What Next For Smisa

[div]

In the middle of this most nailbiting of relegation battles we have of course just secured our long term future and financing for the forseeable future.

I've been a member of SMiSA since the start, and I still see a real benefit in having a supporters organisation like SMiSA existing, but the recent announcement about the stadium and financing mean that SMiSA no longer has a role to play as a long term fundraising vehicle/samaritan for the club in my opinion. We have done our bit and the the assistance we gave for the acqusition of Stewart Kean was a great achievement for the trust in my view.

The Turst should continue to support the youth and community activities at Love Street I reckon but is it maybe time now to reduce the trust finance fees to a token amount per year to cover administration and use this move to greatly expand the membership ?

I dunno what the last membership count was, maybe 150 tops ?

I'd like personally to see the £10 a month membership scrapped in place of a £10 per annum fee and lets see the membership grow to maybe 5 or 10 times what it is now ?

Also wonder what we should do with all the dosh which is sat in the SMiSA bank account today ??

Thoughts ? Members and Non Members please enter the fray !

[paisleybuds]

Also wonder what we should do with all the dosh which is sat in the SMiSA bank account today ??

Thoughts ?

Pub?

[santaponsasaint]

ive nothing against SMISA think they've done a fantastic job, But ive never joined cos £10 a month was just to much for me £10 or £20 a year would be different, i would gladly join

[Svensen]

Have to agree with SPS, I'd probably join for that fee, what happens with the remaining funds should be decided by the SMISA members. It's their money after all. I think there still is a place for independant supporters associations and they can be important especially with clubs our size, we also have to keep in mind that our new finances won't last forever so the fundraising still has to continue.

In short I thinks SMISA still has a role, how involved that is and to what extent it continues is up to the current members to decide.

[Tennant's Lager]

In the middle of this most nailbiting of relegation battles we have of course just secured our long term future and financing for the forseeable future.

I've been a member of SMiSA since the start, and I still see a real benefit in having a supporters organisation like SMiSA existing, but the recent announcement about the stadium and financing mean that SMiSA no longer has a role to play as a long term fundraising vehicle/samaritan for the club in my opinion. We have done our bit and the the assistance we gave for the acqusition of Stewart Kean was a great achievement for the trust in my view.

The Turst should continue to support the youth and community activities at Love Street I reckon but is it maybe time now to reduce the trust finance fees to a token amount per year to cover administration and use this move to greatly expand the membership ?

I dunno what the last membership count was, maybe 150 tops ?

I'd like personally to see the £10 a month membership scrapped in place of a £10 per annum fee and lets see the membership grow to maybe 5 or 10 times what it is now ?

Also wonder what we should do with all the dosh which is sat in the SMiSA bank account today ??

Thoughts ? Members and Non Members please enter the fray !

I believe the last membership count was 110 at the last meeting I was at.

I'd tend to agree with the need to look at the way SMiSA handles its membership subscription. I have said many a time I think the £10 a month minimum is simply too much. While I'm happy to keep paying my £10 every month I'd be inclined to make it a minimum of £5 a month at least, though there's a strong argument for a reduction to administration costs only if it wants to become a real voice among the Saints support rather than a vehicle to raise funds with the club being in a far more buoyant position after the ground move.

As I understand it, that was always the plan after it had obtained enough shares to either be in a position to call an EGM and/or obtain a seat on the board.

If however there's little real desire to do that (as you may argue is evident), then yes, it would be time to radically change the way it operates.

Many other supporters trusts are in a similar position in having to find a new role for themselves. Something which I think is good is the increased focus on community projects which SMiSA has undertaken, for example the Show Racism the Red Card 'Design a Poster' competition, which saw thousands of leaflets about SRtRC and St Mirren given to P5, 6 & 7 year olds via the schools, with some absolutely stunning entries displayed at the Museum. That was something I was pretty heavily involved in preparing and it was quite something to see just how good the uptake was, standing at at least 300 with many more arriving late.

I believe Cardiff City Council ran a similar program and got 1 participant. Kinda says it all that.

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

I would be interested to know if posters who are not members of SMISA would join if a annual subscription of say £10 a year was to be implemented.

Could someone organize a voting set up on YES or NO.

Posters on here are the die hard fans , would give us a chance to see what everybody is thinking.

( I'm at work and the server I use is too very slow and weak as I'm on a ship )

If it was a NO vote I would be quite happy if it carried on at a reduced rate monthly. Say £3.00 or £5.00. and put money towards youth development and administration costs. One thing for sure I would like to see SMISA carrying on.

[Callum Gilhooley]

i don`t mind the £10 a month because of where i am i cant get to as many games as i used to and i`m happy for my money to end up at the club this way, but i do agree that the regular fans who turn up week in week out have a lot of expense as it is and might find the £10 an expense to far.

don`t have the answer but there must be some way of compromise ,perhaps quarterly subs of a tenner?

[Bloomsbury Bud]

Its a very good point Div.

I'd be all for SMISA money being used for youth facilities at the club.

It might just make SMISA a little more difficult to absurdly marginalise on this forum, but with some of the regulars on here thats pretty unlikely.

[spoogy1]

i do agree with what has been said as i dont get too much games for being posted down at the bottom of england but i do try and get up the road for games and some events. i would also like to join smisa but the £10 a month is in my opion a bit expensive but like some people said £3 or £5 a month a would cladly join.

[groo-ver]

ive nothing against SMISA think they've done a fantastic job, But ive never joined cos £10 a month was just to much for me £10 or £20 a year would be different, i would gladly join

me too.. £10 a month doesn't sound like much but to a lot of people it is..

[shull]

[quote name='div' date='May 3 2007, 12:33' post='424147')

Also wonder what we should do with all the dosh which is sat in the SMiSA bank account today ??

Thoughts ? Members and Non Members please enter the fray !

My 07/08 Season Ticket

[ST SID]

The role for SMiSA should now be to represent the fans. In order to achieve that they need a larger membership. Div's suggestion of £10 per annum makes good sense. With a significant percentage of fans signed up, say approaching 1,000 the club would have to take notice.

One of the key roles should be developing the community of supporting St Mirren and acting as evangelists for encouraging more Buds to get involved with the club.

They have done an excellent job thus far, anagramed towels excepted, and should continue to play a part in supporting St Mirren. Its not all about money!

[The Real Zippy]

The role for SMiSA should now be to represent the fans. In order to achieve that they need a larger membership. Div's suggestion of £10 per annum makes good sense. With a significant percentage of fans signed up, say approaching 1,000 the club would have to take notice.

One of the key roles should be developing the community of supporting St Mirren and acting as evangelists for encouraging more Buds to get involved with the club.

They have done an excellent job thus far, anagramed towels excepted, and should continue to play a part in supporting St Mirren. Its not all about money!

We'll get Millport to see if Billy Graham wants to join

[Kemp]

I'd join for a fiver or, at a push, tenner a year.

Remember, lots of St Mirren supporters are students, in unsecure jobs, struggling artists, underpaid authors, unemployed, unemployable, in Africa or just old fashioned tight bastards like Shull. Current fees are too high if Smisa wants to truely represent the whole St Mirren support.

I think the ideas above such as getting more involved in youth development and the Renfrewshire community in general is a good idea. Ditto the one about representing the fans with issues such as away stewarding...about time we stood up for ourselves a bit more!

Another idea could be using the funds to try and help boost the atmosphere at Love Street, Aberdeen's red ultras being the group to copy on that one. A petition to stop music being blasted out before the game and killing all atmosphere could be a good place to start on that one.

[shull]

I'd join for a fiver or, at a push, tenner a year.

Remember, lots of St Mirren supporters are students, in unsecure jobs, struggling artists, underpaid authors, unemployed, unemployable, in Africa or just old fashioned tight bastards like Shull. Current fees are too high if Smisa wants to truely represent the whole St Mirren support.

I think the ideas above such as getting more involved in youth development and the Renfrewshire community in general is a good idea. Ditto the one about representing the fans with issues such as away stewarding...about time we stood up for ourselves a bit more!

Another idea could be using the funds to try and help boost the atmosphere at Love Street, Aberdeen's red ultras being the group to copy on that one. A petition to stop music being blasted out before the game and killing all atmosphere could be a good place to start on that one.

Less of the old fashioned

[saintargyll]

grrrr i just posted on the polling/vote thread before i seen this thread...but to repeat myself(sharp in-take of breath)

i would rather donate money to the blackandwhitearmy.com and then the site can donate the money from the b&w members to St.Mirren FC...thus giving our beloved forum members some noteriety......

thoughts??

[Griff]

grrrr i just posted on the polling/vote thread before i seen this thread...but to repeat myself(sharp in-take of breath)

i would rather donate money to the blackandwhitearmy.com and then the site can donate the money from the b&w members to St.Mirren FC...thus giving our beloved forum members some noteriety......

thoughts??

I believe there is a role for a group to represent the St Mirren support, and that SMISA could have anual fees of £10 for adults £5 for students and £2 for under 16s, with a view of creating a large membership.

There should still be a role for fundraising to further the aims of St Mirren Football Club, which could be sponsering a player, or making a donation to a supporters website.

SMISA have also ran excellent supporters events, and worked very well with the club to do so, it would be a shame if this stopped.

Small shareholders could also allow Smisa to have their proxy vote at the clubs AGM, which could enable SMISA to have a small say in how the club is run, this role could at some stage in the clubs future be hugely influential.

Well done to all members of SMISA for what they have acheived over the last few years.

[Eminems Old Dear]

Small shareholders could also allow Smisa to have their proxy vote at the clubs AGM, which could enable SMISA to have a small say in how the club is run, this role could at some stage in the clubs future be hugely influential.

They should have bought shares at the appropriate opportunity rather than try and get in by the back door for their own ego trips..!!

[Dirty Sanchez]

A petition to stop music being blasted out before the game and killing all atmosphere could be a good place to start on that one.

I'd pay a tenner a month for that.

It's a football ground,not a Senga filled club or f*cking local radio.

[Bobby_F]

I'd pay a tenner a month for that.

It's a football ground,not a Senga filled club or f*cking local radio.

On Monday it was worse than ever.

The people I was at the game with actually gave up trying to talk about the match at half time as it'd have been easier to have a chat standing in front of the speakers at a Motorhead gig.

On SMISA, well, I think Div's point is a fair one given how things have moved on of late.

I'm sure all current SMISA members are happy with the work the organisation has done over the years and trust the guys that run it to make the right call on its future direction.

[Mrs SFS]

I would be interested to know if posters who are not members of SMISA would join if a annual subscription of say £10 a year was to be implemented.

Could someone organize a voting set up on YES or NO.

Posters on here are the die hard fans , would give us a chance to see what everybody is thinking.

( I'm at work and the server I use is too very slow and weak as I'm on a ship )

If it was a NO vote I would be quite happy if it carried on at a reduced rate monthly. Say £3.00 or £5.00. and put money towards youth development and administration costs. One thing for sure I would like to see SMISA carrying on.

I know lots of die-hard fans who don't even own a computer, let alone registered on here. So, no, posters on here are not the die-hards as you suggest. You only need to look at the negative posts to see that.

The Tile Bar bus has forty-something members, of which only half a dozen post on here. It is arrogant to suggest that the posters on this site or the OS are the only true SMFC supporters.

[Kenny P]

I know lots of die-hard fans who don't even own a computer, let alone registered on here. So, no, posters on here are not the die-hards as you suggest. You only need to look at the negative posts to see that.

The Tile Bar bus has forty-something members, of which only half a dozen post on here. It is arrogant to suggest that the posters on this site or the OS are the only true SMFC supporters.

They're a lot older than that.

[Chris]

Another idea could be using the funds to try and help boost the atmosphere at Love Street, Aberdeen's red ultras being the group to copy on that one.

That's not for SMISA to do.

So, no, posters on here are not the die-hards as you suggest. You only need to look at the negative posts to see that.

What does negativity have to do with being a die-hard? Just because someone thinks everything is rosy in the garden doesn't mean they're a die-hard!

[Joe]

In the middle of this most nailbiting of relegation battles we have of course just secured our long term future and financing for the forseeable future.

I've been a member of SMiSA since the start, and I still see a real benefit in having a supporters organisation like SMiSA existing, but the recent announcement about the stadium and financing mean that SMiSA no longer has a role to play as a long term fundraising vehicle/samaritan for the club in my opinion. We have done our bit and the the assistance we gave for the acqusition of Stewart Kean was a great achievement for the trust in my view.

The Turst should continue to support the youth and community activities at Love Street I reckon but is it maybe time now to reduce the trust finance fees to a token amount per year to cover administration and use this move to greatly expand the membership ?

I dunno what the last membership count was, maybe 150 tops ?

I'd like personally to see the £10 a month membership scrapped in place of a £10 per annum fee and lets see the membership grow to maybe 5 or 10 times what it is now ?

Also wonder what we should do with all the dosh which is sat in the SMiSA bank account today ??Thoughts ? Members and Non Members please enter the fray !

This question now answers itself, a goal and win bonus for one Stephen Mcgarry Esquire tomorrow night.

[jimdickloyal]

I would be interested to know if posters who are not members of SMISA would join if a annual subscription of say £10 a year was to be implemented.

Could someone organize a voting set up on YES or NO.

Posters on here are the die hard fans , would give us a chance to see what everybody is thinking.

( I'm at work and the server I use is too very slow and weak as I'm on a ship )

If it was a NO vote I would be quite happy if it carried on at a reduced rate monthly. Say £3.00 or £5.00. and put money towards youth development and administration costs. One thing for sure I would like to see SMISA carrying on.

Yeah I would...actually been seriously considering joining anyway