Supporters Direct news feed

David Sullivan's call for salary cap is not enough

Perhaps I've been wrong all along to be cynical about the owners of clubs and their prediliction for debt-fuelled spending, on the day David Sullivan calls for a salary cap.

Salary Cap? What's the skinny then?

Morton Fan Wins Survey Prize Draw

At the end of last year Supporters Direct ran an online survey to gain the views of supporters on a variety of football related topics. As an incentive to complete the questionnaire fans could choose to enter a prize draw to win the Scottish football top of their choice.

At the turn of the year the draw was made and Morton supporter Alistair McKinnon was the first name out of the hat. Morton director and former Supporters Direct board member Stuart Duncan arranged the handover of the prize to Alistair at a recent home match. You can make your own mind up whether the smiles in the photo indicate whether it was before or after the match!

The survey itself was completed by over 1,300 fans of clubs the length and breadth of the country and generated a lot of data along with many more opinions and comments. Results and issues arising from the survey will be published over the coming weeks and will continue to help inform any sports policy discussions the organisation is involved in.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to fill the survey out.

Weekly News Review - 29 Jan

The majority of press and media comment is focussed on the transfer window at the moment but there are other stories lurking out there. Our colleagues in England don't have to look too far for problems at Portsmouth, Crystal Palace, Chester City and a host of other clubs. Manchester United fans have also been getting support from unusual sources for their view of the clubs current financial position.

In Scotland Highland League club Inverness Clachnacuddin are in administration and the Clach Trust have stepped in to try and secure the short-term future of the club by making sure it has the funds to continue to the end of the season.

Players' Union Chief Executive Fraser Wishart has an interesting opinion on agents in The Herald.

Jim Spence, on his BBC blog, gives some advice to those who want to have a say but retain their anonymity.

And in more general information a new newspaper, the Caledonian Mercury, has been launched. It claims to be 'Scotland's first truly online newspaper' and we're looking forward to reading their views on issues in the football and wider sporting worlds.

The Saints City Trust Fire The Perfect Broadside

We live in challenging times, and these extend to every corner of the game and every aspect of how clubs run themselves. One club that has found the going tough over the last couple of years or so is St Albans City of the Blue Square South. Increasing concern over the way that their club was being run led to the formation of the Saints City Trust, and the Trust has already been fundraising with reasonable success. This week, however, the directors of the club held a meeting and chose to send an open letter to the Trust, outlining why they think the Trust should give them some of the money that they have raised. The Trust replied with an absolutely outstanding response, one that sums up the exact nature of the fractious relationships between the companies that own football clubs and the supporters trusts whose most important single aim is to ensure the long-term future of their club, and should act as a template for any supporters trust that finds itself at the point of being treated like a hole in the wall machine by the people that are running their football club.

REDS IN BUSINESS UNITED TO OUST GLAZERS

Reds In Business is appealing for Manchester United supporters in the business community to step forward and join the growing movement to effect a change of ownership at Manchester United.

Chester not down and not out/Notts reprieve

It was adjournments all round for the two clubs who faced winding-up petitions from HMRC in court today.

Hedge Fund highfliers: fans should own Man United

Two high-flying Hedge Fund managers, co-founder of Marshall Wace Paul Marshall and Jim O'Neil of Goldman Sachs - the latter whose company earned substantially from the Club's recent bond issue - have criticised the financial state of Manchester United in today's Telegraph, joining the rapidly growing campaign in opposition to the Glazers, led by the Manchester United Supporters Trust.

They also called for fans to buy and own the Club in the same way as at Barcelona.

Magic Moments

Supporters Direct, are pushing ahead with their campaign to Keep the Challenge Cup Free for All and are now urging all league fans to share their favourite Challenge Cup moments.

Football & The Media � There�s Something In The Air

In an extraordinary article in the Daily Mirror yesterday, Oliver Holt put forward a call to arms to all football supporters and offered an impassioned defence of those that are protesting against the way that our game is being mismanaged at the moment. Last Friday the Daily Mail, of all people, ran an article on FC United of Manchester that came close to being a eulogy and was at the same time a stinging attack on the Glazer’s management of Manchester United. The Guardian is getting its teeth well and truly into the proposed Manchester United bond issue, with new stories about the state of the club’s finances being reported on a seemingly basis. There’s something in the air. Attitudes are starting to change.

Breaking News: FA to impose Salary Cap!

The English FA have sensationally insisted that the top flight must have cost controls on player salaries in order to keep clubs sustainable.