The 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Bristol City Supporters Society Limited (trading as BCSCT) took place on Saturday 24th January 2026 at 1pm, in the Supporters Bar at Ashton Gate – prior to the Sheffield Wednesday game
1. Apologies and welcome
Stu Rogers welcomed our President Marina Dolman to the meeting along with Club Vice-president
Doug Harman. Marina addressed the meeting and particularly thanked her audience for their
support, which is so important for our Club. Marina said she knows the players value the support in
games and the club is proud of the numbers attending away games. Doug Harman paid tribute to
the work of the Supporters Club & Trust and in particular the Chair
2. Minutes of last AGM in 2024
The minutes had been posted on our website and were accepted nem con.
- Bristol City Women report (Shahan Miah)
The report was read by Mark Newman.
In December, we held our annual structured dialogue meeting with Bristol City Women FC.
The agenda was packed with discussion around the playing strategy, ticketing, protecting heritage,
away travel and merchandise. D-M Withers, Shahan Miah, and Stu Rogers met Gavin Marshall and
Romaney Pinnock from the Football Club, with Debs Dilworth joining from the FSA:
https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/structured-dialogue-bcwfc-dec-2024/
In the Supporters Bar we hosted the Fans Forum for Bristol City Women in March. The panel were all
making their debuts at a Bristol City fans forum, with Head of Women’s Football Romaney Pinnock,
Head Coach Steve Kirby, and defender Harley Bennett taking questions from supporters in
attendance. Hosted by Head of Communications Sheridan Robins, the 60+ minute evening was
intimate, informative & featured a range of questions from the largest audience ever seen for a City
Women fans forum.
https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/city-women-fans-forum-2025/
While our relationship with Romaney initially showed promise, her engagement with us became
increasingly limited and was minimal by the time she left the club in the summer. We also
encountered challenges in maintaining a consistent two-way dialogue with City Women Chairman,
Gavin Marshall. Gavin Marshall left Bristol Sport in October.
D-M Withers had to step down in May from the board due to work commitments. Over the years,
they & Shahan campaigned & lobbied for various activities now seen regularly in the men’s game.
Among others, these include: away coach travel for City Women supporters, launching Women’s
awards in our annual long running End of Season Awards, recognising former City Women players in
our Hall of Fame for the first time, and getting the women’s team to commit to Fans Forums. On
behalf of the committee, we would like to thank D-M for their dedication and hard work. They are
already greatly missed.
https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/thank-you-d-m-withers/
We also worked closely with Bristol City during consultations to become one of the first clubs to trial
the allowance of alcohol in the stands at Women’s league matches.
Following a successful trial, this has been extended into the current season, with City Women
continuing to be one of the clubs leading the way in this initiative.
In June, Charlotte Healy was appointed as Head Coach, joining from Manchester United. Looking
ahead, the Women’s Super League will expand by two teams from next season. As a result, for this
season only, the top two teams in WSL2 will gain automatic promotion, with the third-placed team
facing a play-off against the bottom WSL side.
Following a lengthy process, this sale was approved in December. Mercury13 now own an 80% stake
in City Women, with Bristol City retaining the remaining 20%. Early signs are encouraging, with a
renewed sense of cooperation evident following a recent meeting between Shahan, Stu Rogers,
interim CEO Lowri Roberts, and Mario Malavé, one of the co-founders of Mercury13 and one of the
new City Women board members
- Chairman’s Annual report
Stuart Rogers highlighted some points from his report, which had been posted on our website (qv).
In January 2025, former Bristol City player Jacki Dziekanowski was inducted into the most recent
class of the Hall of Fame, representing the 1980s/1990s. Also in January, we made some updates to
the Honours Boards in our Supporters Bar at Ashton Gate.
https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/jacki-dziekanowski-inducted-into-hall-of-fame/
We were devasted to receive the news that our friend, fellow board member & lifelong Bristol City
fan Mike Adams had sadly passed away at the age of 84. A long-time member of the SC&T board
and founding board member of the original Supporters Trust formed in 2005.
https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/rest-in-peace-mike-adams/
We are firm believers in football being accessible to all. We therefore funded a brand-new sensory
room at Ashton Gate to be used for all Bristol City men’s & women’s home games at the stadium.
The room is a safe space where neurodiverse spectators, particularly younger supporters can enjoy
the matchday experience in a controlled setting without experiencing sensory overload
https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/sensory-room-at-ashton-gate-stadium/
In April, the football club was pleased to announce details of the new Fan Advisory Board (FAB),
which will represent significantly greater fan engagement and wider representation for supporters.
The club worked collaboratively with the Supporters Club & Trust as part of fan engagement to
agree on a code of conduct and constitution and this will enable the group to be independent.
https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/fan-advisory-board-launched/
We once again organised all aspects of the Bristol City Supporters Club & Trust End of Season
Awards for 2024/25:
https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/end-of-season-awards-2024-25/
In August, we were then pleased to announce that our Fans of the Future scheme was returning for
the 2025/26 season. Run since 2018/19, the scheme sees us purchase eight season tickets and
encourage young fans from local community groups and football clubs to attend what might be for
many their first experience of coming to Ashton Gate. We give these tickets away for free on a
match by match basis and the allocation is nearly always taken up:.
https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/fans-of-the-future-2025-26/
As the season kicked off, we made a few changes to the way people access the bar. The capacity
was often being exceeded with non-members unofficially coming in. To cater for members wishing
on occasion to bring a guest into the bar, we are now trialling the use of ‘guest passes’. Additionally,
we are employing a door person to supervise access. So far, it is going well:
https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/supporters-bar-update/
Along the way we continued to support other fan-led initiatives like donating to the new mural just
outside Ashton Gate. Similarly, with regular donations to Section 82 to support flag displays and
TIFOs (banners).
https://art4fans.uk/our-latest-mural-1
- Treasurer’s report – James Thomas
The report was read by Terry Hamlin.
Income
Our primary source of income remains the membership contributions. This has been reasonably
steady over the past few years, with around £12,700 in the year just gone (year ending 31 October
2025).
Other ongoing income is from:
– Supporter contributions of £2,500 for the “One Team in Bristol” (OTIB) internet forum, which
now covers the running costs.
– Commission income from the bar of around £3,700
This means our 2025 operating income was £18,130, up slightly on 2024.
Outgoings
2025 was a busier year than 2024 in terms of expenditure. Our usual administrative costs remained
relatively stable, and we incurred our usual £1,675 cost of season tickets for fans of the future,
however, there were some more significant items to call out this year:
– Sponsorship of the new sensory room of £15,000
– Investment in additional security for the supporters bar of £96 per home match
– Updates to the honours boards in the bar
This results in a deficit for the period of around £7,000, which we could comfortably manage with
the surplus funds built up over a number of years.
Current financial position
The financial position of the Club and Trust continues to be healthy. At the end of the 2025 financial
year, we held a bank balance of around £130,000 (2024: £140,000).
- Membership report
Not reported at the AGM
- Appointment of Independent Examiner
The motion: that Dick Maule at Bristol Community Accountants be reappointed as the Club & Trust
Independent Examiner of the financial accounts, was carried nem con.
- Board membership
A motion: to appoint Nathan Riddiough as a member of the Board was carried nem con.
- Appointment of Secretary
A motion: that Terry Hamlin be re-appointed was carried nem con.
- Items sent in by members
There were no items sent in.
- Questions from the meeting
A question was raised about whether the Fan Advisory Board (FAVB) could operate in an independent way
and ask the difficult questions of the football club. Kieran Hughes who is also a member of the FAB responded that he felt it would be representative and able to challenge on important
issues.
- Any other business
There was none.
