Foxes Trust Reform

Per the article below in @The Fosse Way, LCFC fans now have a democratic opportunity to change the Foxes Trust at the upcoming Early AGM on 13th January 2025. We’ll be fielding at least three candidates from our Foxes Trust Reform campaign. This is your chance to join, secure your vote and support the candidates that you believe can deliver the kind of Supporters Trust that will represent you as you would like. We’d also encourage anyone else passionate about transforming the Trust to step forward for further involvement. Our DMs are open if you’d like to speak with us about our campaign and/or the AGM https://www.thefosseway.net/viewpoint/leicester-city-foxes-trust-early-agm-reform

We’re at a fork in road now… There’s an AGM with the opportunity to elect people onto the board of the Trust who think like you do. There’s been a change at the top of the leadership of the Trust for the first time in 20+ years with pro-change people put in control. You (not you personally - everyone who thinks the way you’ve articulated in your post) can support that change by joining and affecting things. Or you can sit and say “the Trust can’t achieve anything” and not affect any change whatsoever. Leicester City fans are being presented with a real choice here: give the Trust a chance to be what you want it to be, or status quo. Let’s see what they go for…

For those wondering, this is really positive news. We’ve met with Lynn and Steve on a few occasions over the last few months and they were both receptive to our ideas and eager for the Trust to do, and be, better. Throughout the course of our campaign, we’ve heard numerous people across the wider fan base share frustration, or negative sentiment, about Ian Bason. Some of that is possibly unfair, but he was the name and face of the Trust for 20+ years. This move means that he is no longer that - for the first time in a long time there is new leadership at the Trust. Now, of course, the task is to get a strong and effective board around Steve and Lynn to support them and really get the Trust operating as it should be. The Early AGM in January provides an opportunity to do that. If you haven’t already, please consider joining the Trust to play your part in the election. There now exists a genuine opportunity to get our Foxes Trust where it needs to be, but that will only happen if enough people vote for the right candidates.

How was the @Foxes_Trust representative selected? Was it put to a member vote to determine who members wanted to represent them on the FAB? -

An update: The Foxes Trust have agreed to call an Early AGM on 13th January 2025 rather than the previously expected date of March 2025. We are satisfied with this outcome in avoiding the need for a Special General Meeting as it allows for democratic change at the Trust within a timeframe not too dissimilar to the Special General Meeting route. It also keeps the opportunity to vote alive for all of the new members that joined the Trust just prior to the last AGM in the hope of seeing change. As previously shared, we still intend to push for the Trust to change its rules so that underperforming board members may be removed should members wish to see that happen. But this will come in a process after the early AGM is out of the way. Our first priority is to field a slate of candidates for election at the AGM in January and would encourage anyone who would like to see those candidates succeed to join the Trust and secure the opportunity to vote.

We can today provide a quick update on our request for a Special General Meeting submitted to the Foxes Trust on 16th September.

The Great work by Union FS on this again and really disappointing to hear how it was received by the club. @Foxes_Trust - what is the Trust’s stance on this and how do you plan to speak with the club on it in support of Union FS?

For those not aware, this is the perspective of someone that had recently joined one of the Trust’s Working Groups. The Working Groups were what we were asked to join when pushing for change at board level. At the time, we felt there was limited ability to impact the effectiveness of the Trust by doing so due to the Working Groups reporting up into the existing board where no change was planned. Those who know Ryan (and heard his appearance on the BSLB podcast) will know that he has a wealth of experience in fan engagement within the game and his involvement with the Trust should have been a really positive thing. His experience with the Working Groups, as detailed in his post, are illuminating.

Credit where it’s due for the Trust on this one. It’s great to see them changing their stance on this issue. Our campaign raised the issue at the AGM in March and the Trust have subsequently got to this position. For us, it just shows that when you have the right kind of people influencing the Trust that it can start to represent the interests of the wider fan base (again, something we have pushed them to change their perspective on). A glimpse into the kind of tone and approach the Trust could be showing more with the right people involved at the top of it.

We have received an acknowledgment of the request from the Trust which says: We have a legal duty to ensure any requests comply with the law relating to Community Benefit Societies and the rules of the Foxes Trust which closely follow the guidelines provided by the Football Supporters Association and were originally drafted by Supporters Direct. Therefore, we have been consulting the Football Supporters Association and obtaining legal advice in regards to your request. We were originally planning to provide a full response by the end of this week, however we have a couple of points we were only made aware of late on Friday that requires further discussion by the Foxes Trust Board which should be completed over the next couple of days. We’ll provide further details as and when we get them.

We submitted our letter (signed by the requisite number of current members) on Monday. It’s Friday and the Trust are yet to even acknowledge its receipt…

Given the Foxes Trust is the only group with official Supporters Trust status, we don’t. If you believe the Trust should be taking a joint leading role with UFS on safe standing then join and vote for reform at the Special General Meeting.

Worth noting that the Trust has previously shared a challenge around getting people to volunteer time to its cause. Using time volunteered to write match reports - especially those that are critical of other sections of the fan base - doesn’t feel like the smartest use of that limited resource. People want a Trust that represents them on key issues, not one that publishes divisive match reports. Another reason reform is needed.

At the Foxes Trust AGM in March, the question was raised by a new member as to what the Trust’s stance was on the issue of safe standing. The answer from the board at the time was that their members didn’t deem it an important issue. The Trust had sent a survey out a few years prior and their member base had not been strongly for safe standing so the Trust hadn’t been speaking with the club on it. This might explain why the club have found it easy to ignore. The question was put to the room on the night as to who was in favour of safe standing and the response was overwhelmingly positive. The Trust resolved to speak with the club about it but we do not know what has happened since. To us, this highlighted two issues: 1) The Trust were of the mindset that they would only speak with the club about an issue if their members explicitly said they cared about it 2) The Trust didn’t have either the means or the desire to canvass opinion across the whole fanbase on key issues like this Our intention for a future Trust is that it has its finger on the pulse across the key issues affecting the entire fan base and not just members. Many of those involved with our reform campaign share the same opinion on safe standing as UFS and would like to join forces in pushing this issue with our club who, as shown by the UFS research, are badly behind on this issue.

Yesterday, a request for a Special General Meeting, signed by the required number of current Foxes Trust members, was submitted to the Foxes Trust via email and in the post. As part of this request, a resolution to change the Foxes Trust board was included. The Trust now have 28 days to call the Special General Meeting which will present an opportunity to change the leadership of the Trust. Those who have followed our campaign over the past six months will know that we have been pushing for the Trust to become more effective - one which works on behalf of Leicester City supporters and can hold the club to account (critical given some of the astonishing decisions the club have taken recently). After many discussions, we have become frustrated at the lack of change we have seen and at the current board’s resistance to fresh impetus at board level. A Special General Meeting presents a democratic way to achieve that change and freshen up the current board. So what happens now? If you are a current Foxes Trust member, you will have the opportunity to vote for change. We will be fielding a slate of candidates in upcoming elections and hope you will show your support democratically. Please encourage friends and family who are not current members to join as well. If you are not a current Foxes Trust member, you can join the Trust to have your vote. Now is the time that you can actually have a say in who makes the decisions in your Supporters Trust and how you want it to work on your behalf. This is the opportunity to be part of creating a strong Trust so please make the most of that opportunity and come with us. The Trust are yet to acknowledge the request, but we will be providing regular updates in the coming days and weeks. Watch this space…. It’s taken some time, but a new Foxes Trust is imminent!

This feels very much like a move to do something whilst doing nothing. Since March, we have been pushing for change at board level and have offered the time, energy and expertise of people that have been passionate about the Trust becoming more effective. We were offered sub group positions and declined these at the time as they didn’t represent true reform in the leadership of the Trust and were contrary to the involvement originally suggested by Trust board members. The Trust has sat with the option to co-opt to board level for 6 months without doing so, and, only now, with the prospect of a Special General Meeting looming and ~350 new joining members asking what change there has really been, chosen to do so. Whilst we wish Paul well in his new role on the board, we feel it speaks volumes that the Trust have chosen to co-opt him rather than any of the members who have been trying to engage with the Trust about a vision for what it could/should become for the past 6 months. Ultimately, if nothing changes at the top of the Trust, nothing really changes. It’s time for a Special General Meeting and real reform.

We’ve been quiet for a couple of months now. But our campaign to reform the Foxes Trust has not stopped… Since we last shared an update, we have been attempting to find a cordial way forward in achieving reform of the Foxes Trust. To ensure we were doing things the right way, and giving the existing Trust board every opportunity to work with us, we spoke to the Football Supporters Association on a couple of occasions. They encouraged us to try and avoid a Special General Meeting if possible and we respected that advice. We reached out to every board member at the Trust we’d not had the chance to meet to see if they would speak with us and hear what we had to say. Of the six we reached out to, three were willing to meet. The others either didn’t reply, missed our meeting (but didn’t ask for a new time) or replied to decline our invitation. The ones we have met have been receptive to us and our ideas (which gave us great encouragement and hope) but we continually then hit brick walls when asking for those conversations to progress to actual action and change. Our latest request to the Trust - submitted on 19th August - was for them to pull their AGM forward so that we could see change democratically at the top of the Trust before the end of 2024 (with the AGM currently slated for February 2025). That request was rejected, as was the opportunity to meet and discuss a path forward. This is all following the four requests we’d previously made to the Trust which saw little to no progress and the opportunity to provide input at board level being denied (despite the board having the opportunity to co-opt two people to board should they so wish). As a reform campaign, we feel we’ve exhausted all options available to us outside of a Special General Meeting. A request for that Special General Meeting, along with a resolution to change the board, will be submitted before the end of this week.

Just a quick update for those interested… It’s been a busy few weeks for us. We’ve been diligently working to prepare a request for an EGM and a resolution to change the leadership of the Trust within the society rules. We are nearly there. We’ve spoken to even more Trusts from other clubs (learning about how they operate and taking their guidance) and expert advisors who are helping us to understand what to do in preparation for an EGM. Despite working hard to achieve change by whatever means necessary, we do remain open to discussion with the current Trust board and have offered routes to that. The club continues to make astonishingly poor decisions and overlook the Trust in its current guise. It’s even more abundantly clear that fans require a strong Foxes Trust who can hold the club to account and represent all Leicester City fans.

Try the link in our second post and you should be able to view

The video link has been updated to the following:

For those who were unable to make our Open Session last week, we’ve put together a short <5-minute explainer video detailing our campaign so far and our next steps in preparation for an EGM. We encourage those in support of our campaign, that haven’t already done so, to email “count me in” to [email protected]

Just a reminder that we have our open session happening tomorrow evening (Wednesday 5th June) at 8pm. It is completely open and anyone interested hearing more about our campaign for a more effective Foxes Trust can join - you don’t have to be a current member of the Foxes Trust - so we’re sharing the Zoom dial-in details here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83339801918?pwd=ysxJ9s0ByV6107esNaDtacHakj3QFA.1 Meeting ID: 833 3980 1918 Passcode: 843562 For us to be able to keep informed on progress and next steps etc. please email “count me in” to [email protected]. See you there!

This doesn’t actually have to be the way. The Foxes Trust have the opportunity to co-opt two more people to the board and existing board members told us that they needed more help at board level to drive true change. We were subsequently told the only route to a board role was to serve on a subgroup for a period to time, reporting into the existing board which remains completely unchanged. They have chosen not to co-opt anyone new to the board at all. Whilst other new joiners have volunteered their time to the subgroups (which is great: the more help for the Trust the better), we felt that ultimately nothing changes if nothing changes at board level and therefore rejected the offer of subgroup involvement to focus on real and genuine leadership change.

What are you confused about?

The two were from our Foxes Trust Reform group and led to believe that the application was the pre-requisite to involvement at board level. With an awareness of a desire for change, and a stated need by some existing board members for more support at board level, the Foxes Trust board then decided that the new joiners could not be co-opted to board level and would instead have to serve on ‘subgroups’ which report to the board. Per our post above, this is why we rejected the offer of subgroup positions. To use an LCFC analogy, we feel this is a little like adding new people to the scouting, medical and analytics teams whilst Rudkin and Whelan continue as they always have…