WHUST requirement

Explanation

On the record meetings with the club should take place on a regular basis having board involvement

“A digital transcript of the meeting will be kept and stored securely for record.  The transcript will be shared no later than seven days following the conclusion of the meeting”.  See “Guiding Principles, Clause iv, p. 5 TOR

Meetings should be recorded and the recordings stored for later scrutiny

“A digital transcript of the meeting will be kept and stored securely for record.  The transcript will be shared no later than seven days following the conclusion of the meeting”.  See “Guiding Principles, Clause iv, p. 5 TOR

An agreed number of meetings should be face-to-face

See “Meetings”, p. 3, TOR

Relevant key senior club personnel should attend all meetings

3 seats on the FAB are reserved for Club representatives (p. 2, ToR)

Agendas to be shared ahead of all meetings with the fanbase

See “Guiding Principles”, Clause ii, p. 5, TOR

The minutes should list attendees as well as detailing actions and timescales and identifying the person or groups responsible for each action

See “Guiding Principles”, Clause vii, p. 5, TOR

Where possible, measurements of success for each action should be listed

See “Guiding Principles”, Clauses ix and x, p. 5, TOR

Minutes to be taken by fans and published

There will be no restriction in the taking of ‘independent minutes’, provided they are published after the official minutes – See “Guiding Principles”, Clause xi, p. 5 TOR

Where it is necessary to share confidential information, that confidentiality must be respected by all parties.  Confidentiality extends to all meeting attendees.

“This document informs Club and Supporter Representatives regarding their responsibilities around confidentiality…”

See “Introduction”, Confidentiality Agreement

The reasons why confidentiality is required must be proven

See “Confidential Information”, Clause 3, Confidentiality Agreement

The rationale for decisions and positions taken by supporters and clubs should be shared

See “Guiding Principles”, Clause xiv, p. 5, TOR

Supporter reps to be consulted over strategic priorities of the club

See “Responsibilities”, Clause i, p. 5, TOR

Agreed timescales for responses each way must be clearly communicated

See “Guiding Principles”, Clause xiv, p. 5, TOR

Relevant documentation must be agreed by supporters and the Club.  Documents should be jointly reviewed at least once per season and must be published

See “Review”, p. 6, TOR

There must be frequent fan representative feedback, independent of league assessments, to measure fans’ satisfaction with how engagement is working in practice. 

WHUST Board to report back regularly to our members and solicit feedback regarding the FAB.

A system for supporter feedback/sharing of concerns/thoughts/issues should be in place to fast-track issues that arise between meetings.

“Meetings of sub-groups should take place throughout the season as deemed relevant.  The FAB may choose to request additional meetings with the Club Co-Chair over and above the formal meetings”.

See “Meetings”, p. 3, TOR

Fans should independently appoint members to the supporter involvement body and any subcommittees or working groups, not the Club

See “Reserved Supporters Group Representative Seats”, p. 1, TOR

Both fans and the club may appoint different people to different workstreams so the burden of work is shared among the members and expertise can be brought in

See “Appendix 2 – Supporters Group Representative Seats”, Clause 3, p. 9, TOR

The supporter involvement body should seek to represent the diverse nature of the fanbase. 

See “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Statement”, p. 5, TOR

Fan representatives should commit to key standards of professionalism, confidentiality and a commitment to work together and to achieve consensus where possible. 

See Code of Conduct

There must be an agreed code of conduct for all reps and a mechanism for monitoring compliance and dealing with any breaches of the code

See Code of Conduct

Agreed routes for issue escalation and dispute resolution

See Code of Conduct

WHUST requirement

Explanation

The Supporters’ Trust to be the primary supporter group, as per the recommendations in the Government White Paper. 

While WHUST will not have an automatic place on the FAB, we are confident that the new Government will re-introduce legislation implementing the Fan-Led Review and therefore the new licensing system will require the Club to include the Trust on the FAB or whatever succeeds it. 

Minutes of all meetings should be shared within seven days of each meeting with the fanbase

We have been able to secure a commitment to publishing minutes no later than 14 days after the meeting took place via Club channels.  We believe this compromise balances the need for transparency with the need to give the Club time to get approval for the minutes and any amendments.  The recording of minutes will help with the approval process. 

The minutes should include a brief description of the nature of confidential information shared and the reasons for its confidentiality

Confidential information will be redacted from the published version of the minutes, but it will be possible for confidential information to be shared with the executive board of the individual fan groups, which used to be a point of contention and prevented fan reps from reporting back effectively. 

Consultation should take place before decisions are made, particularly if it is relevant to fans

As the relationship between the Club and the FAB develops, we will expect meaningful consultation on a range of topics. 

Veto over decisions concerning core heritage items via a golden share

While there will be no right of veto or a ‘golden share’, we are confident that the new Government will re-introduce legislation implementing the Fan-Led Review and therefore the new licensing system will require the Club to include a system of veto over heritage items. 

Intellectual property is the property of the fan group not the Club

The FES states that any IP created during the FAB’s existence is owned by the Club.