Stuart Campbell Associate Director - ArabTrust BlogPost 2

Associate Directors Blog September 2017

Well folks, it’s been a busy few weeks since my first blog. There has been lots of things happening that I’ve been involved with. Supporters Liaison Group (SLG), ArabTRUST Player of the Month, hosting Boardroom guests and the usual meetings at the club.

I thought I should have another go at this Blog thing before I head off on holiday for a couple of weeks at the beginning of October.

The SLG has kicked off again iwith a new format and I must say it’s been great and I am very optimistic about the future.

Since my first blog, I have attended two SLG meetings. The first on the 19th of August and the second on Saturday 23rd of September. Once agreed a summary of the SLG meetings are available to all United fans on the new club website. The summary of the first meeting on the 19th of August is available now.

www.dundeeunitedfc.co.uk/fans/supporters-liaison-group

David Southern attended the first meeting and talked about the vision for the SLG and gave an update on operational matters in and around the club. You will find a separate note on David’s update by clicking the above link. It was good of David to take the time to talk so openly with everyone at the meeting.

At the SLG meeting on the 23rd of September we welcomed the independent supporters who had applied to join the group. Prior to the meeting, some of the independent attendees had questioned whether or not their attendance would have had any value. All of the individuals who attended commented after the meeting on how much information they had gained by attending and were glad they put their name forward.

Joe Rice also attended the meeting in his capacity as Head of Communications at the club, Joe was very involved with the development of the SLG to what it is now. The notes on the meeting on Saturday the 23rd will be available on the website as soon as all parties have signed them off.

ArabTRUST August Player of the Month was won by Harry Lewis. Harry was presented with the award before the game against Dumbarton on Saturday the 9th of September by Raymond Dawson and his son Corey Dawson. Raymond’s name was drawn out of the hat after he took part in the recent ArabTrust survey. I originally invited Raymond and a guest to join me for boardroom hospitality on the day, but Raymond wanted to bring his young son, so I arranged for Raymond’s son to be a mascot at the game. A great day was had by all, it’s a pity the team didn’t manage a win to finish off the day.

 

I recently enjoyed the company of Angus Campbell as my boardroom guest at the Iron Brew Cup game versus Brechin. We invited Angus as a thanks for the huge help he gave us at ArabTrust at our recent football festival. Angus put in a 12 hour shift on the day, spending the early part of the day helping set up the pitches and the goals then after the football started he spent the rest of the day as a runner running errands between the GA Arena and Tanadice. Angus was a great help on the day and stayed to the bitter end leaving to go home after helping us clear everything up during the thunder storm at 9 o'clock.

Hope you enjoyed your visit to the boardroom Angus.

Please get in touch if you know of any ArabTrust member who goes out of their way to help the club, or does great work in our communities or supports youth football who might be worthy of an invite to join us for boardroom hospitality.

I've have had lots of meetings and conversations with people at the club since the last time I blogged.

I met briefly with the Chairman on Thursday 24th of August (pre transfer window shutting) where we discussed a number of issues including transfer window activity, players and the playing budget. We discussed the possibility of more strengthening and also the possibility of losing the odd player.

The Chairman assured me we wouldn't be losing anyone unless the offers were too good to refuse. We also talked briefly about his upcoming business trip.

I met with the chairman again in mid September. This was really a proper catch up after his return from his aforementioned business trip. It was a very good and productive meeting with the Board and Cllub Management working extremely hard to improve things on and off the pitch.

I had hoped to meet up with Priti Trivedi Football Operations Manager at the club before my holiday, but due to pressures of my day job, I am not going to manage to fit this in before I go away. I have though arranged to sort out a meeting on my return from holiday, so watch this space for updates.

I mentioned in my first blog I had met with Joe Rice and David Southern over the summer to put together some exciting benefits for our members.

Well I can now say we’re almost there and we’ll have some exciting “money can’t buy” opportunities to offer lucky members very soon. The ArabTrust are now planning how and when these opportunities will be shared with our members. Watch the ArabTrust website and social media platforms for more exciting news over the next few weeks.

For a “wee’ taster of what we’re working on I bet the chance to spend a day watching training at St Andrews or helping the ArabZone commentators on a match day might seem appealing to some of you.

So watch this space.

Finally, before I pack up and get organised for my holiday, I want to mention the Singing Children of Africa. The children all attend a school and orphanage in Utange, Kenya created by Educate the Kids. The ages of the performers range from 9 to 14 years old.

They are visiting the UK on a fundraising trip to help raise funds to pay for a roof for their school. I would like to thank each and every one of you who put money in the buckets on the day. I spoke to one of the collectors after the game, she was full of praise and thanks to all of the supporters who contributed.

 

You can learn a bit more about the children by clicking the link below

https://www.educatethekids.com/projects/they-are-coming-back-singing-children-of-africa-2017/

Stuart Campbell
Associate Director - ArabTrust