This has been a momentous couple of weeks for our club, and there is an awful lot going on here at MUST, so we wanted to give members a comprehensive update.
It’s a long update so the short version is:
- We’re expecting the club to announce the formation of a Fans’ Advisory Board quite soon, and are optimistic it will provide a useful body to hold the club to account with good representation from MUST.
- Negotiations continue on the Fan Share Scheme, but we’re not quite there yet. As you’d expect we’re sticking to our demands.
- The government published its Fan Led Review of football this week. There is actually quite a lot of good stuff in there, regulating football clubs a lot more tightly and giving fans more power.
- We’re supporting United fans to ensure fair treatment. That includes those on the receiving end of some pretty bad policing in Villareal, as well as helping raising funds for those arrested following the Liverpool game protests in May.
Before we get into all that, we did want to restate the thanks of everyone at MUST to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He is and will always be a legend at our club. Despite more recent performances, the team did improve over his three years at the wheel, and his successor will have a better inheritance than he had. Thank you Ole. You can read our statement here.
Based on the media speculation, it sounds like we don’t have long to wait for the “interim” manager to be confirmed. Naturally, all reds will welcome him to the job and wish him all the best.
Fans’ Advisory BoardWe expect the club to announce the creation of the Fans’ Advisory Board (FAB) shortly. The timing is fitting as we have just seen the report of the Fan Led Review (FLR) published and amongst its many interesting proposals is a Shadow Board which is arguably a beefed up version of the FAB. So the club can say they were ahead of the curve albeit they will now have to go further if they are to meet the FLR recommendations. However, given the intention for the FAB to proceed in the meantime we feel it is worth outlining some thoughts on it and asking for feedback from supporters too.
MUST had to push hard to ensure that there will be a strong independent democratic representative voice on the FAB in the form of MUST representatives to match representation from the Fans’ Forum and the club’s own selections. There are doubtless some people who think we shouldn’t sit around the table with senior club officials at all – or indeed the owners who have committed to attend at least some meetings. But we have been calling for more fan influence over club decision-making for years and so when an opportunity to represent the fans’ voice and use that influence comes along it would be perverse not to take it. Otherwise, what are we for?
Will the FAB have that real influence, or will it just be a talking shop? That’s the million dollar question and the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. If it is a talking shop, we will be the first to call that out. But in the first instance let’s give it a chance. Anything which holds the prospect of a stronger fans’ voice has got to be a good thing, and what’s why we’re supporting the creation of this Board.
What is the difference between the FAB and the Fans’ Forum? The Fans’ Forum has evolved over the years and is far more effective now than it was 10 years ago – thanks in no small part to our own representative on there as well as some really impressive new additions who have made a big impact. However the challenge for the FF has always been that it cannot deal with confidential matters especially where they may be legally or commercially sensitive. This gives an excuse to the club, if they were looking for one, not to discuss some key issues. We anticipate that the FAB will overcome that key confidentiality challenge and so for the first time fans will have real input, through their representatives who will consult supporters. This should cover the key decisions, on matters such as stadium development, from the start of the process rather than being presented with a fait accompli plan which might have many flaws that could have been avoided with fan insight at the outset.
Stadium development is just one example though and we expect all key strategic matters to be on the table. We intend to use what influence we have – which is drawn from the support of our members – to ensure that the FAB delivers in the best interests of all our supporters and our football club. We’ll be consulting members, and more widely, on the FAB and what issues should be addressed once the body is formally launched so everyone will have their chance to feed in to this new forum.If you’d like to respond on Twitter we’ve created a thread here which will no doubt attract the attention of the usual trolls but your views would be most welcome: https://twitter.com/MU_ST/status/1464573490191904777
Fan Share SchemeAs we write this we are still not in a position to present a proposal to supporters for consultation and approval by members. This is simply because we are determined to get the best deal for fans so we refuse to put any proposal before you until we are satisfied it is fair and the best possible proposal achievable. However we will be providing a further update soon and in the meantime please see our most recent update here.
Government Fan Led ReviewThe Government Fan Led Review of football, which they instigated after the ESL debacle, was published this week. MUST was a major contributor giving evidence to the panel and meetings with Tracey Crouch MP as well as written submissions both from MUST and via the main FSA submission.
There is actually some really powerful stuff in there such as the creation of an Independent Regulator for clubs, a stronger owners & directors test, new standards of corporate governance and financial regulation, and strengthened supporter engagement.
The key now is that they’re implemented as set out, and already we hear the Premier League is pushing back against some of this. These changes, if implemented in full, ought to help address some fundamental reasons why scores of football clubs have fallen into financial troubles as a result of owners focussed on short-term financial returns rather than the long-term interests of the club. There is also a proposal for all clubs to be required to establish a new Shadow Board drawn from supporters that will engage in strategic decision making and business plans. Its similar to what is already happening at United with the creation of the Fans Advisory Board as discussed above.
The big missed opportunity from the review is its failure to address the fundamental question of club ownership. Football players, managers and owners are all temporary. Football supporters are the only permanent fixture at any football club and as such are the people who are the best custodians of a club with its long-term interests at heart. At a very minimum, the Review should have recommended measures to allow supporters who wish to invest in their club to do so, because supporters holding a meaningful proportion of share ownership in each club is the best guarantee of a club being run in the right way. We note from the Review report that 87% of supporters backed that right to invest. It is a real shame this overwhelming fans voice was ignored and we do not intend to let this lie. Fortunately MUST has made real progress on this in negotiations with our own club but it would have been better to see this across football as many clubs do not have strong, independent fan representation.However we do want to emphasise we are fully behind the main recommendations contained in this review and congratulate Tracey Crouch MP on delivering where so many before her have failed. We must now hold the Government’s feet to the fire to ensure the recommendations are fully implemented so we will be calling on members to assist with this campaign over the coming weeks.
You can download a copy of the review here or read on the web here.
Villareal PolicingFollowing the heavy-handed and disproportionate policing in the away end at Villarreal which saw our fans beaten with batons both inside and outside the ground we are collecting evidence with the cooperation of the club and in conjunction with the FSA (Football Supporters Association) and FSE (Football Supporters Europe). A report will be sent to both clubs, UEFA, GMP and the Spanish Police. We will also publish the report on our site and share it with the media. If you were in Villarreal and would like to submit a statement it can be emailed to [email protected]. We have made great progress over a number of years in improving the stewarding and Policing of our travelling support. All too often the Policing in Spain is antagonistic, not just for United fans but all clubs’ supporters. This must not continue. Legal fundraiser appeal for United fans arrested following the protests in MayWith the support of Red News, United We Stand and Republik of Mancunia (in addition to many other organisations who are supporting anonymously) we have set up a gofundme campaign to raise funds for those United fans who have been arrested following the protests prior to the abandoned Liverpool home game in May. Naturally, we make no judgement on the guilt or innocence of those arrested, although of course we are all entitled to a presumption of innocence unless/until that is proved otherwise. We also believe that all our fans deserve fair access to professional legal advice so that is why we have set up the fundraiser and it has already received fantastic support approaching £10,000 in donations.If you would like to support this legal fund you can make a donation here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/legal-support-fund-for-protesting-united-fans
M.U.S.T – the Manchester United Supporters’ Trustwww.imust.org.uk0161 872 3300
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