Last week Juzza, Graham and I attended the second annual Supporters Direct Conference at Birkbeck University in London. It was an event, which gave delegates the opportunity to attend workshop sessions, in which expert practitioners in key fields, shared their experiences in a variety of issues affecting trusts. The event also proved to be a great opportunity in allowing fellow supporters from different clubs to gather together and
discuss the important issues facing football today.

Opening Plenary - Supporters Trust & Football Governance

Once the registration process had been completed it was time for the opening plenary, in which a variety of football/sport figures gave speeches from the stage.

First up was Andy Burnham MP, Chair of Supporters Direct. Andy, who's an Everton fan, gave an explanation of Supporters Direct, the role in which he plays on it as Chairman (since March of this year), and how, after its launch in 1999, the organisation has gone from strength to strength, outlining how there are now 62 Supporters Trusts in operation up and down the Country, and out of these 62 Trusts, 23 of them now have fan representation on their boards.

He then handed over to the next speaker, the Rt. Hon. Tessa Jowell MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media & sport. Tessa basically gave a speech on the core funding for Supporters Direct up to 2003/04 and mentioned how the Football Foundation has agreed to increase funding. She was quite emphatic on how all targets have been beaten since the onset of Supporters
Direct and gave a big emphasis on the importance of club communities and how this aspect does matter to the Government's wider concept regarding the sport. She ended by saying how it is important for the good of everyone
involved in the game for there to be responsible supporter involvement and stressed how she believes that clubs should, and indeed many do, realise the benefit of this.

Next to speak was Professor Derek Fraser. Derek is a historian, and is Chair of the Independent Football Commission, of which he has been appointed for 3 years. The IFC is a self-regulatory body that was set up 6 months ago, backed by the relevant football authorities, following an initial recommendation by the Football Task Force that an independent body should be created, with the main aim of the body being to scrutinise the football
authorities. One of the defined functions of the body is to definite a procedure for complaints. A document outlining the procedure gas been written and the Football league wrote to clubs to let them know that the doc would be arriving in the foreseeable future. Apparently, leaflets will also be sent to all FA Premier & Football League clubs that should be readily available to both clubs and fans alike should they wish to follow the
complaints procedure.

It was explained that whilst the body have already looked into complaints brought to them regarding ticket prices and merchandising; away ground ticket prices and allocations and the rescheduling of games to suit t.v. the IFC is the last stage of complaint procedure. Professor Fraser reiterated the point that the IFC is a bold experiment and that its first annual report will be published in early 2003.

At this stage, Tessa Jowell MP had to leave to go to another appointment and she left to a warm reception. Professor Jonathan Mitchie, a director of both Supporters Direct and of
Birkbeck, University of London, was next to speak. He talked the delegates through a report that, for the course of this past year, a group of his colleagues, Simon Binns, Sean Hamil, Matthew Holt, Christine Oughton, Lee Shailer, Katie Wright and himself have worked on. It is based upon the return of surveys sent out to all 92 football league clubs and to all Supporters Trusts (that were set up at that particular time) regarding a number of issues of which the subsequent pooling and analyzing of these returns produced a quite excellent 62 page final paper called The State of the Game - The Corporate governance of Football Clubs 2002. Jonathan touched on some of the findings including that they'd received a 51% response rate from clubs; that a pooled 2.4m of contributions via fundraising from Trusts had gone to clubs; and that when it came to Company AGM's there was quite a
significant low attendance by Company directors at these meetings.

Jonathan also bullet pointed the finding as regards the kind of help/advice that Trusts require more guidance with including establishing share save schemes; advice and courses for supporter directors and more advice on community issues.

It is a quite excellent research paper with chapters on the following issues; Corporate Governance of football clubs; the share register, the AGM and resolutions; Clubs & Grounds - Issues of Ownership and Security; Supporters and Corporate Governance at the club; the state of the game in Scotland; and appendix's on the IFC; elected supporter-directors and
football club code of conduct; declaration of Trust controlling Shareholding and a guide to insolvency. I would heartily recommend that all board members at QPR get hold of copies
and read the paper from start to finish. If any QPR 1st members would like to read the paper then please get in touch and we'll see what we can do about obtaining some extra copies.

Workshops

Following a coffee break it was time for the morning workshop sessions to commence. There were a variety to choose from with Juzza opting to attend one called Running an IPS all year round - Committees & Management Skills, which basically was a session that looked at the all-year round operation of the trust, things to do, how to ensure that they all get done, whereas I attended the workshop called Forming your own club, which basically gave
advice on how to form a club courtesy of a rep from the FA, Kris Stewart, Chair of AFC Wimbledon and Dave Bryant, Chair of Enfield Town FC. The reason why I opted to attend this particular session was because it wasn't so long ago that our very own beloved QPR was linked with Wimbledon FC regarding the clubs merging. I was interested to see how the good people
at AFC Wimbledon have been coping since the decision was taken to allow Wimbledon FC to move to Milton Keynes, a move which we ourselves were also linked with last year, and so I thought that members from our trust would appreciate hearing about their experiences.

Firstly, Les Howie, who is the National Clubs Manager at the FA, ran through the procedure needed to form your own club. Things like a code of rules and a constitution; the setting up of a committee; finance and insurance details. These are just the tip of the iceberg. There's the need for regular meetings and recorded minutes; friendlies to be arranged; the matter of
subscriptions and fund raising. Then there's the HR aspect to it all. The need to find players and hold trials, finding coaching staff and a manager, the physio side and of course the election of a board and the employment of a club Secretary.

The above are all needed before any newly formed clubs can even approach leagues to ask about being allowed into them. Then there's the issue of a club name and affiliation, registering players and finding a ground on which to play.

Les then went on to give descriptions about issues during the season. Kit; training; league meetings; club meetings; ensuring that pitches are booked and to confirm the opposition; and matchday procedures including checking the pitch, the goalposts, the club rooms, payment to the officials, tidying up, refreshments and phoning in the result of the match to relevant press/media outlets. Then he went on to briefly mention about end of season aspects including the need for an AGM, where 1st year accounts would be published and a presentation evening for the players and fans.

I was quite blown away listening to him explain the basis of what is needed as regards forming your own club, even more so when I listened to Kris Stewart who was next to speak. Kris is Chair of AFC Wimbledon and before the setting up of their club he had played a major part on the Wimbledon Independent Association (WISA). As he explained, he was just a normal fan, who had been following his team for a great number of years, and yet on a date at the end of May, following the decision to allow Wimbledon FC to move 70 miles away from their South London roots up to Milton Keynes, his life, along with many other Dons supporters, changed that day.

Listening to him retelling the story of how WISA and the Dons Trust together set up the formation of AFC Wimbledon was both truly inspiring and yet unutterably sad at the same time. How their club was taken away from them in the space of a day. The procedure they had to follow in order to try to enable they qualified for a place in one of the non-leagues. The trials for
players held on Wimbledon Common. The way they scouted around in order to find a suitable ground share option. The amount of discussion they held between the parties regarding the pricing for season tickets at AFC Wimbledon for their first year. And the amount of fun their fans are currently having regarding their non-league venture.

Talking of non-league, next up to speak was Dave Bryant, Chair of Enfield Town FC. Enfield Town is now into their second season as a non-league club. Enfield FC found themselves homeless around 3 seasons ago and despite numerous promises, the club are no nearer to finding a home back in the borough of Enfield. A group of fans decided in the end they could take no more of the uncertainty and formed Enfield Town FC, who currently are
groundsharing with a local Enfield based side until such a time when they find a ground within the borough itself for their club.

The session was very interesting and ended far too soon as, before we knew it, it was time to take a break for lunch. I met up with Juzza and with Graham (who had been delayed) and then it was time for the afternoon workshops to commence. Juzza attended a session that looked at how trusts can work with the new Football Supporters Federation. Graham attended one
which looked at communicating with members, whilst I took myself off to one that concentrated on the power of the club AGM, putting motions down and share purchase schemes.

It was a highly interesting and extremely eye opening session in which Lee Shailer, who is a research officer of the football Governance Research Centre, a caseworker for Supporters Direct and also an investor in Shareholders United - the Man Utd Supporter-shareholder trust - gave the basis on which share-save schemes by trusts are founded upon, including the
factors influencing these schemes. He quoted experiences of other trusts/supporters groups who already have these schemes in operation and spoke of the issues facing trusts setting up these schemes.

Sean Hamil, who offered and guided QPR 1st in its interim days, is the deputy director of the Football Governance Research Centre, and also a founder member of the Celtic Trust, then spoke of his experiences on the Celtic Trust regarding the way they have in the past put motions down at their club/company agm's. Lots of key issues emerged from his talk that I am sure will have a positive bearing on various factors regarding our own preparation towards forthcoming Loftus road plc AGM's.

The Closing Plenary

Following the afternoon workshops it was time for the closing plenary of the conference. A number of speakers were awaiting to speak from the stage, but firstly Brian Lomax, Managing Director of Supporters Direct, who was chairing the session, gave a good talk about the event before he went on to announce the
results of the Trust of the Year awards, sponsored by the Co-op group. Billy Bragg made the presentation of the prizes and there were three runner's ups, the Trusts of Swansea City, York City and Enfield Town, who were all presented with framed awards for the way they have all worked to keep their clubs alive during this past year. The deserved winners, who won a cup, were the Dons Trust. For those of us who have watched the AFC Wimbledon story unfold during these past months, and who have offered them support, even if only via a moral form, it was a great moment to see their perseverance being rewarded in such a way. I only wish Charles Koppel had been there to witness it!

Following the presentations, the first speaker was Derek Robertson, who is a director of Supporters Direct and also Vice-Chair of the Scottish Supporters Clubs Federation. Derek spoke of how the Trust movement is beginning to take shape North of the border and how he is hopeful of more Trusts being set up in the near future.

Next to speak was Malcolm Clarke, who is the Co-Chair of the newly amalgamated Football Supporters Federation. Malcolm gave an explanation about the merger that had recently taken place between the old football supporters association (FSA) and the national federation of supporters clubs (NATFED) thus giving them a greater strength of power to take up the issues on behalf of fans and supporter organisations with the relevant football
bodies. He spoke of the Fans Parliament that is happening next month and urged all fans there to attend (the details of which are mentioned below).

Next up was David Conn, an investigative journalist (who wrote the excellent article regarding QPR's losses of 27 million pounds during the course of 6 years for the Independent newspaper some months ago), and author of 'The Football Business'. David has written many excellent articles for his column in the Independent regarding the football moneymen and he spoke of
this subject, and of flotations, during the course of his speech. He received a very warm ovation at the end of his talk from the audience. Kris Stewart of AFC Wimbledon then spoke briefly, giving thanks to everyone who had helped them during a very hard period. And the final speaker from the stage was Billy Bragg who gave a very rousing speech about the importance of club identity and the sense of community surrounding each and
every one. Again, Billy received a rousing ovation.

There was then a short period, which allowed for questions from the floor in which amongst the issues raised were the subject of Trusts being formed at rugby league clubs, players wages, and organisation representation, perhaps from the FSF, on the board of the FA.

The session ended with an extremely rousing 'fight them on the beaches' style speech by Steven Powell, a representative for the FSF, and also Chair of the Arsenal Independent Association, and a co-ordinator of the steering group of the Arsenal Supporters' Trust. Steven spoke of the forthcoming Fans Parliament which is being held at the Birmingham NEC next month. It is the FSF's first public event since the merger and all organisations and individuals who are members of the FSF are being urged to attend it. Steven gave an example of how we, as football fans, all need to stick together. QPR 1st has recently joined the FSF and there will be some of the committee attending this event. We urge all members, if you are not otherwise engaged on this particular day, to attend this event as it would be great to see some of you there! It is completely free and the details are highlighted
below. If you are unable to download the attendance form/or if you do not have internet access and would like to attend, then contact us right away and we will give you instructions on what to do.

FOOTBALL OUR GAME!
Your chance to have your say!
Sunday 13 October 2002
National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.

Fed up with high ticket prices? Looking forward to that long midweek trip from one end of the country to the other because the game's been moved for television? Worried about some of the people running football clubs, maybe even YOUR club?

Would you like to crank up the volume once again at football grounds? What can supporters do to ensure that we can keep the passion but lose the poison like in Japan 2002? Would you like to have the choice to stand safely at First Division and Premiership grounds? What do you think of Wimbledon being allowed to move to Milton Keynes?

Well now's the chance to have your say. The newly-formed Football Supporters ' Federation, representing over 100,000 individual and affiliated members in 124 supporters' organisations, is convening the first-ever Football Fans' Parliament. The conference is open to all football supporters.

Sunday 13 October 2002
National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. Attendance is free.
Debates on - Who should run football? ~ Money & football ~ Television & football ~ Atmosphere at grounds ~ Treatment of away fans ~ safe standing ~ Franchise football.

Chaired by John Monks, TUC General Secretary
10.00am Registration ~ 11.00-4.30pm Conference. Open to all Supporters. Attendance is free. To register download the form from www.fsf.org.uk

Steven's speech ended the conference on a real feel good factor and there was then a wine reception that followed, again sponsored by the Co-op group, for those who didn't have to rush away. It was a great opportunity to meet, and chat in person, with other like-minded folk whom for many of us had only
previously chatted on the email. My thanks to everyone involved who helped to ensure it contributed towards being a highly constructive, enjoyable and interesting conference and I hope those of you who read this report enjoyed doing so!

Tracy Stent