Let me start off by saying that if anyone thinks it’s appropriate to abuse people on social media they need to give their head a wobble. It’s totally unacceptable and anyone doing it needs to stop. I don’t abuse people on social media and neither does anyone else in the ChanngeHallam group. If anyone is using the current AGM elections as justification for social media abuse of club officers then the message is stop it.
But it cuts both ways, and remember abuse can be inflicted well away from social media apps and websites. Saying unpleasant things in the confines of Sandygate or on the pavements outside it are equally unacceptable.
In recent weeks there has been an effort to discredit those who are seeking to challenge the current officers and committee at Hallam FC. Some of it has been done by social media outriders but most of it takes place via word of mouth. It revolves around claims of unsuitability – an allegation about social media usage, or bogus conflicts of interest, or “he caused trouble somewhere else”, or he got thrown got “thrown out of something” etc. I understand that I was a particular focus of this at the meeting for ‘Hallam supporters who support the current regime’ as Ashley Carson put it that took place on 9th October.
So, a bit of dive back into history might be appropriate. In 1999 I was an avid SWFC fan. The team was hurtling towards relegation from the PL, the Chairman was more interested in being Chairman of the PL than SWFC. My mate Barry Birks (Barry has long passed) and I thought we ought to do something about a club that was drifting badly. So, in December 1999, we set up Wednesday Independent Supporters Association (WISA) it was very much based on Blades Independent Fans Association (BIFA) – we talked to BIFA about forming WISA. We did some leafletting, held a couple of well attended meetings and got some media coverage. Dave Richards moved on in February 2000 to focus on the PL with Howard Culley taking over as SWFC Chairman. No revolution followed but we let off steam about how we felt.
There was then a plan to set up a supporters trust which people from WISA played a part in via places on the interim board etc. It became the Owls Trust. By this point Dave Allen was Chairman at SWFC, the Owls Trust board had meetings with him and I was one of the OT Board who signed up to accept just under 10% of the total shares in SWFC; shares Dave Allen had bought back from Charterhouse. A few of the former WISA people (Barry and I included) did not like the direction the Trust was going in, (particularly due to the Chair and the CEO – John Hemmingham) so we quietly did not stand when the first elections came round.
The Owls Trust then bought more club shares and got past the 10% mark which meant they could call an EGM of shareholders in their own right. Ken Bates was sniffing around SWFC but Dave Allen was very much opposed, and so was I. So, when an EGM and a vote of no confidence was called by the Owls Trust in 2004, I went along as an individual shareholder and spoke against the motion and in favour of the SWFC board – I had disagreements with the Board but didn’t want to support anything that would be used by Ken Bates to gain an advantage. I got abuse from some people who supported the vote of no confidence for doing so. Ken Bates moved on to be owner of Leeds Utd and John Hemmingham went to work for him at Leeds Utd. I leave that there. The Owls Trust morphed into Wednesdayite which eventually stopped being a Supporters Trust.
Apart from the War of The Monster Trucks (WOTMT) fanzine and a Green’Un column all was quiet for 15 years. Then in late 2019 James Silverwood wrote a piece for WOTMT arguing that a supporters’ organisation for SWFC fans was needed. This was when it was clear to some of us that the Chansiri regime at SWFC was going wrong. I pitched in to help get a Supporters Trust established with the view to moving on once it was up and running. We did all the graft – public meeting, constitution, all the side policies, registration with FCA, bank accounts etc etc. The Trust was established during 2020. We tried to engage with Mr Chansiri but, as Richard Pillinger once said on GB News he was a dictator. Obfuscation and blockages were the way of dealing with the Trust,
An open letter to Mr Chansiri from the Trust in December 2020 setting out a positive case for changes to the way the club should be run secured 6000 signatures from fans. The club was rattled. Mr Chansiri then set up an Engagement Panel (EP) that was dominated by club selected individuals, or people from small geographical groups of supporters. The only other significant group was Wednesdayite – a company limited by guarantee. The fundamental problem was that the EP was selected by the club, was not democratic, and most representatives were not accountable. The Trust refused to sign up to rules which limited Trust ability to report back to members and to be bound by confidentiality rules which were not consistent with the Trust being a transparent democratic body. As a result of this, the Trust, not me the person, was removed from the EP. In the end the EP proved to be worthless and the Trust, with James Silverwood as Chair, ended being the key driver for change at SWFC. I stood down from the Trust at the 2022 elections after guiding the Trust through the 2022 AGM.
Over the years I had become disenchanted with professional football at the macro and micro scale. In November 2021 Chansiri’s plan to sell season tickets in December and raising the price each week was the final straw. I have not attended a Wednesday game since then. My father-in-law used my season ticket for the remainder of the season. I started attending Hallam games on a regular basis and it has now become a family tradition at home games, with Meghan and I at away games.
So, there we are. No great shakes really. Hardly years of constant battling with the hierarchy of football clubs. Not a mass trouble-causer. Not someone constantly being thrown out of things. Just someone influenced by a values-based approach that football clubs should be democratically controlled by the fans and the community. If you hear anyone from Hallam FC, or their outriders, try to tell you differently drop me a line at hallamblog1860@gmail.com and I will attempt to answer your questions.
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