I am 75 and have all the time in the world. Agism rules me out. Of course we should attract younger people but after attending a number of recent meetings and the way they are run, it will be a short lived tenure for the young. The trust is a bloated organisation where progress on issues is painfully slow.

And honestly the DTB comes across as a classic place where doing things a certain way because it's always been done that way and only doing things by group agreement kills them.

Stuart I think that's definitely one of the things, I'd also say how much of that is DTB pet projects and side issues needs to be looked into. It's easy to swamp someone so they can't do anything else.

Would love that sort of thing Stu - if you can’t make it work for yourself you can at least try and help others who will come after you.

Yeah and Rib, after the introductions, didn’t utter a single word at the AGM. Now I’m not one for speaking purely for sake of it, but you’re an elected board member you should be representing the views of the electorate. Pleased he’s standing down and it should serve as a note of caution to everyone to vote carefully and expect more from those they vote for.

I think people who stand for DTB quickly realise that they have very little time to do anything other than DTB business which is why they seem to disappear from socials etc. Think it’s worth them doing a ‘week in the life as a DTB person’ to shed some light on the things do and not just when they are in the 1889 lounge.

I think Carlisle committed Hari-Kari before we could use our sword. Don't suppose Morecambe will be quite as accommodating.

TF - I think most people start following a team either through friends or family. For myself and the people my age it was the attitude of the Crazy Gang that was more important than what happened behind the scenes. I think our 3-0 stuffing of those bastards will do more for getting new fans through the door than anything the Dons Trust will do this season. And if we can stuff them again in the Cup.....

A big issue for me is how people change once they get elected. Richard Shepard was always on here, the debrief, my DM’s. Once he got elected you never heard a word from him. Only ever saw him walking around the Silver Lounge enjoying the perks of being a board member.

Agreed lurks. As evidenced by some very good people saying they’ll not stand again.

Tonight's game will be an interesting test. We should put Morecambe to the sword, like Carlisle. But we also have an ingrained habit of being kind to teams desperately in need of a win to kick-start their season. Which will it be?

Not even being cynical here - even if you get a contested election and a "shake things up and rationalise it" person gets elected, unless you get a majority of those, the core cabal can keep blocking and obstructing things.

The manifesto I have seen (not mine, don't worry) did not mention improving comms!

I can tell you this - if any of our younger fans went along to the special AGM they’d have gone to support Fulham by now. There’s no way of attracting a younger and more dynamic group when the processes and behaviours are so old fashioned, stuffy and nonsensical. Your younger generations would be horrified to see it and, as we saw that night with the at-least-young-looking Doobs, powerless to change it.

It would be good to have a contested election with a broad range of candidates, maybe it is even the opportunity for a "sell-out" candidate to get elected. My worry is that everyone seems to get co-opted into the "decide first, talk later" camp, the latest example being from the two young volunteers concerning the Proboards replacement.

Trigger how many times do you need to read "I will improve comms"?

Have the club socials posted about the elections?

Doobs the majority of the younger supporters either haven't reached an age yet where football is more than watching on a Saturday OR haven't had an experience to make them think about this OR (and this is perfectly fair) don't care about the DT as a thing. So I'm not sure how we do achieve that.

Great news if we can actually have an election. I look forwards to reading all the manifestos and seeing how the hustings cope if there are people there that the clique don't know or worse still do know and know that they won't kow tow.

Very much looking forward to Doobs' run-down on the candidates, which will exclusively consist of the verdict on whether or not they're a tosser. :-)

Anyone know when the club will be refunding those Newcastle tickets….? 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’ll believe it when it happens, too! That’s very much if everyone who says they are standing, or is believed to be standing, actually stands. If a couple don’t, then we’d be back to square one - so I very much hope they all do - and I would hope there are others who do, too. All good having a contested election, but if they are all tossers, then still no real choice :) All men over a certain age, too. So would be great to get some younger blood in there imho. Not for the sake of it, but y’know…

And predictably some have already started complaining about being "forced" to be a DT member, not being able to get an ST because they don't want to be and funniest of all, DT taking money away from the club.

When we're still getting complaints about empty seats we don't need a 20K stadium.

I’ll believe it when I see it but looks like a contested DTB election [Link]