We have been reviewing 10000 Hours Articles of Association which have been available on their website. This version of the articles is incomplete and contains no information relating to the borrowing in the proposal therefore a full review is not possible although it is accepted that this document has been issued as a draft. We would hope that all St.Mirren fans considering joining the CIC have a good read over the Articles and debate with other St.Mirren fans on their worth.
There are some similarities with the SMiSA constitution however the procedure for decision making in the 10000 Hours proposal is very different. In SMiSA it is the members who make the decisions, the Trust Board (Committee) run the Trust on behalf of the members and all key decisions are made by members by way of a vote. This has both its plus and minus points. On the positive side this is very democratic but the drawback is this can be slow and there are times when members do not return votes so we have to do things twice.

In the CIC proposals the decisions will be made by the CIC Board and Directors powers can only be restricted by members passing specific resolutions on a particular subject (Clause 9.1).This is in our opinion less democratic than the rules SMiSA operate under. It would certainly speed up the decision making process but could be exploited unless the members are fully aware at all times of the decisions being taken. How will the CIC board demonstrate transparency in their decision making process?  To balance this the CIC Board will take instructions termed as ‘Directions’ (Clause 66) from the members. It is noted that a two thirds majority will be required to approve a Direction – we would request that this should be amended to 51% which is in line with the majority ruling as noted in Clause 14.1 on how Directors make decisions.

There appears to be little to protect the St.Mirren supporters Annual Subscription being set at whatever the CIC Board choose (Clause 37.1). We believe that the current minimum of £10 a month should be reduced however Richard Atkinson has ignored this request so far and has been unable to inform why the minimum amount is being set at £10. We would insist on some clause being written in to cap the minimum monthly payment at the time of joining being maintained until the debt is fully cleared. By doing this it means supporters capable of joining the CIC will not be priced out of being members in the future. This should not have to depend on Directions from the members it should be set into the rules from the outset.

We can confirm that SMiSA is currently withdrawing support in principle from the 10000 Hours proposal. SMiSA has been considering an approach from 10000 Hours to provide from its accumulated members subscriptions a substantial up front contribution towards the funding of the share purchase but key information relating to the purchase has not been supplied to allow us to carry out a thorough review of the proposition and this, coupled with the failure of 10000 Hours to engage with SMiSA following a request for information in December 2011, has resulted in us seeking direction from our members on this issue. Should sufficient detailed information be made available to us at a future date we will consider this accordingly.

SMiSA fully and actively supports fan ownership of football clubs and takes responsibility for doing everything it can to ensure the future financial stability of SMFC under any new majority shareholder. We would strongly encourage all St.Mirren fans to fully investigate all aspects of the 10000 Hours project prior to any commitment towards this.

 

SMiSA is pleased to announce that striker Steven Thompson has won our St. Mirren Player of the Year award for season 2011-12.  Steven will be presented with his award on the pitch following the game vs Inverness Caledonian Thistle on this Saturday, 5th May.

From everyone at SMiSA, we would like to congratulate Steven on his award and thank him for a great season's performance which has seen him score to date 15 goals, including 12 in the league.  We would also like to thank everyone who took their time to nominate their choice for the award.

If there are any other supporters groups who would like to present their present their awards on Saturday's game alongside SMiSA's then please email us here and we will look to organise that for you.

SMiSA would like to pass on word that there will be a workshop at St Mirren Park as part of a consultation process to develop a National Football Supporters Charter.  The workshop will take place at on Thursday 10th May from 7pm to 9.30pm, with a maximum of 30 participants.
This project is supported by Supporters Direct Scotland as members of the Joint Review Group which was put together to co-ordinate the football industry’s response to the challenges of behaviour in football.
 
The charter will be an agreement between fans and clubs along with football and safety authorities to develop each other’s rights and responsibilities. This will be achieved by joint discussion which itself will be a major tool for the establishment of dialogue between the different groups involved in football.

The objective of the charter is to work with supporters and supporters’ groups alongside leagues, clubs, police and safety authorities in order to create a better relationship and understanding between these groups.
 
It is therefore vital that the project speaks and listens to as many fans as possible to get a breadth of opinion on the subject. In order to do this there will be a series of regional workshops (including the one at St. Mirren Park) which will focus on the positive aspects of being a supporter along with making sure that supporters are able to have input into the
project in other ways.
 
If you would like to attend the workshop, please send an email to [email protected] saying you would like to do so and we will endeavour to secure you a place at the event.

SMiSA are now accepting nominations for their St. Mirren Player of the Year award of the 2011/2012 season.  

Nominations can be made by anyone with an email address, whether they are SMiSA members or not.  Nominations should be sent here, clearly stating both your name and the name of the player that you wish to nominate.

We will accept nominations received up until 8pm on the closing date of Sunday, April 29th, when the vote will close and the winner announced a short time after.

Please only send one nomination per email address, multiple nominations from the same address WILL NOT be counted.

Following the information posted out last week we would like to remind all members to vote and return the paper in the prepaid envelope as soon as possible. Insufficient returns will result in us having to reissue this information back out to everyone so please take the small amount of time it takes to do this.

Thank you in advance.

SMiSA

Following the meeting at St. Mirren Park on Thursday 1st December SMiSA would like to clarify our current position in relation to the proposed Community Interest Company purchase of the consortium's shareholding. While the headlines of the deal appear to be similar the structure of the proposal is clearly different. Our support in principal remains, however it should be noted that although a mandate for conditional contribution of SMiSA funds was established no firm proposal was ever developed.

We are in discussions with 10000 Hours and seeking clarity on the current proposal in particular the Business Plan, Constitution and specific confirmation that the major elements of the funding arrangements are absolutely in place. Newsletters have been posted out to members however in the meantime any member wishing to discuss the above should feel free to contact us.

SMiSA would like to make its members aware that unfortunately, we have been unable to secure a suitable venue on the dates available to allow us to hold a meeting this month.  However, this is something we are looking to resolve and will advise on any further developments as soon as possible.

We will be issuing a newsletter to the members over the next 7 days to inform in particular our current position with the CIC.