Supporters Trust call for Dale EGM
ROCHDALE Supporters Trust, the official body representing Dale fans, has called for an extraordinary general meeting at the club.
The Trust has called for a motion to be passed whereby all four of the club’s current directors are put up for re-election.
The move comes after US investors Dan Altman and Emre Marcelli turned down invitations to join the club’s board, citing ‘serious internal issues’ behind their reasons for stepping back.
Directors and senior officials at the club have come under fire from supporters in recent months over Dale’s performance on and off the field.
Despite a win against Swindon on Tuesday, Dale remain bottom of League One, five points adrift of safety with six games to play.
Off the field, the decision to award manager Brian Barry-murphy a one-year extension to his contract in December was not communicated to supporters until a fans’ forum in March this year.
It has led to a toxic atmosphere between senior representatives of the club and fans, with a small group of supporters demonstrating outside the stadium ahead of the Swindon game.
The Trust, reacting to Altman and Marcelli’s statement and the subsequent response from the club on Monday, said: “It was with great concern that we read the statement from Dan Altman and Emre Marcelli in which they have announced that they have stepped back from their involvement with Rochdale AFC.
“We have for many years taken pride in how our Club stood tall amongst its peers and could always be relied upon to do things in what we could consider to be “the proper way”. Therefore it was especially worrying to read that their decision had been based upon “serious internal issues” at the Club and their dissatisfaction at the
Club’s handling of those concerns.
“This seems very much at odds with what we expect from our Club.
“We have spent the day with several prolonged conversations with a number of relevant parties, and it is our intention to announce our next step within the next twenty four hours. This short delay will allow us to make sure our actions are responsible, well-thought through and hopefully result in clarity for our membership.”
And the Trust followed up that statement with the call for an EGM.
Their second statement read: “The Trust is announcing its intention alongside other shareholders to call for an EGM following the very serious allegations about the running of the Club that were made by Shareholders Dan Altman and Emre Marcelli on Monday afternoon amongst other matters.
“Our concerns regarding:
THE allegations of “serious internal issues” are made about the running of the club from two of the Club’s leading Shareholders, and a subsequent lack of dealing with them, which has led to their decision to step back from any involvement in the Football Club
THE circumstances behind the awarding of a new contract to the First Team Manager and the subsequent withholding of this information
THE future of the Football Club following Interim Chairman Andrew Kelly’s expected departure from the Club
“We feel that a Shareholders’ General Meeting would be the appropriate platform for the above matters to be discussed at a time where Supporters are rightly concerned at what is happening at the Football Club.
“Following the discussions on the above matters, we are calling for a motion whereby all four of the full Directors of the Football Club are put up for immediate re-election in accordance with the rotation policy operated by the club.”