The End of FA Cup Replays

A supporters trust is a not for profit, democratic organization that is run by football supporters for football supporters, committed to strengthening the influence of supporters over the running of the club they support. Lead by a small group of elected volunteers, they are accountable and subject to recall by the membership. The elected volunteers are board members steering the organization to work with the football club, committed to strengthening the voice for supporters in the decision-making process at a club and strengthening the links between the club and the community it serves. In England, Wales and Scotland, there are approximately 140 supporters trusts, with as many as 110 that have a financial stake in their club and as many as 40 clubs in the pyramid that are owned by supporters. Three of them are in the EFL: Exeter City, AFC Wimbledon and Newport County. The vast majority of supporters Trusts were formed out of crisis, including ours. You can read the history of how we were formed here . How does it work? Supporters’ Trusts are constituted as Community Benefit Societies (CBS), a form of Co-operative that operates under a one-member one-vote principle. CBS's are registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and any changes to the rules must be approved by the members and only become effective once the FCA has agreed to them, checking they are in keeping with the spirit of the organisation. The members own all assets and liabilities collectively. Under FCA rules the Trust must remain solvent if it is to continue to legally exist. Trusts are non-profit making organisations any profit made is either kept as reserves or reinvested to meet its objectives. It will never take the form of a dividend to members. Bantams Supporters Trust was formed as Bradford City Supporters Trust in 2002 as an interim board before formal elections in 2004 in accordance with these rules and guidelines. Our registration number is 29446R. As a CBS, we meet the requirements of the Football Supporters Association (FSA) as an affiliate member, as do all other supporters trusts, and provides trusts with model rules that fall within the CBS. Membership Our rules say that because members are effectively shareholder, a minimum share or cost to a member is £1 and all members paying a contribution are entitled to vote – one member one vote. In previous years we had a free membership to encourage members to join and had a patron membership for those that wanted to contribute financially. This was only on a temporary basis, and at our 2023 AGM we reverted back charging from £1 as a minimum. There is a free email membership but are not entitled to vote, All members receive our email news and surveys, and we regularly share them on social media You can see our FSA Model rules (2022) here . Can a supporters travel group have membership of the trust? Yes, Supporters’ travel clubs will be able to have affiliation membership of the trust. We welcome contact with all supporters groups. Members of all supporter groups are encouraged to join our Trust as our purpose is distinctly different. Our finances All our income is modest and comes entirely from its’ membership. Much of our income goes towards operational costs such as maintaining the website and our CRM database, where we can email our news articles and surveys directly to our members. Our income goes on investment on our merchandise that we sell in the main stand concourse, and also on sponsoring players. Ways in which the FSA help supporters Trusts The FSA, national organization run by fans for the fans, campaigns for the interests of football supporters in England and Wales. It promotes the campaigns that supporters trusts and other fans’ bodies are involved in at their clubs, whether that is about bringing ticket prices down at a specific club or promoting a community initiative led by a trust and club working together. It can also highlight issues where the fan engagement commitment from a club isn’t there or where the owner of a club has mismanaged the finances and relations with s trust has turned sour. All professional football club are obliged to engage in consultation with supporters through EFL and Premier League regulation, and a supporters’ trust would provide a formal mechanism. Bantams Supporters has a direct relationship with our Club through the formal mechanism called structured dialogue. The FSA works with the EFL to promote good fan engagement practices and recently worked on guidance for clubs to involve supporters’ trusts and other supporters groups to come up with a ‘fan engagement plan’ on a yearly basis. Included in the guidance pack drawn up by the FSA are various engagement models such as ‘Fan Advisory Boards’, ‘fan consultation groups’, ‘structured dialogue’ and others. It also includes formal engagement structures around how clubs and supporters should meet, how many times they should meet, numbers and who should be there, inclusivity and diversity, independent democratic bodies such as supporters trust etc. There is some guidance to some of this on the FSA’s website here . Training The FSA also provides training to supporters trusts to develop its board members, its polices, and specialist projects – this could involve developing a community project or getting a club listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV as we did earlier this year, see here . EFL Networks The FSA also has support through its’ EFL Network group which meets on a monthly basis with an agenda guided by trust reps with guest speakers on a whole variety of projects promoting fan engagement, getting young people interested in supporters trusts, diversity projects, campaigns to encourage clubs to promote carbon footprint reduction, and regular updates on the Football Governance Bill. What do supporters trusts do? The bread and butter of any supporters Trust is engaging with members and meeting with the club they support. One topic Trusts don’t get involved in with a club is about team performances, players and managers. The conversations revolve around supporter experience on a match day, improvements to the facilities, accesibility, inclusivity, diversity, carbon footprint, foodprices, ticket prices, season tickets, community activities, restorative practice, policing and stewarding as well as well national campaigns FSA are invoved in to improve the interests of supporters, the health of our football clubs and of course the hot topic of fan engagement, and there is so much to improve there at City! All supporters trusts are at different stages of development, some have small membership bases, perhaps with very active layer of a volunteer board, some have medum to large membership base and a small active volunteer board. Much of this depends upon the relationship a trust board has with the club they support. The better a relationship it has with a club, it is more likely there is a better understanding of what a trust does from the wider club fan-base and membership of the Trust. Some more established trust have a community arm whereby many community projects and fundraising comes from, helping to fund club supported and fan-popular charities. Almost all post on social media and some have a physical presence at football matches selling merchandise or some have Trust lottery schemes. Some even run coaches to away matches. What is the differeence between the Supporters Board and the Trust? The Trust is completely independent of our Club. Whilst the the Supporters Board has a certain amount of autonomy as a group of football fans with its own constitution, it is still an extention of the Club’s consultation process and connection between the Club and the fans. Until two season’s ago or maybe three, the Trust had a formal seat on the Supporters Board. This was at a time when all the representatives represented a greater spread of the supporter-base than it does today, where the members of the board are there as individuals. In the ever changing landscape of fan engagement many supporters boards are now Fan Advisory Boards and it is the case that the FAB model, the FSA recommends a seat should be for its’ affiliated supporters’ group – a supporters trust. You can see more on this here . The other difference is that the SB is more focused on Club matters, and whilst the Trust will also be focused on the same, it also has a wider national remit that may affect the Club’ business motivations. As we know, no club is an island, there are 72 EFL clubs all in competition for prize money Getting involved with the Trust We at Bantams Supporters Trust would like to do so much more than what we are doing currently. The Trust Board meets once a month, and ordinary members can come and see what it is like as an experience. We meet every third Wednesday of the month on an evening between 7 and 9 at Jacobs Well in the city centre, near the Interchange, and this ‘open door’ policy has had some positive effect. Members can be co-opted onto the board at any time of the year and stand for election at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) usually in November, 6 months after our years’ end on the 30 th May. The Trust Board has a Chair, Vice Chair, Treasure and ‘Acting’ Secretary. We also have a Website Administrator. We would like an Equality Officer and Women’s Officer, people who are good at sharing our posts, and writing articles about the matches – previews and post match reviews. Sub-Groups can be formed to focus on specific issues, projects that we would like to develop and / or within the trust, enabling cross representation where we have members that are members of other groups for example and open dialogue. Ultimately we are all volunteers, we encourage as many members as possible to assist with our work. It is important that more supporters join us. The bigger our support base is, the bigger voice we potentially have. The more members get involved, the more we can achieve and have a greater presence. Join here today, and don’t forget to contribute financially to support us. Remember, your membership sub allows you to be able to vote.

On Saturday 7 th September Stand Up To Racism, an anti-racism campaign group that has a national profile, leafleted outside Valley Parade before the Carlisle game. The leaflets were well received and the activity was at Bradford to show a presence after far right infiltrated rioting took place in many towns and cities in the UK in early August. Bantams Supporters Trust would like to show its support for anti racism campaigns such as Stand Up to Racism because we believe that such campaigns can bring communities together. In 2020 the world of sport and in particularly football, taking the knee before the start of a match became a silent act of team solidarity against racial inequality and injustice. This received widespread support from the majority of football fans. It also formed the backdrop to the ‘No Room For Racism’ initiated in 2001, widely supported by the PL, EFL, FA, Kick it Out, FSA and others Over the years, charitable football campaigns such as Kick It Out and Fans for Diversity have put on education programmes, and support diverse supporter and football club groups promoting inclusivity. Bangla Bantams and Bhaji Bantams are good examples of this. But the work should not stop there. When workers and football supporters (most are workers or retired workers), both men and women, of all backgrounds unite through struggle on common causes, we can cut across the feelings of negativity, fear and prejudice that exist in our society, and we can make positive gains in the interests of all. We are inviting members and supporters to help with leafleting with Stand Up to Racism on Saturday 19 th October, when the Bantams take on Gillingham. We would like to advise members and supporters to meet outside the 'City Hub Community Café' at 1.30pm. Please contact us via email if you would like to take part.

It has been just over two years since the historic announcement that safe, licensed standing in seated areas would be allowed in football ground’s subject to the all-seater policy. So, it’s an opportune time to reflect on where we’ve come from and how it’s going. Licensed standing commenced in England and Wales in January 2022, with five early adopters – Cardiff City, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. As of 16 September, there are 22 grounds that offer licensed standing, with Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Ipswich Town the latest to receive licences. This is equal to around a third of all grounds subject to the all-seater policy – with over 100,000 licensed standing seats. Giles Smith, Chief Executive of the Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA), said: “The controlled return of safe, licenced standing at professional football grounds in the modern era has been an important and historic step forward. Since its introduction in July 2022, we have seen a steady increase in grounds offering licensed standing, based on the requirements of safety and giving fans a choice of being able to sit or to safely stand.” To be eligible to offer licensed standing, clubs must aim to meet published guidance and supporting criteria, developed by the SGSA. This includes that safe standing installations – whether seats incorporating barriers or seats with independent barriers – must be on the basis of one standing space per seat, and clubs must demonstrate that the viewing enjoyment of others not within the standing area is not impeded. Over the last couple of years, evidence has demonstrated a number of benefits from introducing licensed standing, including: Improved fan safety The key benefit is that the risk to fan safety through a progressive crowd collapse and subsequent injuries has been virtually eliminated, as the barriers limit forwards and backwards movement. In addition, the risk of injury, and the danger posed to others from spectators standing on seats or on the backs of seats should they fall forwards or back, has reduced. Enhanced fan experience Critically, barriers help enhance spectators’ feelings of safety – particularly in having a barrier behind them and so being protected from people falling on them – which increases their enjoyment of the game. They can also provide stability for spectators who may be unsteady on their feet whilst standing for long periods of time, and for people moving up and down aisles and gangways (which may also speed up egress). There are also other secondary benefits, such as making it easier for spectators who arrive late to reach their seats in the middle of rows faster, as others are already standing and have a barrier to lean against when latecomers pass. Reduced crowd management issues There are additional safety management benefits, which have been found in grounds with safe standing infrastructure, including: egress is more uniform because the barriers limit spectators’ ability to climb over seats to exit the stand more quickly spectators are lined up more clearly, so obvious gaps and therefore any risk of overcrowding can be identified, particularly using CCTV barriers make it more difficult for spectators to move within areas, such as towards segregation lines or the rear of stands clearer aisles and gangways, as spectators are more aware of their space and use the bar to lean on a more positive relationship between stewards and spectators in those areas as stewards do not have to attempt to get standing spectators to sit down. For more information on licensed standing, visit the SGSA website . SGSA is the government’s advisor on safety at sports grounds in the UK.

Members and none members are cordially invited to our Supporters’ Trust Annual General Meeting (AGM), to be held on Wednesday 27th November, from 7pm, at Jacobs Well , near Bradford Interchange. We will also be on Skype if you live too far away to attend. Bantams Supporters Trust is just as relevant today as it was when it was founded over 20 years ago, then when the Club was in crisis. Today, thankfully, we are not with collection buckets to save the Club, and rather, we are part of a necessary mechanism of Club fan engagement called Structured Dialogue, a process where we can put across what our members and supporters are saying in response to an ever evolving moving feast of developments at our Club with the back drop of how national developments are taking place within football and society. For those of you that are not aware, the Trust is a Mutual Benefit Society, which means that we are a cooperative – democratically owned and controlled by our members. Each member can have a share, which at its minimum, is valued at £1. The importance of the shares is that they could be used for buying a stake in the ground or the Club if members were to direct us into doing that. At the AGM you will be able to hear about the work of the Trust throughout the year, and you will be able to hear about the purpose of its policy motions. We encourage questions, discussion and debate, but only members can vote. Find out how you can play a role in the Trust here . If you would like to be a Board Member, please find a Board Member Nomination form for this year here . All Board Members are volunteers and we are a not for profit organisation. The deadline for submitting your nominations is the 20 th November 2024. There is space for a candidate’s statement on the form, and a proposer and seconder need to be members. For any enquiries about being a Board Member please contact us here .

On Saturday 14 th September, our League game against Walsall at the Bescot Stadium was marred by an incident when a City supporter threw a pryo onto the pitch. It is understood the Football Association (FA) are looking to fine Bradford City for the incident. It is not the first time this has happened and because there is a regular frequency with these incidents it is likely that all will be taken into account in deciding the penalty for the Club. The Trust deplore the actions of a tiny minority that, probably unintentionally (without thinking), ruin the match day experience for the majority of supporters. It is understood from the Club’s own statement which came out on the 20 th September that a young male supporter was arrested and is, ‘subsequently released on police bail, with conditions they do not attend any football fixtures in the UK while the investigation is ongoing’. Dangerous Pyro’s are a major fire hazard and are known to cause burns and breathing problems, alongside damage to hands, hearing, lungs and eyes. The smoke can often be a reminder to those who were witness to our own fire disaster of May 11 th , 1985. We wish to remind supporters that anyone found in possession of, or using, pyrotechnic devices face Club bans and will be reported to the Police. Stewards can have the powers to: Search spectators on their entry to the ground. Physically intervene against and eject spectators who are in breach of ground regulations. This includes decisions on refusal of entry. Check out more info on stewards’ roles and duties at Sports Ground Safety Authority . Awareness campaign In recent years the EFL and Premier League along with the FA and Football Supporters Association, (FSA) joined together to get behind the campaign of ‘ Love Football, Protect the Game ’ which came about after fans had come back after the Covid Lock-down’ and there was a noticeable increase in anti-social incidents at or around football matches. Banning orders From August 1 st 2023 there were a total of 1,624 football banning orders in force, an increase of 24% compared with 28 July 2022 (1,308). Within the 2022 to 2023 football season, 682 new banning orders were issued, an increase of 32% compared with the 2021 to 2022 football season. Reported incidents at football matches Incidents were reported at 1,516 football matches in the 2022 to 2023 football season (50% of a total 3,024 matches). The number of matches with reported incidents decreased by 6% (-93 matches) compared with 1,609 matches in the 2021 to 2022 season. For more data, look at the government’s statistics . Restorative Justice The Trust at our last Structured Dialogue meeting in August with the Club raised the idea with the Club about preventive strategies to act as a deterrent for further incidents and what they currently have in place. Perhaps a good example of a preventative strategy is to educate those supporters inclined to use pyro’s by showing the video of the traumatic events of the fire disaster. It was suggested to have representation on the ‘Appeals Panel’ if a defendant wants to appeal a decision. Love Football, Protect the Game If you regularly attend matches home and away, it is impossible not to see the visual presence of the ‘Love Football, Protect The Game’ campaign, especially at away grounds. We firmly believe that it is not worth the risk of a whole lot of trouble to throw a pyro onto a pitch. We do not want a bad reputation for our Club or our supporters.

Mansfield Pizza Hut restaurant are offering an exclusive discount to matchday going fans visiting Mansfield and the One call stadium, for the upcoming season. This will include City v Mansfield for the EFL Trophy Group match on the evening of 17 th September 2024. We received a recent email from Mansfield Pizza Hutt Restaurant and would like to communicate this to our members about this offer. In addition to this offer they also provide free parking to any customers for the duration of their meal and afterwards throughout the game. They are a 4-minute walk away from the ground, and a good option fans to take advantage of a discounted price meal and have the convenience of free parking so close to the ground. The above image shows the voucher explaining the offer.

In attendance from the Club were, Marco Townson (MT) - Lead Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) and Alex Pyrah (AP) – Fan Engagement Officer FEO). Representing the Trust was, Manny Dominguez (MD) - Chair, Justin Brett (JB) - Vice Chair and Matthew Pickles (MP). Bantams Supporters Trust met with the Club on Monday 5 th August. The last meeting with the Club had been the 26 th February, 6 months ago. As expected so much that has happened since then, so this was a much-needed catch up. Much of our discussion was about how the Trust can be involved in some way with the various developments within the Club that improves supporter and community cohesion within the City. So, without further ado lets dive into it. Season tickets The Trust felt it is commendable that the Club had frozen matchday ticket prices considering the temptation to put prices up as seen at many other Clubs. Also The Trust felt that it is amazing there is a tremendous amount of support in terms of so many, over 13,500 buying season tickets at the ‘Early-bird’ price, despite it going up a by £50. Our view was that there will be many who would be happy to pay more than £249. The Club agreed, as they have many paying more after the ‘Early-bird’ deadline. In total, nearly 14,000 have bought season tickets so far. There will be many who have bought additional costs to get into the suites and bars, and so on as well. It was pointed out also that there are some Trusts that work with their Clubs to provide a hardship fund whereby from those that like to pay over and above for a season ticket, that excess, can be put in a pot to subsidise those that can’t pay those sums of money – a hardship fund. It was said the Club and Community Foundation are already doing something like this – similar to what Yorkshire Water do. Ticketmaster We asked about the Ticketmaster and telephone service situation a few months ago when Ticketmaster had signed a deal with the Club. It was explained that the older ticketing system, Talent, was not without its flaws, the plastic cards were no longer working and they had to bring in a whole new telephone system. A complete overhaul was needed. Atmosphere and the move to the lower tier of the Kop The Club said the move was for safety reasons, and that all QR codes would be scanned to ensure all fans in the Kop would be at their seats. Club Business Strategy for the coming season It was explained that there were strategies for a wide range of things at the Club but the business strategy for fan engagement at least covered: · Family Excellence – The Club have received bronze for this EFL award this year, its third consecutive year and wants to achieve gold. · Ticketing · Food and drink · Website and first impressions · Outside the stadium · Merchandise · Travel and last mile (to Valley Parade) – e.g. road signs / artwork · Stadium facilities – Disability access around the ground has now been completed. · Supporters after the game · Fans feeling valued Improving our Structured Dialogue and the Club promotion of our work with the trust and Supporters Board (SB). Fan-Engagement Plan The Trust welcomed the fact that the Club had recently put it’s Fan-Engagement Plan on the Club website . The Fan Engagement Plan (FEP) is something all EFL Clubs are required to have published following a recent EFL AGM in early June where Clubs voted to approve regulation changes . You can find out more about how and why fan engagement has become of vital necessity for the whole of football in our Trust article here . We mentioned and discussed the Stoke City example of a FEP , which we all agreed was very good and Club said that they had used as a template. We picked up on the fact that the Clubs’ FEP has a quote from the SB’s Chair and dates of when they meet throughout the year and it was suggested that we have the same, a quote from the Chair and 4 dates in the calendar year. It already says that the dates of meetings can change. This seemed like a reasonable suggestion from the Club. Restorative Justice, Environmental Sustainability, Diversity and Community We have also been vocal and had meetings/emails with Paula Watson (PW) – Director of Operations about restorative Justice and crime reduction, environmental sustainability, Diversity campaigns, building community links with the Club and Community Foundation but they haven’t continued. There was a suggestion from the Club that we could have a person on the appeals panel with regards to restorative justice as MP works for the Probation Service, and the Club already have a representative from the SB on it. We have also asked about being involved in a ‘Community Day’ or ‘Open Day’ event, this is usually held ahead of a new season where Junior Bantams get autographs from players and there are different activities being run for the community at the Club. There is an intention for this to happen for the 2025/26 season. We asked about the solar panels intended for the roof of the stadium and it was said that they are now in place situated above the ‘Bradford End’ and Midland Road. On the Club website, Leanne Hunter, Watt Utilities Operations Director said of the project, “In an effort to create a sustainable and environmentally conscious future for the team, the community and the environment, Bradford City AFC and Watt Utilities collaborated to design and implement the enormous solar panel project, which took eight weeks to build and install after a year of planning.” Staying with environmental sustainability, we also asked about the First Bradford sponsorship deal, and about any plans for running services for evening kick Off’s and it was said that any special offers were to be looked into. On the Club website it says there is a matchday saver scheme that if you download the First bus app you can use the code: BANTAMSMATCH to secure unlimited travel all day for just £3 on matchdays. Together in Sound There was an idea suggested regarding bringing fans together by encouraging supporters to vocalize `We are the Bantams’ and by using technology, bring the voices together to create the voice of a crowd. It was agreed it was a possibility. Ownership We explained about how the Asset of Community Value had to be triggered into action; the owner of the stadium would have to declare their intention to sell. The community group that nominated the ground to be an Asset of Community Value, in this case, the Trust, would have 6 weeks to decide if we want to bid. If we wanted to bid we would get 6 months to come up with a bid. Stefan Rup could bid and other interested parties. Ultimately it would be up to the owner to choose the bid. It was noted that the T&A piece earlier in the summer got it wrong. It missed out the fact that there is a 6 week period for the Trust to decide to put a bid in, and we may not decide to put a bid in at all. Any Other Business The Trust raised the possible idea of a fan exchange, of City fans going to watch Hertha Berlin, and Hertha Berlin supporters traveling to watch Bradford City. Date for the next meeting November.

Fan-Led Review  There has been a huge emphasis around fan engagement since the fan-led review of football governance was pushed into action after fan protests against the ‘big six’, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham agreed to join a European Super League in April 2021. The fan-led review was a process of consultation with the Football Supporters Association (FSA) along with affiliate supporters trusts led by the then Chair of the review and former Tory MP, Tracey Crouch. She produced a report in November 2021. See key findings here . On the 7 th September 2023, a government ‘white paper’ (a precursor to an act of Parliament) was published on football governance entitled ‘ A Sustainable Future – Reforming Club Football Governance ’ , following the then Tory led government’s commitment on supporting an independent regulator. But of course this commitment for an independent regulator has cross-party support. On 7 th November 2023, King Charles said, “Legislation will be brought forward to safeguard the future of football clubs for the benefit of communities and fans,” in his speech, opening Parliament. The details of that legislation never passed through the final hurdles of the previous Parliament, but the Bill , now with Labour in government after the recent general election, still has cross-party support and in May of this year the FSA launched an open letter that had initially 170 plus group signatories which exceeded 200 by the end of May and Bantams Supporters Trust were one of them. See what the open letter says here . EFL and FSA One of the other factors as to why the Trust is in a stronger position in relation to the increasing emphasis of club fan engagement is that we are an affiliated member-based organization of the FSA, which brings us the advantage of being part of it’s League One and Two Network where we discuss issues that come up nationally, for example football fixture rearrangements for the purpose of SKY TV or issues around the devaluing the FA Cup by dropping replays. The FSA has a structured dialogue with the heads of the EFL, which selected or nominated Trust reps attend with some of our full-time national officers. These meetings are by annual a year and every year, the FSA asks its Trust reps to fill in surveys as to how well our clubs conduct their fan engagement with their supporters and whether they meet regularly with shadow boards / supporters Boards / Fan advisory boards, and if they have structured dialogue with supporters trusts. The findings of these surveys are discussed at these ‘high level’ structured dialogue meetings with EFL senior representatives. EFL fan engagement In early June at the EFL’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) EFL Clubs voted to approve several changes to the EFL Regulations, see EFL Statement – Regulation changes , which will come into effect immediately. These include: facilities for disabled supporters, club community organisations, and clubs having to have a Fan Engagement Plan (FEP). The Trust through our EFL FSA network was sent an email with ‘supporter engagement in the EFL guidance document. It was sent to all EFL clubs which our FSA senior colleagues had recently been working on. The document is very much intended to inform fan groups for when they are collaborating with clubs on their FEP. Here is a snapshot of the EFL changes to its fan engagement policy in the FSA headed document. The EFL, it is said to be reinforcing its commitment to fan engagement through these amendments: Clubs shall hold at least two meetings/fans’ forums per Season to which its supporters (or representatives) are to be invited to discuss significant issues relating to the Club. The framework for these meetings shall be documented in the Club’s customer charter, but are subject to the following minimum criteria: Clubs must be represented by the Club’s majority owner, board Director(s) or other senior executive(s); Where meetings are not open to all supporters wishing to attend, the supporter representatives must be elected, selected or invited in line with basic democratic principles; and Each club shall comply fully with the League’s requirements to create a ‘Fan Engagement Plan’ and agree to: Produce & publish a Fan Engagement Plan on an annual basis; 
 Nominate a senior Official to oversee delivery of the Club’s Fan Engagement activity; and Provide to the League (no later than 30 June each season) an end of season summary of work carried out to achieve the Club’s Fan Engagement Plan objectives Where a Club amends its Fan Engagement Plan throughout the course of the Season, the Club must update the version published with the latest version within no less than 5 business days of it taking effect. We became aware of Bradford City’s own FEP on the 1 st of August. One of the best FEP’s we’ve seen however is that of Stoke City’s . The Club consults with so many groups, groups of fans and Club staff, women and girls players, diversity groups, sponsors and so on, they have at least 12 fan events, work with their Supporters Trust and community groups and more. It’s something for all EFL Clubs to work towards. In this new period of fan engagement we feel our hand is strengthened as the FSA have a kind of trade union and employer-like ‘collective agreement if you will. Over the last couple of years we have attempted to gauge the opinion of the Club about the fan-led review and the priority issues that we urge consultation on. The traditional colours, the name, the stadium and ownership of the club and stadium have all been identified as items of key heritage items of importance in the Fan-led Review report. We’ve asked about the opinion of Stefan Rupp about fan ownership of football clubs as in Germany most football clubs in the Bundesliga are 51% owned, and indeed, if he would come and discuss with the Trust and Supporters Board respectively. The fan ownership model of the Bundesliga clubs was looked at for research purposes for the Fan-led Review report. The English version of this today is the proposed Football Governance Bill, whereby if accepted by Parliament, many key aspects of football from a more robust fit and proper owners and directors test, fan engagement and stadium requirements will need a license, and will be regulated by an independent regulator.

In May of last year EFL clubs have unanimously voted to accept a £935m 5 year deal with Sky Sports, which starts this season and will run until the end of the 2028-29 season. It is said the deal will keep the Saturday blackout in place. But does it really? It is said that under the deal 1,059 league, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy matches will be shown live either on a Sky main channel or via a Sky streaming platform, replacing the iFollow service. You can see on online, on the EFL’s, ‘how to watch Sky Sports Q & A’ the devil in the detail here . It’s basically means matches moved to 12.30 on Saturdays, teatime or later, or moved to Thursday, Friday Sunday or Monday. It’s a continual headache for actual match going fans. But it does say at least, ‘And before a ball is kicked of the 2024/25 season, all TV selections will be confirmed for the period up to the FA Cup third round in early January.’ That relieves us a little but most match going supporters will take a dim view of this and think this is the thin end of the wedge. It also says, ‘games will be broadcast on existing Sky Sports channels or via Sky Sports+, available to existing Sky Sports subscribers or through NOW TV’. It is interesting to note that all selected League 2 Saturday fixtures are being televised at 3pm. It is said that no one was expecting the fixtures to be as staggered as they have been scheduled for the opening day of the season. This was an agreement made between the EFL and Sky. As there are no Premier League games that weekend and as the Saturday Championship games are scheduled to kick off at 12:30, the activation threshold (for the 3pm blackout) will not be reached. The blackout is when the majority (i.e. 50% or more) of the weekly football matches in the top or top two domestic leagues or in the national cup(s) in the country are played in a two and a half hour window. Really, Sky, and their EFL buddies were complicit in their manoeuvrings.  However, the FSA say it will be monitoring the situation.