The latest from the club via Chris Coles

[Boycie]

10 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

Is he on holiday in the Isle of Wight too? 

Hope the recent floods took him out to sea!

[Day]

2 hours ago, Curtains said:

Looks like the club have to have these meetings as it’s EFL rules. 
 

I take your points though. 

Was just reading back through this topic, see if I missed anything and saw your post Curtains.

I believe at the time of the Supporters Charger formation it was not a EFL requirement, wasn’t aware it was now tbh. 

You’ve given me something to look into though, curious as to what comes out other clubs, who’s invited, and the answers.

We didn’t have any last year, although one was scheduled but cancelled due to Covid.

Again I believe, but don’t quote me on this the idea was taken from Liverpool back when Paul Tyrrell was at the club.

The furthest back minutes I can find are 2017, it’s kinda surprising that many still were not aware of these meetings.

[angieram]

1 hour ago, David said:

I wouldn’t ever think that, Angie would kill me for a start ?

Too right! ?

I am with @Gaspode on this one. I think it's much more important to have an open and frank meeting where the club representatives can speak freely, than to have a bland public exercise that acheives nothing. If the NDA allows this to happen then I see this as no different to what many private and public  businesses have in place already. You have to respect commercial confidentiality and this is a critical time for our club in that respect.

As for representation,  I feel reassured that the club has chosen to work with established groupings, not just now but over the several years since these supporter charter meetings have been established.

I have seen many engagement initiatives set up in my line of work,  where new systems have been established whilst alienating all the people who have been doing the work before. Starting from scratch inevitably means that the "wrong" type of people get themselves at the table, rather than those who are happy to work with and engage with their constituency all the time - whether formally or informally, like this Forum. They put in the hard yards for little or no reward, so I am more than comfortable that they will try their best to represent the range of views in a constructive manner.

Let wait and see what comes out of the meeting before we start beating up our club yet again.

[RAM1966]

10 hours ago, Leeds Ram said:

Let's wait and see what happens from the meeting. Personally, I don't see it like this. The club are using this meeting with representatives of the fan base to have what I'm sure is going to be a very difficult conversation about the current state of the club and what the future looks like. I think as a first step this is sensible, there is likelier to be cooler and calmer heads with a few people than a general Q and A in a pub just before the season starts. As the club is in such a mess and tempers as high amongst the fan base as I've known them opening up to a wider session just now likely would not get the answers we want and it could descend into an antagonistic shouting match.  

They in my opinion do need to follow this up with a revised strategy for fan communication as the silence from the club and its lack of operations in a wide range of areas really isn't good enough atm. I understand that the club faces numerous challenges but the last minute ticketing, silence on potential takeovers, rumours about if we can even sign players all give the feel of an organisation on its knees being run completely incompetently from top to bottom. The fact the opening game of the season is going to have a lot of empty seats is reflective of the challenge the club faces. The club are going to need to work hard to win back the trust of a lot of fans who rightly or wrongly are deciding not to give Derby anymore money. Hopefully this meeting is the beginning of that. 

Some great points there, but, I very much doubt that the fans will be given any real answers, the biggest concern for me is when will the club manage to appease the EFL to get the transfer embargo lifted.  Without signings we are going to struggle with the likely outcome relegation. 

There has also got to be the real possibility of administration if Appleby and Co do not purchase the club, with the ground no longer part of the clubs assets any receiver could class the club as insolvent, that said I am sure that someone one buy us for £1 to turn our fortunes round.

However you look at this Mel has made a right pigs ear of it, he needs to gift the ground back to the club and just walk away, I know many will say why should he?  The answer is simple he approved all the expenditure and maxed out the DCFC credit card, therefore he should pay the debt off and leave us in the same situation when he took over.......  He may end up doing that soon as things simply can not carry on the way they are, the club is a complete shambles from top to bottom, all because of a one man vanity project.......

[Curtains]

29 minutes ago, David said:

Was just reading back through this topic, see if I missed anything and saw your post Curtains.

I believe at the time of the Supporters Charger formation it was not a EFL requirement, wasn’t aware it was now tbh. 

You’ve given me something to look into though, curious as to what comes out other clubs, who’s invited, and the answers.

We didn’t have any last year, although one was scheduled but cancelled due to Covid.

Again I believe, but don’t quote me on this the idea was taken from Liverpool back when Paul Tyrrell was at the club.

The furthest back minutes I can find are 2017, it’s kinda surprising that many still were not aware of these meetings.

https://www.efl.com/supporters/supporters-charter/consultation--supporter-engagement/

Do 2021 minutes help in many regards 

I don’t know if it’s mandatory or not to hold supporter meetings or not for sure mate but I suspect it’s expected 

Edited August 4, 2021 by Curtains
Added

[KBB]

What time do I need to stay glued on twitter from? When is the time that the meeting is happening?

[Gaspode]

3 minutes ago, KBB said:

What time do I need to stay glued on twitter from? When is the time that the meeting is happening?

It's a secret.....

[Gone]

14 minutes ago, angieram said:

Starting from scratch inevitably means that the "wrong" type of people get themselves at the table, rather than those who are happy to work with and engage with their constituency all the time - whether formally or informally, like this Forum

Im intrigued Who’s the “right” type of person and who’s the “wrong” type of person then?
 

[Day]

3 minutes ago, KBB said:

What time do I need to stay glued on twitter from? When is the time that the meeting is happening?

It won’t be on Twitter tonight. 

There is an agreement in place which is that the meeting cannot be discussed until the minutes are released to all groups on the club website. 

Give the timing of tonight’s meeting and the current situation, I will be asking for no delay in releasing the minutes as we’ve seen in the past.

Ideally I would like them out tomorrow if possible. 

[Leeds Ram]

3 hours ago, David said:

I hadn’t seen this topic prior to writing a lengthy post. Yes I questioned it, and was given assurances this was not to gag us. Please don’t jump to the worst conclusion. 

 

I'm not jumping to the worst conclusion and will wait to see what happens David but isn't the whole point conceptually of an NDA to gag someone about certain topics that the NDA relates to? Now, I trust this is a perfectly legitimate tool used by the club in this sense because of potential takeovers or other very sensitive subjects that will be discussed so I can see the need for it. Have they used NDA's in previous meetings or just for this one?

Edited August 4, 2021 by Leeds Ram

[angieram]

2 minutes ago, TexasRam said:

Im intrigued Who’s the “right” type of person and who’s the “wrong” type of person then?
 

As I said, in my opinion it is those that have legitimately tried to engage with a number of people and who are able to take a range of views to the table. I personally think @David has worked really hard to do that this last week, and indeed at previous meetings, despite there being nothing in the Forum's raison d'etre to suggest it his responsibility to do so.

There's nothing worse than a person taking their own agenda to the table and banging on about it to the exclusion of all else.

I suspect that one or two of our regular attendees today may fall more into the latter category than the former, but there are enough of the more informed people to do a good job of representing the range of views of the fanbase.

You might disagree, but it's just how I view things, having spent an entire career supporting marginalised groups to have a voice. 

[Day]

9 minutes ago, Leeds Ram said:

I'm not jumping to the worst conclusion and will wait to see what happens David but isn't the whole point conceptually of an NDA to gag someone about certain topics that the NDA relates to? Now, I trust this is a perfectly legitimate tool used by the club in this sense because of potential takeovers or other very sensitive subjects that will be discussed so I can see the need for it. Have they used NDA's in previous meetings or just for this one?

NDA’s can be for a number of reasons, either silencing you completely or just sensitive details which protect both us and the club.

As I have said, I have received assurances that this isn’t a gagging order, there would be no point of the meeting if it was.

There have been no NDA’s signed previously no, but I wouldn’t see that as a reason for concern, if it does then I have been clear that I will withdraw the forum from the charter group.

[Gone]

8 minutes ago, angieram said:

As I said, in my opinion it is those that have legitimately tried to engage with a number of people and who are able to take a range of views to the table. I personally think @David has worked really hard to do that this last week, and indeed at previous meetings, despite there being nothing in the Forum's raison d'etre to suggest it his responsibility to do so.

There's nothing worse than a person taking their own agenda to the table and banging on about it to the exclusion of all else.

I suspect that one or two of our regular attendees today may fall more into the latter category than the former, but there are enough of the more informed people to do a good job of representing the range of views of the fanbase.

You might disagree, but it's just how I view things, having spent an entire career supporting marginalised groups to have a voice. 

I don’t disagree at all actually, I just think it was a decisive sweeping statement and generalisation without any context, so always good to get clarity. 

[Leeds Ram]

2 minutes ago, David said:

NDA’s can be for a number of reasons, either silencing you completely or just sensitive details which protect both us and the club.

As I have said, I have received assurances that this isn’t a gagging order, there would be no point of the meeting if it was.

There have been no NDA’s signed previously no, but I wouldn’t see that as a reason for concern, if it does then I have been clear that I will withdraw the forum from the charter group.

Thanks for the response David ? So presumably, those sensitive subjects that are covered via the NDA will not be disclosed in the minutes that the club releases and can't be disclosed by yourself or other parties that have signed the NDA unless the club (the holder of the NDA presumably) does so themselves or allows you to do so? 

Okay, I guess as you said there are just more sensitive topics that are going to be discussed tonight than as before. 

Safe travels and have a pleasant afternoon and evening! ? 

[Day]

18 minutes ago, TexasRam said:

Im intrigued Who’s the “right” type of person and who’s the “wrong” type of person then?
 

I would agree with @angieram mostly, for me, you have to walk in, be respectful, have no agenda and represent your group with the questions they have raised.

You have to be able to accept that certain issues the club are not able to discuss, even with a NDA in place with us.

From reading comments on Twitter, some fans sound like they would walk in there and look to interrogate Mel using torture techniques seen in the Middle East.

I would suggest these are the wrong people, as are those that cannot form a sentence without using profanity and abuse.

Ugh so yes men then, no, first of all it’s not just men and some attending tonight were part of the letters demanding answers from the club, and are just as vocal within the meetings without crossing the line.

For the record, I’m not saying I am the perfect person to go, for consistency it’s either been myself or @Boycie who has attended most of the meetings for us in my absence due to illness.

This will be only my third I have been able to attend I think, now I’m back on my feet will take over from Boycie who hasn’t been happy with the selection of pork pies on offer before the meetings.

[Gone]

2 minutes ago, David said:

I would agree with @angieram mostly, for me, you have to walk in, be respectful, have no agenda and represent your group with the questions they have raised.

You have to be able to accept that certain issues the club are not able to discuss, even with a NDA in place with us.

From reading comments on Twitter, some fans sound like they would walk in there and look to interrogate Mel using torture techniques seen in the Middle East.

I would suggest these are the wrong people, as are those that cannot form a sentence without using profanity and abuse.

Ugh so yes men then, no, first of all it’s not just men and some attending tonight were part of the letters demanding answers from the club, and are just as vocal within the meetings without crossing the line.

For the record, I’m not saying I am the perfect person to go, for consistency it’s either been myself or @Boycie who has attended most of the meetings for us in my absence due to illness.

This will be only my third I have been able to attend I think, now I’m back on my feet will take over from Boycie who hasn’t been happy with the selection of pork pies on offer before the meetings.

I don’t disagree with @angieramresponse at all it just wasn’t clear in the post so just asked for clarity. Anyway we’ll be the judge when you come back with all the information for us ?

[Day]

3 minutes ago, Leeds Ram said:

Thanks for the response David ? So presumably, those sensitive subjects that are covered via the NDA will not be disclosed in the minutes that the club releases and can't be disclosed by yourself or other parties that have signed the NDA unless the club (the holder of the NDA presumably) does so themselves or allows you to do so? 

Okay, I guess as you said there are just more sensitive topics that are going to be discussed tonight than as before. 

Safe travels and have a pleasant afternoon and evening! ? 

I wouldn’t say subjects or topics, just details which could be very minor, even down to one sentence throughout the night.

It’s difficult to say whilst the meeting hasn’t taken place and it would be wrong me to speculate.

The NDA is something I will be looking to bring up for clarification that can be included in the minutes.

Right now it’s overshadowed what is an important meeting tonight and put those that are attending in a difficult position.

[Day]

1 minute ago, TexasRam said:

I don’t disagree with @angieramresponse at all it just wasn’t clear in the post so just asked for clarity. Anyway we’ll be the judge when you come back with all the information for us ?

No pressure then ?

[Spanish]

29 minutes ago, David said:

It won’t be on Twitter tonight. 

There is an agreement in place which is that the meeting cannot be discussed until the minutes are released to all groups on the club website. 

Give the timing of tonight’s meeting and the current situation, I will be asking for no delay in releasing the minutes as we’ve seen in the past.

Ideally I would like them out tomorrow if possible. 

Do you think they be sent in draft to all attendees for approval? It’s just if they are tomorrow may not be possible.  Managing expectations really

[RadioactiveWaste]

Has @David been fitted with a tracking device and the covert recording equipment? Is the exfil team in place incase the target becomes suspicious? Are the whoopie cusions armed and ready?