The Wrong Car

Aye, I have no doubt that Hogarth joined the ownership team with good intentions about the club he supports. His actions during, and after, are fairly questionable however and he's not alone in that respect.

This is my main concern about the Trust at the moment - using fan's voices to play into whatever is happening behind the scene. Any group that involves two former directors who have been involved in legal action against the club (not to mention the fact Nixon was banned as being a director for 4 year), a former sponsor who's only followed Livi for a few years in the Premiership (in his words) and a guy who's been hanging about since the Massone days looking to become a director doesn't exactly seem like a fan movement many can get behind. Have they announced any of the new Leadership yet?

Is there much going on at the club anyway? There’s a break before the next fixture, and with no fixture list there’s no tickets/hospitality to sell via reception

What youth players can actually play this season? There seems to be a fair few out on loan at various non-league clubs Ledingham was on the pitch with the mascots last weekend, along with two others. Any involvement with the first team would benefit them at this point, so it would be poor management to exclude them all.

Probably not the wisest phrasing, or good for business, however there’s been a growing element at games (particularly away games) that cross the line when it comes to shouts, in my option. I’d prefer it if the Chairman of the club didn’t resort to tweets like this, however it’s clearly aimed at a fairly small and specific section of fans

Not surprised to see the three names mentioned as leaving Anderson has been frustratingly underused and over-criticised and, while he hasn't quite justified the hype this season, he'll easily find another Premiership club. Whether it's his diabetes or the failed move to Georgia, his manager doesn't seem to trust him this year Nouble was incredible for a short time, then misused by Martindale. Last summer really seemed to mess his form up, with agents and managers pushing moves and slotting back into a team not designed for him. Overall though, signing from the National League and (possibly) moving onto a League One club represents a good opportunity for the guy Obileye has had his critics, however I think he's developed into a perfectly fine bottom 6 CB. Ask him to clear and head the ball away and he's sorted. Ask him to start stepping into midfield and play passes and you're in trouble. He's clearly not good enough to be a 'main' CB at this level, but stick him next to someone who's happy to organise and he'll do well. His conversion from CM to CB, whist playing at a higher level for 3 years, is probably Martindale's best attempt at this (even if it did lead to him trying it at least once with every other player)

I can't be 100% sure, but I'd imagine a number of Trust members would have taken part in the Operating Fund and gained shares in their individual name so I doubt it's something they'd enforce.

I completely agree that they need to sort itself out. They jumped the gun accepting Ward's offer, and realised this. That's fine, but phrasing that as "We also wish to state that Mr Ward was not invited to speak at the original meeting; he offered to speak, but was not asked" seems needlessly provocative. Ward could, and should organise a forum, but it was the Trust that publicly accepted his offer to speak at the original meeting. However, I think the Trust demanding apologies for "besmirching" Trust members who ask them to explain points, or posting fairly childish emojis to fans posting concerns, suggests an organisation that is fundamentally defensive towards fans' scrutiny. Hopefully the election of a new board changes this, as it's clear that the Trust, similar to the club, includes folk that are burnt out and need to step away. There's still a need for them, and hopefully this is looked back on at some point as a minor mis-step in their re-launch as an organisation for all fans

I was happy to see the Trust make moves to arrange an AGM. The offer they took, then rescinded, for Ward to speak was understandable giving it would result in non-Trust members wishing to attend a meeting that needs to focus on fairly dull administrative tasks. I also understand why meetings may not be held at the club, particularly this one. However, I have no idea why they seemed to tie themselves up with stupid lies. Claiming there's no precedent to meeting being held at the club, claiming they've held monthly meetings (which turned out to be unpublicised, non-minuted zoom calls or meeting in homes) and the general snideness in their response to fans who question this is alarming. In a week where we've seen the chairman rant on Twitter, a volunteer compare fans to supermarket shoppers, the Trust seems determined to trump them all.

Given the timeline, Hogarth's need for money might stem from this judgement rather than COVID https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/search-judgments/judgment?id=c02e28a7-8980-69d2-b500-ff0000d74aa7

The minute he started comparing a football club and supermarkets, and calling fans customers he’d lost the argument

Standing up and explaining their own views is exactly what I'm asking for Perhaps they could invite a few other fans, and call it a Fans Forum?

The idea that the average fan needs to personally approach those involved to ask them to clarify the situation is fairly ridiculous. This applies to everyone involved, including Ward and Hogarth. I doubt many Livi fans would oppose this, nor Hogarth and Rankine being fully reimbursed for any money owed. However, my scepticism comes from the fact that nobody seems to know their intentions. I'd argue critiquing Ward for not being open, while giving Hogarth/Sumner/Rankine the benefit of the doubt on that front is a better example of bias

I found this - seems to be just after Evans & Collins left https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/loss-john-collins-major-blow-2538535 It's a shame they seemed to stop, however I'm sure the Trust left the board fairly soon after this and they presumably played a big part in pushing for these.

How exactly would fans do this? Should we hang around West Lothian hoping to bump into him? Head over to the Broadwood Motor showroom? Send him a message asking him to explain his motives to each individual fan? Surely the onus is on Hogarth himself, similar to how the onus is on the club (Ward/Black) to speak more? Out of curiosity - when was the last Fan's Forum? I remember attending ones towards the end of the Massone era, but I'm not sure they were ever a regular thing? At risk of being accused of 'bias', Ward left April 2019 and returned January 2020. If that's the period being highlighted as good governance by Hogarth/Rankine, the sale of Dykes in August 2020 went a long way to boosting finances. (If this was in reference to another period, apologies. It's fairly hard to see at which points Rankine was actively involved in the running of the club )