HELP - WHAT IS SUPPORTERS DIRECT?

From the moment it was formed The Posh Supporters' Trust has received wonderful support, advice and information from Supporters Direct. But what exactly is Supporters Direct?

It is a government initiative, funded by public money, whose aim is to help people who wish to play a responsible part in the life of the football club they support. It exists to:

• Promote and support the concept of democratic supporter ownership and representation through mutual, not-for-profit structures.
• Promote football clubs as civic and community institutions.
• Work to preserve the competitive values of league football in the UK and promote the health of the game as a whole.

In order to achieve this, Supporters Direct helps in the formation of supporters' trusts as Industrial and Provident Societies to ensure democratic, transparent, representative bodies for supporters at their clubs; the democratic representation of supporters' trusts on football club boards; the ownership of shares in clubs by trusts and the pooling of individually-held shares in a club under the influence of the trust.

From over 200 enquiries from interested groups Supporters Direct has helped set up more than 120 supporters' trusts in England, Wales and Scotland.

• Nine clubs are owned or controlled by their supporters' trusts.
• 59 trusts have a significant holding in their football clubs
• 39 trusts have a supporter representative on the board of their football club
• Supporters' trusts have brought in over £10m of investment into the game since Supporters Direct was founded in 2000
• Over 85,000 are members of supporters' trusts
• Fan ownership works: among many others, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are owned and controlled by their fans