INTRODUCTION
As lockdown restrictions have eased, Club 1872 has begun the process of returning to full functioning with our volunteers spending some limited time in the Club 1872 office. While we are not yet at the stage of the office being open on a full time basis to all volunteers or members, we look forward to increasing the amount of time we spend there and welcoming members back for face to face interaction with both the Club 1872 Board and working group volunteers.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our members for their ongoing support through what is undoubtedly a very difficult time for all of us and our families. We hope you are all healthy and urge you to stay safe during this time.
SHARES
Since our last update there have been no further share purchases to report to members. With the ongoing work on our website now in the final stages of completion, we will shortly be launching a campaign to increase our membership and grow the Club 1872 shareholding in RIFC.
PROJECTS
As we outlined in our previous update, due to lockdown restrictions the Rangers Charity Foundation had to suspend the Walking Football programme, which our members funded. We completely understand this decision and they have recently confirmed to us that it will recommence when it is safe and appropriate to do so.
The Dream Day project which was approved by members last season will be carried over and will cover both Dream Days of season 2020/21, subject to government advice on such events.
As always, we continue to liaise with the club and other groups within the Rangers community on potential project opportunities.
BOARD/ADMIN/IT
Website
Work on the Club 1872 website and subscription system is due to be completed in the coming days. We encountered significant delays in delivering the final product to members, but our volunteers have worked closely with our web developers to ensure that what will shortly be on offer to members will enhance their interactions with Club 1872 as well as their ability to manage their Club 1872 accounts.
Members should note that for an initial period, accounts may incorrectly show as being “on hold”. This will gradually clear as monthly donations are made but any members who feel their accounts are incorrectly flagged as “on hold” come October should contact
info@club1872.co.uk for assistance.
The ability to join Club 1872 has also been disabled on our website for the time being until our membership campaign launches in the next few weeks.
We thank members for their patience during the upgrade process and would welcome any feedback or questions on the new system - contact us at
info@club1872.co.uk.
Club 1872 Board
In the period since our last update, two Club 1872 Directors have resigned their positions.
Alan Fraser resigned during lockdown in July, shortly after our last update. Although Alan’s time on the Board was short we thank him for that time and his offer to assist Club 1872 on specific projects once things return to some sort of normality.
Stuart MacQuarrie resigned at the start of September after serving on the Board for a period of almost three years. We thank Stuart for his time on the Club 1872 Board and wish him well for the future.
There is no requirement under the Articles for elections at this time and, operationally, Club 1872 is unaffected. It is the Board’s intention to examine its options once the ongoing restrictions imposed by Covid-19 are lifted and things return to a degree of normality.
Membership Retention/Card Expiry
Despite the economic implications of the Covd-19 pandemic, membership has remained steady around the 7000 mark in the period since the last update. This is testament to the incredible commitment of our members, and we thank you for your continued support during these difficult times. While many of our activities have been significantly curtailed over recent months, we remain prepared to launch a major campaign to grow our membership.
As we have reported previously, a major challenge still facing the organisation is memberships lapsing due to the expiry of credit cards. Again, we would ask that members check their Club 1872 emails carefully and regularly as we always email members to inform them of expired cards. We will be focussing on guiding new members to Direct Debit signup once the new website launches and hope this will improve retention levels.
As always, we would ask members to help us grow the organisation by encouraging friends, family and work colleagues to join Club 1872.
Member Engagement
With all football being played behind closed doors, we have been unable to maintain a match day presence to engage with supporters around the stadium grounds. Our office at Copland House is not yet open to members, but our volunteers and admin assistant are available to answer questions via email or by telephone by appointment. Please contact us at
info@club1872.co.uk if you would like to speak with us about any of our ongoing plans and activities.
In accordance with the recently approved Club 1872 Shares CIC Articles of Association, Club 1872 will hold an annual members meeting. Unfortunately this year’s meeting has
not taken place due to lockdown restrictions and we are as yet unsure as to when we may be able to schedule it. We are currently assessing a number of options and will keep members updated as things return to some sort of normality and large gatherings are once again permitted.
CLUB ENGAGEMENT
As we have outlined in previous updates, in recent months our engagement with the club has focused mainly on issues relating to their partnership with Castore. In August we wrote to both Rangers and Castore with a series of questions which focused on the well publicised concerns around the quality of some items, pre-order delivery delays and cancellations, the returns policy and the difference between the Rangers and Castore websites in that regard. We also asked for clarification on the decision to move forward the opening of the Rangers Store by several weeks, despite it appearing that stock levels were not sufficient to complete all pre-orders at that time.
At the time of writing this report, we have received no answers to those questions from either Castore or Rangers.
CAMPAIGNS
Parking Restrictions at Ibrox
Club 1872 has continued to liaise with Rangers and supporters on Glasgow City Council’s parking proposals, and in March our volunteers attended the pre-hearing meeting organised to present our concerns and objections. In July we received an update from GCC which stated that consideration was being given to the suspension of procedures for a period of six months. We have had no further updates.
Daily Record
A number of members contacted Club 1872 in August to express shock and disappointment that Rangers had entered into a commercial agreement with Reach Plc, which owns the Daily Record and Sunday Mail. Club 1872 made its position on Reach very clear following their involvement in our recently upheld IPSO complaint against the Daily Record/Sunday Mail, and the club is very much aware of this position.
https://club1872.co.uk/news/club-1872-wins-ipso-complaint-against-daily-record-and- sunday-mail/
Fantastic Fanatics
We recently announced a new partnership with Fantastic Fanatics which allows our members and the wider Rangers family to support Club 1872 through their online, and in due course in-store, purchases at no cost to them.
All funds raised through Fantastic Fanatics will be received by Club 1872 Ltd and used to grow our membership through advertising, events and promotional materials as well as assist with running costs.
As part of our agreement with Fantastic Fanatics, and at our request, all retailers that we are aware are associated with Mike Ashley have been removed from the Club 1872 retailers page.
Members can join Fantastic Fanatics by visiting
www.fantasticfanatics.com and there is an extensive FAQ available at
https://fantasticfanatics.freshdesk.com/support/home
COMMUNICATIONS
Since our last update, Club 1872 volunteers and admin assistant have replied to over 600 emails from members, and have sent 6 mass emails to update members on our ongoing activities. We have gained more than 1000 new followers on Instagram and have reached over 100,000 people via our Facebook page. We would encourage all members who have Instagram accounts to follow us at instagram.com/club1872rfc/ as this will help us increase functionality on our account.
Our comms group provides ongoing feedback to the Club 1872 board on social media and admin stats, and continues to monitor and assess the best ways to reach out to members. Email gives us greater freedom to communicate fully with members than social media platforms where detailed conversations can quickly become unmanageable for our social media volunteers. Having said that, our social media accounts are active in communicating with members and the wider support on major issues and as always, we welcome your support across all our social media platforms.
You can keep up to date with Club 1872 across all our social media platforms. Please follow/like and help us spread the word.
Instagram - instagram.com/club1872rfc/
FB -m.facebook.com/club1872rfc/
YouTube -https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKx9wlrUO3QWyg_y95HOrKA