Blackpool Supporters' Trust column: Taking the campaign to Parliament

We’ve developed the lifelong habit of watching the game week in, week out, from the stands of the biggest stadiums to the touchlines of the smallest village clubs, going along with family or friends or even on our own to be part of the bigger family that is our club’s supporters.

We are members of the communities our football clubs serve, communities that have traditionally been united by the football club in their midst, communities that live for the beautiful game.

For decades our clubs were owned and directed by people not unlike us (just with a bit more brass); people who shared our passion for the game, our civic pride in where we are from; people who wanted the football club to be a focus and positive factor in the everyday life of their city or town or village.

In the last twenty years or so that all began to change. The formation of the English Premier League and the gradual ceding of power to the EPL and the EFL by the FA has led to some unwelcome trends.

The hundreds of millions of pounds that have come flooding into the game from broadcasting and sponsorship revenues as the Premier League and Championship are marketed globally have made the sport much more like a business.

And while the quality of the football on offer may have improved, frankly things have started to turn very ugly in some quarters.

Some clubs have owners who appear to have their eyes on the main chance. Fans are seen as pound signs, a revenue stream, rather than the lifeblood of priceless institutions.

Some owners have scant understanding of the game and little respect for its traditions.

The worst of these owners are not just destroying the teams we support but by extension the towns, cities and communities those teams are rooted in – witness Blackpool, Coventry, Leeds, Morecambe and Orient to name but a few.

Blackpool Supporters’ Trust committee members regularly stand outside Bloomfield Road on match days explaining to both home and away supporters the rationale for the ethical boycott as a means of expressing customer dissatisfaction and our belief that the only long-term solution for our club and community is to become an Oyston-free one.

A retort that is voiced with depressing regularity is this: “The Oystons own Blackpool Football Club. It’s their business and they can run it as they want.”

That really is an attitude which needs to change, for the future not just of Blackpool FC but for the good of the game in this country.

Owners of football clubs need to recognise that they are in charge of a social enterprise. That brings with it certain obligations – not least to use the funds generated by the football club for the benefit of the football club, and by extension the supporters and the community.

Supporters Direct has conducted a forensic analysis of the financial affairs of a number of clubs, where serious misgivings have been expressed about the ethical operation of those businesses. SD’s expert panel has concluded that certain changes are necessary and they have tabled some recommendations for the regulatory reform of English football.

In short, they make the claim that football ought to be a special case because of the importance of its role in society, in the same way that financial services and media businesses are.

England is one of the few countries where football does not have an independent regulatory body. It is no longer good enough for the leagues and the club chairmen to regulate themselves.

There was a time when the FA performed that role but it has lost its moral authority and that needs to be reasserted with appropriate rule changes governing off-field matters.

These changes, SD proposes, need to address ethical issues of owner integrity, stewardship, funding, accountability, engagement and community benefit, with an externally administered and regulated licensing system.

The biggest beneficiaries ought to be the fans themselves, the lifeblood of any sporting institution, and those communities which the clubs serve.

To that end, the national Fans Not Numbers’campaign got under way in Blackpool this week. It is being run jointly by Supporters’ Direct and SKINS with support from Blackpool Supporters’ Trust in the first instance (Blackpool being a prime example of the issues that need to be confronted) but with other supporters’ groups coming on board as the campaign gathers momentum.

Supporters Direct and SKINS believe the FA can fix the game but needs legal power to act through parliamentary backingt.

Tuesday night saw the first of five regional meetings held this month to kick off the initiative (see page 21).

It is designed to encourage as many of this country’s millions of football fans as possible to do something simple and practical – fire off an email to your local MP to let them know that we’re fans not numbers and that we demand reform in the concept of club ownership and engagement and in how football is regulated.

To get the message in direct and powerful form, check out the launch video: http://youtu.be/m5_dW0U1aC4

To make contacting your MP easy, there is a website at fansnotnumbers.org, where you can simply enter your name, your postcode and click a button. It will identify your local MP and format a standard email which you can fire off with one more click.

The whole thing takes just two minutes of your time – two minutes that will help build momentum to get the debate for change in football governance on to the parliamentary agenda and help bring the FA, EPL and EFL to the table; two minutes that could help change football for good.