Most members and fans who visit these pages will be aware that the Trust’s interaction with the club is endless and ongoing. Below we thought it would be useful to publish the notes taken from a recent meeting on 7th Jan 2025. Ostensibly this meeting was a continuation of a series of meetings/discussions we have had over the last few months regarding alternatives to the squad builder fund and potential new avenues for supporting club initiatives that would have a serious impact and benefit to the club, not only on the field but in areas where the club influences and supports the local community. Whilst these types of meetings are regular, they supplement the regular club/Trust scheduled yearly meetings.
We thought given the recent concerns regarding the pitch, and noting many suggestions on social media and in conjunction with the official club statement on the pitch issues (here) that fans could see how we are trying to progress tangible support for the club and move us all forward.
Dave Earnshaw’s notes below are just that, notes, and though many detailed discussions took and have taken place these notes are not formalised detailed minutes.
Meeting To Investigate Future Fundraising Opportunities
Meeting with the club on Tuesday 7th January 2025
Attendees: George Delves, Andy Duff, Ryan Bradley, Matt Devine (BOGS Rep), David Earnshaw (Rochdale Supporters Trust)
The meeting is part of an ongoing dialogue with the club to discuss best practices and alternatives for fundraising for the club. The notes below are taken from that meeting.
Subjects for continued discussion at
meeting dated 7/1/25
- Squad Builder
The subject of the existing squad builder was covered with the club asking for this to not continue as they feel they have the right players budget in place and it can be sustained through existing budget provision
- Does the club want us to continue fundraising for specific projects
The club response to this was YES, they do, but it’s unclear at this time what those projects will be so this will be developed this theme in the coming months to hone and produce a short list from which a project of significance can begin.
- Ground covers/ Equipment to help maintain the pitch
The club representatives stated that they have both a short-developed and a longer-term plan to help ensure the club does not find itself in its current position again. The club would like to feel they have a plan in place and will be putting details out in the coming days around more detail of what these plans look like.
- New projects the club are looking to undertake and can the Trust and BOGS support this
It was stated at this time they have no specific projects at this time, however, this does not mean no projects exist but hopefully will be identified in future meetings with the club, Community Trust and then Daletrust and Associates.
- Potential Project supporting the Rochdale AFC Community Trust
It was agreed that a follow-up meeting would be put in place on February 25 to establish potential projects for any future fundraising.
We have confirmed to the club that we would be looking to go to our members and representatives once options for potential new projects are identified with the hope to quickly establish a program of support for the identified project and to design donation and fundraising initiatives.
So watch this space The Trust and BOGS representatives will update as soon as is possible
Keep The Faith Up The Dale
Dave E
We are grateful to Dave who was representing the Trust and to Mat Devine representing the BOGS group for finding the time to meet a very busy set of Club representatives, being able to get everyone together in one spot has been difficult and we are grateful to George, Andy and Ryan from the club for facilitating their diary time.
We welcome feedback, questions and general queries from members on all matters.