owlsabout wrote:Class of 2016.
July 17th Election Results Day.

Trust Email


As outlined yesterday, the candidates, subject to accepting the position, take up office with immediate effect, subject to the formality of passing the Football League’s fit and proper persons test (required for all football club directors).




Class of 2018
Date Feb 12th 33 days after election results. Trust Email.


Newport County Association Supporters Trust is pleased to confirm that it has now received all English Football League Owners & Director Tests relating to the new Directors Colin Faulkner, Ryan Courtney, Kevin Ward, Bob Herrin and Rob Santwris. All of the named Directors have passed their Fit & Proper Persons Tests with The EFL and will now be registered with Companies House, in advance of attending the Club's next Full Board Meeting on Thursday 1st March 2018which will cover new director inductions, policies & procedures and general standards.

The Trust would like to congratulate all of the new Directors on their appointments and look forward to them joining the Board of Newport County AFC.


So the class of 2016 .1 day to take up office the class of 2018. 61 days.

My recollection is that Les unceremoniously sacked the previous board and put the trust in power before they had passed their fit and proper person test. Tony Pring was the only one at the time that was qualified as a director.


The trust, with the exception of Pring were effectively non exec directors.

The Newport wrote:

big baz wrote:

The Newport wrote:[quote="Stan A.

What is so special about Kevin Ward and Robert Santwris?

Competition Man !! Happy new year to you.

You are such a dick. Who will you say is Competition Man next?[/quote]

Well with the amount of names you use who knows. Cheers for the compliment. I guarantee you’d say sod all to my face. Typical keyboard warrior who’s mum didn’t give them enough attention as a kid

Harps62 wrote:

whoareya wrote:

Harps62 wrote: Correct Bush
Every director votes for who should be on the main and trust boards and similarly the chairmans position.

No they don't.

Trust members vote for who sits on the Trust Board - that's what the recent elections were for. Would be pointless having Trust elections otherwise.

Not so.
There are 2 boards and the total of all decide which board they are on.
We get them elected in the first place all of them.
Every board member must be elected by us in the first place then they decide whosits on which of the 2 boards.

If you look at any of the manifesto paperwork for the recent elections you will see it clearly says "Election of members to the Trust Board"

Competition Man is back??

Lucky Mascot 2 wrote:That was my understanding they would be on the trust board not the club board.
I do hope the newly elected directors have some influence on the decision making and direction of the club/supporter ownership once they are let out the 2 month waiting room.

What part of the club statement which clearly says that the six persons elected will be joining the board of Newport County AFC are you having trouble understanding?

September 28th we were informed by email about the Trust holding elections. 1st of March the 5 elected people finally go to a board meeting. Over 5 months from the start to the conclusion. Come on even you happy clappers can’t be happy with this. I’ve heard that one of those elected one of the first things he’ll do is overhaul the way we do the above and get the time level down by half.

owlsabout wrote:September 28th we were informed by email about the Trust holding elections. 1st of March the 5 elected people finally go to a board meeting. Over 5 months from the start to the conclusion. Come on even you happy clappers can’t be happy with this. I’ve heard that one of those elected one of the first things he’ll do is overhaul the way we do the above and get the time level down by half.

I agree entirely with your assessment. The time taken is farcical and appears to be an attempt to hold on to power. However the reality is that there are at least two new board members and perhaps more who simply won't accept rule by dictate.
I have no problem with people making decisions with which I don't agree. That is not to say that I won't voice my concerns but the board of directors are elected to make decisions and that is their job. My frustration has been not with the decisions but with the secrecy. Meetings with supporters should take place, decisions should be explained, minutes should be published.

Lucky Mascot 2 wrote:

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

Lucky Mascot 2 wrote:That was my understanding they would be on the trust board not the club board.
I do hope the newly elected directors have some influence on the decision making and direction of the club/supporter ownership once they are let out the 2 month waiting room.

What part of the club statement which clearly says that the six persons elected will be joining the board of Newport County AFC are you having trouble understanding?

Are you mistaking me for someone that wants to put up with your ".......are you having trouble understanding" nonesense,
Not sure what statement you are referring to,

https://www.ncafctrust.org/news/ncafc-t ... 7-results/

Try reading the Trust email of 12 February 2,018. It's in Owlsabout initial post on this thread, cited by me above. It reads 'welcome (to the six elected) to the board of Newport County AFC'.

If it was election to the trust board why would they need to go through the fit and proper process with the football league,
My guess is that Gavin and co are Have something to hide before the new guys come in
Just a thought !!!

PMG wrote:If it was election to the trust board why would they need to go through the fit and proper process with the football league,
My guess is that Gavin and co are Have something to hide before the new guys come in
Just a thought !!!

I doubt very much they have anything to hide. That would suggest that there was some dishonesty. To be clear I don't like the way our club has been run for years. I don't like the obsessive secrecy, I don't like the egos and I don't like the arrogance. I don't like the way supporters are kept in the dark and I don't like the way supporters are ignored until money is required.

However whilst I am sure there will have been cover-ups of embarrassing incompetence, I have never had any reason to question the integrity of anyone involved at board level with Newport County. I am not interested in embarrassing people for past mistakes. What I am interested in is learning from those errors so they are not repeated.

Which is why if Newport County had issued a statement saying, we jumped the gun in signing Paul Hayes. It was a mistake. We are sorry and we will not make that mistake again, that for me would have been more than enough.

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

PMG wrote:If it was election to the trust board why would they need to go through the fit and proper process with the football league,
My guess is that Gavin and co are Have something to hide before the new guys come in
Just a thought !!!

I doubt very much they have anything to hide. That would suggest that there was some dishonesty. To be clear I don't like the way our club has been run for years. I don't like the obsessive secrecy, I don't like the egos and I don't like the arrogance. I don't like the way supporters are kept in the dark and I don't like the way supporters are ignored until money is required.

However whilst I am sure there will have been cover-ups of embarrassing incompetence, I have never had any reason to question the integrity of anyone involved at board level with Newport County. I am not interested in embarrassing people for past mistakes. What I am interested in is learning from those errors so they are not repeated.

Which is why if Newport County had issued a statement saying, we jumped the gun in signing Paul Hayes. It was a mistake. We are sorry and we will not make that mistake again, that for me would have been more than enough.

EDIT Your point about the fit and proper persons check is well made and in my view correct.

So we have elected 5 people straight onto the operations board ahead of those directors already on the trust board? Why didn't those trust board members resign then put themselves forward to be elected to the operations board? This is all just mental.

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

PMG wrote:If it was election to the trust board why would they need to go through the fit and proper process with the football league,
My guess is that Gavin and co are Have something to hide before the new guys come in
Just a thought !!!

I doubt very much they have anything to hide. That would suggest that there was some dishonesty. To be clear I don't like the way our club has been run for years. I don't like the obsessive secrecy, I don't like the egos and I don't like the arrogance. I don't like the way supporters are kept in the dark and I don't like the way supporters are ignored until money is required.

However whilst I am sure there will have been cover-ups of embarrassing incompetence, I have never had any reason to question the integrity of anyone involved at board level with Newport County. I am not interested in embarrassing people for past mistakes. What I am interested in is learning from those errors so they are not repeated.

Which is why if Newport County had issued a statement saying, we jumped the gun in signing Paul Hayes. It was a mistake. We are sorry and we will not make that mistake again, that for me would have been more than enough.

EDIT Your point about the fit and proper persons check is well made and in my view correct.

As you’re aware the trust own the club so if you become a director of the trust you have to go through the owners/directors fit and proper check.
This doesn’t mean you are on the club board,
Although you get registered at companies house as being so.

This is where I believe the confusion comes in to play and the problem Charlie Hopkins had with the set up.

Being on the trust board doesn’t give you a say on what happens on the operational/club board, even though realistically the club board should report and be answerable to the owners/trust board.
Because of this situation we have directors of the trust board that have no say or influence over the decisions made by the club board.

Due to them being registered as directors at companies house as directors of the club they bare the full responsibility of the decisions and actions that are taken by the club board that are beyond the control of those directors who only sit on the trust board.

Who would agree to being held accountable and responsible because your next door neighbor didn’t pay his mortgage.

The trust own the club.
The trust members elect directors.
The directors elect a chairman.
The chairman can not be on the operational committee (otherwise it becomes incestuous and unaccountable).
The full trust board select an operational committee.
The operational committee reports and answers to the chairman and the trust board as a whole.
The trust report and are accountable to its shareholders/membership.

The dog wags the tail the tail does not wag the dog.

I will try one final time to explain the politics of reality.

Imagine that the present board of directors of Newport County were to say to Kevin Ward, 'You may have been elected to the board of the Trust but you are not being allowed to sit on the board of Newport County AFC'. Does anyone really think that everyone would simply say, 'Yes, those are the rules, fair enough, carry on the good work Gavin.'?

No, neither do I.

Stan A. Einstein wrote:I will try one final time to explain the politics of reality.

Imagine that the present board of directors of Newport County were to say to Kevin Ward, 'You may have been elected to the board of the Trust but you are not being allowed to sit on the board of Newport County AFC'. Does anyone really think that everyone would simply say, 'Yes, those are the rules, fair enough, carry on the good work Gavin.'?

No, neither do I.

Yes because that was what they were told before they applied. It's the reason why some people won't apply. To get any influence you need to get on the trust board before getting on the football board. I don't agree with it but unfortunately that's the way the cookie crumbles.