Date: 25th November 2020 at 18:00

Venue: Via Zoom Conference Call

Attendees from BIAS Committee:

  • Adam Hobbs (AH)
  • Darren Castle (DC)
  • David Minckley (DM)
  • Phil Marchant (PM)
  • Gemma Teale (GT)
  • Richard Nabarro (RN)
  • Richard Kirchner (RK)

Agenda

  1. Welcome
    1. AH welcomed and thanked members for attending
  • Approve minutes of 2019 AGM
    • Minutes passed as accurate
  • Chairperson’s Report
    • Please see Appendix A
  • Finance and Membership Report
    • Please see Appendix B
  • Motions
  • Adoption of the Financial Accounts for the year ending 31st May 2020
  • Motion Passed by AGM
  • Approve retention of Jim Walsh as auditor for BIAS Financial Accounts
  • Motion Passed by AGM
  • Approve election of new members to the Executive Committee:
    • Andy Griffin (Nominated by Adam Hobbs)
    • Alex Cole (Nominated by Adam Hobbs)
    • Paul Moorfield (Nominated by Adam Hobbs)
    • Vinod Mahajan (Nominated by Adam Hobbs)
    • Valerie Fougeres (Nominated by Adam Hobbs)
  • Motion Passed by AGM
    • Approve re-election of Executive Committee:
      • Adam Hobbs (Chairperson) (Nominated by Phil Marchant)
      • Darren Castle (Secretary) (Nominated by Phil Marchant)
      • David Minckley (Finance & Membership Officer) (Nominated by Phil Marchant)
      • Phil Marchant (Committee Member) (Nominated by David Minckley)
      • Gemma Teale (Committee Member) (Nominated by Phil Marchant)
      • Richard Nabarro (Committee Member)(Nominated by Phil Marchant)
      • Richard Kirchner (Committee Member) (Nominated by Phil Marchant)
  • Motion Passed by AGM
  • Approve continuation of free membership to the Association
  • Motion Passed by AGM
  • Adoption of the BIAS 2021 Manifesto
  • Motion Passed by AGM
  • Q & A Session
  • Points raised:
  • Ability for non-season ticket holders to have a tour or even a virtual tour of the new stadium- BIAS explained season ticket holders will be given priority for stadium tours. This would be followed by supporters signed up to the Membership scheme. Due to Covid pandemic all plans for stadium tours have been put on hold by the Club.
  • Launch of new kits – can the club do this better and better availability of stock – BIAS explained that the club under-ordered as wasn’t sure what the demand would be especially given the economic circumstances due to Covid pandemic
  • Fair treatment of access to the new ground for matches – BIAS advised the club to follow the same process for the new season tickets. Out of the limited allocation that 20% should be assigned to ballot. BIAS have recommended that the option 1 season tickets holders should get a chance to see the team once before season ticket holders get a chance to see a second game. BIAS also pushed for younger members to be given an opportunity to get to a game. Newcastle will be a separate process to the league games.
  • What was BIAS involvement in the season ticket option? – BIAS had lots of dialogue with the club, options were shared with other supporter groups as well. The initial proposal BIAS pushed back with the value of iFollow for some of the more expensive tickets. iFollow was initially only going to be for 3 games but BIAS pushed back for a longer period and the club have now offered iFollow until the end of the calendar year.
  • Where are we with Rail Seating – This is completely off the agenda at the moment as their priority is the return of fans
  • When will the club announce what games fans can return for? BIAS informed the meeting that Blackburn is targeted for the first game with hopefully further games to follow, subject to government guidelines. Confirmed the new stadium is in Tier 2of current government restrictions. London Irish potentially scheduled to play their first match a day before the Blackburn game. Point to raise to the club that there could be a scenario that a fan has said they would like to attend but because of government tier restrictions that may not be able to attend.
  • Meeting Closed
  • Meeting was closed at 19:03

Appendix A 

Chairperson’s Report 

Good Evening everyone, thank you for all attending in these strange circumstances.  Normally we would be holding this in The Griffin, and I would be thanking the staff for accommodating us.   Instead we find ourselves on Zoom and looking at a virtual picture of The Griffin instead. 

The good thing about this is that this is potentially the largest attendance at a BIAS AGM, certainly in my memory.  At last year’s AGM, I spoke about it being the last year at Griffin Park and when I deliver my next speech we will be well into our first season at Lionel Road. 

Sadly, as you all know, we didn’t get a chance for all of us to say to proper goodbye to Griffin Park together and we haven’t as of yet been able to see the team play at Lionel Road.  

It is important not to forget all of the hard work from supporters that went into getting that stadium.  The Stadium Action Group was formed in the wake of attempts to move us, firstly to Woking and then to Kingston.  The ABeeC political party stood in every ward in the borough and Luke Curtain was elected in the Brentford Ward.   After Bees United had taken control of the club and provided the vehicle for Mathew Benham to take over, it was once again time for the Stadium Action Group to mobilise.  The campaign to get planning permission was relentless, with members of the group working over 30 hours a week, in the end it was all worth it.  The stadium is ready and waiting for us and as we have seen in the last couple of days, things change on a daily basis and we hope that some fans will be allowed in very soon.   

One thing that has become apparent in the last few months is how vital fan representation is.  BIAS’ engagement with the club around the freezing of season tickets meant that the club have one of the best offers in the country.   

We were also made it clear to the club that those who were suffering from financial hardship in these difficult times were not forgotten about.  It was imperative that anyone who needed to request a refund for their season tickets would not be punished and lose their opportunity of purchasing a season ticket next time.   

I have spoken many times about the importance of a strong committee.  This year we have five new people who have been nominated to join the Executive Committee, so Welcome to all of you.    

I would also like to thank Lisa O’Brien who has decided to step down from the committee after many years of service.  Lisa has fulfilled many roles for BIAS, from the Stadium Action Group to Comms Officer and most recently Secretary.   Thank you very much Lisa, your excellent ability to write a comms piece or press release will be greatly missed.   

I’d also like to thank the rest of the committee for their brilliant hard work in the last year.  Particularly to Dave who has worked very hard to get our membership numbers up.  Also to Darren, our Secretary, who has been stuck in Qatar since lockdown in March and has been unable to travel back to the UK.   

During these strange months our output has been limited but we have had several successful engagements with the club.  From the finalising of the stadium build, to allowing fans to experience Lionel Road for the first time in away match to streaming sessions.  We are now focussing on the mechanisms to allow fans into the stadium for the first time, depending on what tier London is placed into.    

This year continues to throw many unknowns and curve balls at us but we are ready as an association to represent you and to help where we can.  We understand that not everyone is ready to return to live football and we will do our best to ensure that when the time is right you will still get your opportunity.   

We have now been running without membership fees for two years and this has allowed us to increase our membership base significantly, be more reflective of our fans base and reach out to more people.  Once again there will be a motion to continue this for another year shortly and I hope that will be passed.  

Finally I’d like to thank all our members for staying strong during these unprecedented times.  Let’s hope that by the next AGM things will have returned to normal.  Or at least some way towards it. 

Appendix B 

2020 AGM Finance and Membership Report 

Finance 

  • BIAS Accounts for the year ending 31st May 2020 have been audited and approved by Jim Walsh our independent auditor. 
  • Total balances for the end of the financial year (31st May 2020) amounted to £26093.05, which I am pleased to report is an increase of £2654.24 compared to 31st May 2019.  
  • For the corresponding period between 31st May 2018 & 2019 we saw a profit of £2948.00, so the last financial year has seen our profit reduced by £293.76 reflecting a continued reduction seen in revenue following our decision to remove the requirement to pay subscriptions for BIAS membership in 2018.  
  • We have seen an ongoing cancellation of membership standing order subscriptions since November 2018 when we had 217 paying members.  At the end of May 2020 we had 161 members making donations, a reduction of 56 paying members. 
  • In real terms monthly standing order income has reduced from £272.00 in November 2018 to £193.50 in May 2020, a reduction of £78.50 each month.  
  • With income through our PayPal channel remaining reasonably static, and reduced administration costs seen during the last financial year, the committee feel that the reduced income seen is currently sustainable in the short and medium term as we see our surplus funds continue to grow albeit at a slower rate. 
  • The last financial year also saw BIAS sponsor a boat trip for our away game to Charlton Athletic which made a profit of £368.00 – this was donated to Peter Gilham for the Brentford Lifeline Society. 
  • Total balances as at 31st October 2020 amounted to £26718.21 a further increase of £625.16 this includes a donation of £500 made to the recent Jamie Powell appeal.  

Membership 

  • We continue to see our membership grow, as at the end of October 2020, we have 1057 Full members and 20 Junior Members making a total of 1077 BIAS Members. We also have 1087 members on the BIAS Facebook page. 
  • We still have 15 Full Members who are making monthly standing order payments, but we do not have an email address nor have they responded to our letters – we are continuing to investigate 
  • Membership has grown by 348 since the last AGM  
  • In summary BIAS continues to be in a healthy financial state with a growing membership and we are well placed to build on this over the next 12 months, ensuring as a priority the return of fans to watch games as soon as it is safe to do so.