I have read about the marketing focus at the Wire and particularly the development of the fan club and the ambassadors, designed to take the club forward and I'm "Live wired". These are obviously good moves.



But I searched in vain for anywhere that the huge contribution of the Supporters Trust and Squad Builder has made has been acknowledged and recognised. It seems that their contribution has been airbrushed out and as far as I hear they were not seriously consulted when the new structure was being developed.



This is unacceptable; the Supporters Trust was a nationally recognised and leading initiative and, as I understand it, squad builder has contributed nearly £200,000 from individual donations, all for local player development.



I am not a member of either organisation but like most supporters I recognise their part in the reshaping of the club, and so should the present administration. We owe them a big thank you.



It’s not too late to put this right. The club needs to publicly and strongly acknowledge their contribution. To paraphrase what a great man once said "If I've got anywhere it's by standing on someone else's shoulders". The supporters trust have provided some of the broad shoulders.



Message to the club, do the right thing and do it now.

Hear hear.



I made the point on the forum a few weeks back that it would be nice for SqB or ST members to have been invited to the shirt launch but apparently it was "too late to organise" and future plans are "under discussion". Rough treatment and a slap in the face.

did we all see the article in the guardian last week www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/spo ... _Fan_Club/ There was a fair sized comment from Richard Shanks(one of the original instigators of the supporters trust) that was on there that seems to have been removed.

did we all see the article in the guardian last week www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/spo ... _Fan_Club/ There was a fair sized comment from Richard Shanks(one of the original instigators of the supporters trust) that was on there that seems to have been removed.

Quote Fantastic Mr Cat="Fantastic Mr Cat"did we all see the article in the guardian last week www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/spo ... _Fan_Club/ There was a fair sized comment from Richard Shanks(one of the original instigators of the supporters trust) that was on there that seems to have been removed.'" Happy that at least one person managed to see my comment before the Guardian presumably reacted to a request from somewhere for it to be deleted. I have asked the Guardian for an explanation for its deletion, but, needless to say, have not received the courtesy of a reply.

Quote Fantastic Mr Cat="Fantastic Mr Cat"did we all see the article in the guardian last week www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/spo ... _Fan_Club/ There was a fair sized comment from Richard Shanks(one of the original instigators of the supporters trust) that was on there that seems to have been removed.'" Happy that at least one person managed to see my comment before the Guardian presumably reacted to a request from somewhere for it to be deleted. I have asked the Guardian for an explanation for its deletion, but, needless to say, have not received the courtesy of a reply.

Fear Not.. The supporters Trust has aligned along with the foundation and the VPs association (which I represent and also have contributed £100k's to youth development, and I bet few have heard of), together as a collective we input to the club. It was deemed that if more effective communicating together as we act in similar ways (developing the young players)



Hope this helps..

It is true the VPs do a lot to support the club but I don't think your post addresses the original point.

I can still see the comment, as I could yesterday.



Valid points raised, and for me the interesting question is 'why' the club feel the need to ignore the ST/SB. It can't have slipped through the net, so seems to have been a conscious decision. It's right that they are held to account for this IMO. Maybe if enough people raise it wth the new 'fan club'...

Like Wires71, I don't see that these answers the 'charge'.



Can you explain how the VP association fits in please? I remember searching in vain a year or two ago for more info, as was interested in who they are and what their purpose was/how they complemented ST/SB. Is it something that people are free to join?



We're in danger of having a very convoluted representative structure for the fans if we're not careful. This would be as bad as not having any official link!

Anyone can join the VP's. However, it does come with a price tag. Don't quote me but the magic number of £500 leaps to mind for a season's membership (could be less). However, I can certainly confirm that they raise funds for youth development. The VP Christmas Lunch was held last week where the auction raised over £9000, a huge lump of which will go straight back into the club for the kids. This is spent directly on training gear, apparatus, whatever the youth squad needs. It's not frittered away on anything that isn't directly to the benefit of WWRLFC. They're a very worthy group who I'm happy to associate with.

What did you say that so upset the sensibilities of the Warrington Guardian? Were you questioning the "Official" title and possibly its "independence" and way of bridging the fans with the club, which all I can see at the moment is asking people to contact them with any issues and they can take it to the club, which is something most people are capable of anyway.



bts

Did you follow the link? The comment is still there; not sure why FMC thinks it's not??



The comment was as follows:



1:33pm Fri 4 Dec 15

richard.shanks54 says...

This is being lauded as something new, but its objectives are lifted almost verbatim from the registration documents of the Supporters' Trust, which was established 13 years ago (in the dark, dark days) of 2002 when fans really had things to gripe about and had real concerns over the very future existence of the club and its senior status. Through its Squadbuilder scheme, it has contrubuted £185,000 over that period to youth development programmes across the town, and it has delivered on its objective to assist in increasing the number of locally-based players in the Super League squad from the one (Mike Wainwright) in 2002.



There is absolutely no reason why this new initiative couldn't and shouldn't have been encompassed within the wider remit of the Trust, especially as both the club and some of the "Wire Fan Club" promoters were fully aware of what the Trust stood for during the course of the summer fans' forum.



There are a serious number of Trust members and regular Squadbuilder contributors who have been genuinely angered and concerned by the way the club announced the creation of this new group as "THE official fan club endorsed by all at Warrington Wolves" - the last 13 years of support, both in mind and from the pocket means nothing!!

Just clicked on the link again, that comment time and date says deleted for me, try pressing refresh when you look at it, see if it disappears