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FCupdate - a regular round up of world football news

FCupdate - a regular round up of world football newsWelcome to the latest edition of FCupdate, our regular round-up of news and views from around the football world that should appeal to fans of a supporter-owned club such as FC United.

We hope you enjoy the latest edition and do let us know if you see anything that we should be including in future issues by emailing website@fc-utd.uk.

FC man explains Shalke’s special ethos to BBC
FC United member Stuart Dykes, a Manchester United fan who works as Schalke’s translator, tells BBC Sport’s Dan Roan how a sense of "social responsibility in an unemployment blackspot" makes this season’s Champions League semi-finalists different from other football clubs. Read it here.

The fight for FC St Pauli’s soul
Still with Germany, it hasn’t been the best of seasons for FC St Pauli, who were relegated and will play their football in the 2.Bundesliga next season. For many fans though, relegation is preferable to losing the soul of their club, as this article on the TwoHundredPerCent website explains.

Profit and politics put block on standing plans
As the Football Supporters Federation continues its campaign for the reintroduction of terraces in the Premier League, this When Saturday Comes article argues that profit and politics are key barriers to any reappearance of terraces to stadiums. More here.

Supporters Direct lobby government on fans’ ownership
Supporters Direct have launched two briefing papers on football club ownership, Developing Public Policy to Encourage Supporter Community Ownership in Football and Developing Football Regulation to Encourage Supporter Community Ownership in Football. The papers, which were launched in Parliament last week following research led by FC United board member Adam Brown, are intended to provide the coalition government with the tools to act on the pledge made in their Programme for Government: to "encourage the reform of football governance rules to support the co-operative ownership of football clubs by supporters." More at Supporters Direct.

Premier League posts record income but has record-breaking losses too
The Premier League’s 20 clubs collectively lost close to half a billion pounds last year despite recording record income. In the 2009-10 financial year, clubs currently in the Premier League made total revenues of £2.1bn, mainly from billion-pound TV deals and charging sky high prices for tickets. Read this spot-on analysis by the Guardian’s David Conn here.

Crawley Town - further cause for concern
Given its recent history of accumulating debt only to repay just a proportion of its liabilities to creditors, it’s easy to understand why many fans have expressed concern over Crawley Town’s rise. This posting on the Biz-Ed website outlines those concerns and contrasts Crawley’s way of working with that of play-off winners AFC Wimbledon.

Arsenal’s new owner faces backlash from fans
The new owner of Arsenal, Stan Kroenke, is coming under renewed pressure from supporters groups and politicians to guarantee the future of the club’s fan ownership scheme, while also facing a growing backlash over proposed ticket price increases. The Emirates Stadium is already one of the most expensive places to watch football in Europe, with the cheapest season tickets costing £893. And now Kroenke has proposed a 6.5% price rise next season. More at The Guardian.

FSF North West AGM
The Annual General Meeting of the North West and North Wales Division of the Football Supporters’ Federation takes place on Wednesday 25 May (7pm start) at The Orange Tree, 15 Old Market Place, Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 4DE. Find out more at the FSF website.

Top investigative sports journalist to address fans’ Parliament
Still with the FSF, their annual Fans’ Parliament on 9 July 2011 has as a guest speaker, FIFA-busting investigative journalist Andrew Jennings (Panorama). Over the years, Jennings has made his name delving into the murkier side of organisations like the International Olympic Committee and most recently FIFA and should be well worth listening to. You can register for the Fans’ Parliament here.

St Mirren FC to become a social enterprise?
Supporters of St Mirren, the Scottish Premier League football club, have given financial backing to a scheme to turn the club into a social enterprise. If the idea is successful, then St Mirren could be the first top-flight football club set up as a social enterprise. More at Third Sector.

Andy Walker


First Posted ~ 10:37 Wed 25 May 2011
News ID ~ 3603
Last Updated ~ 02:28 Fri 3 Jun 2022