Alternative to STAR?

[Winston Biscuit]

Not knocking STAR, they have done a great job at times, but understandably not everyone agrees with their position all the time and I wondered if it might be useful for fans to have an alternative voice.

Was wondering how many people would be interested in an alternative to STAR?

Reading Supporters Voice

^for when fans disagree with STAR's position on something and want to make sure their views are put across to the club

[Old Man Andrews]

Not knocking STAR, they have done a great job at times, but understandably not everyone agrees with their position all the time and I wondered if it might be useful for fans to have an alternative voice.

Was wondering how many people would be interested in an alternative to STAR?

Reading Supporters Voice

^for when fans disagree with STAR's position on something and want to make sure their views are put across to the club

Saw something on Twitter earlier by the Reading FC Change Group. Not sure who they are or how legit it is though. They seem to be massively against STAR.

[Winston Biscuit]

Not knocking STAR, they have done a great job at times, but understandably not everyone agrees with their position all the time and I wondered if it might be useful for fans to have an alternative voice.

Was wondering how many people would be interested in an alternative to STAR?

Reading Supporters Voice

^for when fans disagree with STAR's position on something and want to make sure their views are put across to the club

Saw something on Twitter earlier by the Reading FC Change Group. Not sure who they are or how legit it is though. They seem to be massively against STAR.

Thanks I will go take a look.

I am not hugely against STAR btw, but it would be madness to think they represent every fans views so a secondary group make sense

[LWJ]

Not knocking STAR, they have done a great job at times, but understandably not everyone agrees with their position all the time and I wondered if it might be useful for fans to have an alternative voice.

Was wondering how many people would be interested in an alternative to STAR?

Reading Supporters Voice

^for when fans disagree with STAR's position on something and want to make sure their views are put across to the club

Saw something on Twitter earlier by the Reading FC Change Group. Not sure who they are or how legit it is though. They seem to be massively against STAR.

Thanks I will go take a look.

I am not hugely against STAR btw, but it would be madness to think they represent every fans views so a secondary group make sense

Wouldn't waste your time - this is a group which was formed as a troll from what I can tell. Some of their suggestions so far have been to invade the pitch to protest, through rubber eggs on the pitch and unfortunately the list goes on...

[Winston Biscuit]

Saw something on Twitter earlier by the Reading FC Change Group. Not sure who they are or how legit it is though. They seem to be massively against STAR.

Thanks I will go take a look.

I am not hugely against STAR btw, but it would be madness to think they represent every fans views so a secondary group make sense

Wouldn't waste your time - this is a group which was formed as a troll from what I can tell. Some of their suggestions so far have been to invade the pitch to protest, through rubber eggs on the pitch and unfortunately the list goes on...

wtf is a rubber egg?

[Old Man Andrews]

Saw something on Twitter earlier by the Reading FC Change Group. Not sure who they are or how legit it is though. They seem to be massively against STAR.

Thanks I will go take a look.

I am not hugely against STAR btw, but it would be madness to think they represent every fans views so a secondary group make sense

Wouldn't waste your time - this is a group which was formed as a troll from what I can tell. Some of their suggestions so far have been to invade the pitch to protest, through rubber eggs on the pitch and unfortunately the list goes on...

Ugh half term has a lot to answer for.

[John Smith]

Not knocking STAR, they have done a great job at times, but understandably not everyone agrees with their position all the time and I wondered if it might be useful for fans to have an alternative voice.

Was wondering how many people would be interested in an alternative to STAR?

Reading Supporters Voice

^for when fans disagree with STAR's position on something and want to make sure their views are put across to the club

Put forward a mission statement and see who agrees with you.

Will you look into laying on travel to away games too?

[Green]

+1, The cornerstone of any supporter's organisation needs to be coaches and packed teas.

If you get that right, the rest will follow.

[Green]

I would say though, that given how little the supporter's voice is listened to these days - it might be better to at least present a united front on the issues you can get a consensus on. Otherwise, you're just another opinion that's even easier to ignore.

Away from the politics though I'd like to see a return to the days of yore when supporter's clubs were predominantly a social (and, let's face it - alcohol) led function.
The other traditional function was that of organising expat meetups (Northern Royals / Bournemouth Royals et al - remember them?) but I guess this is more easily done in an informal way over the internet these days.

[Green]

The meating up board is basically a roll call of expat groups past.

[Old Man Andrews]

I would say though, that given how little the supporter's voice is listened to these days - it might be better to at least present a united front on the issues you can get a consensus on. Otherwise, you're just another opinion that's even easier to ignore.

Away from the politics though I'd like to see a return to the days of yore when supporter's clubs were predominantly a social (and, let's face it - alcohol) led function.
The other traditional function was that of organising expat meetups (Northern Royals / Bournemouth Royals et al - remember them?) but I guess this is more easily done in an informal way over the internet these days.

I think something that badly affects that feel of a supporters club/initiative is the complete lack of pub near to the ground. I think if we had that dedicated "home pub" supporters could mingle before and after the game and discuss team affairs at length over a pint.

[Green]

when fans disagree with STAR's position on something and want to make sure their views are put across to the club

Are these "fans" you speak of not able or willing to contact the club directly?

[seahawk10]

I will RSVP to RSV

[WAZZOCK]

I would say though, that given how little the supporter's voice is listened to these days

Was this comment related to Jaap Stam, or something wider?

[West Stand Man]

Not knocking STAR, they have done a great job at times, but understandably not everyone agrees with their position all the time and I wondered if it might be useful for fans to have an alternative voice.

Was wondering how many people would be interested in an alternative to STAR?

Reading Supporters Voice

^for when fans disagree with STAR's position on something and want to make sure their views are put across to the club

STAR, like any organisation, has to take an agreed, compromised, line to suit the majority view. If you join then you can influence that line just like if you join a political party you can influence it. If you join another organisation you will almost certainly find that you soometimes disagree with its stance too!

[STAR Liaison]

STAR is open to any Reading supporter and costs £10 to join, £5 concessions.

We've made it as easy as we can for members to stand for the STAR Board (which has a maximum of 15 members). This is the most immediate way to influence what STAR does. We welcome new Board members.

To stand for the Board of STAR you only need:

- to be a STAR member
- to have the support (nomination form signed by) two other STAR members (see latest issue of Reading Matter for form)
- write a statement about yourself / what you want to do in 200-1000 words
- get it to the STAR Secretary by 31 May 2018 by post or email

There are seven positions to be filled. Three Board members have to retire and will probably stand for re-election. There has never been a contested election since 2002 i.e. all nominated candidates thus far have succeeded.

STAR has a fair amount of financial, organisational and goodwill resource that can be employed as its Board and members see fit. Any organisation setting up from scratch would have to build that resource over time. STAR does welcome interest from supporters with a particular cause in mind - be it disabled supporters, away travellers, women's football - but would expect any Board member to have the interest of the Society as a whole as their major concern.

[Forbury Lion]

I'm not against STAR but they are definitely "good cop" and maybe there are times when there needs to be a "bad cop" organisation which STAR can distance itself from. STAR can not be both "good cop" and "bad cop", it will not work as it will strain or break existing good relations with the club if they went "bad cop" and they will not be taken seriously as a "bad cop"..... STAR would, for example never condone, be involved in or organise an illegal (but peaceful) pitch invasion to protest about the owners management of the club and if they did, that would sour their links at the club, which are beneficial for our fans to have.

Having said that, there doesn't need to be a permanent or fixed association as there is nothing to stop a group of fans with an idea getting together and implementing it - I think the group who occupied the away end to cheer on the team did so off their own backs/contacted the club (apologies for overlooking STAR if they were involved).... Twitter seems to be the place to get these things going.

[Forbury Lion]

STAR has a fair amount of financial, organisational and goodwill resource that can be employed as its Board and members see fit.

I would hope there are articles of association or similar restricting what can be done with the members contributions - presumably that it needs to be in the interest of it's members/the aims of the organisation and not p*ssed away because a those holding the purse strings decided to invest it all in bitcoin or the erection of a gold Uri Geller statue outside the ground.

[STAR Liaison]

Rest assured, there are rules and regs galore, aims and objectives on our website, plus audited accounts and an annual report to the members and some financial watchdog.

Whereas with an unregulated alternative to STAR there'd be the danger of little gold Uri statues springing up all over the place ....

[STAR Liaison]

STAR is open to any Reading supporter and costs £10 to join, £5 concessions.

We've made it as easy as we can for members to stand for the STAR Board (which has a maximum of 15 members). This is the most immediate way to influence what STAR does. We welcome new Board members.

To stand for the Board of STAR you only need:

- to be a STAR member
- to have the support (nomination form signed by) two other STAR members (see latest issue of Reading Matter for form)
- write a statement about yourself / what you want to do in 200-1000 words
- get it to the STAR Secretary by 31 May 2018 by post or email

There are seven positions to be filled. Three Board members have to retire and will probably stand for re-election. There has never been a contested election since 2002 i.e. all nominated candidates thus far have succeeded.

STAR has a fair amount of financial, organisational and goodwill resource that can be employed as its Board and members see fit. Any organisation setting up from scratch would have to build that resource over time. STAR does welcome interest from supporters with a particular cause in mind - be it disabled supporters, away travellers, women's football - but would expect any Board member to have the interest of the Society as a whole as their major concern.

BUMP - 31 MAY DEADLINE JUST AHEAD