Supporters Direct Europe
By Philip French, Chief Executive of Supporters Direct



These are both exciting and challenging times for the Supporters Trust movement as the organisation moves from a period of consolidation into one of growth and development.

There is a great opportunity to build and develop the core work of the Trusts to ensure they can play an ever increasing role in terms of democratic representation of supporter views but also in the financial governance of clubs and the role they play in the local community.

Such progress has seen over 140 trusts established with over 40 securing Board representation.

But critically, in recent months, the Trust movement - led by Supporters Direct - has finally made a break through with the football authorities in terms of representation and recognition of the Trust movement's role in the modern game.

After having intervened in 22 cases to help save clubs from financial disaster and with 14 clubs now under trust control the penny seems to have finally dropped!

This support has been reflected in a new funding deal from the Football Foundation which is an independent body part funded by Government, the Premier League, the FA.

The FA have already started to hold regular meetings with Supporters Direct on key issues and has offered a place on the financial compliance unit.

But perhaps the best example of the opportunities such penetration brings is in Europe.

Our major breakthrough came about after some concerted lobbying on the European White paper on Sport, which singled and highlighted the Trust movement as a model of best practice.

Indeed the European Review on Sport also concluded that: “a properly structured supporter involvement will help to contribute to improved governance and financial stability (as well as other benefits) and, as such, it would be worthwhile to examine the feasibility of rolling out the Supporters Direct framework on a European level, subject to compliance with club ownership models that exist in other jurisdictions.”

This recommendation cemented UEFA's commitment to fund a European Feasibility study into the potential for establishing a Europe-wide supporters' trust movement.

This is something for which Supporters Direct has been pushing for some time and sends out a huge and very welcome message of support from the European Governing Body.

The feasibility study is exactly that and so the case has to be established before any further steps are taken so it is important to recognise the huge cultural and legal hurdles which may stand in the way of development.

The study is being conducted by to two researchers with legal backgrounds, one based in London, the other in Barcelona - home of a club which prides itself on its democratic membership.

The aim is to observe the variety of football club-supporter relationships existing in Europe.

Each country has its own unique political, cultural and legal challenges that will have to be overcome in order to assess the potential for supporters' trusts in Europe, and it is crucial to understand the unique context within which each country's football culture operates.

The overall question is how supporters rate their relationship to their clubs - particularly their definition of actual and desired participation.

Do members and supporters' groups of football clubs feel represented, treated like customers or as valuable stakeholders? Do they try to gain ownership or generally more influence, or are they not concerned anymore?

So far the study has led to the formation of a minority shareholders association in Spain and requests from a number of supporters' clubs in Europe to develop Trusts, which is hugely encouraging.

In addition, the European Commission continues to invite us to any open forums on football to ensure we have a representative voice to sit alongside the European Leagues and G14 clubs.

It is a golden opportunity to make our voice heard where it counts and where in matters, working from within to secure a representative voice, in much the same way that trusts try to achieve with clubs.

UEFA has also recently invited supporter representatives from all over Europe for the first inaugural meeting to explore ways of developing a European fans' forum to sit alongside the potential future development of European trusts. So there is a real momentum and some exciting times ahead for the Trust movement.

The democratic representative voice of the supporter can only benefit the operation of clubs, improve communication and bring a vital level of accountability to secure the future interests of clubs at every level of the game. Finally this point is starting to gain the level of recognition it so richly deserves.

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About Supporters Direct:

We are an Industrial and Provident Society, owned by our members, and funded by the Football Stadia Improvement Fund - the partner organisation of the Football Foundation - and in Scotland by the Scottish Government.

Our aim is to help people "who wish to play a responsible part in the life of the football club they support" and we offer support, advice and information to groups of football supporters.
Supporters Direct exists to:

* Promote and support the concept of democratic supporter ownership and representation through mutual, not-for-profit structures
* Promote football clubs as civic and community institutions
* Work to preserve the competitive values of league football in the United Kingdom and promoting the health of the game as a whole

In order to promote and achieve this, we work to bring about the following objectives:

* The Formation of Supporters' Trusts as IPSs to ensure democratic, transparent representative bodies for supporters at their clubs
* The democratic representation of Supporters' Trusts on Football Club Boards
*
The ownership of shares in clubs by Supporters' Trusts and the pooling of individually held shares in a club under the influence of the Trust

To assist Supporters' Trusts in this, we will work to ensure:

* The identification and dissemination of best practice between Trusts
* Increasing influence of Supporters Direct with the governing bodies
* High profile for Supporters Direct and Supporters' Trusts within the media and cognate organisations

Find out more about Supporters Direct at: http://www.supporters-direct.org/englandwales/index.htm

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Nigel King,