Submit your views on supporter involvement in football clubs

December 10, 2014

Trust News

A message from Supporters Direct

As you may know SD has been working behind the scenes with the UK Department of Culture, Media and Support (DCMS) and football authorities to bring about the long awaited Expert Working Group.

We now have a fantastic opportunity to shape the landscape of English football, and supporters’ role within it forever.

As a reminder, one of the key recommendations from DCMS’ Select Committee Football Governance Inquiry (2011) was to set up an Expert Working Group (EWG).
The purpose of the EWG is to identify solutions to current barriers preventing greater collective supporter share ownership of football clubs and explore the greater facilitation of supporter engagement and involvement in the governance and running of football clubs.

As you may know the first meeting of the EWG took place last month, and now an important step in the process has just been announced; a call for evidence.

The call for evidence is your chance to input into the process, critically sharing your experiences and expertise in some very specific areas. The EWG are looking for:

  • Expert evidence from supporter groups and from the sectors and industries involved outlining experience and opinion on which current football rules and regulations and / or statutory law create barriers to supporter ownership of football clubs; 
  • Ideas and opinion on any suggested changes to existing regulation or legislation which would support, sustain and incentivise greater collective supporter and community ownership of football clubs; 
  • Suggestions of best practice or ways to sustain and increase broader supporter engagement at football clubs in England and Wales.

To find out more, including the Terms of Reference for the group and how to submit evidence, please go to:
httpss://www.gov.uk/government/news/football-supporter-ownership-and-engagement-expert-working-group-issues-call-for-evidence

The EWG is due to produce initial recommendations in March 2015 and the call for evidence closes on January 9th.

SD are represented on the EWG by Robin Osterley and James Mathie, if you would like to discuss any submissions or have any questions about the process please drop James a line at james.mathie@supporters-direct.coop