Swansea City Supporters Trust show the way with a 20% stake in the club after playing a decisive role in saving the club from extinction. Their reward only ten years later? – Premiership football!
Anything is possible. On 30th May this year, Swansea City won promotion to the Premier League, less than 10 years after facing administration and having to be bailed out by a local consortium that included the Supporters Trust.
Of course it is easier to start at the bottom than the top but with determination and togetherness a football club can be galvanised to include the input of supporters in their set up.
Swansea City Supporters Trust was formed in the Summer of 2001 and shortly after was sprung into action by actions of an owner who did not have the best interests of the club at heart. A football club on its knees saw thousands of fans rally together to protest against the running of the club and then they voted with their wallets to place together funds to gain their share of the club.
£100,000 was quickly raised and 10% of the club became owned by Supporters. Now whilst that is a good share, having any share in the club is valuable as it gives you a voice (no matter how big or small) at a shareholder meeting and also means that it is only ever likely to go up (in terms of investment value) rather than down. Once in, it is unlikely that generations of supporters will sell for a quick profit.
It may seem pie in the sky to fans of Newcastle but Swansea managed this off an average gate that was little more than 3000 at the time. You have a support base that is many times that but that gives a huge catchment of passionate support that – if united – can work together for the future good of the football club.
If you think logically, as a starting point if 40,000 supporters gave £10 then £400,000 is raised, some will give more than that and thus raise more money. With this the aim should always be shares in the club. 10% of the 40,000 donating £5 per month would raise the Trust £240k per annum – again it may seem pie in the sky but it is possible – clubs have managed it. It is all about putting building blocks in place and working towards your goals.
It has always been said that at Premier League clubs supporter involvement is impossible but it’s not – all it takes is like-minded people to work together for a common cause that we can all believe in – and every fan has their football club’s best interests at heart, don’t they.
Supporters Trusts can ensure that at least part of the club can remain in supporter hands for future generations and that is something that has to appeal . Remember, the bigger the shareholding the better the chance of board representation – definitely something worth fighting for.
It may have been little old Swansea at the time but we come to St James Park this year as a Premier League football club and a current 20% stake in our football club.
A role model that can be repeated elsewhere?
(Phil Sumbler is Chairman of the Swansea City Supporters Trust. You can find out more about Swans Trust by visiting swanstrust.co.uk or please feel free to contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
