Trust Kicks Off with Early Goals

From an initial meeting held on 12 April 2008 at the Green Man public house, the seeds were sown for the establishment of a Supporters Trust at Forest Green Rovers Football Club.

Under the leadership of Tim Barnard, approval was received for the formation of the Trust and with enthusiastic help and support from loyal fans of the Club and under the guidance of Supporters Direct, the Forest Green Rovers Supporters Society Limited was born. Click here for further information on the Trust History and Supporters Direct.

Formal registration with our regulators, the Financial Services Authority was received on 1 July, just 10 weeks from that initial meeting – the FGR Supporters Trust is now officially Alive and Kicking.

In the intervening period, the Trust has achieved much, including creation of this website, establishment of various working parties, a Trust Newsletter due for launch in August and kicked off its membership drive. But the biggest achievement has been in helping bring the name of Forest Green Rovers Football Club to the attention of a wider Gloucestershire community. We hope that our member’s efforts will bear fruit and we hope to see more supporters making the trip to the New Lawn.

With The Club’s Manager Jim Harvey and former Chairman, Colin Gardner both looking for greater attendance figures, the Trust decided to try and reach out to the local community in an attempt to bring the fans in and get those numbers up.

With four pre season friendlies lined up against League opposition, the Trust has secured KIDS GO FREE status for three of those matches and to boost the attendance figures, initiated a targeted advertising campaign. Posters and leaflets were designed and produced, adverts placed in three local newspapers and village magazines (total circulation figures in excess of 50000) and 5000 leaflets distributed over a wide area.

The Trust is determined to see success in building stronger links between the Club and Community – one of our key objectives as a Trust. We anticipate repeating similar exercises during the forthcoming season.

We rely heavily on the volunteer help from our members and if you would like to join and help Forest Green Rovers and our community achieve bigger and better things, then download your Membership Form here.

Story - Bob Savage
10 July 2008