Where have I been with my supporter director’s hat on?

Letter from the Football Club boardroom, 20th March 2006

Dear Supporters,

I am absolutely delighted and honoured to have been elected by the membership of Bees United to represent you on the Club Board. It really is a dream come true; I am a lucky man! I thank all of those that voted for, and encouraged me to stand for election. I’d also like to thank Dave Merritt and Chris Wickham for standing and demonstrating their commitment to Bees United and the democratic process.

As part of my commitment to communicate regularly with you I’m now going to start to write to you weekly about the main things that have happened to me related to Brentford Football Club. Of course if anything exceptional is happening I’ll write more frequently.

On the 23 February I attended the Bees United board meeting where my nomination to the Football Club Board was confirmed. The main topic of discussion on the night was how the BU board should interact with Football Club. The need for clear separation of duties was highlighted. Further work was undertaken on defining how the various Bees United “workstreams” would be managed with the Club. There is still much to do in redefining exactly how the two organisations will work together.

Just as Bees United and the Club have to define and manage their relationships I do too with my role particularly within the Club. The Club Board is currently defining roles and responsibilities and the outcome should be a more focused football club. I can see that my remit will develop from its current definition (pdf) and, as it does, this will have to be agreed with the Bees United board.

Following my acceptance onto the Club board on the 25 February I resigned from the Bees United board. This was one of the promises I made during the election campaign. I did this because I feel that there should be a separation of duties between the Bees United and Brentford Football Club boards, I saw it as unhealthy that, following my election, I would have been responsible for policing my own activities. Despite resigning from the board I will continue to play an active part in Bees United.

Having now attended two Club Board meetings I have been very pleased to observe the commitment of the board of directors to work together to build a better future for the Club. There is a great deal to do to keep the Club alive. There is a difficult balancing act between controlling expenditure and financially supporting on the pitch success. With £8.5 million of debt, despite the sale of DJ Campbell and the FA Cup run, the Club is currently forecasting to lose £400,000 this season. These losses have to be stopped.

The Brentford FC board are determined to back Martin Allen and the team’s push for promotion this season. We, the board and supporters alike, want to see the Club promoted. We don’t just want promotion; we want to stay in the Championship. The board would like to back the manager and his team by improving the playing budget. But we cannot currently afford to do so. As a result the board are currently looking at different ways to generate revenue whilst also examining existing costs to identify opportunities to reduce them. It is a very testing time for the Club financially.

A large source of our revenue comes from ticket pricing and I have been involved in discussing the various options with supporters. We must all be aware that significant increases are needed to keep the Club going. We are trying to be creative with the pricing and are still looking to deliver good value for money. Talking of creativity, I have to say there have been some great ideas generated by supporters. The board is now actively considering implementing many of them, if not for next season then the one after. From the board’s point of view the consultation process has been a success. We will look to develop this in the future as we seek to actively encourage supporters to have more of a say in the running of their Club.

I was very lucky to attend the launch of Brentford Football Club Community Sports Trust at the House of Commons. The event was very well attended by many groups from the local community which indicated to me just how important the Trust’s work was seen locally. The national recognition the Trust won as Community Club of the Year is a tremendous testament to the excellent work Lee Doyle and his team have put in over the years. There are many great things about Brentford Football Club; the Trust is one of them and I’m looking to get more involved with them in the future. One fact I never knew about the Trust is that, though their coaching schemes, they were responsible for bringing first team squad members Ryan Peters and Darius Charles to the Club as youngsters.

I have found it interesting and informative mixing with the opposing teams' directors. I feel it is important to talk to them to find out what issues they have and if I can learn from them. I have however not abandoned my seat in Brook Road for the directors’ box. In fact following the defeat against Port Vale a few of my fellow “Brook Roaders” took the opportunity to chant “Gosling out!” The honeymoon was over before it began!

Let’s work together!

Jon Gosling

PS A Guest Book has been added to this site and I would be pleased if you could all sign. Comments can either be sent to me on or directly via comments page.

20th March 2006

The following questions were asked by BIAS on behalf of supporters and the answers posted on the BIAS website on the 10th February 2006