Today we’re delighted to announce a new-look Supporter Services Group (SSG), designed to strengthen the relationship between the Club and the supporters.
The collective comprises the Fan-Elected Director (FED), a new Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO), the Robins Trust, various fan groups and volunteers from around the club who are working together to improve the fan experience for everyone at the Completely-Suzuki Stadium.
It will enable supporters to more easily put their thoughts and views forward, providing an avenue to ask any questions or raise issues. It will represent the needs of fans within the Club and ensure the most common problems, ideas or questions are raised at the highest level of the Club. The group will also hold regular meetings and provide monthly updates on items that are being addressed.
The Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) is a UEFA mandated position in football clubs and is strongly encouraged by the Football Supporters’ Association. For the first time the role will now be held by Kaylene Isherwood, a full-time member of our staff at the Completely-Suzuki Stadium after feedback from supporters in recent months.
The fundamental principle behind the role of SLO is to be a trusted point of contact for fans, and support the flow of information between the Club, supporters and relevant parties.
Kaylene will replace Jenny Hancock who made a huge contribution in the role in previous years and has been really supportive of the recent process to find her replacement. Kaylene will now work closely with our FED, Dave Beesley, who sits on the Club’s board of directors to represent the interests of supporters. They will be supported by Ade Medcalf in a new online role, together with Chris Russell and Dave Hardy on matchdays.
As well as being a link between the club and the supporters, Kaylene will also be connected to the vibrant community of SLOs working with clubs across the country, allowing her to share best practice and experience of dealing with issues that are common to clubs of all sizes.
"We have worked really hard in the last month or so to bring together a new supporter services group, dedicated to supporting the fans and helping the club to improve in all areas of fan experience," said director Murry Toms.
"We have received a huge amount of feedback and we believe we have created a solution that will have a really positive effect for all parties.
"Bringing the role 'in-house' means that there is now a permanent point of contact for supporters. Kaylene has been absolutely brilliant since she joined the Club in the summer and has all the qualities to be a successful SLO.
"Creating a new team around her will not only ease the pressure but will improve the number of ways that people can speak to us. Ade is known to many supporters and will become more of an online presence while Chris and Dave will continue to be visible on match days.
"Together we will support the work of the Robins Trust, Her Game Too and the Proud Robins, along with all of our other community initiatives. Communication is so important so we will also keep everyone up-to-date with regular emails from now on.
"Finally I'd like to thank Jenny Hancock for her support during this process. She has created a fantastic foundation for the role and we hope the new-look team can carry on her work. If you want to join the team, just get in touch. The more the merrier."
The relationship between Kaylene and Dave Beesley, the FED, is fundamental to the success of the group and the way it interacts with the board of directors.
“I’m really excited by the emergence of the new Supporter Services Group,” said Dave.
“Full credit to Murry and Kaylene for picking up the baton from Jenny Hancock, who pioneered the SLO role at the Club over the past few seasons.
“Kaylene, Dave, Chris and Ade – working in tandem with Sam (Proud Robins) and Kelly (Her Game Too) – will help to ensure the Completely-Suzuki Stadium continues to be a welcoming and accessible place to enjoy the football we all love”
MEET THE SUPPORTER SERVICES GROUP
David Beesley – Fan Elected Director (FED)
David is the Fan Elected Director (FED) at Cheltenham Town and vice-chair of the Robins Trust. He was elected to serve a second term as the FED in 2020, having served as a board member of the Club since 2018. He also made significant contributions to the interim findings of the government’s Fan Led Review of Football Governance, led by Tracey Crouch MP.
Email the FED: dave.beesley@ctfc.com
Kaylene Isherwood – Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO)
Kaylene is the full-time Digital Marketing Executive and Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) at Cheltenham Town. She is passionate about sport and fully converted to a football fan when she moved from the US to the UK in 2018. She moved to Gloucestershire in 2022 and has been attending matches ever since.
Email the SLO: slo@ctfc.com
By post: Supporter Liaison Officer, Completely-Suzuki Stadium, Whaddon Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52 5NA.
Dave Hardy – Matchday Disability Liaison Officer (DLO)
Dave – known by many as Snowy – is the matchday Disability Liaison Officer at Cheltenham Town. He has been involved with CTFC since 1991, working on the gate until 1998. Since then, he has been working on match days in a voluntary capacity supporting spectators with disabilities. He has enjoyed working with the SLO team for the last two seasons and is looking forward to continuing doing this with the new set up. Dave also recently won the Volunteer of the Year Award at the 2023 GCPA Care Awards for his volunteer work at Lillian Faithful Care’s Royal Court care home in Cheltenham.
Email Dave at slo@ctfc.com.
Chris Russell – Matchday supporter representative
Chris has been a football fan all his life. He came to the Robins after many years coaching amateur youth sides locally and volunteers on match days to help answer questions from home and away fans. Chris also works at the University of Worcester, where he teaches and carries out research exploring the experiences of people living with dementia as they participate in sport.
Email Chris at slo@ctfc.com.
Ade Medcalf – Online supporter representative
Ade has been a supporter of CTFC for the last 15 years when he moved from London to Gloucestershire. He has an absolute love for the club and all those that follow and are involved with it. Recently, he moved to the North East and set up the ‘North East Robins Group’. His most cherished moment was when Cheltenham Town beat Sunderland AFC on a Tuesday night in February 2022. The one thing he misses the most since moving up to County Durham is the fact that he can’t get to as many of the games as he would like to, but when the opportunity arises, he is there. He will therefore represent supporters in an online role.
Email Ade at adrianmedcalf258667@gmail.com.
Kelly-Marie Selby – Her Game Too ambassador
Kelly-Marie Selby is Cheltenham Town's Her Game Too ambassador, working to improve matchday experiences for women and girls. She hopes the partnership will not only help give women more of a voice at the club, but help to see changes made. Kelly works as the main point of contact between Her Game Too and the club, maintaining a close working relationship in order to develop the aims and ambitions of the movement.
Email Kelly at kellyselbyhgt@gmail.com.
Sam Lear – Founder of the Proud Robins
Sam has been a fan for more than 20 years. He is a founder of the Proud Robins and also a Robins Trust board member. Together with the club and the Football Supporters Association he works to ensure that everyone who enters the gates at Whaddon Road feels comfortable, bringing their full and true selves to matches without fear of discrimination.
Proud Robins was launched to support and build LGBTQ+ inclusion and acceptance for fans, players and staff at the club. They are a social group for LGBTQ+ Cheltenham fans, allies, together with their family and friends, providing a welcoming space, as well as a platform from which to raise awareness of, and campaign against all forms of discrimination and equality, and particularly homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in football.
If you would like to find out more about Proud Robins and its activities, campaigns and events, or find out how you can join, please follow them via Twitter @ProudRobins.
Robins Trust
The Robins Trust owns around 10% of the current issued share capital in Cheltenham Town Football Club. That makes them - the fans - the fourth largest shareholder in the Club. They are able to provide the fans with a voice at the top table through Dave Beesley, the current FED, and a say in all decisions made by the Board. It is easier than ever to join the Trust, either as a rolling-monthly investor or an annual Trust member.
Email the Robins Trust at info@robinstrust.org.
Join the Robins Trust.
Annual General Meeting this month
The Trust's annual AGM will be held at DEYA Brewery later this month on Thursday, November 23. There will be a Q&A with boss Darrell Clarke and members of the board as well as the Trust elections. Anyone who is a member of the Trust can stand for election to the board and there are currently 12 places available on the board.
Full details of eligibility and the process to stand