Supporters Forum meetings provide an opportunity for fans to meet with Rachele Johnson, Birmingham City’s Supporter Liaison Officer, and ask questions. The questions are pre-submitted and other members of staff sometimes attend the meetings to give answers. The next meeting is on Tuesday, August 15, before the Bolton game.

When Blues Trust board members meet on August 1, we’ll be talking about which questions to submit to the Supporters Forum. I expect we will discuss the Code of Conduct recently produced by the Club. This outlines what is expected of officially recognised supporters’ groups that are invited to send representatives to the Forum meetings.

I can understand the need to clarify the Club’s relationship with supporters’ groups; there are so many of us. It is entirely legitimate to have different groups for difference purposes. Some, such as the Redditch and New Zealand clubs, cater for fans living in a particular place. Others have a distinct purpose, for example Blues 4 All who aim to bring communities together by bringing local fans to games. Blues Trust aims to increase supporter involvement and influence at the club.  Some groups have members that need to pay something to join; other groups are more informal and fans can follow online. It would be great if all the groups could work together as a team but that seems unlikely. We are argumentative, opinionated football fans so there is banter and bickering. It can’t be easy for the Club to decide which ones to officially recognise.

Let us know if you have any suggestions on what questions you would like us to ask at the Supporters Forum. You can make a comment on this post or email me at margaretdecker@bluestrust.org. Click here for links to the minutes of previous meetings.