Pars Fans Lead the Way
Wednesday, 13th Jan 2016The Pars Supporters’ Trust was represented at the Supporters Direct Scotland Supporters Summit 2016
The Pars Supporters’ Trust was represented at the Supporters Direct Scotland Supporters Summit 2016 by Margaret Ross, Drew Main and Dave Blackburn, which was held at Hampden Park last Sunday.
The event consisted of a number of speakers with the keynote speech being delivered by Jamie Hepburn MSP, Minister for Sport in Scotland (and Partick Thistle fan). He said “I firmly believe there is a powerful and persuasive case for supporter involvement and - where appropriate - ownership of their clubs. And supporter involvement and ownership is gaining momentum here in Scotland too. Hearts and Motherwell are pursuing high-profile fan ownership models, while other clubs like Clyde, Dunfermline and Stirling Albion have led the way. So fan involvement and ownership can - and does - work."
Phil Sumbler, Chairman of the Swansea City Supporters’ Trust gave an excellent presentation of their involvement with his club where they have the largest supporters share in any Premiership club (21%). The Trust has been seen as a shining light of what supporter ownership can achieve as they have been involved with the Swans from the point of oblivion to becoming an established Premier League club.
PST Vice-Chair Drew Main said:-
“The day was very informative. It’s great that we now have recognition from our national government that supporter involvement at football clubs can be a good thing, not just for the football clubs but for the communities they’re often at the heart of. It was also good to see our own club getting a mention when the Minister was speaking about success stories of supporter owned clubs.
"Our fans should be extremely proud of what we’ve achieved at DAFC in a relatively short period of time and I look forward to the success story continuing on and off the pitch in the years ahead. It was also interesting listening to Phil from Swansea as there were many similarities between the road they’ve been on, to that of ourselves in recent years”.
Presentations were also given by Lee Price, author of ‘The Bundesliga Blueprint’ on what Scottish football can learn from the highly acclaimed German model of supporter ownership and by Sean Hamil, a lecturer in management at the University of Birkbeck. Sean is a former Director of Supporters Direct and gave his reflection on where he thought the supporter ownership model had reached today.
For more information about the PST and its role in DAFC please visit www.parssupporterstrust.co.uk or email info@parssupporterstrust.co.uk
Pictures kindly provided by Cameron Munro.
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