The Jags Foundation will be withdrawing its nominee from the Partick Thistle Football Club Board, effective from our AGM (expected to be Thursday 19th June).
This brings to an end what was always intended to be a temporary arrangement, first put in place back in the summer of 2023.
The decision was taken on Wednesday 9th April (our most recent board meeting) and notified to the Club Board on Thursday 10th April after a period of fan consultation. There was no clear consensus from respondents to February’s survey on whether the existing arrangement should continue, so this decision has been taken by TJF’s elected board, after careful discussion and reflection.
Fan ownership is an iterative process, and governance arrangements will evolve over time. The nature and extent of fan representation can be revisited in future, but for now we think this change comes at the right time and for the right reasons.
We would like to put on record our thanks to both Andrew Holloway and Stuart Callison for their contributions to the role in what have often been very challenging circumstances.
More information about the background to this decision is available below.
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Reasons for the decision
1. Governance milestones fully delivered
2. Elected fan representation embedded
3. Space for skills-based recruitment
4. Clarity on lines of accountability
Other information
5. What won’t change
6. What did the survey responses say?
7. Other survey findings
Why is this happening now?
There are several reasons why TJF has decided to withdraw its nominated Club Board representative.
Key corporate governance changes fully delivered
Firstly, TJF and the Club have now delivered on vital changes to corporate governance. When we first nominated a representative to the Club Board in the summer of 2023, significant work still needed to be done:
- to reform the trust deed (to make TJF and its members a core part of the majority shareholding)
- to get a legally binding Club-Trust Agreement in place (protecting fan influence over strategic decision-making at the Club)
- to reform the Club’s internal governance structures to make them reflect the reality that we are a fan-owned club.
Major progress has now been made on all three of these aspects, with the trust deed variation, Club-Trust Agreement and Corporate Governance Manual all delivered. These provide assurances that we are not just a fan-owned club “in name only”.
Directly elected fan representation is now embedded
Secondly, we think that there has now been enough time for the directly elected fan representatives of the PTFC Trust to become acclimatised to their roles.
By the time of our AGM, both Allan McGraw and Alistair Gray will have been in post for a full year, and we can now reasonably expect them to take more responsibility for engaging with and feeding back information to the PTFC Trust’s trustees and beneficiaries. This reduces the need for a TJF-specific voice in the room.
Making space for more skills-based recruitment
Thirdly, this change will create an opportunity for the Club Board to go further with open skills-based recruitment.
We are pleased that Grant Stupart, an experienced retired business owner, 71 Club member, and lifelong fan, has recently joined that team to support the commercial and sponsorship arm of the business.
The Club Board has also recently recognised the need for greater football industry expertise in the senior leadership team, and has therefore recruited Ian Baraclough as Sporting Director.
By withdrawing TJF’s representative from the Club Board we will create room to strengthen and build resilience on the Club Board elsewhere (around finance capacity, for example) without the board expanding beyond its currently agreed maximum of 8 directors.
Clearer lines of accountability to the fans
Fourthly, this change will help to clarify in the minds of supporters the different lines of responsibility at Partick Thistle.
We are a fan-owned, not a fan-run, football club. Even under fan ownership, it is for the Club Board and senior managers not just to take, but to be seen to fully and publicly own, operational, personnel, and strategic decisions at the Club.
It is for the trustees to provide scrutiny and challenge (sometimes necessarily in private) on behalf of the fans, and to discharge their duties under the Club-Trust Agreement for a more limited range of major decisions (the “reserved matters”).
Removing the dual board position reduces the risk of those very different roles being falsely conflated.
What won't change?
- TJF will still represent the beneficiaries as a co-trustee of the PTFC Trust, alongside The Jags Trust.
- Under the Club-Trust Agreement, both trustees will still be involved in reviewing and consenting to, or rejecting, certain major decisions proposed by the Club Board.
- TJF members, as beneficiaries of the PTFC Trust, will still have a say on key matters in beneficiary votes, under the Club-Trust Agreement.
- TJF’s Chair will continue to hold regular catch-ups with the Club Chair and General Manager ensuring open lines of communication are maintained.
- TJF’s board will continue to support and encourage participation in the Club’s Strategic Working Groups (Finance, Governance, Community and Commercial) to help the Club mobilise the skills and experience of the wider fanbase.
- TJF’s board will continue to advocate for fan interests and to encourage the Club to consult regularly and meaningfully on the fan experience.
- TJF’s board will continue to support the Fan Reps with various initiatives and partnerships, including the work currently being done with Glasgow’s universities and colleges.
- TJF will continue to lead on fan fundraising, maintaining (and ideally increasing) our pledges to the Club, Academy and Women’s team for as long as our members endorse them.
What did the survey responses say?
There was no clear consensus on the best way forward among those who responded to our survey (which was also open to non-members). In terms of first preferences:
- 39% said they wanted TJF to withdraw from the Club Board to make space for a skills-based appointment
- 33% wanted to keep the existing arrangement (TJF board nominates a representative)
- 23% wanted TJF to keep a representative, but for them to be directly elected by TJF members
- 5% wanted TJF’s rep to be replaced by a third directly elected PTFC Trust rep
Other survey findings
We asked about whether fans felt that the TJF rep position, and the Fan Reps positions, had had a positive impact so far. The majority felt the TJF rep position had positively impacted the Club, and a plurality felt the same about the Fan Reps.
The high level of uncertainty about the impact of fan representation is partly a communication challenge. A lot of work is being done behind the scenes to improve the fan experience, but it needs to be better explained and publicised by the Club.
Related to this, we asked respondents to rate how well the following individuals or groups communicate with Partick Thistle fans, from 1 (Very Poorly) to 5 (Very Well). The average scores were as follows:
Club Board
2.75
Club Chairman
2.92
Club Media/Socials
3.26
The Jags Foundation
4.06
TJF Club Board Rep
2.90
The PTFC Trust
2.65
Elected Fan Reps
2.71
The Jags Trust
2.32
The Club’s senior leadership team has acknowledged that it needs to get better at communicating proactively and consistently with fans.
This is vital if fans are to feel more informed about the Club and how it is run. Sustaining Club Board and Fan Rep visibility is a key side to this, and at TJF we are keen to support all efforts to ensure this happens.
We are pleased to see some of the progress that has been made in recent weeks, most notably with a free-to-air JagsZone interview with one of the two Fan Reps.
We would like to see Club Board interviews become a regular feature of JagsZone’s free-to-air output.