FSF and SD: Merger confirmed

Supporters today (Thursday 22nd November 2018) met in central London to finalise the merger of the Football Supporters’ Federation and Supporters Direct into one unified organisation at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).

Around 100 supporter representatives from clubs across the country came together to rubberstamp plans which were initially discussed at both organisations’ annual conferences in July.

A new chair, vice chair, National Council, and Board has been elected and Kevin Miles was appointed as the organisation’s new chief executive yesterday.

FSF chair Malcolm Clarke was elected as the chair of the newly-merged organisation which he said can give fans an even more effective voice in how the game is run. SD chair Tom Greatrex was elected vice chair of the new organisation.

“Today marks an historic day for the fan movement,” Malcolm said. “As one unified organisation we are now in a perfect position to represent supporter interests and lobby for the changes in the game which fans are desperate to see.”

Tom added: “Today brought together the skills, expertise and record of two excellent organisations. It’s an exciting time and every supporter can play an important part to ensure fans are at the vanguard of positive change within football.”

New structure

The new organisation’s structure features a National Council which embeds within it fan representatives from clubs at Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two, and National Game (non-league) level.

Six individual fans were also elected and, in addition to this, supporter-owned clubs have their own specially-assigned representatives as does Fans for Diversity.

The newly-elected National Council representatives are:

• Chair – Malcolm Clarke
• Vice chair – Tom Greatrex
• Premier League – Katrina Law (Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust), Dave Pennington (Manchester United Supporters’ Trust) and Dave Kelly (The Blue Union). 
• Championship – Geoff Bielby (Hull City Supporters’ Trust), Rick Duniec (Leeds United Supporters’ Trust), and Teddy Bellamy (Millwall Supporters’ Club).
• EFL 1 & EFL 2 – Antony Wilkinson (Blackpool Supporters’ Trust) and Roger Ellis (Sky Blue Trust). 
• National Game – Rob Street (Billericay Town Supporters Society).
• Supporter-owned clubs – Neil Le Milliere (Exeter City Supporters’ Trust), Tim Hillyer (Dons Trust). 
• Fans for Diversity – on the 15th November they elected the following supporters to represent them on the National Council: Chris Paouros (Proud Lilywhites), Malcolm Hirst (Port Vale Supporters’ Club) and Shin Aujla (Apna Albion).
• Associate organisations – Ally Simcock (Pint of Vale), David Michael (My Old Man Said), and Dave Tomlinson (Sandbach Travelling Alex).
• Individual representatives – Christine Seddon, Fiona McGee, Kristine Green, Martin O’Hara, Peter Daykin, and Steve Powell.

Both the EFL 1 & EFL 2, National Game, and supporter-owned club networks are entitled to three elected representatives, with the responsibilty now with those networks to fill the remaining spaces.

In addition the new organisation elected a Board made up of three members appointed from the previous Interim Board, six members elected from the new National Council, as well as the new chair and vice chair.

The Board: Ally Simcock, Chris Paouros, Dave Pennington, Fiona McGee, Malcolm Clarke, Martin O’Hara, Peter Daykin, Roger Ellis, Tim Hartley, Tim Hillyer, and Tom Greatrex.

We would like to thank all delegates and fan organisations who participated in today’s EGM.

Addendum: 11th December 2018 – download the full results for the elections held for the Unified Football Supporters’ Organisation Board and Council here.