• Press releases
• News Digest
• features

Supporters Direct conference, 2005

The annual Supporters Direct conference, which gives reps and members from Supporters Trusts up and down the Country the chance to meet up, network and swap ideas via a face-to-face basis, took place at the British Library on Friday 30th September.

Bob Asprey and Jennie Sullivan attended on behalf of The Lions Trust.

The event was opened by Phil French, the director of public policy of the premier league, and one of the founders of Supporters Direct.  He spoke of how proud he is to be part of the movement again (he became more involved with SD earlier on in the year when he was installed as chief executive) and how he is looking forward to the prospect of helping to take on the challenge in helping Supporters Trusts to work towards the radical transformation on how they are treated and perceived by their clubs. He also said how since the inception of the organisation, which in turn led to the Supporters Trust movement being borne, how pleased he is to say that the organisation now has 134 Supporters Trusts registered with it (from clubs throughout England, Scotland and Wales); that 13 of them now either own, control or run their clubs; and went on to make a prediction that if the movement could continue to improve and show responsibility, then he would estimate that by the year 2016, more clubs throughout the UK will be Trust owned or controlled than those that will not be.

Next up to address the audience was Gerry Sutcliffe who has been the MP for Bradford South for over a decade now. Since the election he was made the under secretary of state at the department of trade and industry.

Gerry has been chair and captain of the Parliamentary football team; and pointed out that he has in the past entered two-minute rule votes in parliament on football related issues. A supporter of Bradford City football club, Gerry spoke about the importance of good governance and sound practice within the game and that as a supporter of Bradford City he could vouch that the boom and bust effect in getting to the premiership does not always work! He mentioned how he was encouraged are now at last taking note of Supporters Direct and of the Supporters Trust movement and spoke of the need to balance the need of supporters and clubs. He finished by mentioning how the company law bill could be changing in the near future and that the reform of it would help all Trusts’ in the future.

Now, the next gentleman to address the audience, Richard Scudamore, Chief executive of the Premier League, was an interesting speaker to have at a conference where much of the audience comprised of groups and individuals that have had to quite literally fight to save their clubs, many of which are based in the lower level of the professional league structure.

Richard, who has been chief exec of the premier league since 1999, made quite a lengthy speech in which he listed what he viewed as recent successes achieved by him and his colleagues e.g. negotiating with Europe regarding selling rights and being successful in their negotiations.

He then went on to speak about 1999, and how it was quite a significant year because not only was it the year that the go-ahead was given for funds to be given to an organisation which would head a movement for supporters wishing to involve themselves in a more responsible manner in their clubs – and he was quite open that many at that time viewed this as a labour party gimmick – but that it was also the year in which the premier league appointed its first fans liaison group which then led to the introduction of customer charters.

On going on to speak about supporter views relating to premiership clubs he commented that he felt it important that supporters at those clubs did still feel that clubs ‘are theirs’ but said also how views about fans’ ownership, or indeed control, did appear to be widely debated with opinion split regarding the matter and went on to say how the premier league themselves do not have a fixed view about model ownership clubs and that in fact they are quite neutral to the issue of fan ownership. He did mention Charlton as a club that has a hugely inclusive board structure involving its fans, which does indeed give the club a big community feel about it. 

He then spoke about the premier league currently being at a crossroads and went on to talk about attendances. Since its inception in 1994 attendances on the whole has grown by 67% and he commented on how this is now impossible for the attendance rate to grow. The money generated in its first year was £40m. Last year it generated £580m. TV audiences per match this season have so far been down by 10% but he said that if the audiences are taken overall then they have been up by 12%.

He ended by saying that the good bit about being at a crossroads is that it will now help to grab the hearts and minds of those running clubs by encouraging them to make sure the supporters have a voice more, especially regarding ticket prices etc, and that ultimately running a club has the responsibility of needing to strike a balance between common sense and at times, a slight risk factor.    

The next gentleman from the top table to speak was Alex Phillips, who is the head of professional services at UEFA based in Geneva. Introduced by Brian as an Arsenal fan, Alex spoke firstly about his role at and then about UEFA itself in general. He explained that interest throughout Europe in how their clubs are structured has taken off in a constructive and positive way and said that the professional football services of which he is head, is an association of an association (UEFA). He mentioned how since UEFA formed in 1954 it had never had a formal strategy. And so a year ago, some of them sat down and put down on paper their ideas, which began to take shape and was named Vision Europe. The document was drafted and then finalised in Italian with the two core principles of Vision Europe being

• all clubs would be legally structured
• all clubs would be run by supporters on democratic principles

Alex mentioned how when the paper was being drafted there were (understandably) some rather sceptical comments being made about how this vision was/is unrealistic. In his highly motivational speech he gave the examples of the national side of Greece before the world cup, and how they had been classed by the experts as ‘unrealistic’ at having any chance of winning the tournament before the start of the competition; he also gave the example of Liverpool in last season’s champions’ league final, and how so many had thought it ‘unrealistic’ at half time that they could turn the game around. 

“So what could possibly be so unrealistic about Vision Europe?” he asked.

He went on to speak about why they felt the two core principles of Vision Europe are so important, firstly talking about club ownership and the way they are structured and that finding the cause before a club goes out of business is surely far better than reacting afterwards; and secondly about the importance of democracy and regulation.

Alex ended his inspirational speech by leaving the captured audience with a personal thought of his own in how it’s occurred to him since many clubs were formed in 1888 the circle has moved and how it now looks as though the whole process has gone back to the start when clubs were self determined.

Next up was Andy Burnham MP, who was given a warm reception by everyone in the room, including Phil French, who presented Andy with a present by way of thanks from everyone for all of his work that he has achieved, and done, on behalf of the Trust movement. Andy opened his gift only to find he had unwrapped a box of tissues. “They’re for when Everton get relegated”

Andy, a keen Toffeeman, is the MP for Leigh and since the general election has become parliamentary under secretary of state at the home office. He was instrumental in the setting up of SD and for 3 years (from 2002 til the summer of this year) he was the organisation’s chair.

He unsurprisingly began his speech by referring to 6 years to that day at the labour party conference when the organisation was borne and went on to talk about clubs such as Lincoln, Chesterfield and York as real inspirations and spoke about the sacrifices that were made by those that were battling to save their clubs, with families and personal finances being put on the line.

More recently he spoke of the success of AFC Wimbledon and of the rich reward given to the Stockport  County Trust regarding them being transferred control and ownership of their club.

He then went on to pay tribute to a number of people with whom he has worked closely with over the course of the last 6 years, including Dave Boyle (SD deputy chief exec), Phil Tooley (SD director and board member at Chesterfield Trust), Sean Hamil (caseworker and Celtic Trust member), Yvonne Fletcher (SD director, Luton Town), Cobbetts solicitors and the FA.

He said how he is sad to be leaving the organisation, that he would always keep an eye on what is happening in the future, and spoke of Phil French, and his recognition of the role of supporters and how he is a fantastic coo for the Trust movement.

A Q&A followed. The rep from the posh Trust asked Scudamore how many clubs he felt put their fans at the top of the pecking order? He responded that the people that run premiership clubs want what is right for their football club, and that whilst some of them get it wrong, he did not believe that any clubs went out of their way to not put the interests of their fans as priority.

The rep from the Huddersfield Trust brought up the issue of a fair deal for all clubs to benefit from the revenue generated via the premier league and went on to say how  categorisation regarding ticketing prices had been made for the first time at the McAlpine this season, commenting on how the grading of games was wrong and that this is yet another example of clubs basically having to make money via means they have never had to resort to previously, and again reiterated the point of a fair share of premier league monies.

RS responded by saying that a meeting had very recently taken place between the FA, the Football league and other bodies regarding this issue and that it is an ongoing matter that will be discussed in the near future. He commented that the FA and FL could quite possibly achieve a rulebook regarding the categorisation of games, and indeed pricing, but that he was not sure the end result would be the one originally aimed for.

Written by Tracy Stent, QPR 1st