YCST Press Release

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GOVERNANCE MATTERS

Following a Board meeting last weekend, City’s Trust has made a brief statement to clarify a particular aspect of the governance framework it is establishing.

York City is now one of only a small handful of clubs owned and controlled by its supporters. Over the past year, working together with the Club Directors, the Trust has implemented a number of improvements to the framework that sets out how the business of the Trust and the Football Club should operate. In addition, City’s Trust has been in communication with Supporters Direct (the national body that oversees the supporters’ trust initiative) and other Trust-owned clubs around the country, helping the trust movement to establish some common principles about how a trust-owned football club should be operated.

City’s Trust has now made some refinements to its Board Membership Policy. The original Board Membership Policy was based on the model template developed by Supporters Direct which assumed that a trust was not the owner of its club, as is the case for the vast majority of other trusts.

Amongst a number of matters, the model template included a policy that “Trust Board members are expected to adhere to the principles of collective responsibility” and not to “publicly criticise or to otherwise undermine any decision or policy of the Trust Board.” In effect, the policy encourages the discussion and debate of matters within board meetings and, once a collective decision has been made, adherence to collective responsibility for the overall benefit of the Trust. It encourages stability and normal good business practice. There is an ‘opt-out’ clause for any particular matter(s), should the Trust Board deem appropriate.

Given that the Trust is the majority owner of the Football Club and the Trust Board decides who should be appointed to the Club Board, the Trust Board has (by a majority decision) approved a simple extension of the collective responsibility to also cover the Club itself. That is, “Trust Board members are expected to adhere to the principles of collective responsibility” and not to “publicly criticise or to otherwise undermine any decision or policy of the Trust Board or the Club Board, or to publicly criticise or undermine the position of a Club Board member or Club employee.”

Trust Board member Paul Rawnsley commented “In a variety of ways, the Trust and Club Boards have been working to provide some firm foundations for York City to survive and prosper and for the Team to succeed. The Board Membership Policy is a small part of the overall framework being established. It is common sense for the board members of each of the Club and the Trust to exercise good business practice for the overall benefit of York City.”

The full Board Membership Policy is available via the Trust’s website at www.ycst.org.uk
Link http://www.ycst.org.uk/ycst_board_membership_policy_july2005.pdf