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#1
Hi,
As you in Cardiff now have a fans council, I thought you might like to know how we're faring in trying to establish something similar in Nottingham in the form of a Supporters Trust.
I shall try to be brief …
Whilst we were setting up the trust we received a letter from the club’s solicitor instructing us to cease using the name “Nottingham Panthers Supporters Trust”, to close our website and to use no colours or other means to associate ourselves with the club. We were also offered a meeting in Leicester, 30 miles from Nottingham. As the letter also contained allegations of misrepresentation we were advised by Supporters Direct and our legal advisor not to attend until these allegations were explored. Despite approaches by the Trust and Supporters Direct we could get no response from the solicitors or club. Supporters Direct said that it was the first time they'd heard of a club threatening their supporters!
We then completely rebranded the trust. New name, new colours, new website, new email address.
On 3rd October the club chairman, Neil Black, held a question and answer session at a local pub. The trust had emailed him to say they wouldn’t be raising any trust related questions at the session as they did not think it was the appropriate forum.
An ordinary fan (not related to the trust) asked him why he had threatened the trust. He replied that the trust had NOT been threatened, and that they had been offered a meeting in Nottingham.
At this point the trust’s interim chair, Rob Scott, felt compelled to put the record straight and said that those statements were not true and perhaps Mr Black wasn’t actually aware of the contents of the letter. He offered to show Mr Black the letter, copies of which he had on his phone.
A heated discussion took place, but at no time was Rob abusive, or used inappropriate language.
Several days later he learned that he had been banned from all home games this season.
Rob is desperately searching for a copy of the recording a fan made of the Q&A session to prove that the ban is completely unjustified. Hardly the actions he would take if he were guilty. Other people at the Q&A also confirm that Rob was not abusive.
It seems that the reason for his ban is disagreeing with the club chairman.
Rob is a loyal hockey supporter who recently travelled to Switzerland to support his team. He has also just started to take his young son to home matches.
Via the Panthers Cage forum, I have appealed to Panther’s fans to email the Panthers organisation at info@panthers.co.uk to lift the ban. Just a simple “Lift the Ban” in the subject line.
I think that there has for years been a (sometimes grudging!) respect between our teams. As hockey, as well as Devils supporters, would you also consider sending an email to re-instate a true hockey supporter who has been unfairly treated.
Thanks for reading this long-winded post. I hope you can spare a few seconds to help Rob.
As you in Cardiff now have a fans council, I thought you might like to know how we're faring in trying to establish something similar in Nottingham in the form of a Supporters Trust.
I shall try to be brief …
Whilst we were setting up the trust we received a letter from the club’s solicitor instructing us to cease using the name “Nottingham Panthers Supporters Trust”, to close our website and to use no colours or other means to associate ourselves with the club. We were also offered a meeting in Leicester, 30 miles from Nottingham. As the letter also contained allegations of misrepresentation we were advised by Supporters Direct and our legal advisor not to attend until these allegations were explored. Despite approaches by the Trust and Supporters Direct we could get no response from the solicitors or club. Supporters Direct said that it was the first time they'd heard of a club threatening their supporters!
We then completely rebranded the trust. New name, new colours, new website, new email address.
On 3rd October the club chairman, Neil Black, held a question and answer session at a local pub. The trust had emailed him to say they wouldn’t be raising any trust related questions at the session as they did not think it was the appropriate forum.
An ordinary fan (not related to the trust) asked him why he had threatened the trust. He replied that the trust had NOT been threatened, and that they had been offered a meeting in Nottingham.
At this point the trust’s interim chair, Rob Scott, felt compelled to put the record straight and said that those statements were not true and perhaps Mr Black wasn’t actually aware of the contents of the letter. He offered to show Mr Black the letter, copies of which he had on his phone.
A heated discussion took place, but at no time was Rob abusive, or used inappropriate language.
Several days later he learned that he had been banned from all home games this season.
Rob is desperately searching for a copy of the recording a fan made of the Q&A session to prove that the ban is completely unjustified. Hardly the actions he would take if he were guilty. Other people at the Q&A also confirm that Rob was not abusive.
It seems that the reason for his ban is disagreeing with the club chairman.
Rob is a loyal hockey supporter who recently travelled to Switzerland to support his team. He has also just started to take his young son to home matches.
Via the Panthers Cage forum, I have appealed to Panther’s fans to email the Panthers organisation at info@panthers.co.uk to lift the ban. Just a simple “Lift the Ban” in the subject line.
I think that there has for years been a (sometimes grudging!) respect between our teams. As hockey, as well as Devils supporters, would you also consider sending an email to re-instate a true hockey supporter who has been unfairly treated.
Thanks for reading this long-winded post. I hope you can spare a few seconds to help Rob.
