Summary of Minutes of Official CFU Board Meeting held on Saturday 2nd April 2022 at Chester Deva Stadium
Present: Kieron Shiel (Chair), Jim Green, Mike Vickers, Nick Phillipson, Matt Dickenson, Adam Langan, Charlotte Walker, Jeff Banks. In attendance – Kate Mylchreest, and Christine Robson (Secretary).
Apologies: Paul Bodman and Alex Owen
Minutes of Meeting held on 5th March 2022 – Minutes were accepted as a true and accurate record and all outstanding projects had been closed.
KS introduced a guest to the Board – Kate Mylchreest, who was a member of the Club and was considering applying to become a member of the Board at the next AGM.
Football Update – JG presented a paper to the Board. Manager was wishing to discuss plans and wanted to speak to the Board. JG outlined a proposal to retain a small group of young players who were considered to have potential. Questions over how it would be funded needed to be discussed.
Finance Update – MD stated that he was working on the 2022/23 budget and was hoping to have it signed off at an informal meeting in April to then take to the Board at the next official meeting.
Presentation of Papers – NP had circulated a paper regarding the ongoing risk assessments. Was concerned that Health and Safety needed to be paramount. The Club had a duty of care to members to make them feel safe. Current contract holders had been advised regarding re-tendering.
Safety Certificate – The Safety Certificate was in the process of being transferred from Andy Morris to Jim Green. A discussion was needed to discuss Safety Officer wages and Stewards wages. There is a plan to have a recruitment drive during the closed season for Stewards.
Season Tickets – JB had circulated a paper regarding Season Tickets/ School Ticketing. There will be two extra games next season. Plans are in place to set a reasonable ticketing structure, to actively look at driving for more discounted prepaid matchday tickets via the online platform, setting out clear communication channels. CW was looking at putting some marketing together for the season tickets online platform.
Stadium Backlog – NP went through the list of jobs that were scheduled to be done at the stadium, and in particular some projects that could be considered if funding was available.
Border Issue – AL stated that the border issue was still ongoing and was in talks with the FCC to amalgamate everything under CWAC. There were a few outstanding questions that needed to be answered legally. Once done, both councils will put something together in writing and send to the club.
Academy – MV stated that the welfare of our young players was paramount and the decision not to play against Fylde had been the right one. The NL need to be reasonable as the club cannot play 8 games in 24 days.
Volunteering, Organisation and Culture – The interviews for the General Manager role would take place on 24th April 2022. The interview would consist of a tour of the club, background of the club by Albert, followed by an hour’s interview with the panel. Start date for the candidate would hopefully be 1st June 2022.
It would be helpful to give the volunteers more work as they were very keen to help. They needed to be given guidelines.
Strategy for Workshops – AL thought it would be a good idea to have more project-based ideas, which would enable a group to work on one specific topic.
Fan Forum and Exile Engagement – CW delivered a power point presentation on an online forum (like devachat). It would be used as a communications channel to air views, which would be constructive not negative. All members would have to sign up to use it. Asked the Board to consider it and if it is not the right time, to defer to a later date.
University Engagement Strategy – KS had spoken to several universities which would be looking at sending students to the club as part of their dissertations.
Any Other Business – MD enquired as to whether the club’s website would be getting changed. CW stated that an audit needed to be done on the website and then move forward with the findings.
KS stated that the commercial portfolio needed to be done by a smaller group. Volunteers to be on the group were KS, PB, JG, MD, CW, and AL.
JG had sent out a paper regarding Premier League Funding, which the club may be able to apply for. It would need several members to go through the document. MD, NP and MV were happy to do this.