CUSG meeting summary - remote meeting via Zoom, 10.06.2024
Attendance – John Kukuc (Chair), Simon Clarkson (SLO), Dave Brown (London Branch), Teresa Mulholland (EDI Rep), Alastair Woodcock, Kieron Bulman (CUOSC), Keith Elliott (CUSAT), Keith Ward (Scottish Supporter), Nataly Mason (Women and Girls’ Rep), Amy Nixon, Suzanne Kidd (CUFC)
Apologies – Nigel Clibbens (CUFC), Matt Spooner (CUOSC), Philip Walker (South Cumbria Supporters Club), Sonny Kirkwood (Warwick Road Enders)
John Kukuc introduced the meeting.
1. Club Update
This had already been circulated and is available as a separate download HERE. Questions were invited.
Suzanne said the ‘Backing the Blues’ exhibition, which opens to the public on July 20 at Tullie House, was something the club was looking forward to.
Retail sales had had their best year since Suzanne arrived at the club. The new kits have started to arrive. Pre-ordering through the website was being worked on.
Amy was working on the new website and streaming platform, plus the new CUFC app. Suzanne said these changes will give the club a stronger media presence.
Sound was getting wired up tomorrow in the Fanzone, ahead of the Euros. This would get its first proper test for the Scotland v Germany game. England games to follow. CUSG groups were all invited to have a presence in the Fanzone during the tournament.
Catering facilities in the Fanzone would comprise of the container bars plus a lot of other outlets including an ice cream van.
Building work at the ground was ongoing. Suzanne said there was still some way to go before it would be completed.
New financial regulations were being introduced by the EFL. Squad cost ratio (SCR) was replacing salary cap management protocol (SCMP). Suzanne explained that there had been an exercise with the EFL over the last 12 months to trial this. This had created a debate about the percentage over ratio allowed. Non player costs were being included in the trial run of the new regulation model. The SCR model only allows a percentage of equity inputs from owners. CUFC were well within the compliance, said Suzanne. The SCR model was not fixed yet, she explained. However, there would be no impact on the playing budget.
2. Memorabilia project (‘Backing the Blues’)
The exhibition will open at Tullie House on 20 July and run until 10 November. This National Lottery Heritage funded project will be the first exhibition at the museum after redevelopment work. The wider project celebrates and preserves the club’s legacy and is a collaboration between Carlisle United, Tullie, Carlisle United Community Sports Trust, University of Cumbria and Cumberland Council. Following the exhibition, a pop-up mini version of the exhibition will tour to local venues. Longer term the volunteers known as the Carlisle United Collective will archive all the items and establish a permanent display of objects to be exhibited at Brunton Park.
The opening event will include exhibition tours, games, family crafts, facepainting and football skills in the garden. The project will bring a huge programme of activity including school workshops, community wellbeing activities, youth programming and bespoke events. A CUFC themed quiz is planned for 25 July.
Exhibition day tickets will be available for £7, or you will be able to visit as many times as you like with an annual ticket for £15 which will also give unlimited access to the rest of the museum when it reopens in the autumn. Under-18s go free.
We have received a huge amount of donations but have now reached our cut off point for objects for the exhibition. Items can still be donated for the archive. If you would like to donate any items or join the Carlisle United Collective to support various aspects of this project, please contact slo@carlisleunited.co.uk
3. Finances
£5143.31 in the bank. £3500 is ring fenced for the heritage project (‘Backing the Blues’).
Simon proposed that Nigel Davidson be removed as a cheque signatory.
This was seconded by Chair John Kukuc and secretary Alastair Woodcock. It had been agreed in advance by treasurer Michelle Hall. It was agreed by the group to formally remove Nigel as a cheque signatory.
He would not need to be replaced by anyone for the moment as we already have sufficient signatories.
4. Family Excellence Scheme
Two visits had been made by ‘mystery’ EFL representatives for the Derby and Reading home games last season. Detailed feedback had been received from these visits as part of a report that each EFL club gets for each season. CUFC came 4th in League One and 14th overall in the EFL for the overall quality of the match day experience for families. However, there remained a desire to improve on that mark. Nigel C wanted proposals to improve the match day experience.
Simon asked for any suggestions from the groups and he will send these on to Nigel at the club.
Suzanne said that staff members are working with the owners to put a plan together for improvement of the the match day experience. This had a deadline for the end of June.
The club are also looking to do a post match survey of fans.
Dave Brown asked if we get access to the reports of the clubs above us in the rankings. Suzanne said we didn’t but we have a best practice guide from the EFL to work to.
5. Memorial plaques
Kieron got an update from Matt who was not in attendance. He was waiting for a price to be agreed for the plaques. Once this had been agreed, the scheme was ready to go live. It was hoped to have the plaques available by the start of the season.
6. EDI update
EFL Code of Practice on EDI Update:
Work is now commencing on the development phase of the EFL code of Practice on EDI & Mental Health Silver Stage. Season 24/25 will be focused on building evidence for the silver submission.
Recently attended an EFL EDI COP conference at Derby County to discuss the next stages for evidence gathering and submissions.
EDI & Mental Health Representatives meeting
We held a very productive meeting on Wednesday 6th June 6pm in the study centre, with theEDI & Mental Health Reps. This included Reps from MH, Women & Girls, LGBT and Disability.
The purpose of the meeting was to introduce myself to the group and discuss plans moving forward for the new season.
Ahead of the new season I have arranged for an ‘’Introduction to EDI Representatives: Who’s Who’ videos to be filmed; the first of which was videoed today (10/06/24). This will be a great opportunity to introduce our EDI Representatives to our Fan base and the community and to explain what their EDI expertise field is and encourage engagement and interaction within the fan zone.
The EDI representatives will cover this on a rotational basis.
EDI calendar:
Continued presence in the fan zone and additional educational/themed sessions within the study centre on match days/block 8 visits. Awaiting the updated EDI Calendar from the EFL to structure the themed visits/information sessions/training around important key dates in the EDI Calendar.
Alzheimer’s Society – Following the accessibility visit which took place at Brunton Park on 11/4/24 the results of the audit have been received and suggestions of improvements that could be made to enable more supporters living with dementia to access games at Brunton Park.
The report and its findings will be discussed further with Nigel Clibbens and SMT, with a potential revisit from Alzheimer’s UK planned following on from the redevelopment work within the ground.
Dementia Group – Progress has been made with meetings taking place with Dementia Friends, Age UK and the Alzheimer’s society. Keith and I are in the process of arranging training via Dementia friends for volunteers who would like to be part of the upcoming Dementia Café which we hope will commence in September.
Walk to the Match 2024/25
Walk to the match to continue next season with potential walks starting from Tullie House to showcase the new CUFC exhibition. Further discussions to follow with Tullie and CUFC to plan further.
John made reference to the contribution of Nigel Davidson to the EDI project. He put in a tremendous amount of work, said John.
The group put on record their thanks to Nigel for his outstanding efforts in establishing the club at a Bronze standard for their work on EDI.
7. SLO update
Key to providing good quality information for our fans travelling away is the development of strong relationships with other SLO’s and the Dedicated Football Officer. We have been making those connections so that once we have the fixtures, we can collate the relevant information.
The close season also gives the team chance to reflect on the previous year and plan ways of further improving the service. For home games the dynamics of the match day will change as volumes of fans using the east stand increases, new access arrangements around the rear of the WRE and the fan zone offering continues to expand. This will impact on where we are based in order to help fans.
We are always on the lookout for more meeters and greeters, so please get in touch if you would like to join the team. As a thank you for helping you will receive a complimentary match ticket.
8. Upcoming events
Simon had put together a draft schedule of events that will be developed dynamically during the season to assist with event planning.
9. Group updates
Scottish Supporter - Keith Ward
There had been some concerns about the status of the car park for next season. These had been addressed in the club update
Some questions had arisen over how the new e-season tickets would work at the turnstiles. Would they require internet access? Amy said details like these would be made known once the app was launched.
CUOSC -
Obviously now in the quieter off-season period so not too much to report this time round!
Ongoing work in background for our ‘Refresh’ Team continuing - Hopefully in a position to make some announcements before Season starts.
Our continued push to improve our Socials continues - Now have a WhatsApp Channel, Twitter/X, Facebook and a new Instagram - steady rise in numbers following.
Good to see Members renewing early, you don’t lose any timefram on a Membership when you do so!
Membership prices are being looked at - Dave was the lead on this but as he has resigned from the board, we are seeking to appoint a replacement.
Simon suggested Tullie House could be a venue for the next CUOSC members meeting.
London Branch -
1. 74-75 Tee shirt
1.1. Mock up attached of the design for the 74-75 tee shirt
1.2. Sales price will be £20
1.3. £2.50 per shirt donation to club charities – Eden Valley/Jigsaw Hospice and Hospice at Home.
1.4. Shirt will be available in the Blues Store and on the Blues Store website in July
1.5. It is hoped that other supporters’ groups will help us promote the shirt
2. Chaos Cup Plate Winners – Delighted that Chris Tembey’s LB supporters team won the plate for the 2nd year running. Joseph Scott was player of the tournament and Lucas Tembey was top scorer with 9 goals. Great to see 2 father and son combinations playing.
3. Summer Trip - 43 members heading to Vienna next weekend for our annual trip
4. AGM - Our 49th AGM will be online on Friday 5th July. After the AGM, one or two of the Piatak family will be joining us for a Q&A.
5. Season Planning - The LB committee are meeting on June 27th to start the planning for season 24-25 including our 50th anniversary celebrations, weekend in Carlisle to include visit to Tullie House for the Heritage exhibition, weekend away game as well as our usual travel, match, information and event activities.
6. Away match mascots – LB have agreed with the club to organise all away match mascots for season 24-25.
CUSAT -
We are putting a coach on for the Rochdale friendly on the 27th July - about half full at present. Full details to be confirmed later. I know the club have posted regards parking for home games ,but a couple of disabled fans have already expressed concerns to me about whether they'll be able to have access to disabled parking at Brunton Park for the coming season, I'm hopeful the club will be able to resolve the issue to assist them.Finally we hope like everyone else to see plenty of new signings soon and a promotion winning season.
Warwick Road Enders -
- Kian Storey, previous drummer, has stepped down and Jamie Forsyth is taking over for 24/25 - he will be attending the majority of away games to lift the atmosphere. He has compiled a list of stadiums that allow/do not allow drums.
- In the next few weeks, I’m going to revamp the website and hopefully fans will use it more to suggest new songs, and potentially in the future add Warwick Road End merchandise. However, this probably won’t be ready for start of season as we will all have to work out designs etc. (will update followers on social media in coming weeks).
- Big things coming working alongside Flags for United during the summer - really exciting so keep eyes peeled for that.
10. Any Other Business
Simon said a lengthy interview with Barbara Abbott had taken place for the Backing the Blues project and a very unique object would be loaned for the exhibition as a result.
11. Next meeting
July 22