Supporters Direct, the organisation representing over 150 supporters’ trusts in the UK, welcomed a series of recommendations (on 21st April) from the Parliamentary All Party Football Group (APFG) calling for greater and more formal supporter representation at football clubs, using the already successful model of supporters’ trusts – a model already seen widely in the top four divisions.
The report calls for the introduction of supporter representatives on the board of every club, and that this representative will be elected and sit on a Supporters’ Trust. You can read the report in full by clicking here – refer to Chapter 5.
This recommendation follows on from a similar call by then-Culture Secretary James Purnell in 2007.
The report, published today, also recommends that supporters are given more representation within the game’s governing bodies – including the FA Board.
Welcoming the recommendations, Chief Executive Dave Boyle said, “We’re very pleased that the group have recognised the importance of supporters’ involvement and taken account of the good work done across the game by supporters’ trusts.
Commenting further on some of the other recommendations, he added:
“There are some other important recommendations within the report. We are particularly pleased at their support for consolidating and extending the Fit and Proper Persons Test, having seen so many cases where owners of clubs were in no way suitable to own a community asset like a football club.
“As important as stopping the wrong person taking over clubs is stopping clubs doing the wrong things, and we endorse the recommendations on financial stability and on introducing a licensing system for clubs.
“We also share the concerns of the committee as to the wider financial health of the game and worry that an industry which saw over half of its clubs enter administration in favourable times will have severe problems in the middle of the worst recession for a generation.”