Special General Meeting of the Newport County AFC Supporters’ Trust 25th April 2024
Notice is hereby given that a Special General Meeting of the Newport County AFC Supporters’ Society Limited (the ‘Trust’) will be held on Thursday 25th April at 7.00 p.m.at Rodney Parade, Newport NP19 OUU.
The purpose of the Special General Meeting is to consider and vote on the following resolutions: -
Resolution 1 - Model Rules for a Supporters Community Mutual: that the current version of the Model Rules (2022) held and recommended by the Football Supporters Association (FSA) for a Supporters Community Mutual be adopted for the Society. Under paragraph 1 of the Model Rules the name of the Society is to be ‘Newport County AFC Supporters Society Limited’, the club is to be ‘Newport Association Football Club Ltd.’ and the area is to be ‘the City of Newport’; under paragraph 57 the minimum number of directors (appointed via election or through appointment to a casual vacancy as per rule 64) is to be six, and the maximum number to be twelve; under paragraph 65 the maximum number of additional/’external’ directors that can be co-opted is to be four.
Resolution 2 - Election of Directors of the Supporters Society: that an election is held for up to eight directors of the Society. The election is to be held over such a time period that the newly elected directors can be in position by no later than 1st August 2024.
Resolution 3 - Supporters Society Policies: that the Directors of the Society are charged with publishing, within three months of the said election being concluded, a comprehensive list of policies which it proposes to develop for consultation with and agreement by the membership. These policies will ensure that the Society is compliant with the provisions of its own Rules, will meet the expectations of the Football Supporters Association as our national advisory body, and will meet the expectations of the membership. The development of, and consultation with the membership on those policies, may be actioned in phases over a period of time. Policies for (1) financial contributions to be made to Newport Association Football Club Ltd and (2) transparency in the governance of the Society, should be included within the first phase of policies to be so developed.
(Resolution 1 is an extraordinary resolution. Resolutions 2 and 3 are ordinary resolutions. Extraordinary resolutions require a minimum of 75% votes cast in favour, whereas ordinary resolutions require only a majority of votes cast in favour.)
Background information on the resolutions
We have taken the advice of the Football Supporters Association (FSA) when planning this meeting and working up the resolutions which will be put before members.
The model rules are designed for supporter societies/trusts and are recommended by the FSA. The model rules will be available for inspection on our Trust website in advance of the meeting. The recommended numbers for the minimum and maximum number of directors for our society/trust, appointed by election or through a casual vacancy, are as per the current rules for the Trust.
An election timetable and process will be set out at the meeting. The election process will be based on how we have run elections in the past. We are developing a role description and information pack for the directors based on recommended good practice from the FSA and in consultation with the new majority owner of the football club. We would expect that it will be necessary for a number of Trust members to come forward and stand for election to ensure that all vacancies are filled. Therefore, we would invite all eligible Trust members to consider whether they have the time, commitment and skills needed for the role.
The Trust will need to adopt and maintain a full set of policies. For example, members, at the last AGM, resolved to adopt a Transparency Policy. Another early priority, based on member feedback, is how Trust funds are to be used to support the football club in the future. An early task for the new directors will be to review what we have in place and to publish a full list of policies which will then follow. The membership is to be consulted on, and adopt, all revised or new policies.
Members are requested to pre-register their attendance at the meeting by emailing sgm@ncafctrust.org and giving their full name and trust membership number.
An agenda for the meeting will be published shortly.
