The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) recently published its response to the select committee report into football governance. The inquiry, which opened in February, heard from numerous witnesses from the world of football and published its findings on the 29th July earlier this year.

The government’s response to the select committee’s report sets out a number of recommendations for football. These include looking at the creation of a modern, accountable and representative FA Board, the implementation of a licensing framework administered by the FA in close co-operation with the professional game and changes to decision-making structures within the FA.

The football authorities will now have to work together in order to agree and publish a joint strategy by 29th February 2012 in terms of how they plan to work towards these recommendations. If they fail to rise to the challenge then the government will look to take action via legislation in Parliament.

The DCMS wish to see football authorities encouraging the clubs to have an open dialogue with supporters’ trusts about how their club is run and for fans to be placed at the heart of the club.

The report states that, "Every club should have a dedicated and mandatory supporter liaison officer while every club should officially recognise the relevant supporters groups or trusts and keep an open dialogue with them. They should hold official and regular annual general meetings at which these groups are invited to take part and at which appropriate financial and other information can be shared and consulted upon".

The government makes clear its belief that these conditions should be an integral part of the football licensing model put forward by the select committee. Compliance would therefore be mandatory for all clubs looking to take part in the professional game in England.

The FA, Football League, and Premier League jointly released a statement saying, "The football authorities are grateful to both the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for the time taken and interest shown in the governance arrangements for football. We shall now take time to consider the Department's response as we formulate what the most appropriate actions might be.

The FA, the Premier League, The Football League and representatives of the National Game are already engaged in this process and are committed to keeping the Minister and his Department informed of our progress".

Sports minister Hugh Robertson responded with, “This country is hugely passionate about our national game and there are many reasons we should be pleased with how it has progressed over the last two decades. However, I believe that there are improvements that can be made in the governance arrangements, which have failed to keep up with the changing pace of the modern game. I do not want Government to run football, so this is an opportunity for the football family to work together to benefit the game in the long-term”.

Chair of NUST, Norman Watson, commented, “" I think this Report, if fully implemented, will bring big changes to the way clubs are financed and run towards a more sustainable model, similar to the Bundesliga. It also calls upon the Football Authorities to come up with ways in which the Supporters can be more involved, including being on the Board. Unfortunately, it is not clear in the Report what will happen if they don't, so there is still more work to do. We are working closely with Supporters Direct and other Supporters Trusts to ensure full implementation of the Report. There is still a lot to play for - this is just half-time!”.

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This is the one time of the year when all football supporters should be able to dream that this could be their season, however unlikely that dream might be.

For Newcastle United fans recent months have been more of a nightmare, minimal net investment in players and key players in a war of words with the club hierarchy. As it stands now, we have lost last season's two top goalscorers and arguably the two most creative players in the current squad are almost certain to follow. Some of you may not be too impressed with Enrique and Barton washing the club's dirty linen in public but there can be no denying that the club have handled the situation badly, while exactly what the new signings make of this is anybody's guess.

It can only be a bad state of affairs when fans rely on this public war of words to gauge what is happening at the club.

What are NUST doing? Our recent survey of thousands of Newcastle fans made it quite clear that supporters wanted the club to communicate much better with the fans and it was strongly felt that the Trust should attempt to open lines of communication with the people running Newcastle United. The Trust board had actually already approached the club to try and start talking, despite being rebuffed we redoubled our efforts and pointed to the fact that thousands of the club's own customers (supporters!) were now telling us via the survey, that the best way forward was for the only democratic and organised fans' body (NUST) to talk with the club and try and work together for the benefit of everybody. Needless to say this honest and open approach was again rejected. Fans are in the dark and the lack of communication has created a void which leaves most of us fearing the worst in the coming season, supporters don't expect trophy signings but they do expect those inside the club doing everything they can to work with the people who care about the club and only want a healthy and successful Newcastle United.

As well as community initiatives such as 'Local Achievers' and working towards the launch of a Junior Trust, the Trust board continue to work behind the scenes to put plans in place that would give fans the best chance of owning a sizeable stake in Newcastle United if the chance ever presents itself. Many people including numerous highly qualified and experienced people are giving their time for free, if the chance ever presented itself we know it would be a massive undertaking for NUST to help organise the fans to own a stake and so preparations continue to be made.

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