June’s board meeting summary

The Dons Trust Board (DTB) held its regular monthly meeting at the Cherry Red Records Stadium on Monday, June 12. Ahead of publication of the redacted minutes, this article summarises the main points that were discussed.

The meeting started with apologies for absence during which it was noted that, due to time pressures, Matt Spriegel had stepped down from the board. The board thanked Matt for his commitment since being co-opted, before discussing without definite conclusion their next steps, as engaging with younger supporters remains a priority.

The meeting was then joined by club commercial director Ivor Heller, who discussed with the board some proposed steps to help the merchandise team ahead of the move to the new stadium. Ivor said that he believed the benefits would start being felt from the start of the new season.

With club chief executive Erik Samuelson unable to attend, Dons Trust chair Matthew Breach – who regularly attends football club board meetings on behalf of the Trust – summarised recent discussions at that level, including news that the development agreement for the new stadium is now almost complete. However, the paperwork surrounding it is still unlikely to be completed before the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s decision on listing the existing stadium structure, which could still be weeks away.

Matthew then gave the board a summary of events at the recent EFL AGM, which he had attended on behalf of the club with club secretary David Charles. We hope to have a summary of the main developments on the Trust Webjam soon.

Colin Dipple reported back on the recent membership survey, which had received almost 2000 responses. The responses are currently being collated and analysed.

Under any other business, David Growns raised the possibility of a webcam to cover building the new stadium, and Tim Hillyer promoted this year’s Supporters Direct/FSF Supporters Summit, which is on 1–2 July.

Present from the Dons Trust Board were: Matthew Breach, Mark Davis, Colin Dipple, Roger Evans, David Growns and Tim Hillyer. Apologies were received from: Nigel Higgs, Jane Lonsdale, Sean McLaughlin and Matt Spriegel.