FSA AGM, JUNE 6TH

Is it even a Saturday when there’s no football on? It’s disorientating not to have the weekend football routine unfolding. I join a few small huddles of unenthusiastic England cricket fans at a rain-lashed Rugby Train Station. I’m filling the SAFC void in my life with my first trip to the Football Supporters Association Annual General Meeting in London; representing, well, me.

Lynsey Hooper is chair for the day and kicks off the first keynote with David Riley, General Counsel for the Independent Football Regulator (IFR). A lawyer and an erudite and measured speaker, he provided an interesting position statement on where the IFR is currently at and what happens next. He acknowledges that the IFR “landed in scepticism” and there is still work to do to earn credibility and establish itself within the broad football landscape, despite already undertaking significant consultation, including with the FSA – a long-time champion for regulation in football.

THE INDEPENDENT FOOTBALL REGULATOR

The IFR are now operationally ready with Chair David Kogan and a board in place. They have three broad areas of concern:

1. As gatekeepers for owners and officers (already fulfilling this role now)

2. Developing a licencing regime requiring clubs to do better, more detailed financial reporting, corporate governance, fan consultation (consulting on this now for implementation from 2027/28)

3. Safeguarding heritage provisions – ensuring fans are involved in any proposals for changes to club colours, crests, ground ownership (in development now)

The IFR seeks to work in collaboration with clubs, in collaboration with fans to make everyone’s life better. Every Industry regulator always generate concerns about a reduction in investment but they are keen to fulfil their job but not go beyond it. Want to be as predictable as possible and focus on…

1. Making sure clubs get their own house in order – sustainable business models, realistic about what money goes in and comes out.

2. Play a role in the distribution of finances across the leagues (e.g. parachute payments) – there will be a period of time before this element of law commences but when it comes in it will mean that there will be an option for leagues to request IFR as a ‘back-stop mechanism’ which would mean they could get involved in the negotiation.

The IFR will produce a ‘State of the Game’ Report which sets out issues affecting the game. Distributions will be part of this. First draft will be published towards end of 2026.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 CLUBS

The second keynote of the day was an entertaining Q&A with author and podcaster Paul Watson on his new book, Around the World in 80 Clubs. A litany of scarcely believable tales, such as the one-week-long season in Greenland and the Buddhist monk ultras in Bhutan. There was also a nod to Paul’s excellent Kitmas initiative – donating football kits to kids in the UK who might otherwise not get much in the way of Christmas presents.

FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS ASSOCIATION AGM 2026

The AGM is an essential part of the business of the day though, as I suspected, not necessarily the most thrilling. Of note however was the passing of five motions for the FSA to take forward over the next year:

1. Consultation on Changes to Competition Structure – Leagues! Don’t just change the competition without consulting fans, eh? (ref: new playoffs for 26/27)

2. Fans for Diversity/FS LGBTQ+ Hub – let’s ensure everyone feels welcome at football. It’s the very minimum we can do for the game, and for each other.

3. Inconsistencies in FA Rules Regarding Abandoned Games – a standard approach to any abandoned games please, regardless of the level/tier.

4. Encouraging Sustainable Financial Models in English Football – whatever the IFR does for the top 5 leagues (see above!) we need to replicate further down the football pyramid.

5. Food Allergies and Intolerances – it’s the law to display these even if you’re a burger van at the footy; please do so.

Two motions were remitted (withdrawn) due to technicalities over the wording chosen, despite strong support for the spirit of what the motions were seeking to achieve.

6. A level playing field for football fans – don’t make the same action illegal for football fans but not for other people (e.g. tailgating at events)

7. Ensuring an equal status for fan reps on Safety Advisory Groups – we need fan reps on all of these and we need a mature conversation about how this works in practice across all safety issues, including things like terrorism threats.

There’s a proper summary HERE.

Finally, the winners of the Jacqui Forster Memorial Award 2026 were announced on stage with Kiki Christofi and Hina Shafi, founders of the SupportHERS Collective taking the prize for their work “creating opportunities that uplift individuals, strengthen communities, break down barriers, and inspire lasting impact for women, girls and young people”.

The second part of the FSA AGM consisted of eight workshops, of which I attended two – one on Multi-Club Ownership and one on fan activism around ticket pricing in the Premier League.

MULTI CLUB OWNERSHIP

An informative session on Multi-club Ownership (MCO) led by Idlan Zakaria (University of Birmingham) and Richard Irving (FSA). As Sunderland AFC are now part of elite European competition, and given Juan Sartori is both our joint-owner, and also board member and vice president of Monaco, I thought I best educate myself on this topic!

The session adopted a case-study approach based on Tony Bloom’s investment in Hearts FC, whilst already being a major investor, shareholder and chairman at Brighton & Hove Albion FC.

Acknowledging there is some ambiguity around definition, the researchers adopted the definition outlined in UEFA Article 5, that Multi-club ownership involves:

Holding 30% or more shares in both clubs, or 10% while being the leading shareholder.

Providing 30% or more of clubs’ total revenue or providing security through financial credit or stadium financing.

Holding key positions in more than one club or having the right to appoint or remove board members.

Systemic player transfers or sharing of scouting database and technical staff

Bloom’s involvement with Hearts FC…

November 2024 – Hearts FC sets up an exclusive partnership with Jamestown Analytics, an offshoot of Starlizard, Tony Bloom’s data and analytics and sports betting company.

June 2025 – Bloom acquires a 29% shareholding. These are non-voting shares, with no direct control although he can appoint one rep to the board with a single equal vote (The Foundation of Hearts retains 75.5% of voting rights).

Hearts does not consider itself part of a multi club ownership structure and it was interesting to use this very current example of the potential benefits and risk of multi-club ownership for fans. Given the fantastic season they’ve just had, I doubt it’s a big concern for Hearts fans right now but we all know football has a habit of surprising you and it’s always useful to have some transparency on who owns your football club and who makes the decisions.

TICKET PRICING IN THE PL

The second workshop attended was focused on ticket prices in the Premier League and the role of fan activism. One aspect which I hadn’t consider here was how opaque the ticket pricing structures of Premier League clubs are and how difficult it can be to access robust information on this. Clubs offer multiple pricing structures for different parts of the ground, enhanced packages, early bird, renewal loyalty etc. Some clubs no longer publishing pricing structure tables and some require supports to log on to ticketing accounts to access their ‘personal price’.

This session was a great demonstration of the value of fan-led organisations and a national champion like the FSA to share and provide a central resource for things like ticket prices.

Some interesting headlines from the session…

19/ 20 clubs announced prices for 26/27 (but not always easy to assess change over time).

2 out of 3 promoted clubs have put prices up – Coventry FC are still to confirm prices.

Some fans will get a free season ticket for their first season in the Premier League through a scheme launched in 2023 where fans purchased at an increased price (£500) with the promise of a free season ticket for the first year in the Premier League (up to a max. of 5,000 supporters).

2 out of 3 relegated clubs have reduced prices following fan activism.

5 clubs announced a price freeze and 8 froze prices for juniors.

Most clubs cited inflationary pressures for increasing. Everton the largest with 10% increase.

Seniors are being hit too with clubs raising the qualifying age to 67 years e.g. Brighton and Sunderland – and some reducing the % discount applied. Sunderland are offering free tickets to over 85s (if had season ticket for at least 3yrs).

Brentford have a £10 limit on tickets for junior fans – home and away at their own ground – and subsidise any away grounds that are more than this.

There was an excellent demonstration of fan activism at work from the Spirit of Shankly supporter group and their successful activism against planned ticket price increases at Anfield.

The club had proposed guaranteed price increases year-on-year for the next three years, up to 13% increases. Despite discussions the club would not reconsider this and insisted the revenue generated - £1m in the first year, £10m over the three years – was essential for the club. For context, GiveMeSport reported that Liverpool FCs fifth place finish in the Premier League earned them £181.8m in prize money.

Action led by Spirit of Shankly included:

Continuous ‘open door’ policy with the club at all times.

Suggesting alternative ways of generating the same income – e.g. named ‘12th man’ sponsorship, logo’s on supporter cards etc.

Leaflets, flyers and posters. An ad van outside the ground on matchdays and outside the training ground on non-match days.

‘Not A Pound in the Ground’ action – asking supporters not to spend any money in the ground on food, drink or programmes.

‘Yellow Card’ campaign – asked fans to hold a yellow card up during a game in protest at the proposed increase in club ticket prices. Fans signed up online in advance for these to gauge the level of support and 75,000 yellow cards were printed. Away fans on the day (Crystal Palace) also supported the initiative and held up the cards.

Media coverage of the yellow card protest, accompanied by chanting of ‘you greedy bastards’, prompted the club to request a meeting with the fans.

The club and fans agreed to support an alternative plan with a 3% inflationary increase in year one (many fans had already started paying their renewal at this level), followed by a price freeze for year two and a commitment to explore alternative income generation in year three. The unity between Liverpool supporter groups was seen to be very important to the success.

What came across strongly from this workshop and from the whole day was the power of collective action, embodied by the Football Supporters Association. The Independent Football Regulator wouldn’t exist without the campaigning work of the FSA. If Liverpool FC had introduced guaranteed multi-year ticket price increase, unopposed, you can bet 10 more clubs would have followed suit. It remains as important as ever that the beautiful game, our game, is held to account by the collective action of fans. And the AGM is a great day out!