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Supporters Liaison Officer

Supporters Liaison Officer

Admin 215 Jun 2019 - 14:18
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Can you represent the interests of supporters?

At the Open Forum the Board held in May 2019 we committed to the strengthening of our relationship with fans including the appointment of a Supporters Liaison Officer (SLO) for 2019-20 season.

The Club are members of Supporters Direct who guided us through the process of becoming a supporters owned club and continue to offer support and advice to us. Last year Supporters Direct (SD) agreed to merge with the Football Supporters Federation (FSF).

Senior statutory bodies in the game such as The FA and UEFA had identified a need for the Supporters Liaison role, it is in fact mandatory for clubs participating in UEFA competitions. The FSF offer their view on the SLO role here.

The Board of Directors of the club are, of course, all supporters too. However, we recognise that the work of the Board has become more complex, evolved and developed in the four years since the takeover and we should look at ways of developing engagement with supporters.

The Board see the SLO role helping strengthen the bond between the club and its fans. The SLO should be a point of contact for supporters to communicate opinions to the club's board from fans and also issues/points raised by the Board with fans. The Board will look to engage the SLO to keep them up to date with operational and strategic matters.

However this is a supporters' position, not the Board's, so we are not going to set out a detailed job description. It's anticipated the role and responsibilities being developed by the SLO. The only stipulation the Board have is that the SLO will need to be a member of the Community Benefit Society.

However, there needs to be a structured process for the recruitment and selection of the SLO so that all supporters know how they can apply for the role and also decide who their representative should be. So a process parallel to the election of Board members will be run. Supporters that wish to stand for the SLO position should complete the application form (here) and submit it by the due date of 1 July 2019. If there is more than one applicant an election will be held – details of the applicants will be circulated and members of the CBS can vote for their preferred applicant with the result announced at the AGM. This will be done in line, where relevant, with the club's election policy.

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