It was recently announced that Rob Bradley had become involved with the Red Imps Community Trust again. Rob has decided to publish a diary of his involvement, starting with the first article entitled “Back With The Trust – A Diary”, which he has given us permission to publish below.
Twenty years ago this month I attended my first board meeting at Lincoln City. I was the newly elected supporter/director via the Lincoln City Membership Scheme, which became the Supporters Trust soon after.
It was quite an emotional occasion for me as a simple fan but there was little time for absorbing the enormity of it as the then chair John Reames quickly, and very robustly, got down to business. If I remember rightly my first involvement was to get a rollicking from John for having said something on Radio Lincolnshire about where the away fans should be located. I don’t think I’d actually said it, but that didn’t seem to matter to the chairman.
Lest from this it looks like John and I didn’t get on I’d just confirm that I really liked the guy and we got on well. He was passionate about the club and he committed huge amounts of time and his own resources to it. He’d get cross with people regularly, usually out of frustration, and then be as friendly and helpful as it’s possible to be. If you were an avid Imps fans that’s all that mattered to him. A splendid chap and he’s greatly missed.
Anyway, fast forward twenty years, and having spent the last four years or so helping out at Lincoln United, I was invited to attend the Red Imps Community Trust meeting last night. Despite the name change, the organisation is still a Supporters Trust of course, still with the same ethos of representing its members and fans generally, and helping the club in as many ways as it can.
Like the parent club, the Trust has had its ups and downs over the years. It played a huge role in the club in its early years, lost its way once or twice, but has steadfastly remained in existence and has consistently tried to do the right thing. The good years outweigh the not-so-good and a great many fans of other clubs would envy having a Trust in place for so long and with such a strong stake in their club’s governance.
Of course, the Lincoln City of now is a very different one from when it had around 2500 core fans and it struggled further down the footballing pyramid. This has meant that other fans groups have been formed and the challenges to the Trust, like having a volume of membership to match the hugely increased fan-base, are very real.
I was really impressed with how the meeting went. The Trust Board is composed of hard-working people, the discussions were business-like and ordered with the right amount of good humour, and the plans for the future are admirable. It’s not my role to wade in like a new bull in an old china shop and I wanted to find out how things were, which I did. And it was very pleasing what I heard.
Yes, the Red Imps Community Trust could maybe communicate to more people and have more members. It’s true as well, that fundraising to help the club, especially now, should increase as much as possible. But there are plans in place to do all this as I heard yesterday and there are the people there who can do it.
I’m delighted to be back involved with an organisation I helped set up all those years ago and I hope I can play a part in achieving what a lot of good current Trust people are already looking to do.
Writer: Rob Bradley
If you haven’t already had a go at our quizzes, this is a great way to learn some random information about the Football Club, as well as helping us generate much-needed page views: Quiz No.1, Quiz No.2, Quiz No.3, Quiz No.4, Quiz No.5, Quiz No.6, Quiz No.7, Quiz No.8, Quiz No.9, Quiz No.10, Quiz No.11, Quiz No.12, Quiz No.13, Quiz No.14, Quiz No.15, Quiz No.16, Quiz No.17, Quiz No.18, Quiz No.19, Quiz No.20, Quiz No.21, Quiz No.22, Quiz No.23, Quiz No.24, Quiz No.25, Quiz No.26 and Quiz No.27.
Rob Bradley – Back With The Trust – A Diary:https://t.co/9Tex5Lo3rj#ImpsAsOne #ProudToBeImps pic.twitter.com/O587RdPzhV
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) July 16, 2020
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I remember a few sitting round a table in the supporters club deciding who would take up each roll, Nobody really wanted to be treasurer lol… Rob and I took it in turns for a while to drive the mini bus to away games… great times.