FSA Staff

Ashley has been a key part of the staff team working on the football regulator to deliver the FSA’s ideas.

He also leads the FSA’s work on club-supporter engagement, and has worked with a significant number of clubs across the Premier League and EFL to help create their shadow boards and engagement plans.

As a Portsmouth fan, Ashley was instrumental in the work fans did to save and subsequently run the club giving him insight into both clubs in crisis and the running of and EFL club.

Ashley is also the FSA’s representative on the steering group of Green Football Weekend, and handles logistics and budgeting for the FSA’s Free Lions Fans’ Embassy service.

Email: [email protected]

Darren leads the FSA’s work in the non-league game and community-owned clubs. Having worked at all levels of the game from the FA, EFL, Charlton Athletic and the League of Ireland, he put all this experience to use while being part of the group of fans that started Bury AFC, the phoenix club that rose following the expulsion of the original club in 2019. He served on the board of the club from its inception and then also on the board of Bury FC after the merger of the two fan groups.

When not at Gigg Lane following the Shakers, he’ll either be training for a half marathon or studying for his professional doctorate at Leeds Beckett University.

Email: [email protected]

Dave began working for the FSA in 2009, after many years in senior management in banking. His first match was in 1985 under the floodlights of Roker Park. “A 3-0 defeat to Liverpool that gave me the immediate grounding required as a Sunderland supporter for the decades to follow,” says Dave. “Working with countless volunteers and passionate football fans is such a privilege.”

Email: [email protected]

Deborah is the Head of Women’s Football at the FSA – she works to train and develop supporter volunteers in the women’s game as well as to promote and enhance supporters as a key stakeholder across football.

The FSA formalised the women’s game network into their official structures in 2020 and the network has subsequently grown each member groups each year. This is a combination of supporter groups, websites, blogs and fanzines covering both international and domestic teams from England and Wales.

Projects Deborah has worked on include:

• My Country, My Shirt – A Fans For Diversity project showcasing supporters of the Lionesses ahead of Euro 2022
• Agreeing structured supporter engagement with the women’s leagues in 2022
• Evidence gathering and submission and participation in the Carney Review of Women’s Football in 2022-2023
• 100 Years of Supporters supporting the women’s game – this was to mark the anniversary of the ban on women’s football in 2021.

Publications include:

• FA Women’s National League Supporters Guide 2024-25
• Women’s Game Survey 2022-24 & 2024-27
• Women’s Game Strategy 2022-24 & 2024-27
• Fans For Diversity x Women’s Game Guidance booklet
• Free Lionesses Supporters Guide 2019, 2022, 2023

Email: [email protected]

Garreth is the FSA’s answer to James Milner, in that he can do a job in a number of different roles for the team, is well-travelled around the Premier League, and is too old to be taken seriously as a footballer any more.

He is our National Game Network Manager, which means a lot of his time is spent looking after our fan groups in non-league, but he is also responsible for the FSA’s survey work, can spot a misplaced comma at 40 yards as part of our comms team, and covers the ground doing a lot of legwork at events like the FSA Awards and our AGM among others.

Email: [email protected]

Hannah Kumari manages the Fans for Diversity Campaign alongside Nilesh, working with supporters up and down the country to promote inclusivity in the game and to increase diversity in the stand on match days.

Hannah and Nilesh guide fans who wish to set up new supporter groups, work with existing groups and trusts to diversify their membership, distribute funds for fan-led activity and collaborate with their FSA colleagues on lots of other things! Hannah feels very fortunate to be one of those smug people who does their dream job.

After working as an actor for many years, Hannah wrote a play ‘ENG-ER-LAND’ in lockdown, about being a mixed race Coventry City fan in 1997, which Fans for Diversity supported. A Sky Blue in exile in London, she renewed her season ticket in 2023-24 and now spends a lot of time moaning about trains. An amateur linguist Hannah speaks fluent Spanish, average Italian and very bad French.

Email: [email protected]

Harpreet joined the FSA in 2021 and works with the supporter organisations of Premier League clubs, as well as the clubs and league themselves. The work is varied and covers topics such as ticketing, fan engagement, broadcasting and refereeing.

Email: [email protected]

I joined the FSA in 2018 and, as one of the EFL Network Managers, work closely with fan groups from across the Championship, League 1 and League 2, covering fan engagement, consultation, ticket prices, stewarding, broadcast fixtures, kick-off times and anything else that affects fans in the EFL. No two days are ever the same.

Email: [email protected]

Jess is one of the FSA’s EFL Network Managers and works closely with supporter organisations and football clubs across the EFL. She has also been involved in work focusing on engaging younger supporters across the game.

Email: [email protected]

Kevin Miles is chief executive of the FSA and sat on the Fan-led Review panel, offering expert advice to its author Dame Tracey Crouch. He is a current trustee at Kick It Out, a former chair of Show Racism The Red Card and former board member of Football Supporters Europe. He supports two teams – Newcastle United and Blyth Spartans – and he actually happens to be the chairman at one of those clubs. You’ll have to guess which one…

Email: [email protected]

A season-ticket holder at Newcastle United, Liam is a history graduate and qualified journalist who joined the FSA in 2015 having previously worked in regional newspapers. Apart from liaising with national and local media, Liam produces news and written features for the FSA – as well as engaging with supporters across all of our social media platforms.

Email: [email protected]

Michael joined the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) in 2008 “thanks” to one of football’s worst ideas – Game 39. After becoming involved in that campaign and representing the FSF in meetings with the Premier League, Michael stuck around and never really left – now the FSF is the FSA and Michael is head of communications. Prior to this Michael worked in comms for IPPR North. He is a Sunderland season ticket holder, attending matches with his wife and two daughters who have inherited his love for watching and playing football (and they’re better than he was).

Email: [email protected]

This is a biography about an ordinary Southport FC fan.

When she first joined the FSA, they found Nicola had an unusual interest in constitutions and they encouraged her to pursue these activities away from other colleagues, working in an old dark storeroom.

Then one day people realised that they needed her for help and guidance with complex rules and policies as well as advice and training on how to grow as credible supporters organisations.

She emerged from the dark wielding special governance powers.

That fan became SuperGeek!

Email: [email protected]

Nilesh is the founder of Villans Together, an Aston Villa supporter group dedicated to promoting inclusivity and diversity at Villa Park.

His efforts earned him the Aston Villa ‘Part of the Pride’ award and the ‘Community Champion’ accolade. Building on the success of Villans Together, Nilesh has expanded his work by collaborating with non-league clubs across the Midlands, focusing on increasing diversity in the stands.

Nilesh is also a UEFA C licensed coach and has been coaching at the grassroots level since he was 16. He serves as the sports chairman of the Birmingham Pragati Mandal (BPM), a local Hindu community group, and works with the FA as a community champion, mentoring coaches from ethnic backgrounds to develop their skills.

With a lifelong passion for football and a commitment to fostering inclusion, Nilesh continues to make a positive impact both on and off the field.

Email: [email protected]

Nina Bond is Finance and Administration Manager at the FSA.

Email: [email protected]

Richard is the FSA’s Network Manager for Community-owned Clubs responsible for the day-to-day liaison with the network’s clubs and for the establishment of clubs looking to use the company benefit society model for the first time.

He has a PhD from Birkbeck, University of London, completed in 2023, which looked at the sustainability of community-owned clubs and concluded that supporter ownership was infinitely preferable to private ownership.

He is happiest when standing in the rain at a non-league football ground (preferably one he’s never visited before) or when being subjected to ear-splitting guitar music in a tiny backstreet venue. He is a fan of Lewes FC.

Email: [email protected]

Thomas is the Premier League Network Manager at the FSA, working closely with the supporter organisations within the Premier League, as well as the league themselves and the clubs.

Thomas also leads our Fans’ Embassy work for England away international games, offering a support service to travelling England fans alongside our volunteer embassy team. Thomas works closely with England supporters, both official and non-official members, as well as with the FA, the UK Football Policing Unit, Football Supporters Europe and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Thomas is a Newcastle United fan, a regular home and away attendee, and is heavily involved with creating the flag displays at St James’ Park.

Email: [email protected]

Vicki leads the organisation’s casework, helping supporters who have received a club sanction navigate their club’s sanctions process, or signposting them to specialist advice. Vicki also manages the FSA membership and takes a lead role in FSA events, such as the AGM and FSA Awards.

Email: [email protected]