The Euros are over, the Olympics have finished, the sun is shining and Brentford sit 4th in the Premier League table….(alphabetically admittedly) and with that backdrop here are just a few updates on BU activity including:
- Cash optimisation
- Fan Advisory Board – second year
- Penguins!
- BU AGM 2024 planning
Cash Optimisation Strategy
First, a quick look back on completion of an eighteen month implementation of a strategy to optimise cash returns for Bees United. As you will hopefully all be aware, Bees United, receives no external funding or support and so presently relies on your member donations (thank you!) for the bulk of its income. With costs of around £20k a year just to keep operating every donation is gratefully received. Having reviewed our finances – and not wanting to steal the thunder of our Treasurer (Graham Hancock) we decided to put some of our funds on a mixture of multi-year and longer term deposits to squeeze every bit of interest we can. This has now been completed and we have locked in rates at an average of 4% gross (over, 90 days, 1,2,3 years) and we will be able to maintain this strategy of rolling funds over foreseeably and make every penny of yours, we have, count.
Fan Advisory Board (FAB)
Brentford is unique in the Premier League with the right to appoint a director to the board of the football club, so you could say that we are the club least in need of a FAB to enable fan engagement with the club. However, the creation of a FAB was mandated by the Premier League – and we are obviously happy to have the widest fan voices and perspectives to be heard by the club and we will now begin our second year of meetings on August 21st. I would encourage all fans to read the minutes and follow the discussions at the FAB and indeed to share thoughts with us about matters of concern to you.
Penguins
Bees United has amongst it Four Pillars “promoting and protecting the history and heritage of the club” which includes the statement: “Brentford FC has been around since 1889, there is a lot of social history and there is a lot the club has done in the community since it began.” and we also have a pillar relating to Representation that references the “wider local community”
With those in mind we are absolutely delighted that we have once again been able to provide financial support to the Brentford Penguins .
Ex-Bee Allan Cockram was a super classy midfielder who always looked a bit out of place! He was rather fond of radical tactics like purposefully trying to pass to the players in the red and white stripes! …)
Alan is at the heart of the Penguins football community, we are delighted to have been able to help them run their 2024 series of summer camps.
BU AGM
With another of our Four Pillars being Management and key to that “maintaining first class governance” we have already turned our thoughts to planning the AGM for this year. Dates and details are being considered and we will share details with our members in due course.
In the meantime we have set ourselves a high bar these past couple of years.
We were delighted to catch Thomas Frank himself live from Spain, as our surprise guest speaker.
In January 2024, our captain, Christian Norgaard, was interviewed and gave real insight into his thoughts about being at Brentford and becoming captain.
Members Question
Our question to you all is, who would be your ideal mystery AGM guest this year and think non players too?
We can’t promise anything but are interested in knowing who you want to hear from, so please share your thoughts with us. Email us with ideas and say hello!
Sustainability – Committee Chair
“We want Brentford FC to operate in a sustainable way and to use our platform to make a positive impact.” says James Beale (the Brentford sustainability manager) as the club was featured in the Sport Positive report looking at the Premier League’s efforts on sustainability:
Sustainability (in the environmental and climate impact meaning of the word) is, rightly, increasing a topic of discussion across all business sectors and industries, and football is also under the spotlight and being challenged on its sustainability efforts. The Board at Brentford FC are fully behind trying to ensure that we as a club are doing the right thing in this area and a dedicated sub-committee is being set up to oversee the implementation and execution of the club’s sustainability strategy and plan. The board have asked me to act as Chair of this sub-committee and I will be absolutely determined to ensure that this remains on the agenda for the Board (full details of the sub-committee will be announced shortly, and will include some other board executives, club staff but also external sustainability experts to ensure that we have the right specialists and input to challenge our actions). Expect to hear more about Sustainability and the work of the sub-committee over the coming years.
And now Football!
With the season approaching, I’ll end by moving away from the practical and the bureaucratic part of Bees United and instead turn to the actual football part by saying that I can’t wait for the start of the Premier League season now! We once again have our hopes and dreams for the coming season (some may hope just to avoid relegation, others will dream of a Cup final or a European push!), to witness those magical moments of wonder goals and last minute winners but hopefully to complete another successful season in the Premier League. As Christian Norgaard reminded us though it isn’t getting any easier in the Premier League and so we call on every fan to continue to give 100% support to the team throughout games.
Next month….From the Chair will try to share a sense of life on the BU Board and give an update on club activity.
COYB – Stuart!