By Stoke City Football Club
Purpose and Terms of Reference
- The Council is established to facilitate dialogue between the Club and its supporters on matters of mutual interest. The Council can discuss any such matter placed on its agenda by a member or the Club, but excluding individual issues or disputes, except that general issues arising out of such matters may be discussed. The Club may use the Council as a sounding-board for significant new ideas before they are implemented.
- The Council is a consultative body and, as such, cannot take decisions which are binding on the Club. Where appropriate a "straw poll" of the views of the supporter representatives on the Council may be taken to inform the debate and assist the Club in its consideration of issues.
- All supporters on the Council will be democratically elected by a constituency of supporters.
Meetings
The Forum will meet a minimum of three times a season. It will normally meet on a Saturday matchday morning from, 11.00am to 1.00pm. The Club will ensure appropriate Board/Senior management representation from the relevant sections (ticketing, stewarding, membership etc), who could speak with authority. The Club will provide a buffet at the meeting.
Composition
There will be three categories of supporter membership as defined below. Candidates may submit themselves for both a general seat and a specialist seat. The general seats will be filled first and candidates who have been successful in those categories will be disregarded in their specialist category
1. Direct Representation
Any democratically constructed supporter organisation which can demonstrate it has 200 + members will be entitled to appoint a member of the Council. Such groups must have democratically-elected officers/committee and give its members the chance to meet to discuss club issues at least three times a year.
2. General Seats
There will be eight general seats elected from an electorate comprising all Season Ticket holders and members. Season Ticket holders and members will be eligible to stand in this category.
The candidates with the most votes will be elected, subject to at least one being a Member but not a Season Ticket holder. In the event of any election resulting in all the seats in this category being filled by Season Ticket holders, the candidate elected with the lowest number of votes will be replaced by the Member with highest number of votes from among the unsuccessful candidates.
3. Specialist Seats
Each of the following categories will be entitled to one seat elected from the electorate within that category.
- 1x Registered Disabled supporter
- 2x Season Ticket holders sitting in the family area, one of whom must be aged under 18
- 1x Corporate member
- 1x Season Ticket holder in the Q-railing Stand Upper Tier
- 1x Season Ticket holder in the Q-railing Stand Lower Tier
- 1x Season Ticket holder in the Boothen End
- 1x Season Ticket holder in the Novus Stand other than the Family Area
- 1x Season Ticket holder in the Marston's Pedigree Stand
- 1x Season Ticket holder, must be aged under 18
Terms Of Office
Each term of office will be for two years, but candidates may not stand for more than three consecutive terms. Half of the Council will be re-elected each year, to ensure some continuity.
In the first year, half of the specialist seats, drawn at random, will be designated for a one-year term of office. The four candidates in the general section with the highest numbers of votes will serve for two years, with the next four serving for one year.
Chair
The Forum will elect a Chair, Vice-chair and communications officer each year.
Minutes
The Club will provide a minute-taker and basic support for running costs. After approval by the Chair, the draft minutes will be posted as soon as possible on the Club and Supporter Council website and submitted for approval to the next Council meeting.