Many thanks to Ashley Brown for providing the following answers to my questions.
Are you a shareholder? Yes, as are my two children.
How do you think the PST and its Board can most effectively support and influence the future growth and development of Portsmouth Community Football Club? Key to this is representation on the PFC board and the right selection of candidates to fulfill this role. Furthermore it is up to these candidates to interact effectively with the PST board and its members utilizing the appropriate resources available.
As a PST Board member what would be your top priority for the next 12 months? We must continue to evolve the PST into an organization that can deal with the responsibilities that it now has as a part owner of PFC. Albeit we must be realistic in that we remain a body ran by volunteers. Modes of communication to members, presidents and both the executive management and board of PFC must all be improved. Finally we must look to ways to engage more Pompey fans and in turn increase the membership of the PST.
What role do you think borrowing should play in Pompey's long-term financial strategy? In the long term there may be a need for borrowing, albeit it should be for very clear tangible objectives and based on fair and affordable commercial terms from reputable lenders. At no time must the club chase a dream based on money from a source who requires terms that put the long term ownership and sustainability of the club at risk.
How would you like to see the Trust improve how it communicates with members and prospective members? Albeit a huge amount of work has been done in relation to communication there is always room for improvement. My personal view is that the way to best way to communicate to members must be through modern media such as email, internet and social as this is by far the most cost effective. However it is clear that a certain element of prospective members need to be engaged in person, either at matches, or organised meetings.
What do you think should be done to increase PST membership? The first area to tackle should be the thousands who attend matches but are yet to join. We should continue to do this through close alignment of PST to PFC media outlets. The PST must be seen by all to be as closely associated to PFC as it actually is.
How do you think the Club can, once it has paid off its debts, give something back to the local charities and firms let down so badly by previous regimes? The club is already doing this, each game has a different charity partner. Furthermore we respond to hundreds of charity request positively, supporting them in a whole host of different ways. In addition the company seeks to work with local business partners where possible and as opposed to before aims to pay all invoices on time. Our local business networking events are proving popular and we must continue to extend in all of these areas.
Pompey have drawn local rivals at home in the quarter finals of the FA Cup. History tells us it will be a glorious 4-1 victory. Everybody on the PCFC database wants to be there. On what basis do you think PCFC should allocate tickets? The perfect allocation of tickets requires a calculation based on data that is not available, and as such we can only work with what we have. Therefore we should recognise season ticket holders, shareholders, supporters clubs and those who have bought tickets regularly in recent years.
How often do you think a community football club should be changing its kits? The kit dilemma is hugely challenging, the present deal is extremely rewarding for the club, offering an excellent package to PFC in its newly formed state last year. However it does require that all three kits are changed each year. Once a new deal is signed I would like to see PFC move to a model where barring a shirt sponsor change a maximum of 2 new kits are released a year.
Do you have any commercial relationships with PCFC or any of its sponsors? No, only as a customer of PFC as I regularly buy tickets, merchandise etc.
Ashley is one of 6 candidates competing for 5 places. Votes have to be cast by September 5th. More details about the election, including the election statements of each candidate, can be viewed at http://www.pompeytrust.com/pages/pst-election.
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