Good luck Steve Burns

Interesting
Censorship is never pretty is it.

Let me explain my view of Steve Burns (and in expressing that view originally I really cannot see how I was being rude to another member of this forum???)

I worked with Steve in setting up the share scheme back in the day, sitting with him on the Share Scheme Committee within the SC.
There were some good people on that committee who gave up their time and money over a considerable period of time to devise the scheme and then promote it.
Having done so we started fund raising, in good faith, whilst the agreement with the BoD was being negotiated, I had been tasked with drafting the agreement on behalf of the SC as the party to the agreement in order to make it a legally binding agreement. I had inserted some clauses in the agreement which we knew the BoD would find contentious but felt were important to protect the interests of the members who were subscribing to the scheme.
During this negotiating period we had agreed unanimously that no monies would be handed to the Bod to buy shares until the agreement was signed.
We were shocked when at the next scheduled meeting Steve informed us that £20k (I think that was the value) had been transfered to the Club so they could buy a player. Steve was a key to that action. Although we had no doubt his heart was in the right place this fatally undermined our negotiating position and ultimately resulted in leaving the fans who put their hard earned money into the share scheme in a far weaker position, a position that you witness today.
The SC committee were the biggest issue in all this and although we were bitterly disappointed at what had occured we remained committed to the cause of fan involvement and decided we needed to infiltrate the committee in order to change it. The share scheme committee chair was by default a member of SC committee and one of us took on that role. As you all now know the value of the share purchases also got us two seats on the Bod of the club. We knew that it would be crucial to get the right people with appropriate skill sets into those positions and we put forward two people, I played the Peter Mandelson role behind the scenes in getting this done.  Fast forward to May 2004. The very first SC Egm for members to elect the two people onto the BoD. We had by a stretch the two strongest candidates, both in terms of experience and character. The SC committee and the BoD, who had two directors in attendance, knew it and were very uncomfortable with our now declared hand. To our shock they literally bussed in people whom we had never seen before, openly accused us at the meeting of being on a crusade of anti Geoff Dunford and encouraged others to stand, one of whom had never even contributed to the share scheme. The result was that one of our nominees got in by 3 votes but the other winner, a very nice person but who was, and proved to be completely out of their depth and resigned from the BoD within a year. My opinion, and I cannot prove it, was that as a leading member of the SC committee and interim associate director on behalf of the share scheme on the Bod Steve was party to all this.
Hence my frustration with someone, albeit a very nice and committed fan of the club, who I think did not realise what he was doing.
The result of all this is what you see today, two totally ineffective people representing nobody on the back of £1,000,000 of other peoples post tax money. I believe the path to 2006 had been set and the shambles we have today is in no small way a direct result of the attitudes so prevalent at the time and still. 
Now I have no idea if Ras will allow this post to stand and his attitude is very good example of all thst is wrong at our club.
Just in closing, these were some fun times and despite the acrimony on occasion I personally enjoyed meeting the people I did, entertaining Geoff Dunford at a London restaurant I was a director of, being entertained at his hotel in Brislington, some lovely trips down memory lane with his lovely father Dennis, the hilarity when during one presentation that I, and one of the nominees mentioned above, made to the Bod Barry Bradshaw turned to me and almost visibly snarled at me and asked "Who are you, do you actually come from Bristol"? If he only knew.......
Anyway peace everyone, just dont give into those who think, have the audacity to believe, that they know best and will censor or ban those that dare express an opinion that discomforts them.

Most of this is just unbelievable. You would think that someone who was so instrumental in such a monumental gentlemans appendage-up would at least have some tolerance towards others who make mistakes but no, you go to great lengths to explain how it was all the fault of others. Had you done your job properly then perhaps the mess up could have been avoided.

It is very sad that you fail to see the good in anyone who does anything for this club and can only criticise and attempt to belittle those who oppose your depressing and miserable viewpoint. The fact that you fail to see how you are rude to forum posters says it all really.

Finally your statement that Ras is a very good example of all that is wrong with this club is one of the most ludicrous things I've read on a forum and only serves to illustrate your poor grasp of reality.

Interesting
Censorship is never pretty is it.

Let me explain my view of Steve Burns (and in expressing that view originally I really cannot see how I was being rude to another member of this forum???)

I worked with Steve in setting up the share scheme back in the day, sitting with him on the Share Scheme Committee within the SC.
There were some good people on that committee who gave up their time and money over a considerable period of time to devise the scheme and then promote it.
Having done so we started fund raising, in good faith, whilst the agreement with the BoD was being negotiated, I had been tasked with drafting the agreement on behalf of the SC as the party to the agreement in order to make it a legally binding agreement. I had inserted some clauses in the agreement which we knew the BoD would find contentious but felt were important to protect the interests of the members who were subscribing to the scheme.
During this negotiating period we had agreed unanimously that no monies would be handed to the Bod to buy shares until the agreement was signed.
We were shocked when at the next scheduled meeting Steve informed us that £20k (I think that was the value) had been transfered to the Club so they could buy a player. Steve was a key to that action. Although we had no doubt his heart was in the right place this fatally undermined our negotiating position and ultimately resulted in leaving the fans who put their hard earned money into the share scheme in a far weaker position, a position that you witness today.
The SC committee were the biggest issue in all this and although we were bitterly disappointed at what had occured we remained committed to the cause of fan involvement and decided we needed to infiltrate the committee in order to change it. The share scheme committee chair was by default a member of SC committee and one of us took on that role. As you all now know the value of the share purchases also got us two seats on the Bod of the club. We knew that it would be crucial to get the right people with appropriate skill sets into those positions and we put forward two people, I played the Peter Mandelson role behind the scenes in getting this done.  Fast forward to May 2004. The very first SC Egm for members to elect the two people onto the BoD. We had by a stretch the two strongest candidates, both in terms of experience and character. The SC committee and the BoD, who had two directors in attendance, knew it and were very uncomfortable with our now declared hand. To our shock they literally bussed in people whom we had never seen before, openly accused us at the meeting of being on a crusade of anti Geoff Dunford and encouraged others to stand, one of whom had never even contributed to the share scheme. The result was that one of our nominees got in by 3 votes but the other winner, a very nice person but who was, and proved to be completely out of their depth and resigned from the BoD within a year. My opinion, and I cannot prove it, was that as a leading member of the SC committee and interim associate director on behalf of the share scheme on the Bod Steve was party to all this.
Hence my frustration with someone, albeit a very nice and committed fan of the club, who I think did not realise what he was doing.
The result of all this is what you see today, two totally ineffective people representing nobody on the back of £1,000,000 of other peoples post tax money. I believe the path to 2006 had been set and the shambles we have today is in no small way a direct result of the attitudes so prevalent at the time and still. 
Now I have no idea if Ras will allow this post to stand and his attitude is very good example of all thst is wrong at our club.
Just in closing, these were some fun times and despite the acrimony on occasion I personally enjoyed meeting the people I did, entertaining Geoff Dunford at a London restaurant I was a director of, being entertained at his hotel in Brislington, some lovely trips down memory lane with his lovely father Dennis, the hilarity when during one presentation that I, and one of the nominees mentioned above, made to the Bod Barry Bradshaw turned to me and almost visibly snarled at me and asked "Who are you, do you actually come from Bristol"? If he only knew.......
Anyway peace everyone, just dont give into those who think, have the audacity to believe, that they know best and will censor or ban those that dare express an opinion that discomforts them.