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Former RamZone writer Steve Tickle died very suddenly recently. He wrote the 'Tickle Tackle' column for RamZone for many years and was also one of the founding members of RamsTrust and served as trust Webmaster from 2002 until his death on 12th November.
Here the former webmaster Arild Sand, his great friend Elaine Dean and current webmaster Dan Sewart pay tribute.
RamsTrust held its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 17th September at the Derby Co-operative Bowls and Social Club, Taverners Crescent, Littleover.
Members congratulated board member Tony Beck on all the work to have both the Ipro Stadium and Moor Farm Training Ground listed as Assets of Community Value. Congratulations were also offered to Elaine Dean who has been elected Vice Chair of Supporters Direct and Malcolm Turner who has been elected to the Supporters Direct board.
Tony Beck, Elaine Dean, Pete Drew and Jim Wheeler were elected to the board.
After the AGM the board elected the following officers and made three co-options:--
Chair: James Wheeler Vice Chair: Elaine Dean Secretary: Tanya Noon Treasurer: Pete Drew
Other elected board members: John Banks Tony Beck, Jim Coyle Malcolm Turner
Co-opted board members: Bob Donald, Tricia Goodwin, Kevin Hepworth
Webmaster: Steve Tickle
Independent Examiner: Richard Millington (Kidderminster Harriers Trust)
RamsTrust, the supporters trust for Derby County, is delighted to announce that its application to Erewash Borough Council for the Derby County Football Academy and Training Ground at Moor Farm to be declared an Asset of Community Value (ACV) has been successful. The Morley Road site in Chaddesden, Derby, has now been listed in accordance with the Localism Act 2011.
This means that any plans to dispose of the property (other than as a gift, inheritance, mortgage default, insolvency, death, court order or business transfer) will see a moratorium placed on it and RamsTrust will be offered the opportunity to bid for it.
This is the first training ground in the country to be granted ACV status and other trusts are now expected to follow suit.
Robin Osterley, Chief Executive of the trusts' umbrella body, Supporters Direct, said: ‘Supporters Direct is delighted to acknowledge the incredibly hard work of the RamsTrust in getting their training ground listed as an Asset of Community Value. We hope this will set a major precedent for community-based clubs and their trusts, and we looking forward to doing what we can to help this process along”
RamsTrust Chair Jim Wheeler said ' We are very excited about this achievement and setting a precedent for football clubs' training grounds. The Ipro Stadium was successfully listed as an ACV earlier this year and this is a unique double'
*Supporters Direct helps fans to set up democratic co-operatives (known as supporters' trusts) to gain influence in the running and ownership of their clubs.
*SD represents over 200 supporters trusts' and similar organisations England, Scotland and across Europe, with over 600,000 members.
*36 clubs in the UK are majority owned by their supporters including League 2 Clubs Portsmouth, Exeter City, Wycombe Wanderers and AFC Wimbledon.
RamsTrust, the independent supporters trust for Derby County has successfully put in an application for the Ipro Stadium to be declared an Asset of Community Value (ACV) Derby City Council Leader Councillor Paul Bayliss announced today.
The trust has now submitted a further application for Moor Farm training ground to similarly be considered
RAMTRUST APPLIES FOR PRIDE PARK STADIUM AND MOOR FARM TRAINING GROUND TO BE REGISTERED AS 'ASSETS OF COMMUNITY VALUE'
RamsTrust, the Supporters’ Trust for Derby County, announced today that it has submitted a nomination to Derby City Council for the Pride Park Stadium, and Erewash Borough Council for Moor Farm Training Centre, to be registered as ‘Assets of Community Value’ under the Assets of Community Value Regulations of the Localism Act (2011).
The listing of the Stadium as a ‘Community Asset’ by the Council would mean that should the stadium’s current (or any future) owner wanted to sell it, the Derby County Supporter community would have the opportunity to bid for it.
In its nomination to Derby City Council, the Trust set out a number of reasons why the Stadium qualifies as an Asset of Community Value, however the Trust feels the main benefits of obtaining the listing are:
- Reducing the chance that, without prior notice to the Council and community, Derby County Football Club could move to another location.
- Protecting the Stadium’s use as the venue for Derby County Football Club for current and future generations.
- Ensuring it continues as a site for delivering social benefit and community value, through the continued hosting of Derby County matches and the associated community activities Derby County undertakes.
The Councils now have up to eight weeks to make their decisions whether to list the Stadium & Training ground as Assets of Community Value. A successful listing would mean that, should the owner of either of the assets wish to sell they will be required to notify the relevant Council and RamsTrust, who will then have six weeks to lodge a non-binding expression of interest, in which case a window of opportunity of a further four and half months, (making six months in total), will come into effect to delay the sale. The full moratorium period exists to afford community interest groups sufficient time to prepare and raise money to bid for the property, potentially in competition with other interested parties.
Commenting on the application, RamsTrust Chairman, Jim Wheeler said “One of the greatest fears of any football fan is that the club they have supported all their life is suddenly ripped from its traditional heartland and moved to another location. It happened at Wimbledon in the past, numerous non-league clubs and most recently at Coventry City. Such decisions ignore the most important people at any club - its fans.”
“We would like to make it crystal clear that our application would have been submitted regardless of who the current owners of the stadium and training ground were, and that the current ownership had no bearing on the decision”
“We have no reason to believe that GSE has plans to sell the stadium or club, however one day that time will come. Having experienced 3 changes of club ownership since the Trust was formed only 11 years ago, we believe listing the stadium and training ground not only protects them, but also opens up a pathway to dialogue with any new potential owners of the club and infrastructure, so we can seek assurances on their plans.”
Supporters Direct - a society that is owned by its members' Supporters Trusts and Clubs, is advancing a campaign to have Football Club grounds designated as ACVs. RamsTrust is acting in unison with that campaign, as a member of Supporters Direct. Presently 14 club's premises are subject to being ACVs; these include: Manchester United's Old Trafford; Liverpool's Anfield; Ipswich Town's Portman Road; Nuneaton Town's Liberty Way & Oxford United's Kassam Stadium. Other nominations are ongoing, and include Leicester City's Kingpower Stadium & Birmingham City's St.Andrew's.
Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary said he was “delighted” that Manchester United's Old Trafford premises has been listed, and went on to say: “I look forward to other communities following this wonderful example.” RamsTrust's applications are in accord with those views."
THE WORLD CUP WITH BLOOD ON ITS HANDS From www.twohundredpercent.net
There comes a point at which the rotten core at the heart of football will become too much for most to take. We have come to accept the greed and the avarice as a part of life, as if there is no other way in which these people behave, and we are pacified only, it seems, by the collection of three points on a Saturday afternoon. Perhaps, though, for the corrupt culture that has burrowed its way into FIFA over as many decades as you choose to select from, some sort of day of reckoning is fast approaching.
We all took the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar as being utterly and hopelessly corrupt to the core, a decision made for dozens of reasons that had little to do with anything but the greasing of palms, and the endless quest to accommodate the tournament up to the point of holding it in the middle of the winter for the first time has done little to satisfy those who have who have already arrived at this conclusion. On the whole, though, the arguments in favour of moving the 2022 World Cup Finals have been dismissed with a sneer by FIFA, Perhaps, though, that situation is about to change.
When misgivings about awarding the 2022 World Cup Finals to a micro-state with no discernable football culture to speak of were first aired in this country, they were dismissed by FIFA as being the jealous whines of a nation that had just lost out on a bid to host the tournament. Never mind that it wasn’t the same tournament as the one that people were expressing these misgivings about. There are enough people out there who blindly hate the British for the likes of Sepp Blatter to be able to easily deflect criticism to an appreciative audience. There is, therefore a certain irony to the fact that the real shame of this tournament has been revealed by a British newspaper. We suspect that this time Blatter will not find it as easy to brush criticisms aside.
It has been The Guardian that has spent much of this exposing the appalling condition that migrants working on the construction of facilities in Qatar which are being built in no small part in preparation for what will doubtlessly be an orgy of opulence in just under nine years time. They found that Nepalese workers have been dying at a rate of almost one a day, whilst workers face exploitation and abuses that amount to modern-day slavery. Further claims have alleged that workers have been denied water whilst working, have had wages withheld to prevent them from leaving Qatar — something made considerably easier by the debt that migrant workers find themselves in just to get there in the first place — whilst the International Trade Union Confederation has claimed that the 2022 World Cup is on course to cost the lives of at least 4000 migrant workers before it starts.
The usual ameliorating platitudes have already been offered by FIFA, who have stated that they are “”very concerned about the reports presented by the media regarding labour rights’ abuses and the conditions for construction workers” (something that they could have found out a little more about had they bothered to look, well, during the bidding process), whilst Qatar’s World Cup organisers have stated they were “appalled” by the Guardian revelations and said there was “no excuse” for the mistreatment of workers, a statement which indicates that they were similarly oblivious to persistent claims regarding exactly this that have been made for some time with regard to the treatment of immigrant workers in their country. After all, more than 700 Indian workers died in Qatar between 2010 and 2012.
Perhaps, though, they only care so much because it has been exposed so publicly. This is, after all, very publicity for the tournament, the governing body and its organisers, and rightly so. But what can we do? The truth of the matter is that FIFA and the tournament organisers could just try and ride this out. After all, it’s still almost nine years before the tournament starts and people’s memories seem to be getting shorter and shorter these days. This, however, doesn’t mean that we should do nothing. Trying to apply pressure to those organising it all would seem to be beyond our reach. The Football Association in this country, however, aren’t, and pressure should be applied for this organisation to actually stick its head above the parapet for once and make it clear they will not tolerate this sort of behaviour in what is ultimately their name.
It may or may not work, but it has to be worth a throw of the dice. The World Cup has a history that will be irrevocably tarnished — and has been before in 1978, when the hosting of the tournament held by a country with a military junta caused outrage, but nowhere near the level of organised global protest that improvements in communications and technology now make possible — by the being associated with this sort of situation. If there is a moment at which push must come to shove, then this, surely should be it. There is no moral argument to make that justifies the conditions in which those desperate enough to seek work in Qatar, and even if it was possible to make one, it would surely still be impossible to argue that this should be infrastructure for the hosting of a bloody football tournament. The World Cup should be removed from Qatar, and if this doesn’t happen, then FIFA should be stripped of the omnipotence that it holds by whatever means are necessary.
BBC Radio Derby presenter Colin Bloomfield today announced he will be taking some time off as he undergoes treatment for skin cancer.
The breakfast show host announced that he had been diagnosed with skin cancer after finding a lump. He will undergo further tests to see if the cancer has spread to his lungs.
Colin, who lives in Derby city centre, took over at the helm of the flagship show from Phil Trow earlier this year.
He previously worked at Radio Derby on the 4pm until 7pm drive show, Sportscene and covered Derby County matches home and away. From tomorrow Ian Skye will temporarily present the show.
Speaking on Radio Derby this morning, Colin — who previously beat cancer after a diagnosis in 2001 — told colleague Sally Pepper that if the cancer has spread to his lungs, it would be “desperately unfair”.
The 31-year-old said: “In 2001, I didn’t think anything of this mole. It was only when my mum said to me to get it checked out that I did. This second lump that I found a few months ago, I found at 5am in the morning as I was getting ready to do my breakfast show. It was only the size of a pea but immediately the alarm bells were ringing. I did my breakfast show and then got it checked out in Birmingham that day. It’s never fair when you get cancer. But if it is stage four melanoma it feels desperately unfair because we hear all these messages about getting it checked out early. I couldn’t have got it checked out any earlier.
“In some respects, I’m quite lucky in the sense I’ve not been told I’ve got three months to live. They’ve said to me there is no cure but there are treatments that can prolong my life. But with all due respect, I’m 31 — I’m not interested in living until I’m 33 or 34. I’ve got a good job and good friends and family — I’m interested in living until I’m 80. Why would I want to live to 34 or 35 — what sort of consolation prize is that? I’m going to fight this — I want to live for another 40-50 years.”
Colin went on to say it did not feel like he is battling cancer. He said: “I don’t feel ill. If you put me on a treadmill in a gym I would probably beat most people. If it has spread (to my lungs), then it has done so without me knowing. It’s like a silent killer. It feels quite abstract.
“When I was told, that’s when it was toughest mentally. I was told on a Thursday and I was very stressed about it. I woke up on the Sunday and couldn’t breathe; my lungs felt very tight. I went outside and I was crying — I thought ‘oh God, this is now my life’. My dad came out and put his arm around me and we went off to A&E to see what it was all about. There, they told me it wasn’t anything apart from utter stress and anxiety.
“If it has spread to my lungs, we will deal with it. I just want to get to that day when they tell me I’m cancer free. At the moment I can’t plan my life because I don’t know what the next two years will be.”
The presenter has been inundated with goodwill messages since announcing on air this morning that he is fighting cancer.
World exclusive interview with Andy Burnham by Co-op News - recorded this last weekend at the Supporters Direct/FSF Conference held at St George's Park FA Centre of Excellence near Burton.
RamsTrust Chair Jim Wheeler will be on Radio Derby shortly at 6pm on the phone in to discuss increases in Season Ticket prices for disabled and senior supporters.
Many senior and disabled Season Ticket holders have contacted RamsTrust to express their outrage at the increase in prices for those groups this year.
HAVE *YOU* BEEN AFFECTED?
The trust has been told that some seats have more than doubled in price and also many people are not getting the reduction at 60 that they expected. This has apparently affected more women as the new reductions come at *65* and yet most women are on a graduated retirement scheme. Currently women are retiring at between 61 and 62 (depending on when their birthday is) but the reduction in season tickets has gone up in one go from 60 to 65. These women are on a pension but don't receive a discounted rate which might be discriminatory.
Some disabled supporters have been told casually to 'swap to the E band' seats - not only would that mean they moved away from friends BUT *there are no wheelchair seats on E band*
Furthermore the stairways are concrete and have no rails. What goon thinks elderly or disabled people want to sit there?
It appears that those E band seats are cheap 'singing seats' for youngsters - do seniors REALLY want to sit there?
Furthermore, Sam Rush clearly said on Radio Derby that disabled supporters had been consulted. Yet not ONE of the disabled people who have contacted the trust has been consulted at all - and some are in the Disabled Supporters Association.
If YOU have been consulted (or not) or if your seat price has gone up then please tell us your experience on here or mail in to membership@ramstrust.org.uk
(You might like to join the trust as we campaign for disabled and senior rights)
Remember, we all hope to be senior supporters one day!
"If politicians decide there are votes in it, the possibility arises of a windfall tax on the Premier League’s £5bn TV bonanza. And why not? As long as the money is ring-fenced and invested in grassroots facilities, in coaches and coaching development, in school sports — in all those things which it would already be spent on if football was run by a single organisation instead of being hijacked by a self-governing coterie of millionaires and billionaires."
RamsTrust is a supporters' trust for fans of Derby County FC who believe that supporters should have a say in the governance of their clubs which are community assets.
RamsTrust Press Release - for immediate release.
SASON TICKETS FOR DISABLED & ELDERLY FANS
Following announcement of Season-Ticket prices for 2013-14, many RamsTrust members have reacted with dismay to the cost increases for certain sections of the fanbase.
Although prices have remained static for many supporters, tickets for senior supporters have increased by up to 25% and the age band has been increased from 60 to 65. This is a further increase after the age was increased from 55 only just over 5 years ago. This is particularly galling for those supporters who were approaching eligibility — after similar disappointment previously.
However, the biggest complaints have been over the removal of discounts for disabled supporters, who in some cases have seen their tickets more than double in price. These increases seem to hit the supporters who are least able to afford the extra cost. This has led to some disabled supporters (and their families and friends) questioning whether they will renew for next season.
In order to reduce this impact and the possible reduction in renewals, RamsTrust would like to propose a compromise solution — to categorise disabled supporters in the new ‘Band E’ category for season-ticket pricing. Whilst this will still represent an increase for disabled supporters, it will at least prevent 100% price rises which make disabled supporters question the club’s attitude towards them.
RamsTrust would also ask what consultation process was done with supporters in setting the new pricing structure — as this may have alleviated some of the concerns that have been raised, and may have allowed the club to make concessions to ensure all supporters accepted the new prices.
RamsTrust believes that supporters should be treated with respect, and not just regarded as ‘customers’ — the recent government recommendations and Supporters Direct meeting in the Houses of Parliament today also support this view.
MPS COME OUT IN FORCE TO SUPPORT SUPPORTERS DIRECT
MPs are coming out in force to support Supporters Direct’s lobby of Parliament, taking place next Tuesday afternoon, 5th February, at 16:00.
Some 60 MPs are already pledged to attend, including the Shadow Minister for Scotland, Solicitor General, Shadow Secretary of State for Health, a Government Whip, and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
There has also been significant interest from other groups and organisations, both within the trust movement and outside.
The lobby is to call for the swift implementation of two of the major parts of the reform agenda, both of which the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee today backed, and called for legislation to force the FA to act if they don’t implement them.
1. That The FA needs to include a rule as part of the new football club licensing arrangements that guarantees a Structured Relationship between supporters and clubs; and
2. That DCMS needs to establish the Government Expert Group before the beginning of next season (2013/2014) to explore methods of removing barriers to increased collective supporter share ownership in their football clubs.
A spokesman for SD said,
“The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has backed our call for these changes in its report today. Whilst there are many who doubt that government will ever legislate to force reform, we’re intent on pressing home how critical it is to get these two major reforms done. They don’t need a special process, or any legislation or new system to be introduced. The agreement is there. Let’s get on and implement them.”
If you have not lobbied your MP to attend yet then please do so.
Supporters Direct Press Release Friday 22nd June 2012
Chair of Supporters Direct to stand down
Supporters Direct (SD) today announces that Dame Pauline Green will stand down as its Chair at its Annual General Meeting on the 7th July in London.
Dame Pauline joined the Board of SD as Chair in September 2009 shortly before retiring from her full time job as Chief Executive of Co-operatives UK. Her election to the post was designed to further cement links between SD and the UK's co-operative family of businesses, with which its member trusts share a great deal in common, including an emphasis on community and democracy.
Speaking about her departure Dame Pauline said, “I have made the decision to stand down as Chair of SD given the huge increase in my workload as President of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) in this the United Nations 2012 International Year of Co-operatives.”
She went on to say: “I leave a supporters’ trust movement that is truly inspirational. I can think of no other group of people and organisations that have achieved as much as they have from so little. In financial terms, funding of around £4 million has resulted in over £33 million of investment in clubs, and critically, nearly 50 clubs saved because of their intervention. I can’t imagine where football in particular would be without this massive contribution; resulting from the long-hours, drive, and sheer effort that supporters’ trusts contribute to ensure the survival and long-term health of their clubs.”
“The people behind supporters’ trusts and community owned clubs are real heroes and I pay tribute to their huge dedication and commitment'.
“Being the Chair of SD for the last three years has been a great privilege. It has also at times been a bit of a rollercoaster, with a long period of financial uncertainty as SD worked with the Premier League and the Fans Fund to move to a new financial model in its second decade of existence.
“However I am now delighted to report that SD has its updated strategy and business plan in place, and a new Chief Executive, David Lampitt, who will join the organisation on June 25th. I am confident that SD with David at its helm will build on the strengths of its first twelve years, growing the role of the trust movement and SD as its voice across the UK and Europe.
“The abiding strength of SD itself rests in its great staff team whose loyalty and hard work has been quite outstanding, and I pay tribute to them and a board who have faced up to the many challenges confronting them in these last two years.
I would also like to thank Brian Burgess who has acted as Interim Chief Executive for the last year, and who has steadied the ship at a time when it was so urgently needed.”
“It has been my great privilege to work with this great team, and I wish SD the very best for the future.”
Acting Chief Executive, Brian Burgess, paid tribute to Dame Pauline:
“There have been some tough times at SD in the past year in particular, and we have been fortunate to have the benefit of Dame Pauline’s leadership. Both the organisation and our relationship with the co-operative movement are stronger now than ever. On behalf of everyone at SD I would like to thank Pauline wholeheartedly for her dedication and commitment to our cause and we wish her well.”
Derby County community partners Veolia Environmental Services have initiated a new 'football shirt amnesty' running until the end of January; please read about it here:
You can deposit unwanted shirts at Shop DCFC for re-use where needed, in Africa, South America and other destinations.
RamsTrust helped kick-off the 'amnesty' with 40 shirts donated to the cause from fans last weekend - please dig out YOUR unwanted shirts and donate them now!
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