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Category: CFU Board News
CFU Board – Update
City Fans United directors have strengthened the board with Paul McDermott joining as an external director.
Paul, (58), brings a wealth of business experience, and will help develop the link between the board and Stuart Murphy, who are intending on working together to develop the club in the near future.
On his appointment as an external director, Paul said, “I am delighted to be involved in the club and to play a part in its development off the pitch and enjoy its success on it.”
Welcome to the board of City Fans United, Paul.
Board of Directors – Update
City Fans United would like to advise of a couple of additions to the board of directors.
Firstly, we welcome Kieron Shiel who was co-opted on the board at Tuesday night’s meeting of board members, and will be initially looking at the Volunteers portfolio.
Kieron has been co-opted following our open request for those interested in joining the CFU board, and fills the one available place at present until the AGM later this year, when he will be able to apply for election to the board.
Kieron will assume the role of Volunteer coordination, recruitment and development. He has a wide range of skills and experience including project and programme management, large scale people management and information technology.
The board have also welcomed a new external director, as Chris Robertson joins and will assume the Treasurer role, also until this year’s AGM.
Chris brings to the board senior management experience and has most recently worked for over 10 years as a management consultant with a wide range of charities, social enterprises and the UN.
As is standard with such appointments, both are subject to approval from the FA and criminal record checks.
We would like to thank everyone that got in touch, and also to Richard Lynes for his extensive time and effort in speaking to all of those who got in touch following our request. Our working groups will also be contacting some of those people with a view to strengthening each group.
We are also making progress with the position of CFU Secretary, following Marion Needham’s announcement at the 2018 AGM that she would be stepping down from the Secretary role during the course of 2019. We hope to make a further announcement on this in due course.
The next CFU meeting will take place on Thursday 21st March, starting at 7.30pm and will take place in the Blues Bar at Chester FC. This will be an informal meeting which will be streamed live on the CFU You Tube channel.
Vice Chairman appointed
The board of City Fans United can confirm that following the recent resignation of Calvin Hughes, Andrew Morris has now been elected as vice chairman at the board meeting on Monday 7th January.
Andrew joined the board in October 2017 and assumes the position with immediate effect.
As a reminder, the formal members meeting will take place in the Blues Bar at the Swansway Chester Stadium, next Thursday (17th January) at 7.30pm.
CFU Director News
The City Fans United board can confirm that Calvin Hughes has resigned from his position as director.
Calvin was co-opted back on to the board in January 2018, and was then fully elected at the CFU AGM in September..
He also took over as Acting Secretary following the departure of Tony Allan in August 2018.
The board would like to place on record our thanks to Calvin for his hard work throughout his time back on the board, and wish him all the very best in the future.
Merry Christmas from CFU
The board of directors would like to wish all members a very enjoyable and safe Christmas.
We would also like to thank everyone who has volunteered their time for both CFU and Chester FC – without you, the club could not function.
The board really appreciate every single minute of time donated to the club that we all strive to improve, and recognise that at times it may feel that it’s a thankless role, but please be assured that we really would not have a club if it wasn’t for those dedicating their time for the love of the club.
We hope that you all enjoy your festivities and that we will continue to become stronger in 2019 thanks to your efforts volunteering for the club we all love.
Finally, we would like to thank the management team, players and backroom staff for what they have achieved in 2018, and hope that 2019 will deliver the results that we are all striving for.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The board of directors.
CFU AGM set for Thursday 27th September 2018
The 2018 City Fans United Annual General Meeting has been set for Thursday 27th September, commencing at 7.30pm, and will take place in the Blues Bar at Chester FC’s Swansway Chester Stadium.
Due to resignations in 2018, and expiry of tenure there will be a total of five vacancies, to bring numbers on the board back up to ten.
To be eligible to stand for election, you must be 18 years of age or over and must have been a member of City Fans United for at least 60 days prior to the closing date for nominations which is 17th August, 2018. This means that you must have been a fully paid up member since 18th June, 2018. The same eligibility rule applies if you are nominating someone to stand for the board.
A notification has been sent out by email or by post to all current members. If you have not received this mailing by Wednesday 1st August, please email marion.needham@chesterfc.com in the first instance.
Details of how to stand for election are contained within the information sent out in the email/post by Marion and also contain links to Director Duties and also a nomination form and manifesto template.
CFU Ops Board Update
The Main Board of the CFU have formally reinstated the Operations Board. Initial meetings recommenced in April 2018.
A decision was taken to suspend the Ops Board in January following the revelations of the financial crisis which saw the main City Fans United board meeting more frequently in order effectively manage the situation.
At the time of January’s crisis, the Football Working Group (FWG) was formed. This group made recommendations to the CFU board on football matters. These included the implementation of a number of cost saving measures as the club stabilised its financial position. With the Operations Board now reinstated, the FWG has been disbanded having brought the club back to a much sounder financial footing.
The role of the Operations Board is to take on the day-to-day running of the football club and make recommendations to the full board as mandated by the CFU constitution.
The decision was agreed at the CFU board meeting on Thursday night that, going forwards, the Operational board would formally be making all decisions on the day-to-day running of the football club and all things relating to the administration of the first team.
CFU director Andrew Morris will Chair the Operations Board and will be joined by Alan Case, Ian Swettenham, Ron Smith alongside CFU directors Mike Day, Calvin Hughes and David Williams.
A new working group to handle matters relating to the Academy and the administration of the youth team has been set up. This will be led by Youth Director Mike Day, with significant input from Academy head coach Calum McIntyre, whose long-term future at the club has recently been confirmed.
Board update
Following last night’s City Fans United board meeting we can confirm that David Harrington-Wright has stepped up from the Vice Chair role to become Chair of CFU.
Fellow board member Mark Jones has assumed the role of Vice Chair.
Both roles were ratified at the meeting.
Statement on behalf of the board of City Fans United
The board of City Fans United are both surprised and disappointed at the recent resignations of Simon Olorenshaw and Mark Howell.
In Simon Olorenshaw’s statement, he referred to the fact that his views differ dramatically from the majority of the current board. We do not recognise this as an accurate reflection of recent events, and as such efforts were made to ascertain the substance of any perceived differences, unfortunately Simon Olorenshaw declined the offer.
Mark Howell decided to stand down due to a perceived lack of board support for Calvin Hughes following offensive Twitter postings over the weekend, for which we requested and have now received an apology; We have further requested a full retraction of the original comments made. The board are fully supportive of Calvin in his role as Director and lead of the Football Working Group who in recent weeks have been working hard to significantly reduce ongoing financial liabilities in the playing squad.
There have been a number of positives happening over recent months, including the fantastic fundraising, increase in City Fans United membership, development of a draft strategy and improving commercial relationships.
The City Fans United board are united and wholly focussed, and together with the working groups are committed to delivering the immediate and long term future of Chester Football Club under fan ownership. We ask that all fans continue with the great support that has been especially demonstrated over recent weeks. We are not out of the woods yet but together we can ensure the survival of our football club through these difficult times.
The City Fans United board of directors