Supporters Direct And Other Trusts News

News here is regarding Supporters Direct and other Trusts:

Friday 13th October 2006: Sports Minister announces £1.8m grant from FSIF to Supporters Direct

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 stadiums.

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 football clubs' fanbases are engaged and contributing to the national game in a positive
way."

Monday 09th May 2005: Government Aim To Expand Role Of Supporters Direct

Supporters Direct today welcomed the announcement by the Chancellor Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP, that the incoming Labour Government is take forward its manifesto commitment to expand the role for Supporters Direct.

The commitment comes as part of news that a new National Sports Foundation (NSF) is to be set up to deliver £40m investment into grass roots sport to provide community based programmes, encouraging inclusion and participation through Sport direct from Treasury funding. As part of this new funding the Government also look to NSF to deliver their manifesto commitment to Supporters Direct.

Commenting on the announcement, Deputy Manager of Supporters Direct, Dave Boyle said, "We have already been phenomenally successful in our work in football, with a number of football clubs now owned by their fans through their supporters' trusts and lots more holding equity. Many Trusts are already at the forefront of helping clubs to develop their community programmes in areas such as participation, education and inclusion. We welcome this announcement as an opportunity to expand our work in football to help encourage more supporter representation and the beneficial effects that can have on local communities as well as looking at the potential to maybe develop into other sports. It is down to the success of our work and what supporters have themselves achieved that we are becoming accepted as part of the landscape of sport in this country and are now moving from the margins into the mainstream, and we hope that this helps to cement Supporters Direct at the forefront of positive change."

The NSF will operate by match funding investment in grassroots sport by a number of sports governing bodies, including The FA, The Rugby Football League and The Rugby Football Union.

Wednesday 27th October 2004: Chancellor pledges continued government support to supporters trusts

At the 4th Annual Conference of Supporters Direct tomorrow (28th October), The Chancellor of the Exchequer, The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, will declare his and the Government's backing for the past and future work of Supporters Direct and their member supporters trusts.

In a speech to be relayed by video to the conference at the British Library, he will praise the achievements of the Trust Movement as being, "A beacon of success for others to follow", further that they are, "Contributing to the development of a deep mutual understanding across our game - that football clubs can be at the centre of communities, both a unifying force for good, but also an inspiring force for young people in particular, irrespective of the community in which they grow up."

In the four years since Supporters Direct was established, over 120 supporters trusts have now been been set up, bringing a financial injection of over £10 million to the game, leading to 9 clubs being owned or controlled by their trusts, with nearly 40 now having board representation and almost 60 with shareholdings at their clubs.

He will also tell the audience that the government will continue to "Play an active role in all that you do", further pledging to reveal more in the November pre-Budget Report about the "Dedicated support and advice the (Inland) Revenue will give to Football Supporters Trusts", referring in particular to, "Helping you organise special charitable fund raising matches and events without incurring unecessary tax liabilities."

The speech is the first time that a Chancellor has spoken to football fans, and it will be given to an audience including representatives from all governing bodies in the game - including the FA, the FA Premier League and The Football League - as well as representatives from the 121 strong membership of Supporters Direct, including Shareholders United, who have most recently hit the headlines with their campaign to safeguard the future of Manchester United.

The event is also being supported by Random House, publishers of the sporting imprint 'Yellow Jersey Press', administrators Grant Thornton, football magazine When Saturday Comes, Cobbetts Solicitors of Manchester and the Co-op Bank.

Journalists are welcome to attend for all or part of the day, and requests for accreditation can be made by contacting Supporters Direct, to be collected on the day.

Ends

Friday 06th August 2004: Supporters Direct Press Release

10 MILLION REASONS FOR FANS TO BE INVOLVED IN RUNNING OF THE FA -INFLUENTIAL REPORT SHOWS IMPACT TRUSTS HAVE AS GOVERNING BODY'S CRISIS PROMPTS CALLS FOR CHANGE-

Supporters Direct, the organisation representing over 110 supporters trusts in the UK, today welcomed the increasing calls for supporter representation at the Football Association as part of the changes predicted to be made in the coming months.

A Supporters Direct BBC London Radio Fans Forum on Tuesday strongly supported having fans on the board of the FA, and the idea has attracted support from figures such as former Sports Minister Kate Howey MP and PFA Chief Gordon Taylor.

The calls coincide with the Deloitte and Touche Annual Review of Football Finance, published this week, which shows that supporters trusts put an extra £2Million in to the game in season 2002-03. Since Supporters Direct was launched in September 2000, Trusts have put over £10 million into the game.

Dave Boyle, Deputy Manager at Supporters Direct, said:

"That money is targeted at the places it's been needed most, like at York City, Lincoln City, Chesterfield and all the other clubs, where the money raised has been the reason those clubs survive. That we still haven't lost a Football League club is down to the hard work of those trusts."

In addition to raising over £10 Million, 75,000 fans have joined trusts in the last four years. Those fans now have a voice at Boardrooom level, with 38 fan representatives on clubs boards. Those representatives are backed up by shareholdings, with 54 Trusts using their funds to buy shares to make sure their influence is felt at the heart of the club.

At 9 clubs, the Supporters Trust now own the club, or are responsible for running it, and the experience shows that not only is fan representation the right thing to do, it's also very good for business. The Trust at York City inherited a loss of £300,000 and recently turned it into a surplus of £83,000 in just 12 months.

Dave Boyle added:

"4 years ago, some in the game said that fans had no place in boardrooms and that trusts couldn't run football clubs. We've proved those predictions wrong, yet the same voices argue that there's no place for fans within the FA's structures. Given the events of the last week, the game needs to use this expertise to bring the FA into the 21st Century.

"Currently, the Army, the Navy, Public Schools and amazingly, the New Zealand and Australian FA's are all have a say in the running of the FA, yet the fans in this country have no voice. That can't be right, and it isn't good for the game. It's likely that there will be major changes made to the FA in the coming months, and one of those must be to bring fans onboard at the highest levels."

----------------------------------------Release ends--------------------------------------------------

For further information, including images, please contact Dave Boyle, Deputy Manager, Supporters Direct on: dave.boyle@supporters-direct.org/07779 711264

EDITORS NOTES

-Supporters Direct is a government initiative, funded by public money, with offices in London and Glasgow. 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. Our work is based on democratic, mutual and not-for-profit principles.

-With a combined membership of over 70,000 people, supporters trusts have now put £10 million into football and own or control 9 football clubs in the UK.

-We are an Industrial and Provident Society registered with the Financial Services Authority (Registration Number: 29581R)

-For more information on Supporters Direct and Supporters' Trusts, visit http://www.supporters-direct.org

For further information on the Delloite and Touche Annual Review of Football Finance, go to www.sportsconsulting.co.uk

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