‘Leicester helping Leicester’ shows the importance of fan groups : Why I’ve joined the Foxes Trust
At the Union FS forum in March, Jamie Barnard felt the spark of an idea, of a need to do something. As more new members continue to join the Foxes Trust, Jamie shares his reasons for joining and the power of fans and community.
It’s a chilly March Thursday evening but a warm welcome awaits as I step through the door of Duffy’s Bar. I’m here for the Union FS fans forum and the group are receiving attendees with open arms, thanking people for coming and apologetic that there has been a few late pull outs by others registered to attend.
They needn’t have been so. There’s a decent crowd here and these are guys that have given up their own evenings to share with those in attendance a little more about how the group works and what they have achieved in 10+ years.
The list of achievements is considerable. The lads and lasses who are presenting on stage share the story of how the group started and that, whilst it had been born out of a simple mission statement to improve the atmosphere in the King Power stadium, it had subsequently delivered much more than that since its inception.
The power of community
Food bank collections provide much needed support for those in the local Leicester community in need. Unofficial friendships/alliances with fan groups from other clubs (such as Bochum in Germany and Vallarenga in Norway). The successful trial and then implementation of a singing section (or extended ‘trial’ if you were to ask Leicester City). The tifos that we’ve all seen and loved.
These are just a few of the things the group has achieved in their time. A big one that stands out, however, is the lobbying of the club around the general sale of match tickets this season as seats were left empty and future fans were locked out of our stadium unless they bought a costly membership or happened to know someone with a season ticket.
It’s mentioned that this is an issue on which Union FS has worked with the Foxes Trust and that this partnership between the groups had been effective in pushing the club to relent on their exclusionary policy.
The group’s mantra is ‘Leicester helping Leicester’ and their track record of doing that is long. Whether you’ve benefited from their work, or simply admired what they do, it’s undeniable to me that they have worked for the benefit of the Leicester community and our club’s supporters.
What also becomes clear to me over the course of the 45-minutes or so that Union FS presents are two things. Firstly, the group consistently faces opposition, and at times even outright obstruction, from the club. Secondly, when fan groups like Union FS and the Foxes Trust work together, rather than disparately, this can be powerful.
Whether it’s Union FS, the Foxes Trust, Foxes Pride or any other group of Leicester City fans, we all have one thing in common: wanting the best for our football club. Regardless of whether you sit, stand, wear a replica kit, sing, shout, bang a clapper or munch on popcorn mid-game, that one common desire remains true.
An engaging evening gets me thinking. Now, more than ever, given the mismanagement and disastrous decisions that have harmed our club in recent months, it’s important that fans work together to ensure supporters' needs are represented and the custodians of our club handle it with care and responsibility. Groups like Union FS and Foxes Trust need our support.
A desire to get involved
I ask the Union FS representatives how they envisage their relationship with the Foxes Trust moving forward and I’m pleased to hear a desire to do more together. This is a sentiment also echoed by a lady in the room from the Trust who encourages anyone interested in a more effective Foxes Trust to get involved.
In the 24 hours following the Union FS night, myself and others present decided to join the Foxes Trust. Our thinking is that this is the fan group with official Supporters Trust status and the strongest communication link with the club at present. In my opinion, though, they are falling short against what could be achieved with better organisation and motivation to do more.
Fast forward a couple of days and I’m pulling into our impressive Seagrave training ground for the Foxes Trust AGM which, as a new member, I have the opportunity to attend. The Trust has seen a flurry of new members joining and there are some familiar faces in the room.
The night starts with a quick Q&A with Ricardo and it’s clear that the club are comfortable enough with how the Trust operates to provide both their facilities and their players for the night. Various other representatives from the club are in attendance.
The demographic here is in contrast to the Union FS night. It’s generally an older crowd and not very diverse by any measure. I wonder how effectively the Trust is able to represent the needs of the broader Leicester City fan base when its own members are not reflective of the diverse groups found within our stadium on a matchday.
After the official logistics are complete (signing off prior AGM meeting minutes and financial updates), the board members present updates from the various working groups the Foxes Trust have. These cover things like memberships, engagement and the women’s game to name a few.
Whilst there are areas that I’d critique the Trust as falling short, it’s clear that the work on the women’s game has been fruitful. Fees that parents of daughters in the girls’ academy had to pay for kit have been removed for parity with the boys, free buses have been provided for women’s team away games and the board member responsible for this area is also on the women’s network that the FSA run.
Areas where the Trust aren’t hitting the mark, in my opinion, are things such as not representing the views of the broader supporter base (there appears to be a focus on representing only their 340-ish members rather than the 30,000+ fans that fill the King Power Stadium on a match day or the many more who can’t get in the stadium) and being unable to hold the club accountable by asking difficult questions on the way it is operating.
It didn’t sit comfortably with me that board members from the Trust openly state in front of representatives of the club a fear of being sidelined and describing some of their ambitions on fan representation as ‘pipe dreams’.
I’ll level with you. I’ve been a prominent critic of the Foxes Trust to date. I’ve called for them to do more because I believe in the potential of fan groups mobilising and campaigning for change. But what recent events have led me to realise is that, if I don’t commit to actively supporting that change, then I cannot complain when it fails to materialise.
In the summer, I wrote an article exploring the challenges the Trust was seeing in getting responses to the questions that had been asked about the management of the club in the lead up to an avoidable relegation. Those answers never came and we’ve subsequently seen the mire of alleged broken rules and misconduct charges and counterclaims.
Accountability and fan power
Our club has seen unprecedented success in recent years. It has been lauded as one with model owners and tagged as a ‘well run club’. There are many things that have been so positive in the last decade, but many things more recently that have amounted to a dereliction of duty. Accountability keeps standards high and, right now, who holds the club accountable?
If, in the face of shocking financial results and accusations of neglectful management, the best the club can muster up is highly paid lawyers finding their best loopholes and thinly veiled legal threats, who can champion that accountability?
It has to be us, the fans.
You may feel the Trust is tired. You may feel their voice has been weak or altogether lacking in recent years. You may think they do not have the weight of members needed to truly influence the club. The only thing that guarantees all of those things to be the case is people not joining to get involved with creating a more effective Trust.
The final part of the AGM is an open forum. It’s apparent that there are many good people in the Trust who are passionate about the club. But they need help. They perhaps haven’t been needed like they are now for a long time and that will take some re-adjustment.
Questions from the floor probe on their communication with the club and their members, their stance on issues such as safe-standing, their work on a prospective Fan Advisory Board and their current approach of determining the issues to focus time on by surveying only their current members (in an attempt to offer value for the £10 membership fee.)
These questions are largely from the new members that have joined. There is enthusiasm for more from the Trust and I depart Seagrave feeling optimistic that, if that energy from new members can be paired with the passion and expertise of those already in the Trust, something special could happen in giving Leicester City fans a stronger voice.
I ended my article in the summer with the question ‘who can we trust if the Trust cannot be trusted?’. I’ll end this one with the message that to see the change, you have to be the change. It’s time.
Join the cause
The Fosse Way is supporting the current drive for new members to join the Foxes Trust and have their say on the future of Leicester City Football Club.
Annual membership costs
Adult: £10
OAP, unemployed or students: £5
18 to 21 years old: £3
Under 18: Free
