The CTWD committee is tonight delighted to publish, for consultation with CTWD members and with Hull City supporters across the globe, its draft Supporters’ Trust vision, aims and objectives.

The vision along with the aims and objectives have been worked up by the committee over recent months and provide some guiding principles that the new Supporters’ Trust for Hull City, when it forms at the end of the year, will work towards in the short and longer term.

Our longer term objectives are ambitious, and will stand for many years to guide our work with the club on behalf of supporters, under its present ownership and future owners.

The shorter term objectives will guide the work of the Trust for the next 6 to 12 months and provide CTWD with a focus to become a voice for supporters of our great club Hull City as it continues to experience thrilling and unprecedented levels of success on the field.

The name change also remains an issue we will keep a watching brief on – although right now we continue to consider the matter closed until such time as Dr Allam’s appeal to the FA is concluded.

So, our vision, aims and objectives are set out below. Please feel free to let us have your views. If you are a CTWD member, please let us know your name when you reply. If you are not a CTWD member but want to be, click the the “Membership” link above and sign up before telling us what you think. If you are not a CTWD member and don’t want to be, we still welcome your views as long as they are constructive and polite.

You can provide us your feedback in a variety of ways:

> by registering with tumblr and adding a comment below;
> by emailing us at contact@citytillwedie.com;
> by tweeting or direct messaging us @notohulltigers; or
> by putting a post on our Facebook site at facebook.com/notohulltigers.

We have also set up threads on the Amber Nectar, City Independent and not606 Hull City message boards as a means to open a debate.

Please get involved – we look forward to hearing from you!

Mark Gretton,
Chairman, City Till We Die Group

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CITY TILL WE DIE: VISION, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

» VISION

CTWD’s vision is to have a real and significant influence, on behalf of all Hull City AFC supporters (locally, nationally and globally), in the running of our club.

» AIMS

We aim to achieve this vision by:

(a) Preserving, protecting and developing the identity and community of Hull City AFC, embodying ambition with tradition

(b) Being the voice of supporters as an independent, democratic, community-based, grassroots organisation and being a key representative in any Hull City consultative arrangements

(c) Being at the heart of partnership working with Hull City AFC, Hull City Council and other stakeholders

(d) Acquiring a stake in Hull City AFC and attain representation on its board in order to exert real supporter influence on the governance of the club

(e) Promoting the development of the club through supporter involvement, initiating and leading supporter-based social and community initiatives that engender that involvement

(f) Actively campaigning at local and national levels on issues that impact on our membership and the wider supporter base

(g) Adhering to our core values of integrity, behaving ethically and supporting local businesses, organisations and communities

» OBJECTIVES

In order to achieve this we have set ourselves some objectives that will guide our work in the short-and long-term. These are:

Short-term objectives – to establish our independent offer

(1) Becoming an independent supporters’ trust
In June 2014 we received overwhelming support from our members for starting the process of becoming a fully fledged supporters’ trust for Hull City AFC fans. We will fulfil this objective through the merger of CTWD with the Tigers Co-operative, hopefully by the end of 2014

(2) Influencing the direction of Hull City
Supporters’ Trusts across the UK (including those for Premier League clubs) have a role in influencing the decisions made by the club that most affect supporters. We don’t necessarily want a say in every inner working of the club – but where key decisions affect supporters, we think it is right that supporters are heard

(3) Broadening our appeal
We want to broaden our offer to encompass Tigers fans’ wider interests: events, travel, merchandise and wider campaigns. We are proud to have begun as a campaign group that successfully defended the historic name of Hull City. And that commitment to oppose a name change will not change.

(4) Exploring the opportunities that being a Trust gives us
Becoming a supporters’ trust opens up options for funding, ownership and employment that City fans don’t currently have. We won’t rush into anything, we will explore things carefully and determine in consultation with our members which of our long-term objectives below can really be achievable

Long-term objectives – to reflect that Hull City is part of a community, not just a business

(5) Giving supporters a voice on the Board
We don’t imagine that the current owners are interested in giving CTWD an official seat on the Board, but in football things can change fast and we need to be ready. This isn’t about grabbing power for the sake of it, this is about ensuring that fans become positively involved with the club and exert influence at the highest level

(6) Bringing benefits to community assets
Hull City is more than a football club, it is part of the community. It is part of the city’s soul, and in the KC Stadium it is part of the city’s infrastructure. We want to explore how we can ensure supporters get a say in how these community assets are managed and developed in the future. The Supporters’ Trust gives us the ability to run companies, employ people, make a difference

(7) Developing productive relationships with other supporter groups
CTWD does not exist in isolation – it is but one of a number of vibrant Hull City supporter groups. And the issues and challenges we face are largely common to fans throughout the country. We will develop our burgeoning relationships with Supporters’ Direct and the Football Supporters’ Federation and lend our voice to help influence the wider football family