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Reply | Trust Members Facebook page
at 23:22 13 Apr 2018
''Why were only some members emailed and invited to join the private Facebook group? ''
I had to manually input every email address for every member into the facebook group to send them a direct invitation. I sent an invitation to every member on the spreadsheet that I had. It may have gone to their spam folder or they may not be using that email anymore. I cant say anymore than that.
''Are prospective members now going to be told that they need to also Jon Facebook if they want to get their voice heard?''
There are a few ways to contact either the board or individual board members. You know this. email, post, visit us at the POD, Landore, the riverside lounge or find us on Facebook.
''Are the points raised by the 100 posts more valid than those raised elsewhere? Please bear in mind you’re talking about a tiny percentage of the fan base now'' are you trying to waste my time? Camon. be serious.
''What’s the purpose of video content?'' it gets far greater engagement on social media. Not everyone likes a long boring monotonous email. In fact, the Trust is alienating a lot of potential members by not releasing video content. It's 2018. Won't be long before we are releasing video content in virtual reality. - get used to it! Do you realize more people watch TV than read newspapers? Do you realize that fewer and fewer people are watching TV? In ten years time, you will be better off being a big hit on youtube than being a tv personality. Jackfath, you need to get with the times my friend. The world HAS changed. It is going to continue to change. |
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Reply | Trust Members Facebook page
at 23:05 13 Apr 2018
yes, id like to see that happen! It was in one of my proposals when I applied to join the board. Want to help me make it happen? |
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Reply | Trust Members Facebook page
at 22:58 13 Apr 2018
When I first joined it came to my attention that there were around 10,000 members of the public facebook group yet we only had about 1,000 Trust members. The public group was toxic. Full of personal abuse, petty threats and bad language. No Trust issues were really being discussed on there and it represented bad value for our members.
So I decided to create a members only group that would provide a more pleasant environment and an opportunity to really discuss trust issues. Because there was less nonsense going on there, then debates can be more focused. It is also far easier for me to monitor what is being said. I sure as hell don't have the time to get into endless debates on there but I can at least monitor what is being said. It takes long enough to read all the comments nevermind reply to them.
The creation of the members' group also gave us the opportunity to find out how many the public group were actually Trust members. It was a simple way to roughly gauge the numbers. There is loads of information and statistics that can be taken from the facebook group as we are all probably aware given recent events in the News. The Trust membership demographic is almost entirely over 40. The demographics of the Trust public facebook group is something like 90% under 40. There is a simple lesson to learned here. The trust isn't engaging and creating value for the younger generation. So if we are going to do it then Facebook is very definitely a powerful tool (but not the only tool) in achieving that.
Yes, the numbers are low at present. Please give me a break. It's just the beginning and the easiest way to start introducing other mediums of communication such as video content.
One of my first considerations was to create an online forum. The trouble is we already had one with 11,000 members. It is far easier to do it through facebook. There is a reason that Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the world by far with which coincidentally hosts the biggest Swansea city discussion group in the world. There may well be a forum created as part of the reshuffle of the website. If its simple and easy to set up and maintain then I will be pushing for it!
Let's not forget that I joined the trust board to specifically deal with Facebook. You can't exactly criticise me if there are lots of changes happening and that a lot more content is going out on it. Its what im here to do!
There is not a single thing that will be going to the facebook group that won't be going out to members via email and onto the website. It may take a bit of time to get it onto those platforms but I promise to try and get it done before my time is up in July.
The website is on the agenda for Monday's subgroup meeting. We are looking into it. It needs a good tidy up IMO - Hey, I may even ask you lot for your ideas on changes!!! (or I may just ask the facebook group ;) - Joking )
We are volunteers, so do all this work in our spare time. We only meet once a month. At the last meeting, I was there for 5 hours straight. I will be finishing work early on Monday so that I can be at the meeting for 4 pm. I wouldn't be surprised if it went on until 9 pm like the last one. |
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Reply | Trust Members Facebook page
at 22:54 13 Apr 2018
I think that you have misunderstood the nature of the post. It was asking for issues that concerned you. No one said that every point raised would be discussed on there. It was so that issues could be brought to the attention of the board. There simply aren't enough hours in the day to enter into debate with every single poster on every single issue.
There are well over 100 responses. I will be gathering the most common issues together and discussing them with the Trust board on Monday. |
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Reply | The Trust's Pen Pics and Profiles
at 01:05 14 Mar 2018
Firstly things are clearly getting blown out of proportion on this thread so here is my response. Its late and im tired so apologies if it isn't the best quality.
Thanks for some of the kind words about the work I've been getting on with.
However, if you look at the work I've completed the vast majority of it is wishy-washy and it is very little tangible results. It's not like I've achieved some massive goals or anything. All the other board members work just as hard!
As far as I'm aware nobody on the board was aware of the work that I've done on Facebook apart from the members-only group I created.
As previously mentioned not very much of it was tangible so there was nothing to report to them as its mostly planning and laying groundworks for things I haven't had approval for yet.
What I had done nobody had instructed me to do and I was not at the last board meeting so nothing would have appeared in the minutes about it.
My frustration with the trust is to do with the way the board and committee are structured and how it operates not with any individual. Im almost certain most board members share this frustration.
Nobody is really at fault! The amount of time it took to make a recent decision highlighted how long it can take to make a basic decision.
I'm sure we will be discussing how we can make changes at the next board meeting and I personally have a proposal or two to make(as I'm sure others do too)
I'm used to being self-employed or working for small companies so that is probably the root of my frustrations.
If you look at what I'm doing on the side, for example, I've written a short book that im about to launch and I am currently renovating my first investment property and the company I work for is a small startup relaunching a new product.
As you can see the environment that I'm used to working in is highly flexible and I have a central role in decision making.
Now we get onto poor Ux. What he was saying is that I should make sure I raise my frustrations with the board before or as well as putting them on here!
Simply moaning about them on here is no good and he is absolutely correct in that.
Just to clarify my only frustration was I hadn't heard back from the comms group at that point but since posting on here I have had some response ! so they are probably reading this too. IMO its the way the coms group communicates that's the issue.It's only now that its coming apparent that the communication process is inefficient. Im the one who has a problem with it. So it's me that needs to deal with it.
I'm sure we all realize that Trust has to play its cards close to its chest when dealing with any shares sale or any legal issues.
We can't simply explain the situation and other plans to everyone. If we explain on here then we're just explaining it to The Americans or whoever we're dealing with which as I'm sure we'll all agree is a ridiculous situation.
So there has to be a point with a trust can't communicate with his members on certain issues. Not until that situation is dealt with anyway.
Having said that what I do on Facebook isn't and there's no reason for us to play our Cards close to your chest on these type of things.
Even having said that I don't intend to tell everyone what I'm about to do or what I'm doing as I'm doing it as I've been elected to do the job myself So that's what I intend to do.
If I was to inform everyone what I did do on a daily basis then it would be as if I've got a hundred bosses looking over my shoulder and it would be an impossible task and a horrible atmosphere to work in.
Would any of you seriously want to work in those circumstances? I don't think so!
A lot of you seem to be outraged with what's going on here but how many of you have actually made the effort to walk 100 yards around the other side of the stadium and speak to the chairman of the trust himself at the pod?
I bet it's almost nobody!
So there have been people moaning at Alan for putting down time as one of his assets. There are other people moaning that if board members don't have the time then they should resign or be removed.
There are some people calling for diversity in the backgrounds and qualifications of board members and then there are some people saying that the board members aren't experienced and qualified enough.
Who is it you actually want to come and sit on the Trust board exactly?
Elon Musk isn't going to walk into the room and decide to give up all of this time and take care of the trust free of charge now is he?
I think it's only 4 months until the new elections and I'm sure all your applications will be Most welcome!
Make sure that you have all the time in the world have decades of experience and a highly qualified however otherwise you may come under greater scrutiny and be deemed to be a failure before you have even done anything!
It does appear as though the Planetswans masses are the alligators sitting in the pond moaning that the gazels don't come and drink! Thats how it looks from my point of view.
What sort of environment are you creating for Trust board members to come on and discuss with you?
Ux talks about Facebook being a lot of hard work and a nightmare to deal with. Personally, after seeing the response to my post on here I would much rather go an deal with the antisocial and abusive chavs of Portalbot on the Facebook group
What is whole thread does once again highlight, however, is that if we starve members and Swans fans in general of information then thye are going to ravenous and pick the meat from the bones of anything we do give them. This is what causes the situation where I put a simple post on discussing what I've been up to and many people will put two and two together and come up with 33000
The trust is kind of made its own bed in this respect and it's something that concerns me hugely!
Like I said I'm not sure I fancy releasing information on here very often but it is my full Intention to dramatically improve the way and the Frequency the trust communicates.
Changes need to be made and I have no doubt then every single board member will be eager to work towards a supporters Trust that communicates in a far better way
Cheers
Rhys |
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Reply | The Trust's Pen Pics and Profiles
at 22:30 12 Mar 2018
No. and I wasn't on the Trust back then. There are now lawyers on the Board of the Trust. We have a subgroup that deals with those type of issues. Im not in that subgroup. Your talking to the wrong bloke about share sales and that sort of stuff. |
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Reply | The Trust's Pen Pics and Profiles
at 22:13 12 Mar 2018
I'll see what the lawyers have to say. It gets quite complicated quite quickly.
Its safe to say that I will be heavily influenced by their opinion. |
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Reply | The Trust's Pen Pics and Profiles
at 21:18 12 Mar 2018
I've implemented a more stringent policy dealing with abusive and offensive posts on the facebook group.
I created some basic guidelines for admins to use when dealing with these issues.
I've created a separate page in order for admins to post as the Trust so that they don't get singled out for abuse (this is a big deal on facebook as no one is anonymous unlike on here)
I've created a screening process for adding new members to the Facebook group that I hope to implement with other admins in the coming weeks.
I've researched and tested software that allows admins of social media to preplan, schedule and coordinate news and updates as well as other relevant content.
I've approached and held discussions with several individuals regarding helping us with content creation to increase the level of value members and nonmembers get from our social media outlets.
I've experimented and practiced with facebook live so that I can broadcast the next member's forum via facebook live.
I've attempted to come up with strategies for us to implement with regard to increasing revenue and members numbers with social media being my main focus. I plan to put these to the subgroup before taking them to the whole board. A lot of this is dependant on what direction the Trust decides to go in the near future.
A huge amount f my time gets taken up by scrolling through Facebook posts and deleting comments while banning people or muting them. Then dealing with all the winging that is caused by that. 80% of my work for the Trust is purely maintenance.
I can't help but feel frustrated currently. This is something im looking to change and will be making some proposals to change the way the trust works around social media. The Trust is slow. Verry slow. It's like wading through custard trying to get things done sometimes. Im currently suffering from a lack of communication from the coms group.
I've achieved less than 1% of the stuff that I hope to achieve with the trust on social media. Im not anywhere near finishing laying the foundations. There is so much unrealized potential. I've been biding my time here though. Its been a hell of a lot to take in! This is the first time I have ever taken on a role such as this! Im new to board meetings. Im new to committees. It's not something im interested in at all, to be honest! Im way more used to be out there on my own and going in any direction. Im only doing this as I believe it is the best way to safeguard the football club that I love so dearly.
Board members don't seem to have the time to invest in projects. Maybe this is why the chairman feels his time is such an asset to the trust. To be fair, it definitely is!
There was a deadline for the pen pics and profiles. It was well before Christmas I believe. We also had a reminder in re ent weeks via email Cud so you got no excuse!!!! ;) Its what prompted me to put mine in! :D Disappointing that not many board members have put theirs forward. Was going to propose doing video interviews with each board member at the next subgroup meeting but judging by the lack of response on the profiles for the website ill be wasting my breath!
I don't have the time to post on here anymore so if anyone wants to contact me then you can message me or the page via Facebook. You can arrange to meet me before the Spurs game if you like! Open invite to everyone!
Cheers
Rhys |
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Reply | Ben Woodburn Loan
at 12:02 20 Dec 2017
Loans — These are officially called temporary transfers. Under Premier League rules, there are restrictions on how many players Premier League clubs can loan from other Premier League/English clubs. They are: - Premier League clubs may not register more than two players on loan at any one time. |
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Reply | Swansea City Supporters Trust
at 10:49 13 Dec 2017
My statement is a LOT more than 250 words :) Personally Id like them not to be shared.
It also contains a short video that id also not like to be shared if possible!
The Trust is going to put pictures and a fully updated list of names along with a brief statement/description for each person.
It was my suggestion that we use the same three questions that applicants were asked as a guide. Whether or not that s used we will just have to wait and see. |
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Reply | Swansea City Supporters Trust
at 23:33 11 Dec 2017
At no point did anyone explain that my application would be made public and id quite like it to remain private. I don't have anything to hide other than its poor quality. I decided to apply literally the night before so it turned into the ramblings of a frustrated supporter rather than a well-written application.
Ill happily summarise for you however.
I want to take an active role in working towards creating a Supporters Trust that is a true voice of the fans providing an insight into the ongoings of the club at board level while also providing a rallying point for fans to voice their opinions on all matters concerning the football club.
I also went on to talk at length about how the Trust could possibly increase its membership and talked about the wide variety of ways the Trust could communicate with the fans. This was mainly based on a huge increase in information posted on social media
It also included asking and encouraging members to take an active role despite not being on the board
I suggested that the Trust should look to perform the role of a supporters club to increase membership and fan engagement and also increase revenue.
I also added a short youtube video at the end as a quick demonstration of how simple it is to create video content to communicate better with the fans.
I explicitly stated that I had little to no experience at board level and was not looking to get too heavily involved with legal matters. I was however passionate about improving communication and clarity.
I have my opinions on the share sale, but id like to keep them private for the time being until I've had a chance to hear what the existing board has to say for itself. I doubt that they will change my mind but its best to get all the facts before I nail my colours to the mast.
Id also like to see talks held between the Trust and other supporters groups as I feel that the fans are far stronger when we are united.
Happy to meet up for a chat with anyone who is interested. Probably not going to make the game on Wednesday unfortunately.
Thanks for all the congratulations
Rhys Thomas |
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Reply | Independent Supporters Group
at 00:37 6 Dec 2017
Im disappointed Chris ill be honest. Doesn't look like you will be able to change much if you have just gone straight in and stepped on everyone's toes.
It's a shame. |
| | Eilian
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