About Supporters Direct

Supporters Direct is a government initiative, funded by public money, with offices in London and Glasgow.

Our aim is to help people "who wish to play a responsible part in the life of the football club they support" and we offer support, advice and information to groups of football supporters.

Supporters Direct exists to:

• Promote and support the concept of democratic supporter ownership and representation through mutual, not-for-profit structures
• Promote football clubs as civic and community institutions
• Work to preserve the competitive values of league football in the United Kingdom and promoting the health of the game as a whole

In order to promote and achieve this, we work to bring about the following objectives:

• The Formation of Supporters’ Trusts as IPSs to ensure democratic, transparent representative bodies for supporters at their clubs
• The democratic representation of Supporters’ Trusts on Football Club Boards
• The ownership of shares in clubs by Supporters’ Trusts and the pooling of individually held shares in a club under the influence of the Trust

To assist Supporters' Trusts in this, we will work to ensure:

• The identification and dissemination of best practice between Trusts
• Increasing influence of Supporters Direct with the governing bodies
• High profile for Supporters Direct and Supporters’ Trusts within the media and cognate organisations

Headline achievements:

• Over 100 Supporters’ Trusts across England, Wales and Scotland
• 61 Supporters’ Trusts hold equity within their football clubs
• 39 Football clubs have supporter representation within the boards of their football clubs
• Supporter ownership at 4 football league clubs (Brentford, Chesterfield, Rushden & Diamonds and Stockport County)
• Supporters’ ownership at 8 non-league clubs (York City, Exeter City, AFC Wimbledon,AFC Telford, Newport (IOW), Enfield Town, FC United of Manchester and Clydebank)
• Supporters’ Trust involvement in saving a club at 13 clubs
• Supporters’ Trusts have brought around £10M of investment into the game on the basis of 750K over 3 years to support the work of Supporters Direct – over a 5-fold increase on that initial funding.
• Over 95,000 people have joined democratic not-for-profit organisations dedicated to fostering enhanced relationships between clubs and their communities and providing direct experience of the importance of citizen activism and democratic involvement in the delivery of key local services.

Supporters Direct has been in intense liaison with the Trusts at York City, Lincoln City, Chesterfield, Exeter City, Notts County, Bury to name but a few. In all these instances, the club has to-date survived the process of administration and in all of them, the Supporters’ Trust has been a crucial feature of that survival. In some, they have provided significant funds towards the reconstruction of the business. In others, they have mobilised the supporters and the local community and generated interest in the club that has convinced local businesses and individuals to come forward.

Without our efforts of Supporters Direct, there would not now be 92 professional clubs in England and Wales.It's been said that if one club were to be liquidated, it would start a domino effect - a major reason why this has not yet happened is through the efforts of many Supporters’ Trusts advised by Supporters Direct.

Criteria for eligibility

To qualify for the assistance of Supporters Direct, supporters groups must be:-

• Democratic in their structures and in the way they run their affairs;
• Open to all fans to join, at an affordable cost; and
• Broadly representative of supporters
• viable and sustainable as a group, and pursuing viable and sustainable objectives

We can help by

• Introducing you to representatives from supporter and supporter-shareholder groups who can share their experiences with you.
• Providing support for your media campaign (in the form of press releases and interviews) and contacts.
• Helping you to find suitable speakers for your public meetings.
• Attending meetings of supporters where requested.
• Providing legal and financial advice.
• Assisting with meeting the costs of mailings, public meetings and the formation of Supporters Trusts.
• Provide a forum for groups to discuss issues of concern and share best practice and ideas with each other.
• Regular briefings and workshops.
• Conferences and training courses for Trust officers and Committee Members.