Glentoran owner Ali Pour agrees to meet fed-up fans’ group

Coincidence? Make your own mind up.

While it is understood no time or date has been set yet for the get together, this sudden turn of events is a result for the GSU who will look forward to putting their views to Pour.

In their original letter, sent on March 20 and signed by a host of prominent Glentoran Supporters Clubs, the GSU asked for a meeting with Pour to discuss ongoing issues at the east Belfast outfit requesting a response within 30 days.

The letter, which was made public today by the GSU, declared that the newly formed supporters group was not challenging Pour or his ‘generous investment’ in the club but it did point out that ‘we and many other Glentoran supporters believe the people you have entrusted to deliver on your investment and move the club forward have struggled to do so, leaving supporters in the dark around future developments and have failed to put in place the internal structures required to bring success to our club’.

The GSU, an amalgamation of Glentoran Supporters Clubs, also wrote of their fears that if the issues are not addressed season ticket sales and attendances could plummet next season pointing out that communication lines between the club and fans are ‘very poor’.

The letter followed a host of hard hitting statements from various Glentoran Supporters Clubs in March calling on Pour to make managerial and structural changes at the club. Warren Feeney left the manager’s role shortly after with Declan Devine appointed as boss until the end of the season.

Businessman Pour headed a consortium which included Mick McDermott and Paul Millar to take over Glentoran in 2019.

At that time McDermott became manager and Millar assistant manager.

McDermott left the manager’s position in January 2023 after fan protests though he remained on the board alongside Millar.

Despite massive amounts of money in Irish League terms being spent on players over the past five years, the club have only won one trophy – the 2020 Irish Cup – leaving fans frustrated, angry and questioning where the club is going.

At present the Glens are in fifth position in the Premiership table and suffered their 11th league defeat of a disappointing campaign in a 2-1 loss to Larne on Tuesday.

The full letter to Pour, which was sent to the Oval last month, reads: “Dear Mr Pour, I write to you on behalf of the Glentoran Supporters Union (GSU).

“We are a group of Glentoran Supporters Clubs which amalgamated to discuss the current situation at Glentoran Football Club and devise a way forward, due to our concerns about how certain personnel in high positions of office are running the club.

“Let us first put on record that this is not a case of Glentoran supporters challenging you and your generous investment in our club. We know that we have been very fortunate to receive such high levels of investment.

“However, we and many other Glentoran supporters believe the people you have entrusted to deliver on your investment and move the club forward have struggled to do so, leaving supporters in the dark around future developments and have failed to put in place the internal structures required to bring success to our club.

“We concluded that it was best to write directly to you, the owner of the club, to request a meeting with supporters’ club representatives to discuss the issues at the club, what we feel needs to improve and to hear how you plan to take us forward.

“We understand that Glentoran Football Club are simply one of your many investments and you are no doubt busy, however in the 5 years since shareholders agreed to sell you 85% of our club, we (supporters) are yet to meet you as a collective to ask any questions, to be given any answers or informed what direction our football club is going in – and how we are going to get there.

“We are aware you have provided interviews to the local media and to Glentoran TV on a few occasions, however this does not directly address our concerns and does not give us the opportunity to ask you any questions.

“Communication lines between the club and supporters are very poor. We are the lifeblood of this club; our attendances have taken a nosedive this season and if issues are not addressed we foresee a further plummet in season ticket sales and attendances for next season.

“We do not want this to happen, we want a successful Glentoran and we are sure you do too.

“This is why we ask for you to meet with us at a time and date of your choosing, to discuss the many issues we have. We will compose a proper agenda, which we are happy to provide to you in advance.

“We will limit this meeting to representatives from supporters’ clubs only – this will not be an open-air meeting for anyone who wishes to attend and we will nominate a select number from between all the clubs, you will not be faced with a room of 18 people.

“We hope that you will agree to this, sooner rather than later as key issues which impact the coming season need addressed. We hope you agree that this is a much more sensible, pragmatic and unified approach to our problems, as opposed to posting on social media or indeed protests which we have seen before at our club and other clubs.

“We ask for a response to this letter within 30 days so that we know where we stand and whether or not you agree to this meeting.

“These are important matters which impact us all and require a resolution as soon as possible. The next 12 months could be amongst the biggest in our history should the sub-regional stadium money be released.

“This is something that could secure the future of our club for the next 100 years and I’m sure we all agree that we would like to go into that year with all matters addressed and all unified as one.

“We thank you for your time.”

The letter ended with the phrase ‘Yours in sport’ with the names of Glentoran Supporters Clubs that make up the GSU printed at the bottom. They are: Castlereagh GSC, Victoria GSC, Stormont GSC, Raven GSC, 1st Newtownards GSC, 1st Mid Shankill GSC, Hillfoot GSC, Ballynahinch GSC, Glentoran Ultras, Cookstown GSC, Carryduff GSC, Westbourne GSC, Ballymac GSC, Sydenham End Glens, Gertrude Glens GSC, North Down GSC, 1923 Committee and Dundonald GSC.

Understandably those supporters have been wondering if there had been any contact from Glentoran or Pour about setting up a meeting.

In releasing the contents of the letter sent to Pour, the GSU also released a statement this afternoon declaring they had received no response and questioned whether the Glentoran owner had even seen it.

The statement said: “In our previous statement the Glentoran Supporters Union announced we would be writing to Ali Pour in order to request a face to face meeting with some representatives of supporters clubs, to discuss the current issues we believe exist at Glentoran, how Ali Pour planned to address these issues and what direction our club was heading in.

“Given we understand Ali Pour is no doubt a busy man, we gave him the courtesy of 30 days' right to reply. To date we have received no response.

“Prior to posting, we made contact with a representative from Glentoran in order to obtain a postal and/or email address for the letter to be sent to. We were informed that no one at Glentoran, with the exception of East No 1 board members, holds this information.

“Therefore it was a speculative effort posting the letter to our majority shareholder, as we were completely in the dark as to whether he would receive it.

“We posted a copy of the letter addressed to him to the Oval and a copy to a business address of his listed on Companies House. Therefore due to a lack of response we are left with no other option than to publish the letter in public domain, via social media and the local media, Whilst we hoped to avoid this and still hold out for a response, our hope is that by doing so it will bring the letter to Mr Pour’s attention and we can at least receive a response to acknowledge he has seen and is considering the correspondence.”

At the end of the statement were the names of the supporters group showing that they remain united.

And on the back of an eventful day for the GSU, contact with them has now been made from the club saying that Pour will meet the fans.