Written evidence submitted by the Newcastle
United Supporters Trust
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This Report provides the
Committee with:
— A description
of the Aims and Vision of Newcastle United Supporters Trust.
— A short
analysis on the findings of the recent survey of our Supporters
Attitudes.
— Addresses
some of the issues involved in trying to raise finance from the
fans.
— Recommends
a close examination of the German Model of football Governance
as a model for here, including fan ownership and Club licensing
to ensure financial probity and sustainability.
— Concludes
with a bullet point list of Actions and recommendations for the
Committee to consider.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 This Supporters Trust was formed in 2009
using the model provided by Supporters Direct. Its legal form
is that of a Co-operative Society run for the benefit of its members.
The first election to the Board took place in March 2010, and
we have spent the first year developing our Strategy and our internal
systems as well as making regular contact with our members through
our web site and e-mail system.
1.2 We now have 1,200 fully paid up members and
26,000 e-mail subscribers. We also in the process of establishing
a Junior Supporters Trust.
The Aims and Vision of NUST are as follows:
— To
strengthen the Bonds and dialogue between Newcastle United and
its followers.
— To
encourage Newcastle United to take proper account of the interests
of its supporters and the community it serves in its decisions
and to honour the contribution made to the club by the community.
— Ultimately,
to promote the full, accountable, democratic and constructive
involvement of supporters in the running and direction of Newcastle
United including the principle of supporter representation on
the Board of Newcastle United.
— To
ensure that NUFC is well managed and successfully run for the
benefit of the Community by being placed in local ownership to
provide long-term stability.
— To
ensure that as far as possible the Club is run democratically
with a majority ownership held by the Supporters investing for
the long-term and not short-term financial gain.
— To
develop the influence and profile of the Trust by developing its
membership so that it can provide the leadership and credibility
necessary to ensure Supporter ownership and Representation on
the Board of NUFC.
2. MEMBERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT AND
ATTITUDES
2.1 We have recently conducted a survey of all
our supporters with following headline results:
— 83%
felt the current Board was not capable of making the Club a top
five Premier league team.
— 90%
felt the Board do not listen to the fans.
— 75%
would like the Club to be owned by the fans or by a local consortium
alongside the fans.
— 78%
believe the fans should have a financial stake in the club and
be represented at Board level.
— 65%
of The Trust's members are likely to invest at least £500.
2.2 We intend to present a full summary of these
findings to our members in March 2011, and follow this meeting
with another on the "German model" of football governance
in May.
2.3 We feel very encouraged with these findings
to begin a long campaign to encourage the fans to at least promise
to invest in circumstances where we can tell them that a bid for
the club would be successful.
2.4 We are attracted to the German model of Governance
because it recognises that the football clubs, large and small,
are community assets—not private companies to be bought
and sold by rich individuals for private gain. They have developed
the legal and financial structures to reflect this. As the President
of the Budesliga says in his 2010 Report—"German professional
football, unlike other European top leagues, consciously aims
for sustainability and stability with its conservative licensing
system."
2.5 They have also made a strategic decision
to keep entry fees for fans at a low level. The average German
fan pays 20.79 Euros (£17.67) to see a match as the clubs
deliberately pursue a family orientated philosophy.
2.6 The German clubs, in contrast to the Premier
League, are always trying to bring into line the interests of
clubs, advertising partners, media and supporters. The current
situation in England with high ticket prices, overseas ownership
with no connection to the clubs, and a majority of highly paid
foreign players is surely not sustainable in the long term and
is currently damaging the English National team.
3. LAUNCHING
A BID
FOR THE
CLUB BY
THE SUPPORTERS—SOME
PRELIMINARY ISSUES
3.1 The first thing to note is that the current
Constitution supplied to most Supporters Organisations does allow
for Trusts to raise equity from the fans but the current limit
of £20,000 equity investment per person is not adequate in
our case and we feel should be raised as a limit. We have 26,000
potential investors at the moment. if we could raise £1,000
from each of them that would provide £26 million in Equity.
The multiples always apply when seeking investment from a large
group of people-this is often ignored in current debates.
3.2 We feel that that £26 million should
bring us to the table and at least get a seat on the Board. We
therefore think that the Committee should give some thought to
setting some legal and financial parameters that would encourage
the fans to invest in their clubs large and small. At the moment
the current owners are not under any obligation to even talk to
us. The German model, which encourages fan ownership, would be
worth investigating in this connection.
3.3 We will shortly begin to explore with banks
and Building Societies the possibility of setting up individual
savings accounts for our supporters so that the Account remains
in their personal ownership, but they pledge to release these
funds in the event of a bid being launched which is likely to
succeed. This would provide an obvious benefit to the individual
supporter, and to NUST since we would be able organise around
the fund and develop new interest. We would also support Supporters
Direct in their recent proposal to establish a National Fund to
help supporters finance bids for their club.
CONCLUSION
* In conclusion we would like to emphasise that we
agree with the All Parliamentary Report on English Football and
its Governance which reported in April 2009 that "our football
clubs are national assets that must be protected to ensure their
long-term success and survival", and that there is a role
for Supporters to play in this by encouraging them to seek ownership
and/or influence on the future direction of their clubs.
In the history of Newcastle United it is the supporters
who have been the one constant factor whilst owners and players
have come and gone. They set the club up in the first place.
* There is a need now recognise the role that supporters
play throughout the country in maintaining their clubs, They should
no longer be seen as passive consumers. They are and always have
been the backbone of every club. We would look to the members
of this Enquiry to ensure through legal and financial means, perhaps
including a new Football Regulatory Authority, which the 2009
report called for, to put football on a more sustainable legal
and financial footing in part by encouraging Supporter Ownership
and Influence.
We would like to see the Enquiry address the following
points and come up with recommendations on:
— Legal
Requirement for Supporters to have a voice/place on the Board
of football clubs.
— Requirement
for a stake in a football club to be given to a properly constituted
Trust, or at least a requirement to allow supporters to buy a
stake in a club through a Trust.
— Raise
the current limit of £20,000 equity investment per person
through an I & PS.
— Review
the current Fit and Proper Person Test and its method of implementation.
— Investigate
the possibility of establishing a national fund to assist Supporters
in the purchase of clubs, and/or the feasibility of collective
savings schemes for supporters to save in order to be in a position
to buy shares in the event of a likely successful bid for the
club.
— Establish
a Licensing System to address club debt, financial instability
and to ensure that clubs increase supporter influence.
— Ensure
that tax incentives similar to the EIS scheme are available to
supporters seeking to invest in their clubs.
January 2010
| 
