Well, I was wrong at the start of the season. We’re not up by February, but we’re 2nd on goal difference and that is better than most people thought we would be. We’ve had a ridiculously bad season for injuries again, Bielsa’s rigorous whip cracking, slave-driving regime, notwithstanding, I blame the pitch and the training facilities (hahahaha – joke honestly). Apologies for no January update, we had the branch meeting late because of QPR in the Cup and then January descended into the usual nightmare of paperwork, IT problems and number crunching as it does. Not to mention the small piece of work that was the charter…. February update cumulative then.

Monthly Branch Meeting

Thanks to everyone who showed up even though there wasn’t any free alcohol this month (January was free drink on the branch month). The majority of the meeting was spent discussing away tickets, the LUSC exec meeting about away tickets and the Charter, and then the Charter. There was an overwhelming majority in favour of option one (publish and be damned) and the branch recorded the vote by the Monday deadline date set. There is very little else to be said about the matter, all we can do is wait and see what happens next season should we get promoted. The branch as always will endeavour to order tickets for the branch members who cannot order them on their own due to work commitments or just general incompetence with technology. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that the myth that we order vast, industrial numbers of tickets to pass on to all and sundry is perpetuated by complete utter total wasters who know f*** all. It is hard enough to get tickets for those who haven’t missed a game for years, and we didn’t get any for Stoke, so please desist. On a lighter note, the Hospitality Raffle prize of two tickets for the Millwall game has commenced. See below in AOB.

Memberships

The Membership Secretary had his evening of drinking ruined by The Chairman, Deputy Yates, Dave Poole and Dave Rowson the other Sunday. The photo attached shows him fully conversant and acknowledging the fact that The Membership Secretary position is for life, not just Christmas. We are still receiving requests to join the branch, but given there are only 3 months left of the season, it seems a bit harsh to charge anyone the £7, so these new memberships forms (as opposed to renewals) will be deferred to next season. In the event of a play off final at Wembley (and if we get any tickets of course) , travel will be run strictly for branch members only, NO EXCEPTIONS. Just a pleasant reminder that EVERYONE needs to fill in a renewal form, EVERY year. Just passing the money onto The Secretary does not guarantee that the form will be filled in, and the Membership Secretary does like to see all those forms. That’s the thing he looks forward to every year, just getting a proper stamped, addressed envelope makes his day.

Away games

Bus times for Boro are available on facebook. Expressions of interest for QPR on Tuesday 26th February will now be accepted. Unfortunately due to the away ticketing situation, it has been very difficult of late, I’m bored with it all now. No further comment. Actually I’m not bored at all, I’m still really hacked off with it. But trying to have proper debate with people who have just decided to start following Leeds again after they cleared off when we dropped to Division 3 (or even earlier) gets tiresome and boring after a while.

A.O.B

The away ticket Charter – what can I say?

Tickets for the Hospitality in the East Stand for the game against Millwall Saturday March 30th were picked up by Dave Poole last Thursday. We have ordered some more and these will hopefully have arrived in time for the Boro game on Saturday. Anyone wishing to enter can contact The Secretary, usual channels, remember STRICTLY LUSC MEMBERS ONLY. £1 per ticket.

Fake news that Ken hasn’t filled in a membership form this season has been quashed by The Secretary. Said form was completed in August and membership card was issued. The Membership Secretary may have been a little flummoxed by Dave thrusting a candle into his face in a Kim Basinger 9 and a half weeks type manner.

Harrogatewhites website is still doing OK. The googleanalytics have been received from Paul Yates and there were 2,058 new users according to the info from Feb 2018 to Feb 2019. So that means about 170+ new people per month. Considering the content is patchy at best, dependent on how busy / annoyed / tired / hungover the MPO is, the figures are pretty darned good. Unfortunately this also means the MPO needs to carry on with it. If anyone wishes to contribute anything, please get in touch via The Secretary.