The AGM of Hallam FC was postponed again yesterday without a new date being announced. A group of 26/27 season ticket holders who have voting rights at the AGM regard this postponement as a the final straw at the end of many months of troubles at the club. The group are all long term fans of the club, a number of them are former committee members and volunteers at the club. The content of the open letter to the club is posted below:
Open Letter to Club Chairman and Vice-Chairman cc to Club Secretary
On Wednesday 19th August, the club Chairman you announced that the AGM scheduled for 26th August was postponed without any new date being confirmed. The reason for the postponement was given as the need to avoid the impact of school holidays on members being able to attend. The date of the AGM was announced on 6th August, the school holidays had already commenced, didn’t anyone think about this issue at that point?
The original reason for the AGM not taking place on 30th June (or 28th July at the very latest), as required by the club constitution, was the need for the AGM to meet later to enable decisions to be made regarding the transfer to the Community Benefit Society (CBS). Then, a new plan emerged which was to complete the AGM in August, in order to clear the decks of business hanging over from the current unincorporated association.
On 8th August 10 season-ticket holders wrote to the club to raise some issues regarding arrangements for the AGM. One of the concerns we raised was that calling the meeting in the holiday season would have an impact on attendance. We made a specific proposal as to how this could be addressed so that the meeting could go ahead on 26th August. Four other proposals were also made. The full five proposals were as follows:
- For the elections there will be an ability to vote for candidates individually and en-bloc voting will not take place.
- That nominations for the elections can be made at the AGM meeting.
- That there will be a secret ballot for the elections.
- That eligible season-ticket holders who are not able to attend the meeting due to holidays or health/disability reasons can vote by proxy.
- That it will be possible to present motions for consideration by the meeting
In our view your decision to postpone the AGM again, citing school holidays as the reason is the final straw in a months’ long saga of failures and bad practice that is damaging the club, and is damaging the club’s reputation with fans. If the club truly was a democratically controlled community club this would not be happening.
All 26-27 season ticket holders who are 18 and over are now voting members of the club, those members are entitled to utilise paragraph 7.4 of the club constitution that allows at least ten members to write to the Secretary to call an Extraordinary General Meeting of the club membership. We are now exercising our right to do this. The purpose of the EGM will be to consider the following business:
- A vote of no confidence in the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Hallam FC given the past financial management of the club, and other actions of these officers, who are the senior officers of the club. If the vote of confidence is passed both officers should resign from their positions with immediate effect.
- Appointment of interim officers and committee members until an AGM of the club has been properly convened. Nominations for officer and committee positions should be enabled to be submitted in advance or at the meeting.
- Consideration of a motion regarding management of the club until the establishment of, and the transfer to the Community Benefit Society, has been completed. This will be the exact same motion ‘A Better Plan for Hallam FC’ that has already been submitted for the now postponed AGM.
- To seek clarification of the role of Scott Loveluck at the club. He was not appointed to any role at the 2025 AGM. Has he been appointed to the committee or an officer role since the 2025 AGM? Has he been appointed to any advisory roles? If yes, what are the terms of those advisory roles? Is there a role of archivist at the club? If yes, what are the duties and responsibilities of this role, and to whom is the role holder accountable? We understand that Scott is using an e-mail address archive@hallamfc.co.uk .Is this true? If yes, why is this when he not a committee member or office holder?
All the voting at the AGM should take place via in person voting, via on-line secure voting or via proxy voting if the member concerned prefers proxy voting.
If there are objections to voting by means of other than in-person attendance because it is allegedly “unconstitutional”, please remember that the constitution does not rule out on-line or proxy voting. For some time now the club has continued with what we see as an equally unconstitutional practice of limiting voting at the AGM to four Life Members plus the existing Committee members. On-line or proxy voting by all the members would be far more democratic and more constitutional than voting by a self-perpetuating small group of members. And remember, the whole membership and voting position is entirely as a result of the failure to maintain a Register of Members as required by paragraph 4.8 of the constitution. This has all happened under your chairmanship of the club.
We are concerned about the current situation at the club, we believe this requires an urgent move to a different approach to be led by a refreshed committee. The club also needs to put some new impetus into the establishment of the CBS. These issues deserved to be considered in a properly structured democratic meeting as a matter of urgency. We look forward to receiving the urgent confirmation from the Club Secretary of the date and time for the EGM we have requested.
Regards
Steve Walmsley
Jamie Taylor
Andy Taylor
Mike Jolly
Stuart Graham
Connor Glover
Ian McHugh
Paul Machalowski
Samantha Walmsley
Andrew Bell
All the above are over 18 years of age and are Season Ticket Holders for 26/27
If you would like to add your name to support calling an EGM of the club please email hallamblog1860@gmail.com to do do. Please confirm if you you are a 26-27 season ticket holder and are 18 years of age are older – this makes a difference to whether the signatory is relevant at the EGM. Even if you are not please do let us know if you support the contents of the open letter. Thanks.
