Minutes From Fans Forum Meeting – 7th Jan 2026

Present - Tom Welsh, Darlene Macdonald, Danny Williams, Stuart Taylor, Colin Mackay and Laura Stewart.

Present from the Club – Fran Smith, Adam Webb, Simo Valakari, Gus MacPherson, Bev Mayer, Aiden Smith, Aileen Campbell

Apologies – Dan Shek and Elliot Thomson

Intro -

First off, I do want to thank everyone for attending tonight’s meeting. I’m sure we’re all looking forward to getting into it, so I will start with the usual house rules

Please no shouting over, we will answer all questions within reason, and we ask that you raise your hand, and we will get to you as soon as possible.

We ask that you don’t interrupt people whilst they themselves are asking a question or raising a point

If you could have your mobiles on silent that would be appreciated. Club officials are the only exception for this rule this evening.

Since our last meeting in September, we’ve certainly seen a season and a half. We have continued to ride the wave of momentum which is keeping us top of the league, 5 points clear of Partick Thistle, and the upcoming Friday night match with Partick at the end of January looks set to be a classic.

We’re early into the January window, and whilst we expect the club to be somewhat busy during this month, we also must look at how this current squad has performed, with a superb comeback against Ayr, and a pre-Christmas demolition of Greenock Morton.

As we have had one confirmed departure at time of writing, I would like to put on record the steering groups thanks to Jannik Wanner for his contribution and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. We’d also like to welcome Aaron Essel back from his time in America.

We’d also like to congratulate Uche Ikpeazu for scoring at the AFCON for Uganda, a fantastic personal achievement, and look forward to seeing him return to the club.

So, before we get onto the main body, tonight’s agenda is –

Adam Webb, Fran Smith , & Gus Macpherson  Q&A

Supporters Charter update -

Alcohol Pilot update-

Update on the foodbank

Pie Sports Updates 

Open floor Q&A

Safe Standing update

Danny - Steering group – 3 years the forum has been running – this is the last open meeting before AGM, where we will review current members (about March time) – open to any nominations for people who want to join (see fans forum terms of reference S3 Membership} – term is for a year, if interested come and speak to us at the end of the meeting. Details to be shared on club website.

Fran update

Thanks, supporters, for coming out tonight.

Supporters Charter – will be on website tomorrow and engagement strategy -how we will engage with fanbase over next 2/3 years, info on fan zone, steering group etc, how we will listen and learn build a better future for the club.

30th of Jan v Partick – Academy night- collection for them – invited into the Ormond stand.

Annual saints in the community day – 28th March.

Astro project ongoing – pitch up and running, stands up, kiosk up and changing rooms starting to progress. Hoping finished by 15th March.

Fan Zones – try and engage supporters earlier, Finlays events continuing to do this for next 2 years, singer in the Muirton working well, looking to put in a family zone late spring to trial.

Hospitality- thank you – sold out bar 2 games which are almost full.

Safe standing – plan to have this by Mid Feb – FCU still collecting towards this.

Alcohol pilot – successful, 220 pints sold at half time, only club that allowed away supporters to buy alcohol at half time, looking to change licence, helps that none of our kiosks look out onto the pitch.

Pie sports update – met with the Chief Exec – neg feedback given, biggest issue in main stand – looking to re gig it, we have the youngest staff, some more experienced staff brought into support.

Retail – thank you for patience for the away top, sold more away tops than ever before, have started to negotiate exit of the contract, retail now back inhouse. Hopefully seen more stock in the shop, changing kit supplier which will be announced next month.

Colin – Foodbank update

Colin MacKay provided an update on the work of Saints Fans Supporting Foodbanks, and thanked everyone who had contributed in any way throughout 2025.

Colin reported that over the course of the year £3208.25 had been donated for Saints in the Community food based projects & 7,500 KG of food & toiletries had been collected for P&K Foodbank

The ‘Focus on Foodbanks’ Collection alone, on 1/11/25, resulted in food & toiletries donations weighing 1.678KG and £1905 cash for P&K Foodbank. This was an outstanding result.

Colin thanked individuals, partners and local businesses who had contributed to this collection and made particular mention of the backing received from everyone involved with the Club.

Going forward, Colin confirmed that Saints Fans Supporting Foodbanks will continue to facilitate collections at all men’s and women’s home match.

Questions received –

John Oswald – Pitch is cutting up awful down the corner between the East Stand and the Ormond Stand, this is looking worse with the warm up being done there – appreciate it has always been there, but has the club considered having the practice goals moved to the other side, where the grass extends past slightly, to help protect the grass a little bit?

Fran - The grass at the other side is used to warm up by subs – could have 5 home games in Jan, sand based pitch, frost cause the grass to get brittle, it has been considered to move them

Simo – Chris is doing a good job, the goal could be moved, nice for the fans to see the goal warm up

Melbourne Saints – Do you have any regrets about the investment in the club and the scale of the Challenge? (To Adam)

Adam - No regrets whatsoever, better than I hoped, been a roller coaster with the relegation, like the current trajectory, got to sometimes take a step back to move forward and needed for us to progress as a club, freshened look to suit Simos style of play, its consistent and we’re building on it. So many exciting things, so many great things coming. Most impressive kiosk and bathrooms in Scotland. Getting the lift in finally, we are going to have a concert series here last week in May.

Scale of the challenge- Scotland different animal, weather issues, Perth a different community, got a lean mean squad of executives here to set the course for improvements. Won’t recognise this place in a few years, hopefully in Europe.

Melbourne Saints How does the club communicate between owners and staff with the time difference? Weekly video calls or more regular?

Fran – there are 5 hrs difference – a lot 2pm, 3pm calls we just have to be sensitive about this, Adam gets up early so works out ok. With day to day business entrusted to run the club.

Simo - Football process comes first, do meetings round this. Twice every week for a catch up.

Nevil Marketing – What is the official reason fans not being told added time in the championship – no 4th official?

Fran - I will raise the question.

Colin McCredie – Is it possible for the club to update supporters the night before or first thing in the morning about the games chance of postponement especially during weather alerts? Could save fans issues with travelling etc.

Fran - Yesterday this was done well, learnt lesson from last years late call off at Kilmarnock, media team do a good job of communicating this, it’s a dynamic situation, media communicated as soon as told before Simo knew.

Colin Mackay – Has the club considered having the players train away from the ground, for example on public parks or at schools to help fit the one club, one city, one community aspect?

Fran - Need to consider security – went to look at 4/5 different pitches but none were good enough for professional players.

Simo - likes the idea but in this case we need to be mindful of the players, and surfaces so they are4 not injured. We have been doing school visits, good for the players, answer questions, give out tickets to games.

Fran – They have Seen over 2800 kids, engagement with schools out with the city.

Colin Mackay – Has the club considered offering football for a fiver for the Friday night match v thistle? Hibs do this regular and we have been on the receiving end before?

Adam – I like the idea - SLO advised we can’t do it for the Partick Game, as released these tickets a few weeks ago so can’t be for that game, will do it for another game before tickets are released. Started to release games earlier now.

Dan Shek – When is the club doing the open training session that was mentioned in the season ticket renewal forms at the start of the season?

Fran – Will be in Spring once the weather is a bit warmer, likely to be a sun when people will be invited in to watch.

Colin Mackay – Is there a possibility now the club shop is back in house to offer discounts in the shop to season ticket holders?

Fran – watch this space.

Colin Mackay – talked about serving areas in main areas – can matches be streamed into these?

Fran – We can look into it – there’s been some discussions about format of Mcd, which could open up another kiosk in the main stand.

Adam – think it would be a great idea to get away fans away from the main stand – need to add disable seating to the north stand, might not always be great financially. Need a walkway that is compliant and getting estimates for this.

Gav Stewart – any update on the community building?

Fran - Working with community trust on that, looked at a few sites.

Ryan - Any plans for sponsorship of the stadium?

Adam – had discussions – we should have a named stadium – extra money, for players, to improve the club, have a group of smart students working on the value of naming rights on the stadium to share with corporations. Perth doesn’t have a lot of giant companies, think it will happen in the next year or so. M&M been a great shirt sponsor, looking forward to working with them.

Danny Williams– Opening up the north stand for away fans and the capital hit, some away support is quite small.

Adam – think its worth doing in the championship, adds more dynamic and frees up some quite premium seats for our supporters – we could also do a fanzone for away fans, and open up Ormond as a family stand all games, helps the players. Improving Mcd experience is key. Been selling a lot of tickets through digital marketing.

Tom Welsh– Why is Simo beer made by a Cambridge company rather than someone local?

Adam - We have approached several breweries near by and response wasn’t great. We would like to do this with someone more local, now they have seen the success looking to do this again, we went to a brewery I knew well from his time in Cambridge, knew design would be good. If anyone knows anyone please let me know.

Blair – Asked views on the documentary?

Adam – thought it came out well, its been picked up in Australia, I want the whole world to see it. Cloverfilms will continue to promote it. Content A – distribution a C – no financial benefit. Wanted people to see it and fall in love with Perth.

Keir - Summer transfer window we had the bare bones of squad – what did you identify in the summer that would make us a success?

Gus –The key to work together, impressed with style of football on the park, believed we needed to get players that knew that level, made a smooth transition, worked as a team, tried to do as much due diligence as possible, feel its gone well, proof is there. The sticky patch has pulled the squad together.

Had a meeting today regarding recruitment – thought we had a deal but things change quickly. Simo dictates the players he desired.

Simo – Gus is very humble, I will tell you the right story how it went, after the last season – huge disappointment to get regulated, a lot of people telling us what we needed, Gus said go on holidays and he will fix this, they put a lot of effort and hours, I gave info on what sort of players and quality we needed, right players for our club, we’re not done yet. I’m happy with the squad, was happy when the summer window closed. We try and do what is best for the club. Last year we could not train anywhere as all-weather pitch wasn’t good enough, big investment in new all-weather pitch. Also good that we’re not losing anyone.

Adam – we were discussing how broke we were as in championship – Simo said we must do the all weather pitch, even although we were loosing £1m plus in the lower league and now we see the value.

Fran – confirmed players need to go out to get new ones in.

Gav Stewart – The fan zone before the game and Muirton after – congratulate Fran and Adam, didn’t think it would work but it was bouncing. Fan Zone is baltic – any heaters?

Fran – Will speak to Finlay events.

Gav Stewart - Muirton suite – can we look at a shuttle bus?

Fran - We have had discussions with stagecoach and Docherty – asked them to look at late night buses after friday night games, not straightforward – need to contact transport Scotland. Ill speak to Dochertys again.

Bev – one of our major sponsors is a major taxi firm – could we do discounts.

Adam – think it’s a great idea, people can drink more beer. Great idea – we would love to do it, rely on our partner to do it, and I think we can get there.

Fran - Hoping to open the Muirton suits Thurs, Fri and Sun as a sports bar

Carla – is there any plans to increase income from carpark off season? Circus, excess car stock, motor homes etc?

Fran – we rent spaces to motor groups, circus did come and look, motor homes we did look at but travellers have put us off, been speaking about monster trucks, plan over the summer to use the space. Got market licence back so can have stalls back.

Adam – if anyone has ideas, going to charge more for parking for the concerts, want to develop for a hotel.

Scott Webster - Naming rights for the astro any developments?

Adam - Having conversations with local companies but need it to be finished.

Scott Webster - Selling of strips/ merchandise – Gleneagles?

Adam – we should have items in Gleneagles, museum, it should happen, we need to keep working on this.

Fran – until the 30th Nov we couldn’t do it as we didn’t run our own retail, spoken to the museum,

Tom Welsh – Fran for those living out of Perth can we start the forum at 7?

Fran – Tonight was due to Adams availability today, and Frans own situation.

Blair – Safe standing fundraiser – can the club endorse it on their media?

Adam - Its clear we’re supporting it, there are a certain segment of supporters that are concerned with the FCU conduct so we have to be careful not to alienate one group. I look forward to standing in it.

Lewis Mitchell – Summer recruitment spot on, asked about mentally as summer kit launch – is your philosophy through the season consistent?

Simo - Spent a lot of time thinking are these the right players for us, can they handle the pressure, different pressure fighting relegation. Push out players from day 1 when we started preseason, need to play winning football. Need maximum effort everyday.

Stuart thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting.