Annual Conference 2008

We promised that this year’s event would be just the beginning of what the day is setting out to achieve. What follows now is the next step: a collation of the information we have gleaned from the event, which we are beginning to use to develop and inform – and in some cases form the basis of – SD’s policy towards the game in the months and years to come and the services we provide to you in the trust movement.

We also held the hustings for SD board places this year, and we’ve got that onsite too. If you need to find out more about the elections (such as if you’re eligible to vote), contact our membership officer James Mathie.

We’ve included some information, documents and links that will be useful for you as a supporters’ trust. For example, we’ve got a link to the new research project being carried out by Substance, and previewed at a session at the Conference. We’ve got a whole load of information about our research with Associa on membership, how to recruit members to your trusts, and more about the bespoke database developed for trusts by InTouch. We’ve provided links to all the plenary speakers, including the first ever speech from a Chairman of the FA – Lord Triesman – to Conference, as well as Hugh Robertson MP – the Shadow Sports and Olympics Minister, author David Goldblatt and Hamburg SV elected director, Oliver Scheel, all of whom addressed our plenary sessions.

We hope you enjoy this conference special section, and hope that you find it informative. It will remain on the website, so it will continue to be a resource for anyone who needs or wants it.

Conference feedback

We want to hear your views on how the day went, what you enjoyed and what you'd change or add in the future. Let us know by taking our survey.

The day

We've laid out the day below, with the plenaries and speeches together, and relevant documents alongside each session or workshop. If you want more detailed information about the day and the sessions, go here for the programme.

Morning plenary

• Hugh Robertson MP, Conservative Shadow Sports and Olympics Minister
  Biography | Speech

Afternoon plenary

• David Goldblatt, Broadcaster and Author, The Ball is Round
  Biography | Speech
  
  
• Oliver Scheel, Elected Director, Hamburger SV
  Biography | Speech
  
  
• Lord Triesman, Independent Chairman, The FA
  Biography | Speech
  
  

Morning breakout sessions

We based the morning set of sessions around the circumstances your trust is in, and the idea was to provide you a forum not to simply let everyone know the difficulties you face, but also to work out how to overcome challenges or difficulties. It was not a session with an ‘expert’ telling you ‘what’s what’, and no ‘agenda’; each session was facilitated by someone from SD, and the information gleaned will be used to establish better services and support from us, and to search for solutions within those sessions from your fellow activists.

• If you can’t get a shareholding/representation at board level
• You’re a trust owned club
• You’re a trust looking to increase or maintain their shareholding
  

  NB: Additional documents to download for this session: Supporter director election procedure and supporter director code of conduct

• The crisis has passed

Election hustings

As there was a contested election for places on the board, a hustings took place during the first part of the afternoon workshops. We’ve got a recording of the hustings here and the candidates' statements and a transcript of the hustings.

Afternoon workshops

In the afternoon delegates broke into a set of workshops based on big issues we face. The presentations were not so much about chances to sit and listen to experts, and more an opportunity for the speakers to set out the key debates in the area and then turn the floor over to those attending. Each workshop had someone taking action points for SD to take forward.

Trusts and their Members

Downloads: Notes | Jim White presentation | Associa Presentation | Consensus Voting | InTouch Overview

Who might be interested in this?
People who want to know how to recruit more members, how to retain the ones you’ve got and how to engage with them.

Trusts and the Trust Movement

Downloads: Notes

Who was it for?
People who want to contribute to the debate about what our values are, how trusts should operate and what the relationship between SD and trusts needs to be.

Football: Regulations and Governance

Downloads: Notes | Powerpoint presentation | UEFA Licensing Results

Who’s it for?
People who want to get to grips with practical policies that will make a real impact on the governance of football. We know the problems, and we know what mistakes have been made in the past, but this is focussing on what we can do to turn things around.

The Value of Football

Click here to visit the website created for the research project SD has commissioned

Who’s it for?
SD has recently commissioned a research project to investigate the social value of football, and this session is your chance to hear more about what the next steps in the research project are. This is for those who want to understand why the value of football is important; want to know what the different approaches to evaluating clubs’ social and community value are, and want to know how these can be made most relevant to clubs and trusts (including feedback/discussion from those).