Newsletter 14

Dear Member,

As you quoted an email address on your application, this is a special edition of the electronic update of BairnsTrust activities.

A delegation from your Trust Committee attended the Supporters Direct Debate in the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood last Wednesday 19/04/06 evening, viewing on the plasma screens in the public chamber and enjoyed the discussion.

Supporters Direct is the umbrella organisation for all Supporters Trusts and it is vital that their aims and achievements are kept in the public limelight for all our team's mutual benefit. In this respect it was good to note that it was debated by MSPs from across both the political spectrum and countrywide.

There were a number of members of the public in attendance ranging from the Head of Supporters Direct to a Committee member of the East Fife's Trust.

Although notes were taken, The Scottish Parliament is well versed in modern technology, with the event televised live and the official transcript appearing on their website within hours!

Feel free to read the debate here.

Alternatively, EVERY word uttered is copied below from the transcript for your information.

Watch out for the following highlights:

a) John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP) trying to embarrass the Parliamentary staff who have to transcribe the debate by naming the Hungarian team of the early 1950s!

b) Our own BairnsTrust member Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP) speaking, and

c) An excellent presentation from Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP).

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Supporters Direct in Scotland

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Trish Godman): The final item of business today is a members' business debate on motion S2M-4080, in the name of Frank McAveety, on Supporters Direct in Scotland. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.

Motion debated,

That the Parliament recognises the work carried out by Supporters Direct in Scotland in promoting and supporting the concept of democratic supporter ownership and representation in Scottish football through mutual, not-for-profit structures; notes the role of Supporters Direct in Scotland in promoting football clubs as civic and community institutions and welcomes the development of Supporters Direct among Glasgow football clubs and across Scotland; further notes the contribution of Supporters Direct in Scotland to preserving the competitive values of football in Scotland through promoting the health of the game as a whole, and applauds Supporters Direct in Scotland's aim of helping people who wish to play a responsible part in the life of the football club they support through support, advice and information to groups of football supporters.

17:07
Mr Frank McAveety (Glasgow Shettleston) (Lab): Given the attendance this evening, I thought that we would outstrip attendance records for the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport's favourite football team, Partick Thistle. It is a positive start, but I am terribly worried because Bill Butler, a regular at Firhill, is seated beside me.

I thank the members who have stayed for tonight's debate. Although we will not have the regulation 90 minutes, I am sure that the passion, talent and commitment that are on display from parliamentarians will demonstrate to supporters the length and breadth of the country our support for the development of Supporters Direct and the broader development of the supporters trust movement. As a sponsored Labour and Co-operative Party MSP, I should declare an interest, not just because I think that the motion is right but because of the ethical principles behind mutualism and co-operation. The co-operative movement in the mid-19th century was paralleled by the development of football clubs in working-class communities throughout Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The principles of mutualism and co-operation were reflected in the commitment to the development of football as a sport and an activity.

When we consider football in the modern age, with the commercialism and the money involved, we should always remind ourselves of the modest circumstances in which many of the clubs that are now in our football leagues started. There were factory teams, such as Arsenal, which is now in the semi-final of the champions league, and there were extensions of charitable and faith organisations, such as Celtic Football Club. There were friends pulling together for a game of football, such as Rangers, or even-appropriately-friends forming a team in a pub, such as Dunfermline Athletic. In recognition of the role that football clubs play in communities, I note that in one square mile of my constituency, three football clubs were formed in the 1870s and 1880s. It is not as well known as it should be that Rangers was formed at Glasgow green in 1872; Clyde was formed at Barrowfield in 1877; and Celtic was formed only 150yd away from there, at St Mary's church in Calton, in 1888.

The impulse that drove people to establish those football clubs is the one that propels supporters today to display a level of commitment above and beyond the call of duty. They recognise that their football club is a community of interest, whether it is a town, village or city, or a purpose and identity that it has come to represent. Considering the proliferation of money in the mid-1990s and at the turn of the century-more than £2.5 billion in English football alone from television football rights-and the downward pressure on football clubs brought about by the recent changes in the TV rights in Scotland, it was a wise individual who once said:
"Football is subject to financial pressures but economics alone does not preserve football's soul."

For supporters of clubs of any size, it is about friends past and present, times good and bad or familial and community identity. In fact, it is all of those wrapped up in one Saturday afternoon or, depending on TV rights, a Monday night, a Wednesday night or any other time that suits the TV companies.

Even in tragedy, football clubs can come together. Dunfermline Athletic, which I mentioned earlier, came together in 1996 over the loss of its captain, Norrie McCathie, who was one of the great players in the team's history, and a stand in its stadium is still named after him. Other examples are the recent tragic early loss of Celtic's Jimmy Johnstone and the recent loss of Jim Baxter and many others. Those players come to represent more than simply football clubs; they come to represent something that matters.

That is why I am delighted at the positive progress of Supporters Direct, not only in Scotland but throughout the UK. We now have supporters trusts in 31 of the professional football clubs in Scotland and 11 supporters trusts have supporters directors. At Clyde, there is a majority of supporters in the ownership of the club and they have two directors on the board. Supporters also now have 15 per cent ownership and a director on the board of Raith Rovers, which is the Chancellor of the Exchequer's team.

For a modest outlay of less than £100,000 per annum, positive and productive progress has been made, but there are still many ways in which we can enhance and develop the supporters' role in their football clubs. That is why, as a Co-operative Party-sponsored MSP, I and my colleagues have been supportive of the establishment of the co-operative development agency. We believe that the CDA can give advice, support and, I hope, encouragement on one of the big challenges that supporters face, which is to match their commitment and passion with equity. Supporters with a voice are important, but supporters with a voice and money are an asset, and that is the difference that we wish to make.

Clubs should be viewed as community assets. By working on a mutual model with communities, local authorities and other partners, they have numerous opportunities to address many of the agendas that the Executive has raised. I welcome the presence of the Minister for Health and Community Care, because participation in sport is one of the agendas that can certainly be developed through supporters trusts and club development. We can learn from the community delivery partnerships that have been developed in England by teams such as Brentford and towns such as Chesterfield and Lincoln. The clubs work in partnership with the health service, the local authorities and other partners to establish community delivery partnerships that deliver sports and activities for many of the young men and women in those communities.

It is appropriate that the debate takes place in a week in which many members will have been watching champions league matches involving Arsenal, a club that was founded by workers, and FC Barcelona, a club that is owned by its supporters and calls itself more than a club. The FC Barcelona supporters meet in a general assembly and vote on critical issues, such as television rights, sponsorship and investment. The club combines the demands of football in a competitive, commercial environment with the emotional ties, meaning, culture and politics of Catalonia. It is no surprise that the nou camp houses a superstore, a museum and even a chapel-it is rumoured that, when Celtic played FC Barcelona recently, it had its busiest ever attendance.

Supporters want their voice to be heard in the football clubs about which they care. They want to leave a legacy for future generations and to make a contribution. I am reminded of a story that I have told on a number of occasions. The greatest football side that I have seen in my life was probably the 1970 Brazil world cup side. Most people remember players such as Jairzinho, Carlos Alberto, Rivelino and Pelé, but nobody remembers the centre-back, a big guy called Walter Piazza. He was asked how it felt to be part of the greatest football side that the world has ever seen and perhaps will ever see. He replied that he was reminded of a story that he had heard when he was a child in the Mineiros region, the poorest region of Brazil, about a little hummingbird that was beavering backwards and forwards from the waterfront, gathering water in its beak and dropping the droplets on to a raging forest fire. A wise, cynical old bird said, "Why are you bothering? You will not make a difference," and the little hummingbird replied, "I am only playing my part."

Walter Piazza said that he only played his part in the greatest football side that the world has ever seen. That is what supporters care about. All that they ask is that they too be able to play their part in making a difference to the clubs that they love and in passing on the legacy of what their clubs mean to them. Tonight, in a small and modest way, we parliamentarians play our part in encouraging Supporters Direct. I hope that the Executive and many others are able to play their part in keeping clubs alive when their supporters want them too.

I am delighted to speak to the motion and give Supporters Direct the support that it thoroughly deserves for the work that it has done over the past three or four years.

17:15
Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): I begin by thanking Frank McAveety for securing the debate. Despite his ill-timed comments about Partick Thistle's fan base, I should point out to him that there are probably more Thistle fans in the chamber now than there are of his own club, Celtic.

I recognise the importance of supporters and the role that they can play in the running of clubs. I recognise the particular role that Supporters Direct has in enabling fans to increase their involvement in their clubs. I welcome the recent announcement by the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport about providing greater financial support to Supporters Direct to enable it to continue the work that it undertakes.

As Frank McAveety mentioned, a number of clubs throughout Scotland have embraced greater supporter involvement. It is surprising to note how few clubs had any direct supporter involvement in their operation 10, 20 or 30 years ago. I am sure that many of us who are football fans still look on some clubs' policy of resisting the idea of supporter involvement as bizarre or unexplainable. No club can survive without its supporters. The directors of a club, irrespective of their level of wealth, are merely the custodians of that club for the period for which they are there. Many club directors come and go, but the loyal fans will support their club through thick and thin. Club directors who recognise the importance of supporters in sustaining their club should have no fear of greater supporter involvement in its running.

As Frank McAveety said, we should recognise that clubs are not isolated but are an integral part of many local communities. That particularly applies to clubs in smaller towns. Greater supporter involvement in the running of a club means, by extension, greater community involvement in how it operates. Many enlightened clubs have embraced the idea of supporters getting involved, sometimes even with members of the supporters trust sitting on the board.

There are groups of fans who continue to work hard to secure some form of supporter involvement in how their clubs are run. I recently had a meeting with a small group of fans of a club that members will all know, but which has unfortunately been in the media recently because it has languished at the bottom of the third division for almost three seasons now. East Stirlingshire has a small but loyal and dedicated base of fans who have struggled for many years to secure some type of supporter involvement in how the club is run. They believe that the existing major shareholder of the club appears to be more interested in the value of Firs park to a property developer than in how the club is run for the benefit of its members. That is a classic illustration of why fans should have a greater say in their club. It is important that the local community should have a role to play in how the club develops in the future.

The work that the East Stirlingshire Supporters Society is doing along with Supporters Direct provides a good opportunity for fans to have their say in how their club is run not only for the benefit of the supporters but for the wider benefit of the local community. I will continue to work with the trust and with Supporters Direct to ensure that their efforts are fruitful. I recognise the important value that Supporters Direct has in enabling fans to have that greater say. I hope that it pursues its work to give fans their rightful place in the running of their clubs.

17:19
Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): I congratulate Frank McAveety on securing the debate and applaud the sports minister, Patricia Ferguson, for saying that football clubs should bring football closer to the communities from which they draw their support and for allocating £200,000 of taxpayers' money to Supporters Direct in Scotland.

The Conservatives also applaud local government and community action on the issue. We support the Enterprise and Culture Committee report that emphasised the value of Supporters Direct. Supporters Direct said in its evidence to the committee:

"It is clear that football clubs are on the one hand private companies, while on the other they are viewed as community assets. In our work we have come across examples where the tensions between these two, sometimes conflicting, views have created pressures that undermine the ambitions of club and community alike. It is in areas such as ownership of the football ground, access to the decision making process and community use of facilities that we feel there is scope for serious investigation."

We agree with that and with another point made in the report. The report said:
"a central issue that has emerged is the need for supporters to be more involved in the decision-making processes of their clubs. ... supporters' trusts can be a viable and progressive model enabling fans to contribute financially and vocally to the running of their clubs. Moreover the supporters' trust model enshrines the principles of democracy, accountability and good corporate governance which many respondents believed should be the key principles informing reform of the Scottish game more generally."

Supporters Direct is a marvellous body. There are more than 100 supporters trusts in England, Wales and Scotland, which have been involved in saving a lot of clubs that were going down, which is incredibly important.

Scott Barrie (Dunfermline West) (Lab): Does Jamie McGrigor agree that the greater involvement of fans through supporters trusts should not just be seen as a way of rescuing clubs that are struggling but should be regarded as the template for all clubs, so that true fans can get involved in their local teams?

Mr McGrigor: Yes, I agree.

I have always been a Rangers supporter, but my son, who is only seven, is a Celtic supporter. He insisted that I buy him an expensive Celtic strip, which he wears all the time. During the Easter recess we went to the Isle of Tiree. He wore the strip to the playground and, unfortunately, ran into one or two of the local boys, who were Rangers supporters and gave him a slightly hard time. I said to him that I supposed that he would not be wearing the Celtic shirt so much now. He replied, "Oh no, Dad. I just want you to buy me a Rangers one for that place."

We fully support the motion.

17:22
Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): This is an important subject and Frank McAveety made an excellent speech to introduce it.

If we could get into politics the sort of spirit that moves Supporters Direct and supporters clubs, we would all do a lot better. At the moment, enthusiasm for politics is at a much lower level than is the enthusiasm and dedication that a lot of people show in supporting their football clubs. We have to accept the fact that in Scotland, football is much more important than politics.

I made a bizarre attempt to explain that at a conference on regional culture in Europe in Corsica, where there seemed to be lots of liberals-they are all actually bandits, but they are officially liberals. I tried to explain that the regional culture in Scotland was football and told them the "we massacred them nil-nil" story, which I do not think they understood.

The point is that football is dear to the hearts of many Scots. It has great financial problems at the moment. Many clubs are deeply in debt. Other clubs are dependent on the support of very rich gentlemen, mostly from eastern Europe. The approach of Supporters Direct is the way forward. It provides a democratic, community base for clubs, which can work at the top level, at clubs such as Barcelona.

We must continue to support Supporters Direct in Scotland, encouraging it not only to be involved in the big and small professional teams but to help to develop the game at all levels. There should be good co-ordination between boys' teams, girls' teams, junior teams and so on, as well as between the professional clubs. We should make life as easy as possible for Supporters Direct; no bureaucratic obstacles should be put in the way of supporters gaining more directorships and more control over clubs.

A time may come when Scotland has teams that are firmly and democratically based and that actually win. That is a goal that we can all look forward to achieving. I fully support Frank McAveety's motion and I wish Supporters Direct all success in future.

17:26
Scott Barrie (Dunfermline West) (Lab): I draw members' attention to my entry in the register of members' interests: I am a founding member of the Pars Supporters Trust. I thank Frank McAveety for mentioning Dunfermline Athletic not once but twice in his speech. He was right to acknowledge that the founding of our club took place in the Old Inn in Dunfermline in the 19th century and that, more recently, the main stand at East End park was named after Norrie McCathie, our captain who so tragically died in an accident while still playing for the club.
Historically, football clubs have always been part of their local communities. That was true for all clubs up until around the 1960s and 1970s, when clubs began to grow away from those communities. We can speculate about why that happened; I suppose that it had much to do with a massive injection of money into football clubs from other sources. Clubs grew away from their fan base and people no longer necessarily supported their local team-the team of the town or city that they happened to live in. We have to redress that situation, and supporters trusts and Supporters Direct are beginning to do that. They are firmly anchoring clubs to their local communities. Local fans, and fans who may have moved away but who still support their home club, are being given a say and a stake in their club.

As I said in my intervention during Jamie McGrigor's speech, it is not true to say that supporters trusts have a part to play only when clubs are failing. Too many people saw the trusts as being only a way of rescuing or preserving clubs, but they go much further than that. If we are serious about returning football to its proverbial grass roots, and if we are serious about getting people involved in their local football clubs, those people will have to feel that they have a stake in the clubs, rather than simply feeling that all they do is pay £15 or £20 a week going through the turnstiles. They must have something more tangible.

It was great to hear from Frank McAveety that 31 of our senior clubs have some form of direct supporters' involvement, but, disappointingly, that means that 11 do not. It is not only those 11 clubs that are losing out, but their fans. I call on those clubs to look seriously at the Supporters Direct model.

When clubs are successful they attract support, but the true fans stick by their club through thick and thin. If a club is serious about ensuring its future as we move further into the 21st century, supporters trusts are the way forward. They are a way of anchoring a club's support. Without such a trust, the club's fan base may well evaporate or drift away to another club.

There is now saturation coverage of senior football on television-we can watch a football match, or many football matches, every night-so it can be a bit of thought to turn up in freezing winter weather to sit at a football match.

Clubs have often been the private playthings of a few rich people, but the clubs have to return to the fans. It is great that we are having this short debate tonight to promote the concept of Supporters Direct in Scotland. That is especially important for the 11 senior clubs that have yet to embrace the concept.

17:30
John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): I thank Frank McAveety for bringing this important topic to the chamber this evening. I declare an interest as a director of the finest exponents of Scottish football, Motherwell Football and Athletic Club.
Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): Hear, hear.

John Swinburne: Thank you.

In fact, football is a way of life. Where I come from in the west of Scotland, people are Catholics, Protestants or Motherwell supporters, and I am proud to be a Motherwell supporter-it is as religious a thing as that. We recently parted with 5,400 shares to our trust, the chairman of which-Martin Rose, who is a good friend of mine-is on our board of directors.

The trust was instrumental in helping our club when we tried to go down the Abramovich road, or various other roads, and found ourselves £11 million in debt. It was instrumental in getting the club out of administration. I am proud to say that, for the past three seasons, we have declared a profit. We are the only senior football club in the Scottish Premier League that has managed to declare a profit in three consecutive seasons. We nearly made it this year, but we did not quite make the top six; however-look out.

The best thing about football trusts is that they give the game back to the people. I hope that I live long enough to see the day when Celtic, Rangers, Motherwell or some other club can get a group of lads from a 30-mile radius and go out there and do what these people are doing in Europe on television tonight-winning the European cup. In 1967, Jock Stein and the great Celtic team were absolutely tremendous in bringing the European cup back to the United Kingdom for the very first time. That gave the whole game a tremendous boost.

Mention has been made of equity. Why do we not match the money that is raised by football trusts with lottery money? Trusts put something back into football through grass-roots supporters gathering together to put something into their favourite clubs. Lottery funding should be used for that instead of some of the weird things at which good lottery money is thrown.

Rupert Murdoch football or Abramovich soccer is not my scene at all. The more that we do for the grass roots of football, to stimulate it and get the young kids playing the game in Scotland for Scottish clubs, the better. We should get rid of a lot of these foreigners, who are basically mercenaries. They are doing a grand job-it is nice to see them and it is nice to win, but it cannot be as nice as it was for Celtic to win with a home-grown team on the park, when even the subs were Scottish. That is what we should all be aiming for in football, and I hope that I will live to see it.

Talking of the best football team, I hope that I will not embarrass the people who have to transcribe the debate, but the Hungarian team of the early 1950s was brilliant. Gyula Grosics, Jeno Buzanszky, Mihaly Lantos, Jószef Boszik, Gyula Lóránt, Ferenc Szojka, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti, Ferenc Puskás and Máté Fenyvesi were a tremendous team. I ask the official reporters to try and follow that, if they can, because I am not going to write the names down-they can get them off a website.

It has been a pleasure to listen to some of the speeches today. Members should look out for Motherwell next season, as we have some good kids coming through. The football trust will do them the world of good, too.

17:34
Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): Like other members, I congratulate Frank McAveety on securing the debate. I enjoyed his speech, as I have enjoyed the speeches of other members. They have said, rightly, that football in this country is the people's game. It conveys a large part of the passion that exists in working-class culture in Scotland. The debate-like so many others-has focused on a question that is seldom far from the surface: in whose interest is the game being run? That question has arisen recently in this city, in the debate about whether an all-Edinburgh cup semi-final should be played at Murrayfield, rather than have 30,000 people traipse through to Glasgow.

I am happy to support Frank MacAveety's motion. My pleasure was increased when I noticed on the Supporters Direct website that the organisation plays its home games, so to speak, at Robert Owen House. Robert Owen was described by Engels as a Lanarkshire utopian socialist. In his own time, Robert Owen was like a millionaire manager who invented his own formation.

As a socialist, I find much to admire in the aims and principles of Supporters Direct: its support of the democratic ownership of clubs by supporters through mutual, not-for-profit structures; the promotion of football clubs as genuine community organisations; and its work to preserve the genuine competitive values of league football. I have no trouble with the basic socialist concepts of co-operative ownership, not-for-profit groups and democratic control. However-I hate to introduce a discordant note to the debate-nowadays new Labour prefers to privatise that which is publicly and commonly owned.

It is clear that top-flight professional football is increasingly big business. That was driven home to me last week when The Independent ran a series of articles that revealed that the average wage of the average player in the English premiership is now £800,000 per year. With millionaire players come millionaire owners. Like many other fans, I have not been particularly happy with the chant that might not be heard on the terraces but is there underneath: "Our millionaire is better than your millionaire." I suspect that supporters have a love-hate relationship with the millionaires who bought their clubs.

That might even be true at Stamford Bridge, where a Chelsea fan could be forgiven for comparing the fortunes of today's team with those that it endured under Ken Bates. However, I prefer the advice that dear Lenin gave his fundraising supporters in Iskra when he said that it is better to take a kopek from 1,000 workers than ten thousand from one bourgeois sympathiser. That bourgeois sympathiser is now represented by a Soviet-Russian gangster at Chelsea, and there are American triple Glazers at Manchester United.

Lenin was right, as he was in so many things, because in the long run, there will be a more loyal base of support if it is centred around the local community. Many of us will have asked what the Glazers know about the Busby babes, the Munich air disaster and the industrial poverty and Catholic orphanages out of which Manchester United grew. The same could be asked of Abramovich. What does he know about the Chelsea of Chopper Harris, Charlie Cooke and the late Peter Osgood? I read recently that their team got steamin' on the eve of a European cup winners cup replay in Athens. They went on to win-that probably sends out a mixed message to say the least.

Supporters Direct has 75,000 members and 100 supporters trusts throughout England, Wales and Scotland. Each trust is motivated not by money but by something more important: a sense of belonging, loyalty and identity. There is an expression of a person's identity in the team that they support. I applaud the work that Supporters Direct does.

There is much to be changed about football. It is probably fair in a debate about football in 2006 that mention should be made of Gretna and the admirably progressive role taken by its millionaire owner, Brooks Mileson. I understand that he has a programme that puts young footballing apprentices through college, so that if they get that dreaded career-ending tackle, they will have another skill to fall back on. That is remarkable. There is also much to admire about what he has done in offering players longer-term contracts rather than contracts of just one or two years. That offers players some job security, which has reaped its own rewards.

For me, a question is posed by Supporters Direct's third principle: the preservation of the genuine competitive spirit of Scottish football. I stand here, as other members have done, and congratulate Celtic on winning this year's league title. It was the best team and it thoroughly deserved to win. However, I honestly believe that something is stale when one club can win a trophy 40 times-two clubs have won it 80 times-in barely 100 years. That is not genuine competition at all. I can understand why Celtic and Rangers salivate when they eye the bigger stage of the English premiership. As Scott Barrie rightly pointed out, the Supporters Direct website highlights the fact that community ownership is often a last resort to save a club from going out of business altogether. I agree that the community should be involved at an earlier stage.

Finally, as other members have mentioned, FC Barcelona provides a glaring and attractive illustration of how clubs can be owned communally. Barcelona has more than 150,000 owners, who have regular opportunities to elect the club president. That system has much to commend it, although it is not the only one of its kind in Europe. As someone who has attended the nou camp stadium and visited its museum, which is well worth a visit, I should point out-in this Parliament, I am surely entitled to highlight this-that St Mirren was the first team to play against Barcelona when the stadium opened in the 1920s. However, FC Barcelona still has some way to go in including the entire Catalan population, as it is now prohibitively expensive to become one of its 150,000 owners.
I welcome tonight's debate and I wish Supporters Direct every continued success.

17:40
Christine May (Central Fife) (Lab): Looking round the room, I notice that there is a gender imbalance. The Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport and I will more than make up for that, but I rise to speak with some trepidation as my knowledge of the game is nowhere near as comprehensive as that of many of my colleagues.
I congratulate Frank McAveety on securing the debate. Like others I declare an interest, as I am a member of the East Fife Supporters Trust. Nobody yet has mentioned East Fife, so I will remedy that by doing so a number of times. For the record, I should also declare that I am a member of the Co-operative Party, which supports me as a member of the Parliament.

I welcome the Scottish Executive's commitment to having a broad base of community support not only for, but as a part of, the body that sets the direction of football clubs. The financial support to which Jamie McGrigor referred and the administrative help that such support has allowed to be provided has led to the establishment of a considerable number of trusts.

Like Frank McAveety and others, I welcome the success of the trusts that have managed to get supporter directors on to club boards. Indeed, a supporter director from John Swinburne's club-Motherwell Football Club-gave evidence to the Enterprise and Culture Committee as part of our inquiry into Scottish football.
I recognise that some supporters trusts have successfully applied for shareholdings even though they have not yet managed to get a member on to their club's board. I was pleased-a second mention of East Fife is coming up-when the East Fife Supporters Trust application for shares in East Fife Football Club was partially successful. That was made possible by the generous support of Brooks Mileson, whom Colin Fox mentioned. Of course, great success has accrued to Gretna Football Club partly as a result of Mr Mileson's support, but perhaps more important than that has been the regeneration of support and interest from the fans. As Scott Barrie said, people give more support when their club is successful.
My great regret is that the East Fife Supporters Trust has not yet been able to persuade the club's board to allow the purchase of more shares or to agree that we should have a supporter director. However, if the trust remains true to its founding ethos and continues to put the interests of the club and its role in the Levenmouth community first, I believe that the force of its argument will ultimately prevail.

Although the fortunes of the major clubs remain paramount in the eyes of the media, the local clubs provide support for sporting participation in local communities. When the Enterprise and Culture Committee yesterday considered the Scottish Executive's and Scottish Football Association's responses to our report on the future of Scottish football, we paid particular attention to those parts of the responses that dealt with youth development strategy-to which I will return in a moment-the development of regional facilities and action to tackle sectarianism. All three issues are extremely important.

On the first and last of those issues, local clubs and supporters are key. Local clubs provide facilities, coaching staff, volunteers, fundraisers and activists in communities. Community activists are extremely important in helping to tackle the evil of sectarianism that exists in some parts of our country. On the second matter, the committee considered that the development of local facilities as well as regional facilities was extremely important. That point was made by my colleague Michael Matheson, but the minister will be aware that I have raised a similar point with her in the context of another local issue.

In light of the establishment of the co-operative development agency, I wonder whether the minister has given any consideration to the role of supporters trusts and their background in the co-operative and mutual movement. Might members of trusts and the trusts themselves play a role in helping the Executive, local authorities and local clubs to develop badly needed facilities, some of which exist but need further investment and some of which need simply to be provided? We have a policy of investing in facilities that are attached to schools, but there is a strong argument for investing in some cases in the development of land attached to football clubs. I would be interested to hear the minister's views on that.
I am pleased to have been able to participate in the debate, I look forward to hearing from the minister and I wish all the supporters trusts increasing success.

17:45
The Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport (Patricia Ferguson): I thank Frank McAveety for lodging his motion and securing the debate. I also thank him for an excellent speech on the issue of Supporters Direct, even though it started rather badly.

I had intended to say that this evening Partick Thistle has more supporters in the chamber than any other football team, but Michael Matheson got there before me. He is right. Partick Thistle would be very pleased with the loyalty that its fans have shown in uniting across the political spectrum to deliver the same message. Perhaps it is a result of the fact that we are usually so embattled that we are used to having to sing from the same hymn sheet on these occasions.
This evening's debate is important. The Scottish Executive continues to recognise the important role that Supporters Direct plays in Scottish football. To that end, since April 2002 we have provided funding of £330,000 to Supporters Direct, as members know. For this year and next, Executive funding to Supporters Direct has increased to £95,000 per annum.

Supporters Direct has achieved a great deal in assisting responsible groups of supporters to get more involved with their clubs. As other members have said, fans make a lifetime commitment to a club and should have a greater say in how their club is run. As we have heard, there are now 31 supporters trusts in Scotland. Thirty of those are in the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League. The other is Clydebank, in junior football. Scott Barrie may be heartened to know that Supporters Direct has identified as one of its aims for the coming year increasing that number to at least 34. I agree with him that we and, in particular, Supporters Direct need to consider why the other teams are not signed up to this agenda and how change can be made with them.

It is not simply a case of establishing supporters trusts; it is essential for the trusts to be run professionally. The continuing support of Supporters Direct is essential in meeting that objective. Supporters Direct is committed to assisting trusts to develop additional sources of income to ensure their self-sufficiency and long-term viability. As I have said before-not in this chamber, but in the one that we are more used to-the Executive does not want to run football. However, we want football to be well run. We believe that supporters are the lifeblood of the game and that it is entirely appropriate that their voice is heard in the running of their clubs.

At a time when for some clubs money is very tight, the fact that 24 of the 31 trusts have already taken a shareholding in their club has brought some much-needed fresh capital into the industry. Scott Barrie and Colin Fox are correct to say that Supporters Direct should not-I believe, must not-be the option of last resort. Twelve trusts have representation on the board of their club and one trust-Clyde-has a 50 per cent shareholding and controls the club in partnership with a group of local investors. The trusts at Clyde and Dundee can reasonably be said to have played a key role in the survival of those clubs, which is important.

Community support is crucial to any football club, and the work of Supporters Direct in helping to develop clubs as assets in the local community is to be welcomed and applauded. I know that that will become a major focus of the work of Supporters Direct over the next two years.

It is important to recognise the work that is going on in football to raise standards among the professional clubs in various areas, including supporter involvement. As colleagues will know, the SFA is to introduce a national club licensing system, for which it should be applauded. Club licensing will set out measurable quality standards and procedures by which clubs will be assessed as a basis for continual improvement to meet specific standards. The licensing system includes a requirement for a supporters charter and a demonstrable commitment to equity issues. The supporters charter requires clubs to commit to providing supporters with a safe and enjoyable experience of football.

The commitment to equity issues states that clubs are expected to demonstrate a meaningful and measurable commitment to address issues of discrimination, whether by gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin or colour, and to encourage equal opportunities by means of a meaningful policy and strategy, with measurable results. Christine May should not feel intimidated about taking part in the debate, particularly when the women's game in Scotland is growing exponentially and our women's Scottish football team is ranked considerably higher in its world rankings than its male counterpart is in its rankings. Supporters Direct supports the wider equality agenda through its work with the trusts. Supporters Direct actively promoted the work of the Show Racism the Red Card initiative and encouraged the participation of its member trusts.

Christine May touched on the work that the Executive is doing through the "Action Plan on Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland" initiative. However, that work will achieve nothing unless we have the support of the public and the buy-in of those who are involved in football at all levels. Supporters Direct represents the responsible, fair-minded football supporters, who have a lot to offer in this agenda, and I am particularly encouraged by its support of the Executive's policy.

A lot of work is on-going with Supporters Direct and there is still more to be done, but in football, as in many other areas, partnership is what really matters. Without the backing of the police, the clubs and the football fans themselves, nothing in football will change.

As I said earlier, I am delighted that Frank McAveety was able to secure the debate and I thank him for doing so. I am happy to support the motion recognising the work of Supporters Direct in Scotland.

Meeting closed at 17:52.


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Peter Jack
BairnsTrust Joint-Treasurer
www.bairnstrust.com

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