After recently being elected onto the board at LNER Stadium as the Red Imps Community Trust, Supporters Director, we spoke to Rob Bradley to get his thoughts on his new role.
As a long-time supporter and one-time chairman of the football club, how does it feel to be back?
“It’s fantastic and the pleasure of coming into the ground today is emotional, it’s a fantastic stadium and a fantastic club. I had a bit of a break from it and now I’ve been asked to come back via the Trust, things have worked out and I couldn’t be any more emotional and be any more pleased about it.”
After being elected onto the board by the Trust, how can you use your experiences away from the club to benefit your role as Trust Supporters Director?
“I think there’s a real positive in observing from afar and coming back in you can make judgements independently on what you’re finding now, after not being caught up in the minutiae of trust business and club business. Then there’s the comparison of how things were when the Trust was set up and how they are now, so it gives me a good angle on working with everyone in the Trust and what we need to do for a club of this size.
“It excites me and I’m also a little apprehensive. I’m twenty years older than when I was involved before. The club was a lot smaller back then, I’m still a supporter but I’ve come into a club that’s full from top to bottom with high quality people. I’m representing the Trust, so I have to show my acumen, why I’ve been elected and be a part of things and not be someone who’s hanging on the coat tails.”
How important in your opinion to have Red Imps Community Trust representation on the board?
“It’s crucial, it’s something that I think fans at other clubs would almost give their right arm for, because we’re conveying their message into the board room and bringing the answers back to them. The fans are the moral owners of the football club, everyone else comes and goes but the fans stay in a lot of cases, a lifetime. So, for them to have a voice in the boardroom is vitally important.
“The fans are just as important now as they’ve ever been, and as a business the club is massive. So, I need to be involved to make a contribution for the Trust and from there the Trust has to make a significant contribution to the club.”