I believe the catalyst for the recent upsurge in membership was this particular meeting with club officials and the subsequent report on the Trust’s website:
https://www.ccfctrust.org/cardiff-ci...alk-the-facts/
The Trust’s public statement that these are
THE FACTS is apparently strongly disputed by a significant number of fans (or at least a significant number when the Trust’s membership levels are taken into consideration). Those people apparently believe these are merely ‘the facts’ as presented by Mehmet Dalman rather than being the actual truth.
Rightly or wrongly, there is a perception among some City supporters that the Trust is now effectively the Keith Morgan show, and Keith has become far too cosy with Messrs Dalman and Choo. It is apparently believed that Keith is now content to help promote the club’s public position on important issues such as the alleged takeover talks and the Sala litigation without proper scrutiny. It is also perceived that the Trust's board has made no effort in recent years to attract new members simply because the organisation’s hierarchy are content with the current status quo and the opportunities it presents to them on a personal level with regard to press coverage and attendance at meetings with club officials.
I should point out that these are not my personal opinions. I’ve known Keith for a long time, I have a good deal of respect for him and consider him a friend. I also know what a thankless task serving on the Trust board can be. However, I have noticed the tone of some of Keith’s contributions on CCMB in recent times seem to have changed a little, particularly where the legal case is concerned.
As regards the Trust itself, I was genuinely surprised to learn that there haven’t been any proper elections since 2019 and membership numbers dropped as low as 350. I don’t recall seeing any social media or leaflet campaigns aimed at attracting new members in recent years, so perhaps some of the criticisms I’ve mentioned above do have a degree of validity.
As far as I’m aware, the Trust has only ever had one female board member and she resigned in 2012 after threats from outside the organisation that followed her opposition to the rebrand. Since then, the Trust board has seemingly comprised entirely of middle-aged or retired men, so it could hardly be considered to be genuinely representative of the club’s wider fanbase. Under the circumstances, perhaps a shake-up and some new faces at board level wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Ever since we originally formed CCST, I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen the same thing - instead of grizzling on social media about what the Trust does or doesn’t do from the outside, the way to go is to join the organisation and attempt to change it from the inside. The Trust isn’t a political party and it’s open for anyone to join, so I don’t see what harm a democratic election in the near future could possibly do and I don’t really understand why some people are seemingly so opposed to the idea. What are they afraid of?
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
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