Do they really exist? I always hear the results after they happen, but i've never had the opportunity to vote. What's the deal? Has anyone here ever voted in one? And please, only current or former ArsenalAmerica members should vote in the poll.
Re: Arsenal America Elections? We're almost ten years into this thing and no member has ever voted? Ridiculous.
Re: Arsenal America Elections? Agreed. I didn't renew last season, and don't plan on doing it this year either.
Re: Arsenal America Elections? Maybe? There must be some people who want to run for stuff instead of just letting people assume the role. Any reason in particular?
Re: Arsenal America Elections? i think i asked this 8 years ago or so... but what is the point of joining?
Re: Arsenal America Elections? Have emailed Arsenal America plenty of times already and recieved no response everytime. It's the little things Nick
Re: Arsenal America Elections? I was planning on renewing this year, but the lack of transparency bothers me.
Re: Arsenal America Elections? I believe it is a requirement for any supporters club to have some sort of election. Now I realize it is not possible to get all of ArseAm's members to one location for an agm(annual general meeting), but there has to be something and a way so a meeting can be held. Voting can be simple as I know one member(who is on the board) of Arsenal Scotland who receives texts or emails up until the day before the agm. Keep in mind this is a single person doing this. I believe some people who have been on the ArseAm board stepped up to the plate as some people such as Brad(Coach McGuirk for you old timers) and a few others I believe stepped down for personal reasons(real life sucks). As for reasons to join a supporters club, I would say the banter, the friendships, the road trips(I highly recommend on going on one if you can), and tickets. I will say I am a bit disappointed that away tickets have been done away with, but that is life. One thing I disagree with is how the membership page is. It looks like it is all about money, but doesn’t really explain the benefits(as Phishy asked). Compare and contrast. http://www.arsenalamerica.com/arsenalamerica-membership/ http://www.arsenalscotland.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=62 Lets say you could join either(and I am not advocating it unless you are moving to Scotland), which ones seems better value for money(lets assume for this £1=$1)? I think this could be done up a bit better. Sorry to compare AA and ASSC, but for me, an analogy is the best way to paint a picture(no pun intended).
Re: Arsenal America Elections? I've never really fully thought out that Arsenal America is governed like a people's republic.
Re: Arsenal America Elections? I've been asking about starting an Orange County, CA branch for a few months now. Still haven't heard anything back. I know the OC is part of the SD branch but that seems silly since LA is closer. Plus several of us are just trying to localize it since most of the OC Gooners I know don't want to trek up to LA at the early AM. I still plan to renew but lack of communication kind of bums me out.
Re: Arsenal America Elections? I obviously can't speak to the exact details as they are right at this moment, best to leave that to the current execs, but I can say that nearly every $ collected through dues goes to paying for tickets. The rest goes to paying for the website and for the occasional ArseAm gathering. During my tenure, those last two items never exceeded $800 a year, which means that all of the rest of the money goes to pay for tickets. As for elections, I've voted twice. Once for myself back in 2004, and then again last year when I nominated David for President and Josh for Vice President and they ran unopposed.
Re: Arsenal America Elections? But do the members actually get a say in elections or is it just the board? I've never seen anything about it on the ArseAm website. It seems like the election results are always presented as a fait accompli, which honestly, is slightly troubling.
Re: Arsenal America Elections? I remember when I became president, I was apparently the only person who applied for the job. The same was true last year when David, Josh, and Mark became president, vp, and secretary respectively. If I recall correctly, the nominations both times were culled via threads on ArseAm & Big Soccer. Treasurer was not open to nominations last year as there was/is major work to be done and seeing as Andrew Leyden had opened the PayPal account in his name, it was decided that he should stay involved as long as he could. Now that Andrew has moved to the Far East, there's going to be a need for someone to step into that role. I don't envy that person one bit.
Re: Arsenal America Elections? I think ArseAm for the last few years has had to pay for several season tickets not all of which were used up by members flying over.
Re: Arsenal America Elections? I believe it was for paying for the tickets in time for deadlines. Rick B could explain this better than anyone else. That is the way I read into when Rick did the ticketing.
Re: Arsenal America Elections? I'm not sure who you have contacted, but try Josh who is the VP and has been working on the branches. Also, I know it can be frustrating, but it is a volunteer organization and all of this work is on personal time. Everyone gets a bit overloaded. One thing to maybe work on is contacting some of the other branch managers to see how they went about setting up the branch and if there is anything you could do to get the ball rolling (and make it a bit easier on ArseAm). The San Francisco group seems really organized and their manager is very active and I'm sure willing to help. Just some thoughts and trying to help out a bit. Good Luck!
Re: Arsenal America Elections? We got Boston up and running pretty well. Still needs a bit of work, but for only half a season it wasn't shabby at all.
Re: Arsenal America Elections? Hey, is this where we sign up for tickets? I want some, lots in fact. Can I get 4 each to Chelsea, Tottenham, and Man Utd, home and away? Cool. I'll let ya know if i can make it. Ok i pay you on the day, right? Cool. Thanks Arsenal America!