The Sky Blue Trust called for an opportunity for City supporters to invest in the unissued shares that Coventry City possesses has at their Annual General Meeting.
The meeting held at the Coventry City Supporters Club in Freehold Street which is also the registered office for the Trust was opened by Acting Chairman Mark Trevorrow.
He said that it had been a busy year for the Trust which was formed in April 2003. Last October, the Trust organised a petition of support for the new Arena and obtained 4,500 signatures. This was then submitted to Coventry City Council and he was pleased to say that it had a significant effect on the vote.
The Trust held a successful Launch Party and sponsored Coventry City Ladies FA Cup tie against Southampton as well as Richard Shaw from January until the end of the season.
The Trust offered £100 to the charity of Shaw's choice (NSPCC),if the City defender scored. Shaw duly obliged in the last away game of the season at Gillingham with a strike worth every penny.
The Trust had issued an inaugural badge and would be releasing t-shirts as well as limited edition posters and clocks (clocks are very nice as I bought one). The merchandise the Trust issue will be available to members at a cheaper rate than to non members.
A number of successful meetings with Coventry City had been held and these have led to a number of initiatives being set-up.
One included provision for Disabled Supporter Representation and the club have appointed assistant Ticket Office manager Dan Walker, who I can vouch for as doing an excellent job, as the nominated contact.
The club have allowed Trust membership forms to be available in the club shops and it was felt that the Trust had an good relationship with the club.
Something the Trust were making representations to Coventry City Council was regarding the interior decoration of the Jaguar Arena which is to be down graded like the facilities on the concourse.
Finance Director Lionel Bird said that the existing supporters club had been informed about this downgrading and had shown support for this area to be undertaken by the Trust and supporters.
Mr Bird spoke about the Football Licensing Authority demanding supporters sit down or face reduced allocations and recommendations from the floor called for the Trust and Coventry supporters to support the work of the Football Supporters Federation and other football supporting bodies in their calls for safe standing areas at all grounds.
Something Mr Bird had discussed with the club was a questionnaire to all City supporters regarding the pricing of tickets and season tickets at the Jaguar Arena.
He had also heavily involved with the Green Travel Plan as the club and Arena Coventry are bound by the agreement that 75% of people using the stadium must do so by means other than by car.
A meeting on July 12th had revealed that De Courcey coaches stated that there was a shortage of coach drivers in the Midlands and that in a worst case scenario, only a maximum forty double decker buses would be available. However,increased services around the City centre,Coventry railway station and the existing Park And Ride schemes would alleviate some of the problems.
Although the numbers do not meet the 75% of the target,other components like Park and Walk schemes need to be taken into account.
Mr Bird envisaged twenty routes that would cover all the public houses signed up to the scheme of pub and match travel.
The use of private coaches was raised by Nigel Eccles who had originally founded the Trust with support from all the websites and fanzines and he felt that the use of coaches should be considered and promoted from outlying areas such as Leamington,Rugby, Nuneaton and Kenilworth.
After being congratulated on his work so far on this issue,Mr Bird said that more details would be announced in the coming months and a booklet with timetables and routes would be made available.
It was expressed that The Trust had joined the Football Supporters Federation,were founder members of the West Midlands Trusts Group and had spoken out about the dismissal of Eric Black.
Mr Bird ended by announcing that he and the Trust had been approached by Coventry City with regard to a book about the history of the Highfield Road stadium. This had been written and it was expressed from the floor that the club who will be publishing this book should at least let a percentage of the price go to the Trust as a way of expressing thanks for this considerable effort.
With Treasurer Rob Wheatley on holiday, Rachel Brown presented the accounts which showed a profit. Rob was thanked for all his work and the excellent way in which the report was produced in accordance with the financial regulations placed on it by the Industrial and Provident Societies Act of 1965.
Terry Bailey who had audited the accounts free of charge was again appointed as auditor.
After a break and a raffle,the Election of Officers was held. There was not enough candidates to fill the current 24 available positions on the Trust board,so it was proposed from the floor that all those who could hold a position were duly re-elected.
The Chair appealed for more people to join the board and for anyone who could spend even a couples of hours to help to get in touch. He expressed that if the Trust did not recruit more people willing to help then it would have to scale down the work it wanted to carry out.
In order to retain existing members and recruit more City supporters,The Trust has reduced it's membership fees by 50%.
A Board meeting will be held on Monday night and a reshuffle of positions is highly likely.
The evening finished with a questions and answers session. The main question was that with the lack of activity and investment from Mr Dhinsa,would the Trust suggest to the club that in order to allow the ordinary supporter to invest in the club and it's future that Coventry City supporters be gauged as to whether they would be prepared to invest in some of the 52,000 unissued shares that the club and it's holding companies both here and in Jersey/Guernsey have?
After some debate and concern about the cost of raising capital through shares - an expensive business I believe,a Share Save scheme was muted whereby supporters could pay what they could afford in order to obtain shares and have a say in the club and it's dealings.
The Trust Board have already raised this with the club and will now follow it up.
Everyone was thanked for their attendance and the meeting closed at 22.11.
Membership details can be found at http://www.skybluetrust.co.uk/