About Stags Fans United Supporters’ Trust
Stags Fans United is the Mansfield Town Supporters Trust. It is a non-profit making co-operative which was formed to represent the supporters of Mansfield Town in the running of the football club. The objectives of Stags Fans United are:
· to develop and strengthen the bonds and dialogue between the football club and its supporters and the communities which it serves and to represent the interests of the supporters and the communities in the running of the club;
· to promote the involvement of supporters in the running, direction and policies of the club including encouraging and promoting the principle of supporter representation on the board of the football club;
· to encourage the football club to be run in an open, transparent and accountable manner and for the football club to take proper account of the interests of its supporters and the communities it serves in its decisions; and
· to raise money to purchase and hold shares in the football club.
Stags Fans United has purchased 10,000 Community Shares of 50 pence each in the football club for £88,600 and is represented on the board of the directors of the football club. Stags Fans United also donated £7,000 to the Free Field Mill Fund and assisted the football club with its legal claim against Keith Haslam.
Any supporter is welcome to become a member of Stags Fans United. The cost of membership is a one off payment of £100 which can be paid in monthly instalments if required. The best way to become a member is to join our SFU 200 Club for £60 per year or a standing order of £5 per month. This also gives you the chance to win a cash prize in our monthly draws.
EARLIER NEWS:
The Trust was born in May 2008 during the fans’ battle for the soul of the Mansfield Town Football Club with the then owner. The trust is an umbrella organisation comprising four of the fans’ groups – the SSA (Stags Supporters’ Association), OSSC (Ollerton Stags Supporters Club), Stags Fans for Change (SFFC) as well as the original trust Team Mansfield (TM). At this stage the trust owned 3.3% of a stake in the club and the main aim of the new organisation was to facilitate the buyout of the club by people who only wanted the best for MTFC.
The trust was launched at a public meeting attended by more than 700 concerned fans and the original steering committee included one of the board which went on to own the club. Since the buyout of the club by three local businessmen (Andrew Perry, Andrew Saunders and Steve Middleton) the trust worked much more closely with the Stags and on September 12th 2009 signed an agreement with the owners to purchase a further 8% of shares in the club for £55,000. This money was raised in just over 14 months with donations from fans and the various fans groups including £15,000 from the SSA.
As part of the deal the agreement created the first ever role at MTFC for a supporter director to attend the four board meetings a year. At the Trust EGM ratifying the purchase of shares it was agreed that Colin Dobell would take on the role of supporter director at first. Colin was a key member of the trust since the original set up of TM, and brought a huge amount of business experience to his work with the other directors.
The Trust is registered with Supporters Direct, the body set up to advise sports trusts and SFU will always be grateful for the support of Kevin Rye, SD Communications Manager, who has attended countless meetings and has been a constant source of support. SFU would recommend any Supporters Trust to engage closely with Supporters Direct as a result of their experience.
