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Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST)


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Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST)   

186 members have voted

  1. 1. Have you / do you intend to pledge to the 1892 Pledge scheme orchestrated by the NUST?

    • Yes
      70
    • No
      107


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34 minutes ago, Shearergol said:

 

I never remember you being this defensive in the early days of the message board. Hope everything's ok.


Thank you - I probably do get overly defensive and should rise above it and calm down. Is many years of being prodded from every direction and more often than not it being uninformed or based on lies posted on social media. We've even had people getting aggressive and in the face of board members near SJP on match days when they've been enjoying a pint with their mates, repeating utterly made up nonsense they've got worked up about on social media. All pre-takeover mind. 

The Trust isn't perfect, it has loads of areas it really can and should do better but does have a good degree of impact and influence on various things and is very good at standing up for members when they get in touch and need help with a major problem. The Trust often underestimates the complexities of running a 14,000 odd strong member organisation and the challenge of communicating with those members when it's ran by a small group of volunteers in their spare time and those members often expect it to act like a very well funded outfit with full time professional staff.
 

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2 minutes ago, LFEE said:

I appreciate a cost but I go to the same venue on a Wednesday and see 10 comedy acts with compare and full bar and catering staff etc which sells out for £5.

 

With times being hard right now I do think events like these should be kept to a bare minimum. Especially as it’s billed as a thank you for those who’ve donated lots of money.

 

I’d hate to think anyone was taking an appearance fee from this or the tickets were priced with those guests in mind.

 

Generally I wouldn’t say £20 is extortionate but for the target market and theme behind the evening it seems at least £10 too much in these desperate times.

 

 

I can 100% guarantee no one is taking an appearance fee.  Obviously the Stand running their own events don't have to hire their own venue so costs will be a lot lower.
 

Trust Board members have to pay £20 to attend.

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25 minutes ago, Greg said:


Thank you - I probably do get overly defensive and should rise above it and calm down. Is many years of being prodded from every direction and more often than not it being uninformed or based on lies posted on social media. We've even had people getting aggressive and in the face of board members near SJP on match days when they've been enjoying a pint with their mates, repeating utterly made up nonsense they've got worked up about on social media. All pre-takeover mind. 

The Trust isn't perfect, it has loads of areas it really can and should do better but does have a good degree of impact and influence on various things and is very good at standing up for members when they get in touch and need help with a major problem. The Trust often underestimates the complexities of running a 14,000 odd strong member organisation and the challenge of communicating with those members when it's ran by a small group of volunteers in their spare time and those members often expect it to act like a very well funded outfit with full time professional staff.
 

 

I'm acutely aware of how much you struggle to communicate with members tbf.

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36 minutes ago, KDT said:

For those who have their concerns it may be beneficial to change the wording on this page - https://1892pledge.co.uk/

That's true. That figure reflects the amount donated by individuals, each individual transaction for example had a processing fee taken by the card payment and direct debit processing merchants. I agree this is misleading. 

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9 minutes ago, Greg said:

That's true. That figure reflects the amount donated by individuals, each individual transaction for example had a processing fee taken by the card payment and direct debit processing merchants. I agree this is misleading. 

 

Who's your card payment provider mate? That's a mental service charge; drop me a message and I'll get you a much better deal.

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7 minutes ago, Sima said:

 

You're the Chair, no?

Can't really distance yourself from it on a technicality tbf.

I am not the Chair. 
 

My personal opinion is not the view of the Trust. The same as my personal views are not the views of my employer. 
 

My post here are as Greg, the person that’s been on this message board for over 20 years, not as a representative of the Trust. Obviously there is an association there.

 

 

Edited by Greg

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Apologies, I thought you were still the chair. It's what the website says and that's the info I went off.

 

I'll take your fix then if it's not the case.  The communication from The Trust to their members around the pledge funding and the speed of the process was poor at best.

 

 

Edited by Sima

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18 minutes ago, Greg said:

Hmm that’s out of date! It was updated so not sure what’s happened there.

 

I resigned earlier this year - Thomas Concannon is interim Chair and Alex Hurst will appoint himself after the next set of elections.

 

Fixed that for you.

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Anyone who knows me (or probably a lot that don't too) will know that nowadays I'm very critical of The Trust, especially after my time on the board for that massive stint of like 3months :lol:

 

But I have to say like, I kna Greg was the Chair and as such, that would inevitably make him the target of most criticism, but there has to be some balance shown or considered.

 

I won't pretend I liked everyone, got along with, or respected everyone on the board, I didn't before, I didn't during and I still don't after with some. However, the one thing people need to be wary of is the amount of effort that often goes into this kind of thing behind the scenes that people don't see. Therefore, some leeway should be given before accusations are made.

 

Don't get me wrong, I know they're speculative or conversational at best, but like at least try and show Gregs efforts some respect. What the trust has achieved in this instance is somewhat remarkable in my opinion and should be respected. It is ultimately a fantastic gesture. I never put into it because I was sceptical of some individuals and their motives, but I have to doff my cap to even those for helping fans facilitate this motion and subsequent charitable donation. 

 

With regards to the Trust more specifically, I don't really see how they could be governed by the FCA (I believe) and be swindling money out, etc. As Greg says, there are a few things (at least) the Trust could do to improve, both financially and in their communication, I have no doubt about that. However, I have no doubt that a lot of the communication provided via emails simply lands in peoples junk email. I know it does mine (sorry Greg).

 

The issue is that most don't want to be communicated in a formal, written manner. They want to have chat with real people expressing real feelings, and now the Trust is in a situation where it is likely to have increased involvement from certain sectors of the fanbase, and they wiill, in turn vote their own as chair and it'll lead to further mistrust from opposing quarters,and that, combined with Saudi ownership will see members dwindle and the Trust fizzle away in my humble opinion. Said people won't want to get up in front of opposing quarters and answer the difficult questions and so it becomes a chicken and egg scenario. I get why they probably wouldn't like it, but sadly, the trust won't turn the corner without changing its ways for me. 

 

It's a shame, because people like Greg and Thomas are what the Trust should be about but I feel there isn't enough of those types involved and instead, they'll get fed up and pull out. A real shame tbh. 

 

 

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On 28/09/2022 at 11:28, Greg said:

the rules the govern the Trust do not allow it as it is prohibited from publishing any form of balance sheet or accounts unless it has been audited by the Trusts appointed qualified accountants- and accounts are only audited once a year. It would be prohibitively expensive for accounts to be audited on a monthly rolling basis.

 

where does it say that Gregg as I've been through the rules a few times and can't recall this...

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
8 minutes ago, Chicken Dancer said:

To those that may know…does Alex Hurst get to sit in the posh seats because he’s on the board of the Trust? Or is it his own ticket in the Platinum or something?

 

Not having a pop, just curious.

It’s the Director’s box isn’t it…?

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On 28/09/2022 at 13:11, Greg said:

Hmm that’s out of date! It was updated so not sure what’s happened there.

 

I resigned earlier this year - Thomas Concannon is interim Chair and a new Chair will be appointed after the next set of elections.

When are they?

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