My involvement with the Trust movement came in 2002 when the ICT Supporters Club was invited to the first meeting of Supporters Direct – Scotland at Almondvale. This meeting really opened my eyes to the Trust movement; it’s concepts and what it could achieve. I have become passionate about supporter involvement and feel that supporters, who should be the most important stakeholders in every club, are so often taken for granted. To me it is so obvious that a football club is an essential part of a community and should be run in a sensible, accountable way in order to maintain its viability and that this should be done with supporter representation.
Most Trusts have been formed out of crisis and as this is not the case with us it has meant that is has been a longer, slower process than I would have liked but we have finally reached the point of forming our first board. I firmly believe that the involvement in a club by supporters who hold it dear can and must be the best way forward for its success and ultimately its existence. The Trust movement has a philosophy of helping people “who wish to play a responsible part in the life of the football club they support”.
Many fans still believe that the best way forward is for a business or benefactor to take the lead but I believe that the way forward is to have fans at the heart of the sport with at least board representation. The relationship between fans and clubs has been one of give and take – “give” by the fans, “take” by the club with little to show for it. Through a Trust this relationship can and should change.
I believe that the views of grass roots supporters are largely ignored by many Clubs and by football authorities and issues such as safe standing, fair pricing and sensible, timely postponement of games needs to be addressed. The Trust movement has shown how supporters can make a positive contribution to their clubs and that we have the required skills to do this and Trusts working together sharing knowledge and experience should help us to be taken seriously.
The Trust has a set of aims which include
- Strengthening links between the club and the community
- Preserving the heritage and traditions of the club
- Promoting sport (and football in particular) in the community
and in doing this would act as an umbrella group for supporters in its links with the club.
Many folk wonder why we need a Trust when we already have a Supporters Club. With the involvement of big business in football clubs there is an increasing danger that clubs can be separated from their fans and the formation of a Supporters Trust is meant to prevent this happening and to give supporters greater involvement in the running of their club. A Trust is set up as a limited liability company and by joining you are not just a member but a part owner. The £1 share you receive on joining is yours for as long as you remain a member. You also have a say in who is running the organisation by voting for the people who run it but you can also stand for election yourself. The majority of members will always be elected from the general membership so if you want to get involved…. The Trust constitution is wide ranging and allows for many activities however these activities must be carried out for the good of the club and the community it serves. Possible activities of the Trust include promoting youth and children’s football, dealing with the club on fans’ consumer issues (admission prices, replica strips, facilities, segregation), organising social events (in conjunction with the Supporters Club) or more or less what the membership decide. Money raised by the Trust will be transferred into a shareholding, rather than be given to the club as a donation and as a result the supporters who raise the cash gain an increased influence in the club. Members who are individual shareholders can assign their voting rights to the Trust but retain their ownership and all other rights. No particular interest group or clique within the support can gain control of the Trust and indeed the establishment of the Trust has been actively supported by the Supporters Club, the Members Club as well as individual shareholders and supporters.
A Trust will act as a collective voice on behalf of all its members applying the theory that the ‘whole is better than the sum of the parts’. The Trust is bound by its rules and the law to hold democratic elections to the committee of the Trust and, hopefully in time, to the board of directors of ICT FC. All members of the Trust will have an equal say at meetings and other decision-making processes such as elections. Any member can stand for election to the Trust committee or as a director representing the Trust on the club’s board of directors. The Trust has to report to the Register of Friendly Societies annually to ensure that its principles are being upheld.
Some may see setting up a Trust as a conflict with the Supporters Club. Both organisations have, in my view, the same aims but the Trust is a much more formal, democratic and, to many, credible organisation. There are different set-ups at different clubs. Some have both a Trust and Supporters Clubs or Associations, some a Trust and a Travel Club and some solely a Trust. Ultimately, the members of the Supporters Club will decide its future.
To visit the trust website click here