#TrustSTFC

Hi All . . . . . . . . #TrustSTFC
So - after several months of scrambling around in the lower reaches of the division, it's finally happened... we're down into League Two.
One of the worst seasons in living memory (and we've seen a few poor ones over the years) - it's been very disappointing indeed.
It feels worse today as the grim reality of relegation sinks in. We must look forward though - it's very important during these dark times that we as supporters rally together.
Lee Power insists he is staying around, so let's control the controllables and work to to bring about positive change.
As Tony Incenzo, the Talk Sport Broadcaster said on Twitter recently: "The real owners of football clubs are fans who have supported their clubs down through generation after generation"
We are all here for the long haul, and we need to make sure that our future is bright - owning our own stadium would be a massive step in the right direction and would give us greater influence.
The County Ground

We have a meeting with Swindon Borough Council lined up this week, on Thursday 27th April, to discuss our £1.1m bid for the stadium, and to better understand the process that we need to follow to make this happen. Initial conversations have been very encouraging.
Please reply to this email with your questions regarding the stadium purchase. We are in the process of putting together a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page, so the more questions, the better!
We have collated all the necessary background information regarding the lease and existing stadium surveys, and have also been in regular contact with Supporters Direct, who will be helping us with our Community Share offer.
Community shares are a great way to fund projects like this, It’s the same model that helped Portsmouth supporters take control of their club, and Supporter Owned Wrexham build a new shop and offices at their ground. This short video explains more - click here
Over the course of the next four weeks we have a number of meetings lined up and will be putting together an update which we plan to discuss at a public meeting on the evening of Wednesday 24th May.
Please pencil this date into your diaries - we will advise more and confirm details in due course.
Although our 100 or so AGM attendees all promised to come back to our next meeting (and bring a friend) - we never really know what to expect in terms of attendees, and so we have booked the MECA Swindon (next door to Rudi's) as the May meeting venue.

We've got the upstairs balcony reserved which has a capacity of around 200 people, but we can also use other areas if need be.
The MECA is very adapatable and also central to the Town, with good transport links. We hope to see you there!
You can get the full story of our March AGM, including audio clips from radio interviews and audio of the full meeting, by clicking here
If you haven't already seen it - we based the evening around our TrustSTFC AGM Pack, which is a 37 page analysis of the club from top-to-bottom. You can read it by clicking here
The Red Army Fund

The fund is now solely focused on the purchase of the County Ground, and your contributions will help us to run a professional campaign.
We have increased our number of contributors from 125 to nearly 280 in just over a month - massive growth rate.
Thank you and we really appreciate the support from everyone that has already signed up, but we still need more to get behind us.
If you want to help, here's what we need you to do...
Step One
Please sign up to the Red Army Fund, with whatever you can easily afford. It's all about the County Ground - take a look here...
www.redarmyfund.co.uk
Step Two
Keep talking about the campaign, and encourage your friends to sign up to the Red Army Fund as well. It's whatever they can easily afford too, we don't want people to get into any financial difficulty on this.
These simple steps will help us in two ways:
1) We always keep our costs to a minimum, but we will need funding for a professional campaign - promotional costs, legal fees etc.
2) More importantly, it will help us Influence the council discussions. If they know Town fans are serious and putting money behind the campaign it will make a HUGE difference.
Deliveries
Management of the fund, and delivery of Trust items such as badges, pens, and shirts present a number of challenging logistical obstacles, so please bear with us as we improve our methods behind the scenes.
We have just caught up with the backlog, and some of you will be getting shirts, pens and badges through the door in the next couple of days. Gold and Silver members, you may have to wait a while, as there is a six week leadtime on the shirts - orders have been placed though.
Gold and Silver Members get a new Shirt and a new metal Pen:

Bronze Members get the new metal Pen:

We are moving towards a model where a fans and investor driven community share offer will help us purchase the stadium itself.
The RAF at the moment will raise just over £20k a year if you all stay with us, and hopefully once we have secured the purchase this can continue as a maintenance and improvement fund.
Thank you again to everyone for your patience, and your continued support, and please remember to ask your friends to sign up.

We've had some good articles on TrustSTFC.tv over the last month, so here are a few highlights - click a link and enjoy!
Our own Sam Morshead summarised the frustrating season with this article on the day relegation was confirmed - click here
As part of his day job, he also highlighted the Tim Sherwood situation, who today said the DoF role was "not a job" - click here
We've had two more TrustSTFC podcasts (audio) - hosted by Will Wardrop, and featuring Super Sammy Parkin (click here) and comedian Ivo Graham click here)
Thanks to Steven Fyfe for his excellent interview with former Town player Andy Nicholas - you can read it by clicking here
Thanks also to former Town Press Officer Chris Tanner, who lifts the lid on his amazing time at the club - click here

Towards the end of March I was interviewed by national newspaper The Guardian who had a keen interest in Tim Sherwood, but also came away interested in the County Ground - you can read it here.
Please hit the reply button and give us your feedback on any Town related or Trust related matters, and also get thinking about ideas and memories that you might want to share with the wider fanbase.
TrustSTFC.tv : It's for Town fans, by Town fans.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Note: be sure to bookmark this page: truststfc.tv/newsroom
It's a single page devoted to Town media sites, and has feeds from the Swindon Advertiser, the Official Site, Football in the Community and #stfc Town related twitter posts.
Finally...
Remember that together as a larger group we get stronger, so please invite others to 'Like' our Facebook page, Follow us on Twitter and of course sign up to our newsletter via www.truststfc.com
Thanks,
Steve

Stephen Mytton
Chairman, TrustSTFC
Twitter: @mightymyte / @TrustSTFC
Facebook: facebook.com/truststfc
www.redarmyfund.co.uk