the end of March 2001 to satisfy the Conference of their eligibility). Mark Ward is of the opinion that Alty are at least as good a side as Leigh were last season.
The Cabaret Nights held at the ground were being poorly attended and would now be stopped. However, they had still raised important money for the Club and the organisers, Kevin and Neil, were thanked for all their work in this regard.
Jacquie Forster had sent detailed proposals to the SAFE Committee for the formation of a SAFE grouping for those fans not based near Altrincham. This was given the go-ahead and all SAFE members resident outside Greater Manchester and Cheshire would be contacted. A small supplementary SAFE membership fee would be charged as additional services would be given.
When further details are finalised these will be publicised in local newspapers and on the various Altrincham FC web-sites. Jacquie appealed to local fans to assist visiting Robins' supporters by offering accommodation where possible; this would be reciprocated "next year, when we are back in the Conference"!
George Heslop outlined SAFE's financial position. Profits from the recent Race Night should be about £650. He and the Committee thanked Carsville Coaches who did not charge SAFE for matches which were postponed, even when a coach had turned out to collect fans.
Books of raffle tickets for the Christmas Draw are now available. Ten books will be sent to all members who do not collect them from the SAFE Cabin. The star prize is a flight to anywhere on the Buzz airline network from Stansted. Other prizes include a hi-fi system, a rare bottle of whisky from Brian Flynn and some David Beckham signed shirts.
In response to a complaint that prizewinners were not always promptly notified, the Committee undertook to ensure that this happened in future. The importance of a successful draw was stressed. Alan Brotherton was thanked for organising the Draw; he indicated that getting firms to donate prizes was ever more difficult and Bob Green was to be thanked in particular for the Buzz prize.
A new SAFE Newsletter would be available shortly; it would be distributed with the raffle tickets or be available from the SAFE Cabin next week. Alan Brotherton was congratulated for finally getting Trafford Council to agree to signage to the Moss Lane Ground- the culmination of many years of campaigning!
All Alty fans know that the Club is not financially well-off and is losing money on a weekly basis. Gerry Berman has done a good job in keeping the Club going but more injections of funds are necessary. Dave Tracey, the Club's Financial Consultant, outlined the plans for "Alty Trust 2000", a scheme whereby for a minimum £10/month supporters would not only contribute to the Club, via a Trust, but would also gain shares in the Club. Dave had produced a two-page guide to the scheme which is no doubt also available to anyone caring to write to him care of the Club.
He stated that if 150 units of £10 per month were in place, £225,000 would be raised over a nine year period. The Trust would determine what percentage of income went to the Club and what was reinvested. For the SAFE Committee, Rob indicated that he had been to a conference about "Supporters' Direct". He confirmed that Dave's scheme and the "Supporters' Direct" scheme could be integrated. Peter Read indicated that a future meeting dedicated to this topic should be arranged.
Asked about Scarborough, Mark Harris confirmed that we had lost £11,000 on the Ellender transfer. However, he confirmed that the sell-on clause was still operative despite the change of ownership at Scarborough. He was unable to confirm the precise details of this and, in particular, whether it only applied if Ellender were re-sold for a sum of £75,000 or more.
In response to a query from Alan Johnson, Mark Harris underlined the Club's financial position. He stated that the Club was not "up for sale" but that further financial backing was a priority. He underlined the need to get more support through the turnstiles and thanked SAFE members for their efforts on behalf of the Club.
Throughout the meeting a recurrent theme was the need to boost SAFE membership. Only 239 current memberships are held; some of these are Family memberships, but even so there are many regular fans who are not members. ALL supporters are urged to join SAFE- it only costs £3 for adults and even less for pensioners and juniors. As well as giving you cheap away-match travel, SAFE membership entitles you to attend SAFE meetings and get the full story of what is going on at the Club - not just a summary such as this.