Minutes of Hammers United Committee meeting held at The Plaistow Community Centre on Saturday April 20th.
Committee Members Present
Paul Colborne, Lee Rogers, Phil Stringfellow, Mark Telling. Apologies received from Scott Bowman and Greg Hobbs (Secretary).
There were around 130 in attendance in all.
The Chairman opened the meeting at 11.45 hrs sharp he thanked all for coming especially in the light of the transport problems and Upton Park and Plaistow stations both being closed.
He then read out a letter of support from Bill Gardner which all in attendance greatly appreciated.
In his opening remarks the Chairman gave background on the formation of Hammers United which had now been in existence just over a month.
Membership on facebook and Email was approaching 3000. It was hoped we could get 4000 members by the end of the season and 5000 by the start of next. This would give us a good base going forward.
Election of Committee.
The Chairman then reminded all present that we had been working with an ad hoc Committee. This now had to be ratified with members either endorsed or replaced. He gave a brief background of all those presently acting as Committee members and asked if there was anybody else present who wished to stand.
Bowman, Hobbs, Colborne, Rogers, Stringfellow, Telling were all endorsed. Stephen Cross was elected onto the Committee.
We now had a Committee of 7 leaving 3 vacancies still open.
All present accepted we still lacked expertise in all areas. This would come with time.
Aims
The Chairman drew attention to document circulated on Hammers United Facebook and on West Ham Forums, also to members by Email.
This listed things the Committee hoped to bring up with the Board. Namely Ticket Prices and Season Ticket renewals, London Stadium and match experience, Memorial Gardens, Mascots, help for disabled supporters, Champions Place stones, Eradication of our heritage, help for West Ham’s away supporters, significant investment in the Playing Squad. This led to much discussion. Members recognised the importance of all these points and they must be raised.
However the general consensus was that Hammers United should unite under 3 main aims.
1.That West Ham United be encouraged to make considerable investment into the Playing Squad to give us the best possible chance of success on the pitch.
2. That West Ham United seriously address the issue of Stewarding at the London Stadium. It’s supporters should be able to watch the match in a safe environment.Existing stewards were not up to the job.West Ham United must stop evading this issue and tackle it head on. It had a duty to it’s supporters to do so.
3. The Chairman noted concerns that time was moving on and people had to get to the match so it was agreed members should be given more time to consider the third point. This was hugely important and shouldn’t be rushed. This was agreed.
A further Meeting would be arranged as soon as possible.
Ongoing Campaign.
It was agreed that the way forward was through the Press and Media, drawing attention to West Ham United’s broken promises and poor treatment of it’s supporters.
Recruitment.
It was agreed we get as much media and Press coverage as possible.
