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» Northampton Town Supporters' Trust |
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1st September 2003 |
Northampton Town Supporters' Trust was formed in January 1992, after a meeting was called by a group of ordinary supporters in response to the financial crisis which was apparent at the club.
Northampton Town's debt was approaching £1.6 million and the club had failed to pay the players' wages for the previous two months. The fans were unhappy with the current regime, so the Supporters' Trust was set up not only to raise money for the club but to seek supporter representation on the club's board.
The Trust raised money by holding bucket collections at home matches, but it looked as if the club's only future lay in the route already taken by Aldershot, which found that after the old company folded in 1992 and a new one formed and resumed playing five divisions lower down the league 'pyramid'.
Eventually the administrators were called in to rid the club of its debt. A new board was formed after a meeting with the chairman of the club, officers of the Trust and former directors of the club. The chairman was voted out and the new board consisted of four former directors and two Trust representatives.
There is now only one Trust representative on the board of Northampton Town FC but that place is guaranteed by Northampton Borough Council until at least the year 2019 as a condition of the club's lease and licence to occupy its new stadium at Sixfields, Northampton, which was completed in 1994. The Borough Council also has a non-executive seat on the board for the same duration.
Sixfields Stadium, built and owned by Northampton Borough Council with the aid of a £1 million grant from the Football Trust, is a perfect symbol of the partnership between the local authority, the football club and the Trust. It is truly a community stadium. The Leader of the Council has said that he regards the Trust member on the board of directors as representing not only the supporters but the community as a whole. Councillors have also frequently stated that the stadium would never have been built were it not for the Supporters' Trust and the democratic guarantee it provided.
If the Trust had not existed it would have been politically unacceptable to provide a football ground from public funds for an unreformed club recently guilty of gross mismanagement. In financial terms, the Trust has paid over £100,000 into Northampton Town FC, with funds still in hand, and it owns over 30,500 shares in the club, over seven per cent of the total issued. The sum invested bears good comparison with that of any individual director over the same period.
This example shows how a Supporters' Trust can not only raise money to help finance a club but also benefit the local community. For more information visit the NTFC Trust website.
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