NUST's second Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 11th January 2012 at 6pm. The venue is The Literary and Philosophical Society, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1SE

The agenda for the meeting

1. Apologies

2. Chair’s report

3. Treasurer’s report

4. Re-appointment of Auditors

5. Election of Officials

6. Any other business

The Annual General Meeting is open to all shareholding members* of the Newcastle United Supporters Society Limited (trading as Newcastle United Supporters Trust).

Proof of membership is required for entrance.

* Must be aged 16 or over, and a paid up to date member.

NUST's latest Blog - "Football fans are taking back control of their clubs – and it’s working" was written by  Kevin Rye, Network Development Manager with Supporters Direct.

Shamrock Rovers and Cork City won the Premier and First Divisions of the Airtricity League in the past week. Both clubs have come through some turbulent years – at times flirting with extinction – but are now owned by fans’ groups. Supporters Direct, a football fans’ organisation that has helped over 180 fans’ trusts, believe this model is the way forward for clubs in Ireland and throughout the world. In this blog Kevin explains why:

Read his Blog and comment here

As Newcastle United again make headlines for all the wrong reasons, Newcastle City Council have responded following yesterday’s NUST statement regarding the renaming of St James'.

The Council’s statement regarding their stated position is below.

As numerous concerned supporters continue to contact NUST, we have decided to do a quick survey to establish a definitive supporter reactions to the renaming. Please give a few minutes of your time to complete the survey, remember every additional response gives added weight to the survey results.

Click here to Complete survey

Following the announcement that St James' Park is to be renamed Sports Direct Arena:

Cabinet Member for Quality of Life, Coun Henri Murison, said: “The name of St James’ Park has been synonymous with Newcastle United football club and the city for more than 130 years.

It is recognised around the world and the decision to change it, without consultation, will upset the overwhelming majority of fans who loyally support the team week in and week out.

While I understand the commercial reasons for renaming sports venues when they relocate, this is not the case in this instance, and some things are beyond profit when they mean so much to people.

The football club is part of the beating heart of the city and while the council values its relationship with the club, it has no plans to change any existing wayfinding signs which bear the name St James’ Park.

As far as the fans and Newcastle City Council are concerned, the home of Newcastle United will always be known as St James’ Park”.

The Newcastle United Supporters Trust conducted some research among Newcastle fans last month and there was recognition that the current board had done well in controlling costs and that they had conducted some good business in the transfer market.

Allied to that, the team are sitting in the top 3 after the first 11 games and as a result, there was some softening of attitudes towards the owner.

However, despite the goodwill that this has brought the owner, fans told us that they remain sceptical about his motivations.

This latest news about renaming the stadium to the ‘Sports Direct Arena’ clearly demonstrates why they are sceptical. Newcastle's ground has been St James' Park for more than 100 years and two years ago Derek Llambias assured fans that the stadium's official name would always remain St James' Park as long as they were in charge.

So, is it any wonder that fans told us they don't trust the board, want a new owner and why the majority of Newcastle fans want to own a stake in the Club.

NUST's latest Blog - "Clubs and Trusts working together" is now available.

The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) recently published its response to the select committee report into football governance. The inquiry, which opened in February, heard from numerous witnesses from the world of football and published its findings on the 29th July earlier this year.

The government’s response to the select committee’s report sets out a number of recommendations for football. These include looking at the creation of a modern, accountable and representative FA Board, the implementation of a licensing framework administered by the FA in close co-operation with the professional game and changes to decision-making structures within the FA.

Read the full article and comment here

NUST salute the Premiership newcomers who are leading the way. NUST's latest Blog " Swansea - Saved By The Fans" has been kindly written by Phil Sumbler who is Chairman of Swansea City Supporters Trust. The Swans Trust currently own a 20% stake in the club which is by far the highest in the Premiership.

Read and Comment on his article here

Alex Niven is a lifelong Toon supporter and the article below is one of his excellent pieces which first appeared on the Guardian online. Alex has written a short book called *Folk Opposition* (forthcoming from Zero Books), which amongst other things, looks at the potential for a revival of grassroots activism in the UK using the example of the north-east and the supporters' trust movement. His blog is at http://thefantastichope.blogspot.com.

Football supporters' trusts provide a model for a more democratic Britain

Ken Loach once said Supporters Direct was New Labour's saving grace. Now grassroots activism is needed more than ever

As supporters up and down the country prepare for another wearily predictable Premier League season, Newcastle United, the nation's most farcical club, has supplied another slapstick vignette to usher in the footballing calendar. Following a charade involving dressing-room rows, Twitter, and George Orwell, Joey Barton, perhaps NUFC's last remaining good player, was on Monday exiled to the club's free transfer list. Not for the first time, supporters were left scratching their heads at the mysterious idiocy of a club administration that offered no explanation for this haemorrhaging of the squad just days before the start of the new campaign.

By now, the Newcastle fan-base, like that of many other British clubs, is used to being kept in the dark while the game's elite plays corporate roulette with its cultural heritage. And for a long time it has seemed like there is no alternative to a cowboy culture of spectacular mismanagement, exploitation and PR-dissimulation. In football, as in British society as a whole, obeisance to the interests of big business has long been viewed as the only realistic way of running the show.

This is the one time of the year when all football supporters should be able to dream that this could be their season, however unlikely that dream might be.

For Newcastle United fans recent months have been more of a nightmare, minimal net investment in players and key players in a war of words with the club hierarchy. As it stands now, we have lost last season's two top goalscorers and arguably the two most creative players in the current squad are almost certain to follow. Some of you may not be too impressed with Enrique and Barton washing the club's dirty linen in public but there can be no denying that the club have handled the situation badly, while exactly what the new signings make of this is anybody's guess.

It can only be a bad state of affairs when fans rely on this public war of words to gauge what is happening at the club.

What are NUST doing? Our recent survey of thousands of Newcastle fans made it quite clear that supporters wanted the club to communicate much better with the fans and it was strongly felt that the Trust should attempt to open lines of communication with the people running Newcastle United. The Trust board had actually already approached the club to try and start talking, despite being rebuffed we redoubled our efforts and pointed to the fact that thousands of the club's own customers (supporters!) were now telling us via the survey, that the best way forward was for the only democratic and organised fans' body (NUST) to talk with the club and try and work together for the benefit of everybody. Needless to say this honest and open approach was again rejected. Fans are in the dark and the lack of communication has created a void which leaves most of us fearing the worst in the coming season, supporters don't expect trophy signings but they do expect those inside the club doing everything they can to work with the people who care about the club and only want a healthy and successful Newcastle United.

As well as community initiatives such as 'Local Achievers' and working towards the launch of a Junior Trust, the Trust board continue to work behind the scenes to put plans in place that would give fans the best chance of owning a sizeable stake in Newcastle United if the chance ever presents itself. Many people including numerous highly qualified and experienced people are giving their time for free, if the chance ever presented itself we know it would be a massive undertaking for NUST to help organise the fans to own a stake and so preparations continue to be made.

If you aren't already a member of NUST please take a minute to consider joining us, every extra person makes a difference by adding their support to the cause of the fans of Newcastle United. Together we'll all one day help to create the Newcastle United we all dream of, JOIN HERE and help us take another step nearer to that day.

You can comment on this at our NUST Blog

Your chance to raise money for NUST with minimal effort and it won’t cost you a penny.

It's very simple - just visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/nust to register and then when you shop online with over 2000 well known retailers like Amazon, Argos, M&S, eBay and many more, the retailer makes a donation to Newcastle United Supporters Trust. They've helped other causes raise over £2,000,000 so it really does work, a handful of Newcastle fans have already raised hundreds of pounds for the Trust. Once you register as a supporter of Newcastle United Supporters Trust (you don’t have to be a member) at easyfundraising you would just shop as you’d usually do but go to the retailer via www.easyfundraising.org.uk.

It won't cost you a penny extra to shop through easyfundraising and you can even save money with special offers and voucher codes.

Plus, if you register before 31st July 2011 you'll automatically receive one entry into a FREE PRIZE DRAW to win a £450 to spend with Argos.

So please make a difference to Newcastle United Supporters Trust and take a look at easyfundraising today, visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk/how-it-works and see how ‘easy’ it actually is.

If shopping online isn’t your thing then you can still support NUST’s community work by using their top notch search engine – www.easysearch.org.uk , every search you make will generate money for the Trust, just by using it instead of Google or Yahoo etc.

Can it really be as easy as it sounds? Yes.