Articles 
The sacking of Chris Hughton has rightly brought universal condemnation from throughout the football world for its arbitrary treatment of someone who had at last brought some stability and organisation to the Team and obviously had taken the Region as a whole to his heart.
The vast majority of the fans are understandably upset and angry at the treatment meted out to the manager and the fact that once again the reputation of the Club is being dragged through the mud and its whole future as a Premiership club is now under threat by the actions of one man from his base in London.
We have had a massive response from both members and non-members since Chris Hughton’s dismissal, a large majority seeing the only substantive way forward being for the fans to have influence via owning a stake in the club. Others look to protest as a means of showing their anger and frustration. The Trust board believes in supporting the team and for the fans to decide for themselves what message they want to send out to both the club hierarchy and the global audience watching on TV. We believe in treating supporters with respect and the ability to make their own mind up, we share the frustration of supporters at recent events but believe that nothing has changed. For fans to have real influence it has to be through a financial stake in their club, that is our aim and what we will pursue no matter who owns or manages this great club.
As far as we are concerned at NUST it confirms our position that the only way to secure the future of this club is to replace the current ownership with a new form of ownership which is based in the Region and which will be committed to the long-term future of the club, and not looking to sell it on one day for a profit to another individual from goodness knows where. Our vision is for NUFC to be owned, either wholly or partially, by the people who care for it most; the worldwide fans.
How can we do this?
The first thing to say is that the current NUST Board are realists and understand that a considerable sum of money will need to be raised in order to do any deal with Ashley or any other future owner, but we maintain that this is not an impossible task and a combination of investment from the fans together with locally based private investment from a number of individuals and companies could raise the necessary funds. Our view remains that we must work to make this model of ownership happen because there is no future for an ownership model which leaves the Club entirely at the whim of any one individual - as a model of ownership and governance of a football club it is broken.
Of course it will not be easy to achieve to this - but surely we owe it to ourselves as supporters of this great club to at least try?
Like most football clubs the NUFC was formed from the community and has always been supported by it throughout its long history. Even in the relegation season of 2008/9 the average crowd was 49,000, putting the club in the top 20 of European clubs by income with total revenue of £86m. The problem the club has always had is to translate this support into success on the field. It has always been held back by a series of poor and short sighted decisions taken at Board level - as fans we must surely try now to ensure that in future our support is reflected at Board level and such influence is translated into actions that support the long term future and sustainability of the club and its community.
Financial Issues
NUST has a legal form, which allows it to operate on a membership basis, which was developed in conjunction with Supporters Direct. We have taken legal advice and our current legal constitution also allows us to raise funds from our supporters on a one-person one-vote basis irrespective of investment. Much the same as the Barcelona model where the supporters are also “socios” or voting members.
We are currently working on a financial model, which will demonstrate how the club can be self-sufficient in the future after a successful buyout. We are being helped in this task by people with long practical experience of how a Premiership club works as well as having good contacts with potential investors.
We will try to raise investment from the fans by issuing a Share Prospectus and Business Plan, which will be signed off by lawyers, accountants, and the FSA. The more money we raise this way will obviously strengthen our position with any corporate investors. If the money raised is not used within a specified time to buy the club, then it will be returned to the fans.
This will have to be a long-term process involving regular contact and meetings with the fans to explain the financial model, but we know this is worth the effort. The model we are working on would have a minimum investment of £500 by fans, enabling as many supporters to take part as possible. This route would not necessarily raise all of the money to buy the club but the more money raised by fans the more bargaining power there would be with other friendly investors. In any case we would like to give the fans a chance to invest more that £500 if they could afford it and wanted to.
Most fans will know that from the Season 2012/13, UEFA has decided that any club that wishes to play in European competitions must be self-sustaining and not spend beyond its means; this further undermines the position of any club currently relying on anybody with deep pockets. We have partly based our plans on the German Bundesliga model where the fans own 51% of clubs with private investors and companies holding 49%. We might not achieve these exact percentages, but the strength of the model is that the fans are represented at the highest level and the investors are happy in the knowledge that the fans will support the club in the future –both as owners and as fans.
We believe that as supporters we must try to put ourselves in a position where we can influence the future ownership and direction of this famous club. We must not stand aside any longer and watch the club being ripped apart. Let’s make a stand and put the club back to where it really belongs - in the Community that has created it and sustained it over the years.
A first step in helping us on this long road can be by joining NUST if you are not already a member, to join online visit here or send a Cheque/Postal Order payable to ‘NUST’ at NUST, PO Box 621, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE5 9AD.
