Updates on:
Board update
Fan Advisory Board
Fan Forum
Club Partnership with Socios
Live facial recognition at NLD
Home Office football arrest figures
Board update
We are sad to announce that Anthoulla Achilleos stepped down from the THST Board at the Board meeting on 26 September, having served for four and a half years. Anthoulla made outstanding contributions to many areas of THST’s work, most notably to the ticketing workstream. She is widely recognised as an expert on THFC ticketing and membership issues. Many supporters have benefited from Anthoulla’s advice and guidance over the last few years, and she has been instrumental in THST’s efforts to hold the Club to account. Anyone who has worked with or spoken to Anthoulla will know how committed she has been to serving THST members and fighting for better outcomes for Spurs supporters. We thank Anthoulla for her dedication to THST and wish her the very best for the future.
We are pleased to announce that after attending THST’s Board meeting as an observer, full member Tristan Foot has been co-opted into a Board member role until the next AGM. Tristan specialises in governance and is qualified as a solicitor. He has extensive experience of participating on boards and navigating governance structures. Tristan is a Season Ticket holder and Secretary of Swindon Spurs, an official supporters’ club with over 250 members. We welcome Tristan to the Board and look forward to working with him.
We thank THST members for their patience and continued support as we navigate this period of significant change.
Fan Advisory Board – Update
The Fan Advisory Board met on 5 September and was joined by representatives of the Club Board, Chairman Daniel Levy and Directors Donna-Maria Cullen, Matthew Collecott and Todd Kline. The Chairman and Directors gave presentations and answered questions on the following areas: club strategic objectives, off-pitch performance and plans (including commercial); and an explanation of the Club’s ownership and company structure. There was also an update and discussion on fan communication. You can read the details in the minutes of the meeting here.
The following day the supporter representatives on the Fan Advisory Board attended an induction session at the stadium to be briefed on relevant areas of Club operations: Ticketing and Membership; THFC Foundation; Marketing; Matchday Operations (Stadium and Safety); Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; and Media Content.
Fan forum
After lobbying the Club for several years, we were delighted to see Spurs hold a Fan Forum at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 19 September. This opens up further channels of communication with fans, to complement their formal relationships with supporter groups including THST, and the newly set up Fan Advisory Board. We hope it will become a regular event and that more and more supporters will be given access to the Directors, including Daniel Levy and the Club. A full recording of the event can be found here. Check out the heart-warming viral moment at the end. The Trust was given a limited number of tickets to the event for their Board and members. We ran a ballot and were able to offer tickets to some of our full members. We were delighted that Andrew Wilson, one of those randomly selected, wrote this account of the event. This is his personal take and he may not necessarily reflect THST policy at all times: click here to read.
Club partnership with Socios
We are deeply concerned at the Club’s new, and controversial, multi-year partnership with Socios which the Club announced this week. We do not believe Fan Engagement should be monetised and, further, we do not believe all the safeguards are in place to protect fans against financial loss. Our full statement is here and we plan to raise this again with the Club. Spurs Ability, Spurs Reach and Proud Lilywhites have also expressed concerns along with the Football Supporters’ Association and many other organisations and individuals.
Live facial recognition – North London Derby
We were made aware that Live Facial Recognition was going to be used at the Emirates/Highbury & Islington for the North London Derby. We got in touch with the dedicated football officer outlining our concerns surrounding this. We also encouraged the Club to share information with all those who were attending the game. More information on the website here. Subsequently, we have raised a Freedom of Information request asking the questions set out here.
Home Office – football arrest figures
Each year the previous season’s arrest figures are released by the Home Office. Published this week, they have caused some controversy as numbers appear to have gone up but new categories of arrest have been introduced. See the response from the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) here.