Scottish Fans January Newsletter #3

THE FANS CHARTER

The Fans’ Charter was written by fans, clubs and authorities working together to celebrate the enjoyment the game brings and to help make football better.

Football is a part of our culture. Thousands of fans travel the length and breadth of the country to watch their clubs. They celebrate the wins and despair after defeat. Collectively, everyone wants the game to be the best it can be and to share in the enjoyment that football brings.

The Fans’ Charter captures the good things about Scottish football and demonstrates that supporters, clubs and authorities can find common purpose by listening to each other. What’s been achieved is a common sense view of football that puts people at the centre of the sport and provides guidance as to how to take their relationship forward.

Read more on the Fans Charter here

With hundreds of games on every weekend of Scottish football there is always a game going on nearby and Find A Football Match can help fans find one that suits them.

Find A Football Match enables users to enter their postcode or town, select a distance they are willing to travel and a date suited to them. Using the latest web technologies Find A Football Match then shows the user all football games which correlate with their requirements.

The website is upcoming, new and certainly useful. Having launched barely a month ago the database now includes the first 4 tiers of Scottish football as well as the English leagues and there are plans to develop the Welsh and Irish leagues soon.

As well as helping fans find football matches, the service also aims to help local clubs boost their visitor numbers by attracting new fans to the ground. Fans may not even be aware their local nonleague club exists but by using Find A Football Match they could discover new teams local to them and every new football fan through the gates is beneficial to clubs at any level.

Find A Football Match is in constant development with new features and database expansions planned all the time, meaning the website will continue to offer a better service an develop as a useful tool for football fans and clubs alike.

The Premier League last week announced proposals to offer free travel to away fans, in an attempt to increase the number of away fans attending matches.

The move comes after Manchester City returned almost one third of their allocated tickets for the upcoming match v Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, after fans refused the £62 asking price.

With Ross County also offering free transport to a number of supporters this season, is this the way forward to increase the level of away supporters or is it just a cheaper alternative in tackling the real issue...rising ticket prices?

You can have your say on this issue by visiting our website.

LEAGUE RECONSTRUCTION STATEMENT FROM SUPPORTERS DIRECT SCOTLAND HEAD PAUL GOODWIN

Supporters Direct Scotland (SDS) welcomes the first steps towards the restructuring of Scottish football. Recognition that change was required has to be welcomed by everyone involved in the game both now and in the future.

I attended a meeting yesterday with the Chief Executives of the Scottish FA, Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League and was encouraged that their members are committed to change for the good of the game.

I was also pleased to receive assurance that any new single league body will work with SDS to ensure maximum transparency to supporters on all future decisions and to ensure that fans views are heard. SDS also believes that other key stakeholders such as the Professional Footballers Association in Scotland and the Scottish League Managers Association must also be involved so that all voices are not just heard but are part of the decision making processes from now on.

Whilst welcoming the possibility of a more equitable monetary distribution, on behalf of Scottish fans I reiterated that many supporters have reservations over the proposed league structures but welcomed their willingness to work with us going forward.

We also urged the league bodies and, in particular, the member clubs to consult closely with supporters to ensure a fuller understanding of any proposed new league format. As a result, in the coming weeks, SDS will suggest hosting a series of roadshows for fans with representatives from the relevant football authorities to ensure a wider understanding of the proposals for league reconstruction.

We would encourage fans to keep making their views known to us either through our website - www.scottishfans.org - or by attending our roadshows which happen throughout the season. Its important for SDS to have the most informed and up to date view from the people that matter most, the supporters of football clubs and of the game as a whole."

Scottish Fans is the new football brand that was launched on 18th October by former First Minister Henry McLeish and Head of Supporters Direct Scotland Paul Goodwin. Its objectives are to develop and maintain a network of fans groups across Scotland to ensure that fans can be properly represented with the Scottish Government and the football authorities.

Since we launched we've held 6 Roadshows across the country in which we've encouraged fans to come and have their say on a range of issues such as league reconstruction and summer football.

Our aim is to engage Scottish football fans and to provide a platform for them to discuss important topics. We're aiming to harness these views to influence positive change within the game.

We'd like to sign up as many organisations to be part of our network as possible. The more partners we have and the bigger our ‘constituency’ and ‘Fans Parliament’ the more influence we can expect to have in the years to come and the stronger our bargaining position becomes. We'd really like you and your site to be part of the positive change in Scottish Football.

If you'd like to join our network, please register with Scottish Fans (via button in the banner) and e-mail andrew@scottishfans.org

Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

The Scottish Fans January Newsletter

Whilst the Premier League has taken a break, Scottish Football has been extremely busy since the New Year with discussions for a new league structure underway and the appointment of a new national team manager in Gordon Strachan.