Apologies for crashing your forum, but I come to ask Fulham fans to support a petition asking the government to address the matter of football governance in this country, clubs in this country are increasingly being taken over by unaccountable owners, who ignore the wishes of the fans, mismanage the club, plunge them into massive debt, adopt policies contrary to the traditions and history of the club (like changing their name or club colours) and in the case of my club Coventry, move the club 35 miles to a 4th Division stadium against the wishes of the fans when there is a perfectly adequate 32,000 capacity stadium in Coventry they can rent cheaply.
As Oliver Kay said in the Times recently
Football clubs are proud, historic institutions of enormous social and cultural importance. Rules need to be tightened or introduced to protect clubs from the sort of corporate vandalism that has jeopardised so many of them in recent years. The petition wants government to address these problems starting with an inquiry into the modern-day tragedy that is Coventry City. I hope that supporters of clubs up and down the country will sign; it could be them next.
It would be greatly appreciated if you took 30 seconds to sign the petition, even better if you could share it. If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures it will have to be considered by government. Needless to say, the support of fans from clubs everywhere is needed.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/59884 (http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/59884)
Without Fans there is no Football
Responsible department: Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Football is our national game but the interests of fans are being disregarded by club owners and ruling bodies - government action is needed. UK football clubs are not financial franchises: they are rooted in their local communities and are an important part of local identity and heritage. But a new type of club owner is disregarding all that, pricing many people out of the game with inflated ticket and other costs, alienating people by seeking to change clubs' names, colours and so on. Football's governing bodies are failing to address the situation. We therefore ask that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee revisits its work on football governance and illustrates growing problems by undertaking a short Inquiry into one particular club, Coventry City, whose owner has relocated the club from the City of Coventry to Northampton, 35 miles away. This will highlight concerns shared by football fans across the country, and the need for action.
Here is a video of a recent demonstration by the fans against moving our club
Coventry city protest at Arsenal vs Coventry city game 24/1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHKTX34HnGQ#ws)
All the best...
ok mate i am a season ticket holder and live near cov. i have alot of friends who are cov fans and there plight could happen to any club it is about time fans grabbed the game back from the money people.good luck in your quest for a ground,
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...Done, time for the FA to be brought to book about accepting charlatans who are supposed to be "fit and proper" without proper extensive research...
Signed that way before you posted here!
Good luck with your cause :54:
Signed.
Always had a soft spot for Coventry since I backed your lot to win the FA Cup at 25/1 one year... and they did. Against Spurs! Ha! :0))
Whilst supporting your worthy cause, I suspect that should a despotic qatari multi-billionaire offer to take over Coventry City, your campaign might be put on ice.
Signed.
Thanks to all who signed (+ shameless bump) :bump:
We're now past 11,000 signatures in 10 days & need to keep the momentum up.. the government (of whatever shade) really need to reform football!
Done Michael (I assume you are Michael). Good luck mate - good cause..
I don't understand why this is a government issue?? The club is responisble for how its run, no one else, don't over spend, don't build a stadium you can't afford/fill - live within your means, not a dig a coventry but ALL clubs that are facing ruin. Go part time, play non contract players - Teams like Pompey should not be in existance, repeated admin orders against the club, my one concern is people like Tan and Venky's are allowed to take over football clubs, the PL & FL should have proper guidelines, proof of intent of club, debt that would be loaded etc and if the PL & FL don't think its a sustainable then the takeover is off.
Intentions of incoming chairmen should be public, as a Fulham fan I have no idea what our owner is doing with our club. That's wrong.
I've seen comments elsewhere that PL should support ower league clubs! Again, this promotes over spending and we'll be dug out of it by the PL attitude. We have too many pro clubs as it is so if a few die then so be it.
Its just football, its just a game. If Fulham ceased to exist I'll just work more or go to a local team. Not the end of the world and if it is, get out more. Its a big world out there.
Signed
Many thanks to all who signed, + shameless bump :bump:
We're managing 1K signatures per day & getting a bit of publicity on radio, Graham Westley was promoting it on Talksport last night.
But we still need more.. and hopefully a few more on here will be kind enough to sign.
Signed