Blackpool Supporters' Trust chair given prestigious award in recognition of tireless campaigning for fan movement

Seddon received the The Jacqui Forster Memorial Award at the Football Supporters' Association’s AGM at the weekend, which was held in London.

Jacqui, a former member of the Supporters Direct staff team who passed away in 2018, was involved in almost every one of the 200 supporters’ trusts at some stage of their development.

The award was set up to celebrate and recognise women like Jacqui who donate their spare time to promote the values and principles of the supporter movement.

The FSA said: “Christine was a popular candidate, receiving several nominations from fans across the country.

“Christine was a high-profile figure in the long campaign to remove the Oystons from Blackpool FC, even appearing on the BBC’s flagship magazine programme The One Show to talk about their change of ownership and what it meant for the town.”

Christine was handpicked from a panel of FSA staff and elected officials, while the award was presented to her at London’s Royal National Hotel on Saturday.

Jacqui Forster’s partner Peter Baker, who presented Christine with the award, added: "The nominations, as last year, were all of a high quality and any of them would have been worthy winners.

“However, Christine had the edge and it also seemed fitting this year that the campaign Blackpool supporters have run for so long has finally paid off.

"Jacqui was heavily involved with setting up the Blackpool Trust and she would certainly approve of this year’s recipient particularly as Blackpool was a place dear to her heart."

Gareth White, who works with Christine with BST, paid tribute to the Trust’s chair.

“Christine has become the voice of Blackpool fans in their fight to rid the club of the Oyston family,” he said.

"She has been articulate, principled, steadfast in her commitment and has offered strong visible leadership to everyone who wanted regime change at the club."