Following what is becoming an embarrassing season, with little hope for the future under the dictatorship of Bates; I thought it was about time for ALL of us to show our full support for LUST. We have decided to have a questions and answers section that we, the fans can ask Cozer and Billyisgod about LUST's plans for the future, their aims and any other questions that we may have for them.
ellandback: Can I please point out I am just a LU supporter just like the rest of you, I am not on the LUST board. Just like you I asked myself what can I do to help push LUST forward as I really think we need a voice for our supporters. The first thing is to become a member, try and get to a meeting, see what LUST is all about. The next step is to try and get as many supporters to join LUST as you can. Iv'e said on many occasions before the greater our membership the louder or voice. For the price of a pint and a pie (£5) you can become a share holder. http://lufctrust.squarespace.com/ Why should I pay £5 to LUST and what will happen to that £5 you may ask. LUST have to hire rooms for meeting,have leaflets printed, pay for web sites, recording equipment and from time to time pay for professional advice the list is endless. At the moment I'm working on merchandise LUST Pin badges,T-shirts and Mugs just like our football club it is essential to bring in extra revenue. As for the future, LUST represent the supporter I hope we get enough members to push the board not just in giving us a voice but also ear's. We need to be told the truth,some transparency is required we need to be treated with respect, we will be here long after this board of directors as we were here long before and when were gone hopefully others supporters will take our place. I feel very passionate about LEEDS UNITED SUPPORTERS TRUST because I've always being very proud to be a LU supporter.
I'm thinking LUST T shirts which are easily identified are a great idea. Fans can spread the word without saying anything. You could also have LUSTS website on the back. Can I ask what is 'Billyisgod's role with LUST?
*As a member you will be able to put forward your views and suggestions directly to the Trust board. You will also be able to contribute to any polls and questions the Trust presents, meaning that you can make your voice heard. A shareholding membership will allow you to take part in the trusts decision making, to vote at the Trusts AGM, to select the Trusts Board members, and to stand for election to the Trust Board yourself. You will be able to upgrade your membership to a membership + shareholding in the Trust at any time during the free membership period. I am already a member of the Leeds United Supporters Trust, how does this effect me? All current paid up shareholders will have their membership and shareholding extended to 30 June 2012 at no extra cost. Any paid-up shareholder who renews in this period will have their membership and shareholding extended until June 2013.
I am Gary Cooper, current Chairman of the Leeds United Supporters Trust and i am more than happy to take questions about the Trust from anyone and everyone?
1. Do you see the trust ever getting acceptance from Ken Bates, he seems to have the moron title for anyone who challenges his chairmanship. 2. Have you ever had the chance to sit down with the Harvey or Bates to discuss any issues? P.S. Gary your member name Billyisgod is this in reference to Billy Paynter?..................only kidding!!
1. Sooner or later the club will have to accept that independent supporter representation is the preference of parliament, the FA, the FL and more importantly UEFA, having your own RMC's is great and they do a brilliant job but they are not independent, the Trust is, the club cannot control us, outide of the clubs board this is recognised as being a democratic and good thing. so yes sooner or later he will have to talk, i look forward to that day with keen anticipation 2. yes we met Mr Harvey in early 2010, he asked us to stop being a trust and become an RMC, we refused his kind offer, after that he mostly ignored us. PS i though billy paynter did ok yesterday when he came on, he didnt score but then again we didnt really expect him too did we
There are quite a few high profile people who are Leeds fans. I understand you may not be able to name them, but, have any signed up for LUST?
Gary, is it true that board members of LUST have been banned from matches at Elland Road? I wonder what will happen when LUST T shirts are available and fans are wearing them to matches. Will they be banned to, I wonder?
what has happened is they have removed our ticket purchasing rights, our season tickets still work but effectively from next season we are banned yes. i asked Shaun Harvey why and he said the club are reserving the right to sell tickets to who they want and as we had been critical of bates and him they didnt want us? we asked the FSF to intervene but they had no joy from Harvey or the club either, infact they published the following on their website http://www.fsf.org.uk/news/Leeds-United-fans-group-LUST-banned-for-disagreeing-with-Bates.php?id= i would sincerley hope that members wearing our soon to be available t shirts will not recieve the same treatement that has been handed out to me and the board of the trust mate, surely you are entitled to choose your own t shirt, is that against the clubs customer charter?
Billy Are there any surveys or stats on how many LUST members where season ticket holders this season but havent renewed?
Gary as a businessman who's versed in looking at accounts etc, and over the last 4 published accounts it's become fairly obvious that cash leaks out of the club. Myself and many others on this board and elsewhere are all of the same mind. Why haven't LUST looked into the accounts as much as forensically possible. Any in depth search will either show that the accounts add up and Bates is taking stick that's not warranted, or it will (Prove isn't the word) show that fans should be worried as there's plenty of holes. Still on the accounts front, many of us cannot understand how we have only showed a slight profit over the last 3 financial years, AFTER PLAYER TRADING. We can all do sums and we know we have far outstripped Bates gate target (Until recently) we also know we've had lloads of cash in from kids who were sold to prem sides, even sell on cash for Milner and of course the Delph vanishing cash, cup runs tv revenue etc, etc, etc. How can we not be highly profitable when we only pay less than average wages, which is proven because we can't compete in the market. Why is bates selling future season ticket sales to fund a white elephant, instead of building the team, which in turn will get promoted, which in turn will get multi millions for doing so, which means we don't need loans to fund a development on a ground we don't own and are not going to use in this league.
yes mate we canvassed our members when renewal dates were announced and results indicated that 42% would not be renewing early.
hello Doc, we have been very lucky to have some expert volunteers who have been working on the accounts since there release last week, our preliminary finding can be found here http://lufctrust.squarespace.com/blog/2012/4/5/leeds-united-financial-results-lust-questions.html and our more detailed examination has resulted in a letter to Baker Tilly, Compnaies House and Shaun Harvey as we are amazed by the inaacuracies, discrepancies and all kinds of anomilies that we feel warrant an explanation. our team concurs that the club is haemoraging cash and that cash flow must be suffering as a result, despite the claims by the club that we are financially sound we beg to differ.
I've been MIA on these boards for a little while now due to stupidly high workload amongst other things, but have been dropping in to catch up on things when I get a chance, and I've been particularly following the LUST stuff closely. I'm going to pay up and become a shareholder shortly, despite not being able to get to meetings from Durham, I just want to support the cause. Along those lines, I'm a (part-time) professional web designer and I'd very much like to offer help with the LUST website, be it giving it a more modern facelift in certain areas, helping out with organising information (not that there is a particular problem at the minute) and maybe getting a more memorable / permanent web address than the squarespace one for publicity. If that's interesting (I guess I'm directing this at billyisgod really) please feel free to drop me a private message on here, and we can exchange email addresses to get some ideas flowing. I'd very much like to help out, and this is the best way I think I can while not in Yorkshire! I'm certainly not trying to tread on any toes here, so if there is someone already doing your design stuff then feel free to let me know! I have experience with print design too though, so might be able to help with poster / flyer design going forwards?
