Glad you see the critical point in this, Happy, but the Trust have always had a mandate.
To you both:
Always prepared to take on board other opinion, but is, or should this really be about getting EA to back down and bugger how that is achieved? How does that make us any different to him?
Surely this really should be about the principle of concessions and all of its constituent parts: fairness, inclusivity (young, old, disabled), rewarding those who really have earned their stripes, encouraging the next generation - and this full price paying generation, who want to take their bairns.
We can’t guarantee what the Allams will do, regarding leaving; it’s no secret that I more or less agree with OLM on his prediction, but that shouldn’t cloud our thinking on concessions today - not next year or the year after.
Abstaining has a voice; especially if Trusts and action groups are prepared to recognise that. For instance, through the normal channels (that I have always advocated) encourage abstainers to email the HDM, the FSF, Channel 5 Championsip.., or all of them - even include the club, so they are aware, but not them exclusively. Encourage all voters to do that, if they feel they are caught between the devil and the deep...
These are hard choices, they aren’t political, like a General Election (as, Chazz, has suggested), this is a moral question of trading one section of our support to make a fleeting and dubious win over the owners. I think that’s bollocks and not worthy.