Bees United Chair, Brian Burgess, writes a monthly column in the local Chronicle newspaper.
Below is his contribution for October 2004
Congratulations to Graham Hall, the Bees United member who won the election to be the fourth Bees United representative on the board of the football club. Graham, a retired accountant with previous experience as a non-executive company director, will join John McGlashan, Stephen Callen and Andrew Wainwright on the Brentford FC Ltd board.
Graham is not a member of the Bees United board and this will allow him to play an independent role on behalf of supporters. He will, however be invited to attend the Bees United board meetings in order to provide another independent channel of communication between the two organisations.
The question of how much influence the Bees United board should have over the Brentford Football Club board has been the subject of much debate among people who care about how the Club is run. It is clear from talking to other supporters’ trusts that have a stake in the ownership or running of their clubs that they are grappling with the same thorny issues. They are trying to define the different roles of club board members and trust board members and the accountability between them.
We are all blazing a new trail in the football industry. Anyone who tries to do something new and different will have to sort out problems that have never been tackled before. We want to change the way football clubs are run. To move away from the typical boom and bust cycles when wealthy individuals invest in clubs when it suits them and then put the clubs’ existence in jeopardy when it’s no longer fun and they want to pull out.
The direct election of a Bees United member to the football club board is another step forward in improving transparency and accountability to supporters who are providing the funds to keep the Club out of administration.
There is still a long way to go. We are not perfect, but at the end of the day would supporters prefer to continue with directors nominated by Bees United that they can vote out, or to leave the future of the Club up to Altonwood and Ron Noades?