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Trust the Future

Mark Cordell

Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2004
Messages
641
Location
Exeter
Just a quick reminder of the Trust the Future event at the club tomorrow, it would be great to see some of you there

...................................................................


The Supporters Trust is always looking to expand its membership and we are currently aware of a drop in members between the ages of 16 and 23.

We would love to find out the reason for this and invite anyone falling between this age category to join us in the Junior Grecian Family Zone for an open discussion at 5pm on the 21st April (Directly after the Crawley game). Whether you are a member or not we would love your feedback and a chance to talk about new initiatives that we are looking to put in place. We will open with a brief presentation where we will give a short history of the trust and then talk with you about your thoughts or objections on joining. There will be tea, coffee and soft drinks available for anyone who needs it after singing their way through 90 minutes of football. (further refreshments can be found at the Centre Spot after the open discussion)

We would be grateful if you could share this information with anyone that you may feel would be interested in attending


https://www.weownexetercityfc.co.uk/single-post/2018/04/16/Trust-the-Future---a-reminder
 

David Treharne

Active member
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
3,442
Location
Exeter, Devon
Just to endorse Mark's project. The OWG are working hard to raise the awareness of the Trust concept for younger supporters, and anything that you can do to encourage them to at least have a listen to what Mark has to say would be welcome. Succession planning is an integral part of what ought to be going on in and around the Club and this is a sign that The Trust, at least, is trying to do something about it.
 

Saint James

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Apr 7, 2004
Messages
2,651
Location
Ottery
Be very interested to hear if anyone attended and gave their views? I tried to get my two lads (18 and 17) to do so after the game but to say they were disinterested is putting it mildly. They had both been members of the Red Army for 7 or 8 years up until around mid teenage years. Their feedback to me is that the Junior Grecians is and always has been set up for young fans ( 5-13) to be involved with the club and have fun. After that point there simply aren't activities that would engage older teenagers to want involvement when they have some many other things going on. Those views are I fear fairly typical of the age group - I run an U18 football team and most of them are too busy with college, learning to drive, girls, parties and growing up. I would find it hard to suggest how to make inroads into this age group i'm afraid.
 

David Treharne

Active member
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
3,442
Location
Exeter, Devon
I would find it hard to suggest how to make inroads into this age group i'm afraid.
Nonetheless I would say that it is important to at least try to let younger supporters know something about WHY Exeter City is currently Supporter run. One of the problems that the Club and the Trust both face (in my opinion) at the moment is the fact that there is so little attempt at succession management. If the tenure of the previous owner proves anything it's surely that unless you make plans for the future the future can be a very uncertain place. There's a discussion going on at the moment on a couple of current threads about the situation at Torquay, and the issues were just the same. Post Thea Bristow - what? So I don't think it's so much a question of making inroads as it is of raising awareness. I still think, despite it's many shortcomings being Trust run is a distinct advantage for Exeter City. However the question remains where is the succession planning - especially at Club Board level, and raising the Trust profile as mark tried to do yesterday is at least a sign that the Trust Board is alive and well, and asking some pertinent questions.
 

DB9

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Jun 19, 2005
Messages
24,504
Location
Hampshire. Heart's in N Devon
I agree with SJ, Getting the next generation involved is a mighty task, When they're young its all very exciting with what the Red Army offers but ones they hit that "Difficult" age and all the distractions talking about the Club and its Trust ethos would probably bore the hell out of most of them, Just like politics, They switch off, Most want to just go to games and really aren't interested in what makes a club tick or how the Trust is run. One thing though, Don't patronise them, Nothing worse than the older generation saying they "Understand" youngsters and see you as "Mates" that would be a total turn off. I wish i had some ideas David and wish you well but it will be tough going
 

Legohead

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Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
6,762
Saint James and DB9 makes good points about young people these days. The number of things to keep them engaged in this day and age are endless. When i was going to the footy with my mates in the late 80's early 90's as a teenager there was little else to do. It was either watch football, play football or swap football stickers until i discovered booze and fags.

There were no other distractions really. No mobile phones, no social media, no water parks, no skate parks, no play centres, no ice rinks, no multiplex cinemas, no unlimited places to eat out, no 'leisure parks', no playstations, no massively over exaggerated Premier League, and so on and so forth. In many ways i'm thankful of that. Kids nowadays have so many choices and are bombarded with things left, right and centre 24/7 and therefore attracting them to a league 2 football match in the first place is hard enough let alone get them interested and aware of the politics of how the club is run.

David is right though in so much as you have to at least try as it is the duty of the Trust to be proactive and engage with as many supporters and potential supporters (of all ages) as it can. This was a monumental issue at Torquay United where successive boards just took the supporters for granted, failed to appreciate them in many ways and that simply allowed resentment and disillusionment to fester, even when they were doing relatively well the supporter engagement was still appalling.

Never take your 'customers' for granted or they'll stop using you and find something / somewhere else. Simple rule. I hate using the term customers but that's ultimately what we all are to the clubs who are businesses despite many not being run like one.
 
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scottus86

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Joined
Mar 25, 2010
Messages
2,940
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Crediton
The way in would be trying to develop a relationship with the red legion. I dont know much about them, but they seem to fit that age group, right?
 

PeteUSA

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Mar 9, 2004
Messages
18,435
Location
Avondale (Near Phoenix) Arizona, USA.
The way in would be trying to develop a relationship with the red legion. I dont know much about them, but they seem to fit that age group, right?
What does the Red Legion represent for the youngsters in the relevant age-group? I know they're a great bunch of lads on the big bank, but what else is there for perspective new members?
 
Last edited:

Antony Moxey

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
42,716
Location
Exmuff
Saint James and DB9 makes good points about young people these days. The number of things to keep them engaged in this day and age are endless. When i was going to the footy with my mates in the late 80's early 90's as a teenager there was little else to do. It was either watch football, play football or swap football stickers until i discovered booze and fags.

There were no other distractions really. No mobile phones, no social media, no water parks, no skate parks, no play centres, no ice rinks, no multiplex cinemas, no unlimited places to eat out, no 'leisure parks', no playstations, no massively over exaggerated Premier League, and so on and so forth. In many ways i'm thankful of that. Kids nowadays have so many choices and are bombarded with things left, right and centre 24/7 and therefore attracting them to a league 2 football match in the first place is hard enough let alone get them interested and aware of the politics of how the club is run.

David is right though in so much as you have to at least try as it is the duty of the Trust to be proactive and engage with as many supporters and potential supporters (of all ages) as it can. This was a monumental issue at Torquay United where successive boards just took the supporters for granted, failed to appreciate them in many ways and that simply allowed resentment and disillusionment to fester, even when they were doing relatively well the supporter engagement was still appalling.

Never take your 'customers' for granted or they'll stop using you and find something / somewhere else. Simple rule. I hate using the term customers but that's ultimately what we all are to the clubs who are businesses despite many not being run like one.
What? Are you talking about the late 1880s and early 1890s? Other than an ‘exaggerated’ Premier League and social media all of that was about in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
 

Terryhall

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Joined
Aug 4, 2014
Messages
4,725
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You go me on the alarm clock
Just a quick reminder of the Trust the Future event at the club tomorrow, it would be great to see some of you there

...................................................................


The Supporters Trust is always looking to expand its membership and we are currently aware of a drop in members between the ages of 16 and 23.

We would love to find out the reason for this and invite anyone falling between this age category to join us in the Junior Grecian Family Zone for an open discussion at 5pm on the 21st April (Directly after the Crawley game). Whether you are a member or not we would love your feedback and a chance to talk about new initiatives that we are looking to put in place. We will open with a brief presentation where we will give a short history of the trust and then talk with you about your thoughts or objections on joining. There will be tea, coffee and soft drinks available for anyone who needs it after singing their way through 90 minutes of football. (further refreshments can be found at the Centre Spot after the open discussion)

We would be grateful if you could share this information with anyone that you may feel would be interested in attending


https://www.weownexetercityfc.co.uk/single-post/2018/04/16/Trust-the-Future---a-reminder
Hope you got a decent turnout for this Mark and hope that the session was worthwhile.
 
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