Supporters Direct news feed

MUST Membership passes 120,000

It's difficult not to notice the MUST campaign to change the ownership of Manchester United. It's been hitting the headlines as it sailed past the 40, 50, 60 and 70 thousand mark.

Fans can run clubs? "Yes", says Lord Triesman - plus Pitch Invasion special on fan ownership.

Lord Triesman, Chairman of The FA, has come out in favour of supporter-ownership - reported widely in the media on Monday.

Chester City wound up: City Fans United statement

At 11.12am this morning, City Fans United were made aware that Chester City FC’s 125 year history had come to an end in the High Court of Justice, with the Liquidation of the company owned by the Vaughan family.

CFU acknowledge that this day was inevitable based on the huge debts that were built up in such a short space of time by the previous owners. Now is the time to look forward, and begin a new era for football in Chester.

City Fans United will be making a further statement on the announcement shortly.

UEFA meets Supporters Direct and FSE

Yesterday, Football Supporters Europe and Supporters Direct met with UEFA to further improve the dialogue between them.

Cambridge United fans bid to Buy Back the Abbey

05/03/2010
Cambridge Fans United (CFU) Press Release
For immediate Release

Cambridge United fans bid to Buy Back the Abbey

The Cambridge United Supporters’ Trust, Cambridge Fans United (CFU) has unveiled a bold plan to buy back the Abbey Stadium – for the whole community, and they’re asking for the whole town to pull together to achieve it in record breaking time!

1,000 Sign up to Keep the Cup Free for All

Over 1,000 people have now signed up to Supporters Directs Keep the Cup Free for All campaign, which aims to keep the Rugby League Challenge Cup on the list of protected free-to-air TV events.

Bournemouth & Cardiff�s Risky Strategies

Two clubs that haven’t yet resolved their differences with the taxman are AFC Bournemouth and Cardiff City, and both of them are still fighting off winding up orders. Mark Murphy has been taking a look at both clubs, and finds a bit of a high risk strategy taking place at each.

Farsley Celtic Are Back On The Brink

Hidden away in the back pages of a couple of local newspapers, another football club is dying. It’s a club that has been to the brink before and, unlike, other, bigger clubs that have faced financial problems this season, they haven’t exactly hogged the headlines over the last couple years or so. Farsley Celtic have crossed our rainbow, firstly when their chairman openly considered changing their name to “AFC Leeds” to try and grow their local support and secondly when they fell into serious financial difficulties during the summer over an unpaid a £200,000 bill to HMRC which resulted in their near expulsion from the Blue Square North. It was only at the last minute that a new consortium was believed to have stepped in after the club entered into administration.

Statement from the Crystal Palace Supporters Trust

Trust statement 02/03/10

The Trust is delighted to welcome Paul Hart as manager of Crystal Palace and wish him every success in his new role. It is particularly pleasing to welcome back Dougie Freedman, a strong supporter and member of the Trust, and John Pemberton back to Selhurst Park.

Never Say Die

In amongst all the stories at clubs that we document here; of the creaking structures at Liverpool and Manchester United caused by foolish over-borrowing; falls from grace caused by egos at Chester and Kings Lynn; or collapses at Portsmouth caused by...well, a variety of things really, it's easy to forget what so often comes out the other end after all the heartache and hard work. We've got so many good stories to tell, of clubs saved, reborn, brought back from the brink.

Nick Spencer, Telegraph journalist and Exeter City fan has chronicled the journey that the Club has been on from the dying days of the regime of Lewis and Russell (not to mention Michael Jackson, Uri Geller and the Green Cross Code Man), through to the second promotion under supporter-ownership.

Equally Exeter City through-and-through, Nic Mimmack, reviews Never Say Die...