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News DigestCovering news related to Supporter Trusts and the work of The Lions Trust.
October 2006 When football is no longer fun... An anonymous committee member of a Supporters Trust talks about the downside of being involved with a Trust. This is not the view of The Lions Trust! True fans keep football alive not the high rollers American football entrepreneurs, Russian oligarchs, Icelandic tycoons, international financiers of no fixed geographical boundary and a twitchy suspicion of public scrutiny: you would think, reading the headlines, that everyone with a lot of cash and an eye to making even more is currently circling English football.
The Minister for Sport, the Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP, today welcomed a new three year funding deal from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund (FSIF) for Supporters Direct (SD) starting from 2007/08. The new deal, worth just under £1.8 million pounds, is testament to the enormous growth and success of the organisation which boasts over 140 trusts in England, Scotland and Wales and 14 clubs in trust ownership or control. Sports Minister Richard Caborn said: "It is the loyal supporters on the terraces who will always be the beating heart of sports clubs. I am delighted that this new funding deal will help extend the influence of football Trusts in local communities while increasing and developing their role across all sports. "This is a tremendous vote of confidence to Supporters Direct and the vital work sport fans have achieved through SD over the past five years." The increase in funding will enable SD to provide a significantly enhanced level of support to supporters' trusts, to help them build their capacity and help them deliver an improved level of governance and financial control within their clubs. The increase will also enable many trusts to work in partnership to develop a fundamental change in approach to the running of some football clubs, by delivering a new community ownership structure enabling them to relocate and deliver core local services from SD's Chief Executive, Phil French, commented: "This is tremendous news for the trust movement and for the game as a whole. We are equally indebted to the Minister for Sport for helping to deliver this increase in funding and to Trustees of the FSIF for supporting our work. "It is a great testament to the achievements of the trust movement that we have been able to deliver this increase, to ensure our member trusts can continue to provide clubs with an increased level of financial stability, effective governance and accountability with more of a community focus." Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Stadia Improvement Fund, added: "The FSIF has a proud history of making sure fans across the country can watch the game in a safety and comfort through funding the modernisation of stadia. "I am delighted that we are now also helping to ensure that the valuable resource of Uefa backs Supporters Direct project UEFA is backing the launch of a project to study the feasibility of a European Supporters Direct body - which would, among other things, give supporters the opportunity to play a role in improving the financial stability and governance of their clubs. The project was announced in London on Friday during a speech to the UK Supporters Direct annual conference by UEFA's director of communications and public affairs William Gaillard. United Kingdom sports minister Richard Caborn also spoke at the conference. read the Independent European Sport Review. December 2005 Clubs owned and run by their members are already a European reality Supporters Direct Chief Exec Phil French spells out success for the Supporters Trust movement.
Supporters Direct Annual Conference, 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. Speakers included Phil French CE of Supporters Direct, Andy Burnham MP, Gerry Sutcliffe MP, Richard Scudamore, CE of the Premier League and Alex Philips from UEFA. April 2005 Fans United Day a Great SuccessCambridge United are the latest club to be on the edge of extinction as it fights for survival both financially and on the pitch. In a bid to raise awareness and boost the club’s revenues, they held a ‘Fans United Day’, organised by their Supporters Trust, Cambridge Fans United. Fans from all clubs were invited to the Abbey Stadium for their match against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday 19th March. Millwall were not playing on this day and The Lions Trust Chairman Bob Asprey was among a group of Millwall fans which made the trip. Bob commented, “The day was a great success, with a bumper crowd of nearly 5,000, an excellent atmosphere, and we all had a superb day. From the pre-match refreshment in the bar in the Supporters Club, to the half-time photo call, the award-winning (apparently) bacon rolls and a decent match featuring Rob Lee, Iwan Roberts and our own Steve Claridge. We even saw two teams trying to score goals and win, plus we could stand without being hassled by jobsworth stewards. There was a fantastic (if unusual) atmosphere, with fans from more than 80 clubs there, and the effort was clearly appreciated by the Cambridge faithful.” Cambridge United Fans Director Brian Attmore expressed his delight at the solidarity shown by fellow football supporters. He said, "It proved to be a very emotional day for fans of Cambridge United. At half time it was my privilege to publicly offer the sincere thanks from Cambridge Fans United to everyone who joined us at the Abbey Stadium. The resultant prolonged standing ovation is a memory that will stay with United fans for many years to come." 2004Supporters Aim For The TopAt the recent Supporters Direct conference in London, a resolution was passed after some friendly debate. It called for the powers that be to recognise that football fans had a right to sit on the official, governing bodies of the game. Take the FA Council for example. This is a major decision-making forum of the custodians of the national game. Its representatives include people from county football associations, public schools, the Army, Air Force and Navy. And of course, the clubs, especially those in the Premier League. Notice who's missing?Over the last few years, fans have proved that they are capable of organising themselves and putting forward articulate and practical solutions to the game's problems. Supporters' achievements have ranged from the setting up of supporters trusts to actually running clubs such as Chesterfield and Lincoln, from the Football Supporters' Federation [FSF] ‘ambassadors' who have helped smooth relations between England fans and the locals during European and World Cup tournaments, to the sterling efforts of the Hillsborough Families Campaign for a public enquiry into the deaths of their loved ones. None of these achievements are recognised by Football's ruling bodies. Who is there to represent the supporters' point of view? We don't expect the FA to suddenly change things because we've passed a resolution; they have ignored us for decades. But this should be part of a concerted campaign to put pressure on them to give fans a voice at the top table. There a number of organisations through which fans can be represented, including Supporters Direct itself and the FSF. Who could argue that they are less worthy of a place than some of the organisations mentioned above? We should also support some official recognition of the players' union, the PFA. Although some think that players have too much power already, the PFA represents more than just the Premiership players. Those in the lower divisions, on far from superstar contracts, deserve some representation too. This idea of fans being recognised as a legitimate voice within the game also applies at club level. A number of clubs have fans' reps on the board - as well as those already mentioned where the fans are the club. This situation would have been seen as Utopian just a few years ago, although of course the county cricket clubs have had their supporters [through their membership system] serving on decision-making bodies for years. Everyone needs to realise that fans are not prepared to be passive ‘consumers' or ‘customers’. We have worked hard to develop a distinctive voice within football. It's about time this was recognised at the highest level.
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Trust registration number: 29562 R |
