The Government Expert Working Group on Football Supporter Ownership and Engagement has on Tuesday issued a Call for Evidence on legal and regulatory barriers and incentives to increasing supporter ownership and engagement in football clubs.
The Expert Working Group was launched by Government in October, and met for the first time on 25 November 2014.
The Call for Evidence aims to identify current legal, financial, tax and insolvency barriers preventing greater collective supporter share ownership of football clubs.
The Group is calling 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.
The Group would also like to receive 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.
The Call for Evidence also covers supporter involvement in governance of football clubs, and invites suggestions of best practice or ways to sustain and increase broader supporter engagement at football clubs in England and Wales.
Further details of the Call for Evidence, and the online process for submitting evidence can be found here.
The deadline for the submission of evidence is 9 January 2015. The Group will meet to discuss and review the evidence in January and February next year, and will deliver initial recommendations by March 2015, and a full report later in 2015.
Minister for Sport, Helen Grant, commented: “Everyone involved in the Expert Working Group wants this to be a thorough piece of work and today's Call for Evidence is a statement of intent that the group will be as thorough and inclusive as possible.
"Many people, groups and sectors have opinions on how we can support and sustain supporter ownership of and involvement in football clubs and this process gives everyone an opportunity to be heard. The Group will report to DCMS next year on what steps can and should be taken.”
Jonathan Hall, director of football services commented: “I am delighted to see the group come together to discuss the barriers to supporter involvement and provide practical recommendations to Government.
"The financial sustainability of football clubs is a hugely important topic to The FA and we are pleased that changes already made by football in many areas of financial management such as cost control requirements and PAYE liability reporting have led to improved stability for clubs.
"Anything more that we can now do to review legislative and regulatory barriers to encourage investment and supporter involvement in clubs will be very positive.
"We also know that the Leagues have added new requirements for supporter engagement over recent years and learning from best practice and from fans’ experiences as part of the group will be hugely important”.
The Expert Working Group members are:
Supporters Direct
Football Supporters Federation
The Football Association
The Premier League
The Football League
The Football Conference
DCMS
Portsmouth Supporters Trust (Expert Witness member of Group)
Swansea Supporters Trust (Expert Witness member of Group)
Wrexham Supporters Trust (Expert Witness member of Group)
AFC Wimbledon Supporters Trust (Expert Witness member of Group).
Additional expert witnesses, which are likely to include other Supporters Trusts and expert organisations will be invited to attend future meetings as expert witnesses as appropriate.
The group is independently chaired by Joanna Manning-Cooper, director of marketing and communications for England Rugby 2015, organisers of the Rugby World Cup and a Portsmouth FC Season ticket holder, member of Portsmouth Supporters Trust, and a community shareholder in Portsmouth FC.
