Yasmin Western- Trust Election Thread

[YasWestern]

Hey Everyone!

Please bear with me as while I do enjoy a snoop on ExeWeb from time to time it is not something I have endeavoured to use. Please feel free to fire away with questions, I have done this on my other social medias but I realise that there may be some members that only use Exeweb.

There will also be a chance for you to ask us all questions at the hustings!

Here is also the link to the manifestos if you have not read mine or the others yet: https://www.weownexetercityfc.co.uk/trust-board-election-2019

 

[Alistair20000]

Hi Yas

Yes it would be good if we could get more women as supporters of the Club and on the Trust Board. Some younger members of the Trust Board would be good too !

Do you agree that we need Trustees with appropriate skills and personal qualities rather than voting for a lady or younger person simply out of a desire to get a balance ?

Could you please flesh out in a bit more detail precisely what you would do to get greater engagement of women and students and how to keep the students interested when they finish their courses and often move away.

Do you have particular skills that would help with achieving your objectives please ?

 

[YasWestern]

Hi Yas

Yes it would be good if we could get more women as supporters of the Club and on the Trust Board. Some younger members of the Trust Board would be good too !

Do you agree that we need Trustees with appropriate skills and personal qualities rather than voting for a lady or younger person simply out of a desire to get a balance ?

Could you please flesh out in a bit more detail precisely what you would do to get greater engagement of women and students and how to keep the students interested when they finish their courses and often move away.

Do you have particular skills that would help with achieving your objectives please ?

Hey Alistair,

Thank you for your questions.

I definitely want to be voted onto the trust because people believe that I would be good for the job, rather than just being a "token vote" or because people feel like they "should" vote for a woman to be on the Trust. I think definitely in the current climate that we are in however, it is very important that there are young people especially being brought onto the board. I think young people are essential in ensuring that we are reaching out to the next generation of Trust members, its seems a lot more genuine and authentic I think, if you are able to see people that are like you amongst the higher ranks of the trust. Equally, I know what young people want, which I think is exactly why our voice needs to be heard.

In regards to getting students in especially, I think we have the perfect opportunity given that the Uni has a Grecian Society (something that my own uni doesn't have for its local team) and a block of student flats next to it. Something like integrated Trust Membership with Grecian Society membership and perhaps a free ticket to a game as part of the arrival pack for the student flats next door would be really good to draw people in. Students are a massive captive market and many unis are now looking at expanding degree programmes to include volunteering and internships, something the club could really benefit from.

In terms of women specifically, I don't think there is anything unique you have to do to get women involved in football. I think its more of a holistic approach that you have to take. You have to make the environment seem welcoming, which is what the inclusion in the "On the Ball" campaign has already done. The club has definitely come a long way in terms of making football an equal experience for women, especially considering that the half the women's toilets in the bank didn't have locks on for instance.

In terms of skills, I have experience in media and social media which I think would be massively beneficial to the Trust in order to engage its membership. If you look at the statistics, the Trust Facebook page only has 2% of the following that the Official ECFC page has. That simply does not align with the membership statistics of the Trust, meaning that there is a massive audience of Trust members that are missing out on key information. Even some of the discussion groups on facebook have more members than the Trust Page has likes. Moreover, I am currently studying an Undergrad degree in Politics and IR while also taking up units in Law (specifically in Contract Law) this knowledge I think would be very beneficial to the Trust.

I hope that answers your questions?

 

[Alistair20000]

Hey Alistair,

Thank you for your questions.

I definitely want to be voted onto the trust because people believe that I would be good for the job, rather than just being a "token vote" or because people feel like they "should" vote for a woman to be on the Trust. I think definitely in the current climate that we are in however, it is very important that there are young people especially being brought onto the board. I think young people are essential in ensuring that we are reaching out to the next generation of Trust members, its seems a lot more genuine and authentic I think, if you are able to see people that are like you amongst the higher ranks of the trust. Equally, I know what young people want, which I think is exactly why our voice needs to be heard.

In regards to getting students in especially, I think we have the perfect opportunity given that the Uni has a Grecian Society (something that my own uni doesn't have for its local team) and a block of student flats next to it. Something like integrated Trust Membership with Grecian Society membership and perhaps a free ticket to a game as part of the arrival pack for the student flats next door would be really good to draw people in. Students are a massive captive market and many unis are now looking at expanding degree programmes to include volunteering and internships, something the club could really benefit from.

In terms of women specifically, I don't think there is anything unique you have to do to get women involved in football. I think its more of a holistic approach that you have to take. You have to make the environment seem welcoming, which is what the inclusion in the "On the Ball" campaign has already done. The club has definitely come a long way in terms of making football an equal experience for women, especially considering that the half the women's toilets in the bank didn't have locks on for instance.

In terms of skills, I have experience in media and social media which I think would be massively beneficial to the Trust in order to engage its membership. If you look at the statistics, the Trust Facebook page only has 2% of the following that the Official ECFC page has. That simply does not align with the membership statistics of the Trust, meaning that there is a massive audience of Trust members that are missing out on key information. Even some of the discussion groups on facebook have more members than the Trust Page has likes. Moreover, I am currently studying an Undergrad degree in Politics and IR while also taking up units in Law (specifically in Contract Law) this knowledge I think would be very beneficial to the Trust.

I hope that answers your questions?

Thank you. Very detailed information there for us to consider

 

[Pobbop]

Hi Yas

Yes it would be good if we could get more women as supporters of the Club and on the Trust Board. Some younger members of the Trust Board would be good too !

Do you agree that we need Trustees with appropriate skills and personal qualities rather than voting for a lady or younger person simply out of a desire to get a balance ?

Could you please flesh out in a bit more detail precisely what you would do to get greater engagement of women and students and how to keep the students interested when they finish their courses and often move away.

Do you have particular skills that would help with achieving your objectives please ?

In the end as long as they are a studious intelligent prospect, I will favour a younger more diverse candidate over others, as we clearly need some looking at the make-up of our board. In the end as a middle aged white man myself, I feel that demographic is covered sufficiently on the Trust.

Yas, do you think that in an effort to get yoof involved we could try school inititaves, perhaps combined with students who want to be Teachers of sporting education in the future.

 

[Ash]

Hi Yas. Thanks for posting. You already had my vote tbh. In general too many of those that hold power in institutions in this country look broadly like they always have - white, male and old. Anything we can do to change that is positive in my view.
Students are a huge market on our doorstep that we don't utilise to the maximum potential + there are apparently around 28,000 students in Exeter. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do to get more of them through the turnstiles on a more regular basis.
Good luck!

 

[geoffwp]

Nothing wrong with being white, male and old Ash. I'm white, male and old and as i cant change anything about those things i happily accept them and smile.

 

[Red Bill]

Hi Yas. I'm delighted that you've put yourself forward this year. Whilst it would be good to have women better represented on the TB, I think the far more important issue is that of young people having representation. Someone asked if you think its important to have people with specific skills and experience on the board. I believe its essential that we do have trustees with expertise and experience in areas like business, finance and marketing but I believe its just as important to have people with passion, enthusiasm and an ability to think creatively. So your tender years (as old gits like me see it!), is no barrier as far as I'm concerned. There's a lot to be said for being free of the 'we do it this way' attitude that sometimes comes from the older more experienced types!

You mention wanting to address increasing engagement/membership in your manifesto, so I'll put the same question to you as I did to Ed. IMO in order to tackle this I believe you have to first think why members aren't engaging more and why more fans aren't becoming members. So could you give me your thoughts on why you feel this might be and what you would do to change this? This maybe different amongst younger people than amongst older ones, so also what do you think these differences are and how would your approach differ with each groups.

 

[jrg333]

Nothing wrong with being white, male and old Ash. I'm white, male and old and as i cant change anything about those things i happily accept them and smile.

You're pale, male, and stale you mean? How disgusting!!!!!1 What have old white men ever done for us eh?

 

[elginCity]

Hi, I'm a strong believer in increasing engagement with the youngest supporters, those in their formative years open to the 'magic' of it all, with the potential of gaining a fan for life.

The Junior Grecians is currently doing sterling work in that area, what initiative would you suggest to attract even greater interest ?