Standing for the General Committee

Evidently Spurs are Middlesex. Which reminds me...

I've twice heard Gary Lineker tell that story about scoring a century and a hat-trick on the same day. The first time, the century was on Lord's Nursery Ground. The second time it was at Finchley.

At least Millwall fans have been known to play up when they're unhappy.

VicNorth wrote:At least Millwall fans have been known to play up when they're unhappy.

And there you raise a very interesting point.

In 2006, the Millwall faithful were indeed playing up.  They had just been taken over by Peter de Savary who was only interested in the club because of a possible regeneration project.  The club had just been relegated and the end of the season had been utter chaos.  There were loads of banning orders and generally an enormous level of distrust between the club and its fanbase.

So the club decided to appoint a Fan On The Board (FOTB).  Not sure whom they expected to win the ballot, but the person they got was Peter Garston. No experience of committees, supporter organisations, but he had complete credibility with the fanbase.  No one could arge that he wasn't "Real Wall".  He had been going to games since he was eight and, in earlier years, had been "proper naughty".

And Peter would see all the decisions which went to the Board and have his input on them.  He could also relay back to the fanbase the decisions which the Board had taken and, more importantly, the rationale for those decisions.  This was not always easy for Peter.  He had to go in front of the fans and explain why the Board has decided to appoint a former West Ham player with no managerial track record as Manager.  He also had to keep some confidential items to himself, which must have been really difficult.

But the FOTB made a huge difference at MFC.  No longer are club and fans at each other's throats and fans believe (correctly) that they have a voice on all major decisions.  They also understand why the decisions have been made.

Wouldn't it be good if we understood (and by understand, that includes the rationale):
1) The club's official position on all aspects of the 100.
2) The club's position on the Championship.
3) The club's position on Out Ground games.
4) Why spin plays almost no part in our red ball setup.

And add all the items to the list which you want.  It isn't really Surrey-related, but I would love to understand from them why the two Richards have just done a 180 on the 100.

We may not like some of the answers, but better for all parties that each understands the other's point of view.

This election is a chance to do that and I would urge you to vote for whomsoever you think that person is.  And if it ain't me, that is genuinely just fine.  But this is the most pivotal moment in cricket's history, certainly bigger than Packer. We need to have a voice.

VauxhallRey wrote:

Wokoval wrote:News today that Hampshire, which is not a members club, could be sold to a group from the Indian Premier League (IPL). Is this what we want in our game?.

Absolutely not.  And I see no danger whatsoever of this happening at Surrey. But other clubs are in dire financial straits and this may be their path to survival.

If they do Buy Hampshire, it gives the IPL franchise a vote in the running of County cricket.
What would be the consequence of more IPL franchises gaining control of county cricket clubs.

After watching since 1963 and going to watch Surrey at The Oval since 1966 i think i'll be calling it a day after the 2024 season or sometime during it.Enough is enough.
I won't bore you with all the reasons but The Oval seems to have become more and more like Lord's over the past few years.The scanning in and out is ludicrous,there are too many "do's and dont's" and "you can't go there's" and some downright nasty,over zealous stewards.

You can't spend cash and we are being herded into certain areas at T20 games.Speaking of T20 i don't think i can stomach watching any more of the never ending circus on TV.

We have quite a few players who would rather be playing anywhere else than for Surrey and lose our entire squad for the fiasco/embarrassing circus that is The Hundred.

ETC ETC ETC.........................................

Wokoval wrote:Thanks Steve but I won’t be standing and don’t feel qualified to do so. I am just an ordinary supporter with one voice who hopes that others will follow. We are not keyboard warriors but cricket enthusiasts who are extremely worried about where the game is heading. I just think the ECB either think we will die off ( we all do of course) or just be ground into submission.  There were some action groups around the counties formed to fight the Strauss review proposals and I think and hope they still exist.

The action groups still exist, happy to put anyone in touch with them, but you can find them here on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/CCMembersGroup

And you can sign up here to the mailing list:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1yYjYwtjan3UzpMXJwqu-JsorvnDc_9PAGogCEM5VRSdfkw/viewform

VauxhallRey wrote:If I am fortunate enough to get on, I most certainly will.  I don't suppose you are a member with 2+ years standing?  At the moment, all my nominations have a very Millwall ring to them.

Happy to nominate you, Simon - anything to get some more spine into the general committee. (There have been and are some excellent members on the General Committee, I won't embarrass them by saying who they are ... or give any clues in case the Club reads this, we need more people on there who are going to counter the idiots who nodded through the Hundred.) Let me know.

Badges wrote:After watching since 1963 and going to watch Surrey at The Oval since 1966 i think i'll be calling it a day after the 2024 season or sometime during it.

Badges - I get where you are coming from, I've been thinking the same. I'm a much newer member/Surrey fan than you (c. 2001) but the only things that are keeping me going is (1) the Hundred will fail eventually, hopefully before it brings county cricket down with it (2) my son is getting into cricket so I'd like him to see the last years of county cricket, if that's what they are, before the idiots let outside investors buy & ruin everything and (3) the powers that be actively hate us & county cricket so I'd like to stick around as long as possible to annoy them.

I will be at the Forum tonight if anyone wants to accost me.  Sorry that the photo is so damn large.  Can't work out how to make it smaller.

Would some kind person provide a report of the main topics for those of us unable to attend.

Many thanks

I wish you well Vauxhall Rey