Wanting the best for the club isn't being negative
And to be honest i would much prefer a proper fans forum instead of this sanitised BST led nonsense that we have
I want BST to be a face-to-face organisation, meeting regularly with its members; taking ideas from the floor and encouraging members to get initiatives of their own going, by virtue of ideas and interactions that would seed at these regular members' meetings. An organisation like BST should not be a 'Committee only' entity. However, it is right that the Club has a focal point through which to address the fans and BST provides that focal point.
I have firm beliefs in a BST-type set up and, for what it's worth, my view is that it should be the one, overall umbrella group through which fans speak to the Club. This does not mean that there should not be a BASIL, a Yorkshire Seasiders, a Tangerine Knights. Far from it. If these bodies serve to represent certain groups interests - be they geographical, cultural, demographic, or any other focus - then that is good. But it would make sense to encompass all such groups, along with individual fans who have no other affiliations, under the one structured umbrella of BST. That way the Club knows that BST is speaking for
all Blackpool fans.
I know there are those who would see that as a threat to their autonomy but logically that does not hold water. We are all Blackpool fans, wanting the best for the Club and for supporters. Do we say, "because I might be unhappy with Critchley's approach I want another head coach to manage a different sector of Blackpool players so that I can go and watch them instead"? It's nonsense.
Then again, one organised group of fans - let's call them the 'fans front of Blackpool (FFoB),' may fear that their views would be swamped by being in BST. That concern is instinctive in a pluralist society. However, the FFoB would bring the weight of unified opinion of its own members to BST meetings, which would be a powerful voice, rather than having the odd fan sulking on a message board. Likewise, Yorkshire Seasiders might get a bee in their bonnet which they could bring to the BST members' meeting. It's called democracy and it works the World over. Ultimately, organised fans have a voice, whereas disparately, they either fail to be heard or they are summarily dismissed.
However, for my ideas to work, the BST Committee must understand that it is the voice of the fans, the voice of its members. It cannot carry this weight of conviction from a reducing and (partly) cynical membership if it were to see itself as a benevolent font of all that is good for the fan-base. If anything, that would weaken the Trust and leave us without a legitimate and co-ordinated voice.