September’s board meeting summary

The Dons Trust Board (DTB) held its monthly meeting at The Cherry Red Records Stadium on Thursday, September 17. Ahead of publication of the redacted minutes, this article summarises the main points that were discussed.

The Trust board was joined by club directors Erik Samuelson, David Charles and Mick Buckley (Ivor Heller was on holiday and sent his apologies) to discuss the latest situation regarding the proposed sale of The Cherry Red Records Stadium to Chelsea. They were briefed by Dan Norris, a partner with Hogan Lovells. During his briefing, Dan stressed that it is a bespoke contract, unlike most property contracts, due to the football elements included within it. It is also free-standing from any contracts relating to the new stadium except for the conditions inserted into it that prevent the sale from going ahead unless planning permission and other conditions are met. He outlined the key risks and what has been, or can be, done to mitigate them.

Erik also reported to the DTB on that day’s Football League meeting, which had discussed artificial pitches, measures to help improve the England national team’s performance, and parachute payments to clubs relegated to the National League (formerly the Football Conference).

Mark Davis gave a round-up of recent Back in Two Ticks activity, and the board finalised plans for the SGMs being held on September 22 and 24 to answer questions from members. The board also expressed its thanks to all the volunteers and club employees who have helped with the campaign so far.

The board also approved the paperwork for the forthcoming DTB elections. The Election Steering Group will again be headed by John Dolan, with six other volunteers on the group including Fulham supporter Neil Springate as an independent observer. Paperwork will go out to members at the start of October with a mid-October deadline for nominations. The successful candidates will be announced at the AGM in December, as usual.

The final agenda item saw discussion of DTB members’ attendance at the regular monthly meetings, which digressed to also cover those who do not ‘pull their weight’ when helping with the DTB’s workload. The constitution allows for board members who haven’t attended on a regular basis to be removed from the board, either by other DTB members or by Trust members. It was agreed that any failure by a DTB member to attend three meetings in a row would trigger an automatic agenda item for the next DTB meeting.

Under any other business, Jane Lonsdale gave advance notice that the Junior Dons Christmas Party will be on December 6 and Mark Davis promoted the forthcoming minithon.

In attendance from the Dons Trust Board were: Matt Breach, Mark Davis, Roger Evans, David Growns, Nigel Higgs, Jane Lonsdale. Apologies were received from Moorad Choudhry, Zoe Linkson and Sean McLaughlin.