The next informal CFU meeting will take place in the Blues Bar on Wednesday February 24th, starting at 7.30pm.

Youth manager Calum McIntyre will be the guest speaker for the evening to give CFU members an insight into the youth section.

Also chairman Simon Olorenshaw will be asking for members views on the strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities facing the club as part of the consultation on a new strategic plan which was outlined at the last CFU meeting.

Vice Chair, Neil Bellis, will also be giving a more detailed outline on his trip to Parliament to lobby for changes to the tax laws for community owned sports clubs.

There will also be a Q&A session at the end.

If you can’t make it down to the Blues Bar on the night don’t forget there is a streaming service available to CFU members. If you have already signed up there is no need to do so again but if you haven’t signed up yet then please email neil.bellis@chesterfc.com

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The Fundraising committee have organised a Race Night for Friday March 18th in the Blues Bar at 7.30pm.

Sponsorship of the races and also the horses is available to fans and businesses. The prices are £30 per race and £5 to sponsor a horse in one of the races.

There will also be a raffle on the night.

Tickets are £5 and will be available from the Club Offices on Monday. We expect these to go fairly quickly.

This event has always been well attended and is a great night out so try and make it down if you can!

Anyone who wishes to donate a prize to the raffle, sponsor a race or horse is asked to email ed.jones@chesterfc.com or fundraising@chesterfc.com

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City Fans United has welcomed a new Government Expert Working Group report which supports Supporters Direct’s proposals for tax breaks for supporter owned clubs.

The report, which was released by the Government Expert Working Group on Football Supporter Ownership and Engagement today, supports SD’s proposals for incentivising community ownership in sports clubs (COSCs) and says they should be accepted by HMRC as a “legitimate operating model for supporter owned football clubs”. (more…)

Members are reminded that the next CFU members meeting is this coming Thursday, January 21.

This is the first opportunity to meet some of the new board members which have been elected/co opted since the AGM so please make your way down to the Blues Bar at 7.30pm.

If you can’t make it to the meeting don’t forget there is a streaming service which is available to members. If you haven’t signed up already then please email neil.bellis@chesterfc.com for more information. If you have signed up for previous meetings then there is no need to again, we will send you the details out on the morning of the meeting.

The agenda for the meeting is as follows;

Welcome and apologies (SO)

Acceptance of the notes of the last meeting held on 5th October 2015 (MN)

New directors – portfolios (SO)

Matters arising from the AGM (JK)

Finance summary (LK)

Strategic plan (SO)

BREAK

Commercial report (JH)

Youth development (BB/MD)

Communications (NB)

Q & A

Date of next – informal 24th February 2016 (revised date)

Two new co-opted board members have joined the CFU board at tonight’s meeting.

Alan Povey and Ed Jones were asked to join the board by chairman Simon Olorenshaw. Alan will take on the community portfolio with Ed taking on the fundraising portfolio.

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At the first full CFU board meeting since the AGM in November, the board have elected Simon Olorenshaw as the new Chairman of City Fans United.

Simon will combine the role with his job at Merseyrail where he is Head of Asset Management.

Simon was co-opted onto the CFU board last year, and was recently elected to the board at the AGM. Simon said: “As Chair I am there to support my fellow Directors, facilitate progress and ensure that we deliver on our commitments. It is not the traditional role of the Football Chairman who has the final say on everything within the football club.

“The football club is controlled by the Operations Board, which in turn is accountable to the CFU board.” He added: “I am also looking forward to building on the great work of the previous Chairmen.

“For me it is all around the three pillars of the first team, the youth and the community and it is ensuring we have the right level of support for all those areas. “I am honoured to be leading the CFU as we go into an exciting time.”

Simon led the board in recording thanks for the hard work of previous Chairman Grenville Millington and all other board members have who stood down over the past year.

Also at the meeting, Jim Keegan stood down from his role as Vice-Chairman but will continue to serve on both the Operations and CFU boards. Neil Bellis, who has served on the CFU board since 2014, was elected to the role of Vice-Chairman.

The board elected Laurence Kirby as the Treasurer of CFU and re-appointed Marion Needham as Secretary.

The board have discussed the co-opting of further members to both CFU and Operational boards. This will be reported back to members when these are finalised.

City Fans United are supporting a Supporters Direct report which is calling for community owned clubs to receive tax breaks.

The football club has been working with Supporters Direct for over six months to help them launch their report into community owned sports clubs at Parliament yesterday.

The report argues that democratically owned sports clubs could bring a big net benefit if they were given tax breaks. The proposal recommends creating a new tax status for democratically owned clubs that meet strict criteria, including reinvesting surpluses and protecting assets for community use. (more…)

CFU members who cannot make tomorrow night’s AGM are reminded that a streaming service is available to watch.

To take advantage of the new service please email Neil Bellis on neil.bellis@chesterfc.com before midday tomorrow (November 26). You must be a current CFU member to watch the stream.

Details about how to log on to the stream will be sent out around 2pm tomorrow.

Chester FC have become the first club in the country to live stream all of our members meetings.

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