From the Northampton programme

The following article appeared in the club’s official matchday programme for the game against Northampton Town (played on April 3, 2015).

Help design the new stadium

Members who attend the Dons Trust Special General Meeting next Thursday will have a chance to influence the design of our proposed new stadium in Wimbledon.

The next Special General Meeting (SGM) of the Dons Trust will be held at The Cherry Red Records Stadium next Thursday, 9 April, starting at 7.30 pm (registration from 7.00 pm). As usual, Trust members will be able to question Dons Trust Board members and AFC Wimbledon Chief Executive Erik Samuelson on any subject relevant to the Dons Trust and the football club, and to hold the Board accountable for what they have (and haven’t) done.

Also at the SGM will be Andrew Williams, the adviser working on the club’s stadium project. Andrew’s recent activities have included working with the people who will be using the facilities within the stadium to help refine the detail of the interior and exterior layouts. This liaison has included, for example, discussing with Neal Ardley to understand how he would like the changing rooms configured and where they should be located within the stadium.

Andrew will be able to provide the meeting with a flavour of what we can expect to find when the stadium opens, and he will be inviting feedback from members on some of the stadium features that can be influenced by the views of our fans.

This SGM will be set up in a more informal style than usual, with the aim of encouraging participation in discussion. This experiment is part of an initiative to hold Trust meetings in a variety of formats to see which works best.

Trust members who have questions for the board or for Erik are encouraged to send them through in advance of the meeting. Members can:

We look forward to seeing members on the night.


Supporters Direct launch Crowdfunder campaign

Supporters DirectSupporters Direct has begun its Crowdfunder campaign in advance of the official launch of Supporter Ownership Week on 11 April. The crowdfund will look to raise at least £20,000 to assist with the work Supporters Direct does to convert clubs into supporter ownership.

Each time a club becomes supporter-owned it is thanks to a massive effort, not only by the supporters but also by the staff at SD. SD may help to explore the appetite for fan ownership among the supporters and community, develop a viable bid, or advise on the best structure – each case will have its own complexities. The size of the club will have a bearing on the level of the support given, but in terms of time it can easily run into weeks or months, and the cost is largely borne by SD.

“At the moment we are at various stages of exploring and securing this ownership model for ten clubs, and we want to do more to encourage this growth still further,” said James Mathie, Club Development Manager for Supporters Direct, recently. “What is great is that increasingly we are working with clubs that recognise the benefits and choose to become supporter-owned, rather than it being a model of last resort.”

The crowdfund is one element of a host of activities during Supporter Ownership Week. You can read more about Supporter Ownership Week and support the Crowdfunder campaign.