Salford’s MP Hazel Blears described it as “probably the most popular debate ever in Westminster Hall,” and John Woodcock called on fellow MPs to “pay tribute to the Manchester United supporters right across the country who have lobbied Members of Parliament to get involved in this debate - I find their energy extraordinary and it is a real sign that this can be a successful venture for football organisations.”

You can watch a video of the full 90 minute debate here: http://action.joinmust.org/index.php/blog/entry/update-westminster-hall-debate-on-football-governance/

The response from MUST members was fantastic. Over 5,500 letters were sent and nearly every single MP in the UK was contacted (632 of the total 650 MPs - an amazing 97%). The replies members received from their local MPs were overwhelmingly positive too. Anyone who has had a reply please email it to mps@joinmust.org

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Hundreds of Manchester United supporters could be left stranded and unable to attend the UEFA Champions League clash in Valencia on September 29th after Thomas Cook - the "official travel partner" sold day trip packages to fans despite a General Strike scheduled for the day of the game and likely to affect air traffic control workers amongst others. The planned strike has been known about for months but no mention was made on the Thomas Cook website for supporters booking trips and it still isn't even today.

A MUST spokesman said "Clearly Thomas Cook will be forced to refund payments on the day of the game in the event that flights are cancelled but what use is that to fans hoping to travel to support their team if there is no time to change arrangements? Thomas Cook should contact all supporters booked on the day trips and offer them the option of a refund so that they can make alternative travel arrangements if they wish to. Many may not be aware of the potential problem as there appears to be no mention on the Thomas Cook website and day trips are still for sale today."

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Andy Burnham MP, a candidate in the election to be the next leader of the Labour party, has spoken out during his campaign about the Green & Gold movement and the issue of supporter ownership.

He said: "I joined the Co-op Party over 10 years ago, after being inspired by the potential of the co-operative ideal in football. As Leader, I would put co-operative policies and new mutualism at the heart of Labour’s future policy offer. This is because, post-recession, it speaks to the public’s desire for a different approach to the ownership and behaviour of socially-important organisations.

“This can be seen in the success of the Co-operative Bank, which, at a time of crisis in the financial sector, was seen by the public as embodying trust and higher ethical standards. It can also be seen in the protest movements at Manchester United and Liverpool, as supporters call for the money motive to be tamed."

Andy previously served as Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport - and was once Chair of Supporters Direct.

He also attended yesterday's debate in a packed Westminster Hall.

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A further update to earlier press release http://bit.ly/footdebate

Hansard transcript available here:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtoday/cmwhall/01.htm

Video link available here:
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=6560

Selected quotes:

Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport:
“The strength of this morning’s debate lies in its representing the feeling throughout the House that something needs to be done. It is useful because it allows me to go back to the football authorities, put pressure on them and tell them that we had a Westminster Hall debate that was better attended even than those on the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. This debate is a pretty good weather vane, showing the strength of feeling on this issue. I am determined to make progress and to push ahead with both the wider reform agenda and football supporters’ involvement.”

"The twin aims of greater supporter involvement in running football clubs and the reform of football governance are shared across the political spectrum and are part of the Coalition Agreement. However, I have to tell him that, although the issue is widely agreed in this place, it is not entirely shared in the wider football family. There is a battle to be fought to convince the football family of the merits of this case."

Steve Rotheram (Liverpool Walton) (Lab):
.......

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The debate on football ownership held today in a packed Westminster Hall was reported to be the best attended in living memory.

Many MPs spoke in praise of MUST members for having lobbied so effectively in urging so many MPs to attend 

You can watch video of the 90 minute debate here: 

http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=6560

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Press Release: 15.30, September 8th 2010

The debate on football ownership today in a packed Westminster Hall was reported to be the best attended in living memory.

Among those in attendance were Sports Minister Hugh Robertson, former Sports Ministers Gerry Sutcliffe and Kate Hoey, and former Culture Secretary Andy Burnham.

Many MPs spoke in praise of members of M.U.S.T. for having lobbied so effectively, with 632 MPs (an astonishing 97% of the total 650 MPs) having received letters from their United-supporting constituents in recent days urging them to attend the debate.

M.U.S.T. members also asked MPs to urge Hugh Robertson to keep his promise to: "take a serious look at reforming the governance and structure of football in this country" and intervene by the end of summer if football hadn’t got its own house in order.

Steve Rotheram MP (Labour, Liverpool Walton), who led the Debate, said:

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MPs are back from their summer break and we need you to contact them now:
http://action.joinmust.org/page/speakout/mpsactnow

It’s recently been revealed that the Glazers have defaulted on yet more of their US shopping mall loans, that they’ve been forced to have “blacked out” games at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (where they continue to under-invest in the NFL squad whilst hiking up ticket prices), and that the interest on the toxic PiK debt at United has rocketed to over 16% due to their failure to meet the conditions of the loan. And only this week we had an admission from David Gill that United season ticket and executive sales have failed to sell out. There is no waiting list.

This could be a tipping point in the battle against the Glazers, so we need you to help us pile on the pressure by speaking out to the politicians whose duty it is to protect our national game.

Don't let anyone tell you lobbying politicians won't have any impact. If it wouldn't make any difference why are our opponents devoting their resources to lobbying against change?

MUST had meetings with all the main parties before the election including Government special advisors at Number 10 as well as Jeremy Hunt - now the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

After intense lobbying by MUST and others the new Coalition Government made the unprecedented move to include specific promises in its joint manifesto that the new Government would: "encourage reform of football governance rules to support the co-operative ownership of football clubs by supporters".

The new sports minister, Hugh Robertson MP, then said on May 18th that: "We'll give football the chance to sort itself out first by seeing how they plan to reform over the summer, and if it doesn't work then the Government will step in. We need to take a serious look at reforming the governance and structure of football in this country."

To make sure that the politicians stick to their promises, we need your help.

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A great article featuring MUST and the Green & Gold campaign appears in the latest issue of Prospect Magazine, an influential political journal.

It includes this:
Paul Marshall, one of the original Red Knights, argues that involving fans in the ownership of even the largest football clubs should make both social and commercial sense. The Red Knights have not finalised the structure they would put in place at Manchester United, but it would probably combine a membership scheme along the lines of Barcelona (where supporters pay €78 a year to take part in club elections) and a long-term plan to sell a minority stake in the club to a trust held by supporters. Marshall sees the yearning symbolised by green and gold as an untapped resource that could one day rival the spending power of the oligarchs.

"The potential funding that we have uncovered is much more than we expected" he said. Now, he added, it was a matter of waiting for the Red Knight and the Glazer valuations of Manchester United to coincide. "We are delighted to wait while the Glazers acclimatise themselves to the double dip."

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