Dear Mr Armstrong-Holmes,

I was one of those Trust members present last Tuesday at the Special General Meeting.

I was also one of those who, after much soul-searching, voted for you to continue in office.

But may I say, first of all, that this was not a victory for you. In fact the whole proceedings were an embarrassing public airing of bitter accusations, alarming charges and worrying warnings about the state of our club. It is part of the chairman’s responsibilities to carry the Trust board along with him, to keep them onside, to be transparently accountable to them. For the chairman is only there as a representative of the Trust. Remember: It is the Trust who owns the club; not Mr Armstrong-Holmes and certainly not Mr Roy Parker.

So if a rift has opened up between the chairman and the Trust board – or, at least, some former member o f the Trust board - it is the chairman’s job to heal that rift.

This is not a time for any triumphalism. The evening’s events, whatever the voting results, were not a triumph for anyone. This is now a time for the chairman to show some magnanimity and some humility; to repair the broken bridges; to reach out to the good people – and the voices ranged against him at that meeting included many people who had given long and honourable service to the Notts cause – and show that he wants to enlist the goodwill of everyone to take the club forward.

The Trust too have a lot of repair work to do. After all the disruption amongst the Trust board membership, perhaps it is time for a clean, new start: fresh elections to bring that board up to strength. And that board should, as one of the speakers at the meeting pointed out, put in place structures so that the accountability of the chairman to the Trust board can be formalised. Perhaps with a regular bi-monthly meeting at which the Trust board can be brought up to speed with any developments and given information they might reasonably request. And if that does not happen to the Trust board’s satisfaction, a motion should be carried to that effect and the membership thus alerted to a possible breakdown of the relationship.

I voted for you to continue as chairman because I recognise that good things have been achieved on your watch and that the club needs continuity. Some distinguished elder statesmen in the room spoke on your behalf and that counted for a lot.

I want you to succeed - but in the right and proper way with Notts County restored to being the friendly family club that has always been its hallmark.

Simon Brodbeck

Thanks for posting that Simon. Lots of sensible points made.

Simon,

John will be away on business from straight after the game at Wycombe today until 11th May.

He wants to take time to respond to you fully and will do so on his return.

Nigel

Is his plane delayed?

..plane delayed?...must be a 747.......days to consider a reply???
There seems to be now a total lack of response on any of the questions raised on other threads from the powers that be, of the "Trust".

Our sincere apologies for not responding to your very thoughtful post. I am looking into the reasons why this has not been picked up and will report back. John is away at present but I will contact him immediately on his return to formally respond.

Regards
Glenn Rolley
Trust Chairman

Nigel Said

quote:

John will be away on business from straight after the game at Wycombe today until 11th May.

He wants to take time to respond to you fully and will do so on his return.

quote:

Originally posted by Trust Board:
Our sincere apologies for not responding to your very thoughtful post. I am looking into the reasons why this has not been picked up and will report back. John is away at present but I will contact him immediately on his return to formally respond.

Regards
Glenn Rolley
Trust Chairman

Thanks for the reply Glenn but Nigel said on 2nd May that JAH was returning on 11th May and would like time to consider his answer. Just exactly how long does he require?

You say this was missed but clearly it was not since Nigel had already commented on it.

I really hope your new "communications structure" works because with less than 10 of you on the trust board you are struggling to communicate to each other as it is, never mind the members!

With respect Glenn, Simon Brodbeck's open letter deserves much better treatment than another acknowledgment. In fact a wider issue needs to be added in that how the existing Trust Board can be fully representative of the Trust membership when answers to, on the face of it legitimate questions and concerns, expressed not only on this but on other threads seem to be totally ignored.

We understand now why there hasn't been a response on this open letter, but the points remain, should be borne in mind by people when they consider any take-over & ESPECIALLY board members while they negotiate, and then in the post-take-over period, when hopefully the Trust's governance can be sorted out.