Remote meeting via Zoom, 08.08.2022
Attendance – Gary Wylie (LGBTQ+ Supporters, Chair), Nigel Davidson (EDI Rep/CUOSC), Keith Ward (Scottish Supporter), Simon Clarkson (SLO), Alastair Woodcock (CUOSC), John Bowman (London Branch), Andy Hall, Amy Nixon, Nigel Clibbens (CUFC), John Kukuc
Apologies – Terry McCarthy (London Branch), Barry Carter (Disabled Group), Emmanuel Boateng (EDI – PoC), Keith Elliott (CUSAT)
- Appointment of new Chair
John Kukuc who attended the meeting had been nominated by Terry McCarthy.
John said if the group was happy with rotating the chair role he would understand. He said he had been a fan for 63 years. He was interested in filling the permanent chair position simply to help the club. He wanted the group to be constructive. He noted work done by CUSG and said the fan zone was tremendous and praised the improvements to the re-named bars (Glass Bar and Murphy’s Bar).
John Bowman said that the CUSG is the supporters group. The London Branch is there to support the club. A permanent role would take some of the admin task away from the groups. This would leave the group to concentrate on other projects.
John said he would welcome the challenge of taking on the project to build the new Warwick Road disabled fans’ shelter. Finances are the main issue. He was prepared to act as project manager. The London Branch were keen to work with CUSG to help deliver it, said John B.
Nigel Davidson said he had a conversation with Barry Carter given Barbara's absence to offer any help he could. He echoed the call to bring in John K’s experience. He invited John K to a meeting with himself and Barry Carter to catch up with the project.
Nigel Clibbens reminded the group of CUSG’s purpose in its constitution. To improve the club and build strong relations. It provided a regular opportunity to engage and give feedback. It allowed for key communications from the club. To seek and consult opinions from supporters. To implement supporter-focused initiatives. He disagreed with the criticism from some fans that the CUSG initiatives have not amounted to much. He said the CUSG was about more than just implementing initiatives. The forum and discussion aspect was important, he explained. Club updates have developed via CUSG. He welcomed John K’s involvement.
Nigel D said that an ongoing debate within CUOSC could have an impact on the CUSG.
Andy echoed Nigel C’s comment to promote CUSG’s achievements more.
Nigel D said he wanted CUSG to work hard on existing and new projects.
Nigel C said that lots of good ideas had emerged from the group. He said he would keep promoting CUSG. He wanted group members to be positive about the benefits of the CUSG.
Keith Ward stated that the CUSG is a voice to bring things to a discussion. Not everyone is aligned with the various supporter groups.
John K said that the CUSG would be weaker without CUOSC.
Simon Clarkson said that the CUSG is stronger as a unit with a permanent chair. He said John K will ensure accountability.
The group voted unanimously to accept John K as Chair.
- Club updates
This had been circulated already amongst the group and is available separately.
Click HERE to download the briefing in pdf format.
A question was asked by Gary Wylie about any plans to feature World Cup matches in the FanZone. Nigel C said the FanZone would have a tie up with the World Cup. This was at the planning stage.
Simon noted a lot of positive news from increased sales in season tickets, catering and retail. He congratulated the club for an improved performance on and off the pitch. He asked a question about a plan to move the training pitch to the eastern side of the flood barrier. Nigel C said Environment Agency permission was needed. It would not be a quick process. Excavations have taken place. Simon asked about green initiatives. Nigel C listed basic things the club has done such as to improve power saving. Recycling bins are appearing in the East Stand. The club is working its way through ‘easy wins’ to improve its energy efficiency. The West Stand has all been re-wired.
Nigel C explained that 90% of income from iFollow sign ups via the CUFC site goes to the club. The rest is in costs. None goes to the other club. This applies to all matches both home and away.
Paul Simpson did a feature on ‘Taking the Knee’ with the media team. He gave the players’ view on it. Nigel C had met London Branch members before the Colchester match. He had discussed catering issues with them. He addressed the issue of pouring drinks in advance. He said general experience showed fans don’t always want to buy pre-poured pints. He confirmed that the bars should be open no later than 3.40pm for serving customers before and during half-time. A new pump was coming into the FanZone to treble capacity.
- Finance and fundraising update
Signage for The Glass Bar was now complete. The group approved an invoice of £1050 to cover the costs.
£579.43 remaining in the bank after this payment is made. £55 of this is ringfenced for a donation to the Jigsaw appeal.
The group required a new cheque signatory as John Ireland was not a member of CUSG any more. Simon Clarkson, John Kukuc and the treasurer Michelle Hall remain as signatories. The group agreed that Nigel Davidson would become a new cheque signatory.
- Events and projects update
Jimmy Glass had been contacted to open the newly named bar. Simon was working to find a suitable date for him to come up. Memorabilia activities were ongoing. Items suitable for framing were being identified.
Terry McCarthy was working on a monthly prize draw plan for the CUSG. Possible Christmas/New Year raffle was also being looked into.
- Equality and Diversity
A separate update is included.
Click HERE to download the update in pdf format.
- SLO Update
The fan zone expansion and new design has been well received by fans, especially the new container bar. Demand was so high that we will expand the area again to provide more seating and make queueing easier. It is great to see the players coming along before the game and the fans responding by coming down early to see them.
Feedback from the Crawley game included issues with the bars in the east stand, ticket scanning in the west stand and room temperature in the sunset suite. All feedback to me is shared with the club and where possible, action taken.
We now have greater resilience within the home match day meeter and greeter team, which then affords an ability to both react to issues on a match day and plan a proactive approach to future games. For example, one of the team now engages with families upon entry to the east stand and shows them the tuck shop which in turn reduces pressure on the bars at peak times.
On the away front, there has been a lot of positive engagement with opposition SLO’s to gather information for our fans. Keith Elliott, as away SLO usually travels on the CUSAT bus and posts information on the Facebook page. We both post on Twitter, and we hope that the proactive social media presence enables our fans to have an enhanced away game experience. Cumbria Police play a big part in this too and liaison with Jonny Sunley is on-going.
It was great to receive this message after the game from the supervisor of the stewards at Colchester “It was an absolute pleasure working yesterday with your fans. They were all fab. Great first game to start the season.”
- Disabled Group
There was no update for this meeting due to Barbara standing down as rep. Gary proposed that Barbara be thanked for all her efforts so far. The group agreed and hoped to see her involved again soon.
- LGBTQ+ group
Gary referred to a fan who was convicted for a homophobic comment at a recent match. He said lifetime bans are not the best option. He liked the way the club dealt with it. He said it was good to see fans condemn the words used. The CUSG support the action taken 100%.
- CUOSC
AGM held on July 31.
Six members elected to the board – Dan Maclennan, Matt Spooner, Chris Armstrong, Dave Noble, Kieron Bulman and Billy Atkinson. A lively debate followed about the future of CUOSC and whether it should be a major fundraising body or not.
A workshop for the new board will be held at Brunton Park this Saturday as part of Gerard Gornall’s sponsorship (via his firm) of the Swindon Town match. This will give a chance for the new-look board to get to know each other and talk about ways in which they can work together productively to improve CUOSC and ultimately, CUFC.
Board meetings in the short term are moving to Brunton Park due to the unavailability of Upperby Community Centre.
Work is ongoing on the final version of the CUOSC manifesto.
Nigel Davidson and Billy Atkinson remain as board reps. Work on EDI projects along with CUSG and the club continue, including a plan to make the CUOSC Football Fun Day a regular annual event with more teams participating.
- London Branch
We were delighted to present a cheque for £660 to Judith Reay, a dementia support worker representing the local Alzheimer’s Society on the pitch at half time against Crawley. This resulted from the £2 donation included in the price of the ‘Roma match’ T-shirts sold during 2022, reflecting Stan Bowles’ personal battle with the disease. We have upgraded our sponsorship of the Carlisle United Ladies team from sponsoring two matches to being their away travel sponsors for the whole 20 22/23 season. We supported Jacob Blain, the United Match Analyst, in the purchase of equipment which enables him to provide Paul Simpson and the coaching team with enhanced, real time player performance data throughout the season.
John B thanked Andy and Amy for the presentation made at the Crawley game.
Nigel D called for more support for the women’s team this season.
Gary asked if a women’s match could be played on Brunton Park. Andy said this has happened before and has been successful.
- CUSAT
We’re having one away weekend 3 nights from March 9th which covers the Swindon away game and staying in Oxford - full details to follow soon. We’re in favour of John Kukuc as chair if a vote is needed – from Keith Elliott.
- Any Other Business
Andy said the end of the 23-24 season is 50 years since CUFC’s promotion to Division One was confirmed. He said the club would mark it, along with the season in the top flight the following August. It was 18 months away but it was worth working on plans now. The group agreed to help the club with this project.
- Next meeting
September 19.