Petition to change EFL governance

A message to ALL football fans, regardless of which club you follow;

Blackpool Supporters Trust has recently created a government petition with the following aim;

The Government must introduce an independent regulator for English football. We urge the Government to introduce an independent regulator for English football, charged with ensuring the highest possible standards of governance for all clubs.

The troubles we have endured at Blackpool FC during the Oyston ownership are well documented and make unbelievable reading, which has culminated in the Oystons being made to pay Valeri Belokon over £30m.

Blackpool FC has become a by-word in the football community for mismanagement and crisis, and yet after a period several years, nothing has been done. The EFL shows no sign that it understands what its leadership role in this area should be, and as it clearly can’t - or won’t - rise to the challenge, then we feel that the Government must step in to lead the process of fundamental reform that is clearly needed.

Blackpool is not the only club in such circumstances. Other 'crisis' clubs include AFC Wimbledon, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Cardiff City, Charlton Athletic, Coventry City, Fulham, Leyton Orient, Leeds United.

Football clubs are too precious and too much a part of the fabric of our national life, to be left to the mercy of unregulated and often unscrupulous ownership. They need the protection of a robust regulatory framework that offers a range of sanctions against wrongdoers, mechanisms that allow problems to be confronted before they become deep-rooted and a governing body that has the desire to use it.

As football fans, I would ask that you join us in trying to bring about change within the game and hopefully prevent future owners from loading clubs with debt, asset stripping and running clubs into the ground.

We are all fans and we should stick together to ensure the clubs we love are owned and managed properly.

The petition can be found here – https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/213108

Thank you all for your support and if you have Twitter, please feel free to tweet this or add on Facebook - get this message out there!!

If you are a member of any other of your club's fans forums, please post this on there to spread the word – we, as fans, are all in this together.

Please let us know if you sign it, or even disagree with the petition by adding a comment/thumbs up. You can also sign the petition if you are browsing as a guest on this forum.

 

Can’t stick Blackpool as a club, fans do my head in but agree with what you are trying to achieve
Signed good luck

 

To be honest, it is not just for Blackpool's benefit, but for all clubs. As fans, we need to ensure owners like the Oystons etc are brought to heel for their dodgy practices

#YNWA

 

I am going to sign the petition now.

 

Cool, tell yer mates

 

Played at a few of your oyston out ‘meetings’ at the Excelsior on Lytham Road, do know Dave Ragazinno?
It has been proper badly dealt with down at your club, it’s very sad
It could be any of our clubs

 

Go on I'll sign it, my niece lives across the road from the ground in St Helliers Rd and her kids support Blackpool.

 

Signed

 

Cheers guys

 

Yeah we know that. The football authorities are only good for making the offside rule ridiculously complicated.

Signed.

 

Thank you

 

For info, a quick update from BST;s website;

BST’s petition went live on the parliamentary website last week and will run for six months to 22nd August 2018. It has gained 5,000 signatures in the first week but requires 100,000 people to sign to trigger parliamentary action.

What is it that most annoys football supporters? It’s not necessarily a draw or a defeat when they might have hoped for a victory. It’s under-performance, when players don’t give their all to try and turn a situation around. By extension, as fans we all have it in our power to try and make a positive difference in the way our game is run. We can all step up to the challenge. It takes just a few minutes to overcome the apathy, log on to the website and support a petition that could start to turn our situation around. This is the link to the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/213108

Please support it today and encourage everyone you know to do the same.

In parallel with that parliamentary petition, and in addition to our formal communications with the League, the Trust is also supporting the public campaign to put pressure of the EFL to act in regard to fans’ concerns.

The EFL has indicated in the last 24 hours that it is willing to hold a meeting with Blackpool fans’ groups, Blackpool MPs and the Gazette newspaper during March to discuss the situation.

Apparently ‘attendees will be given the opportunity to raise their concerns and EFL officials will endeavour to provide answers wherever possible and explain its position on a number of matters that have previously been raised in the public domain.’

Today’s planned demonstration outside EFL headquarters in Preston is intended to reinforce for the EFL the principle that fans are vital stakeholders in the game and to show the strength of our dissatisfaction with their response to date when it comes to dealing with rogue owners.. BST encourages all who are available to join this protest against the way that football is currently governed. It is important that the protest is peaceful and law-abiding, that it should make its legitimate point without intimidating either members of the public or EFL employees.

There is a train from Blackpool South at 13:48 (the ‘EFL Special’ to Preston) but for those who can't make that train, the plan is to meet at Preston Station for 14.30pm and then to march down Fishergate for the Fans United protest outside EFL House. BST has agreed to be a point of contact/liaison for Lancashire Police, who are happy with the arrangements.

BBC TV’s Question Time was broadcast from Blackpool last night. BST members were in the audience and hoping to pose a question about the state of affairs at Blackpool FC and its impact on the town, to get the thoughts of the panel and to give the issue of rogue ownership some national exposure. By the time you are reading this we will know if they were successful.

Finally, the Trust is pleased to announce that BST committee member, Tony Wilkinson, has been elected to the board of the Supporters’ Direct England and Wales Football Council for a 3 year term. Congratulations go to Tony. He will do a wonderful job representing football fans everywhere as well as being a great ambassador for BST.

Things are starting to move

 

The petition now has over 8,000 signatures and we still need a lot more.
We really need your help to make this happen

Come on Red Men, let's make this happen.

Thanks for the Like IT

 

Almost 11.,000 signatures received. Come on guys help us out

 

Can't sign it twice.

Got a long way to go - sadly it seems not enough people care about such things. They're probably more worried about what's happening to someone in Eastenders or the size of Kim Kardashian's arse.

 

Can't see it getting to 100,000 but I've added my "signature". Never watch Eastenders

 

Will this fix #bentasfuck PGMOL?

 

Cheers guys. It is a long way to go, but with yours and all football fans, we should get there. However , apathy is a problem. If anyone is a member of any other LFC forum, it would be great if you could post a link on there for us.

#YNWA

 

Why would anyone care how big Kanye West is?

 

Over 11,500 signatures to date. Come on Koppites, we really need your help and support.
#ReclaimTheGame

YNWA