We are very pleased that the The Football Supporters Association (FSA) will be playing a lead role on the panel for the fan-led review of football. The panel is chaired by Tracey Crouch (MP for Medway and former Sports Minister) and will continue to hear submissions in the forthcoming weeks. CAST is a prominent member of the FSA and, as our club has very relevant recent experience of what is wrong with football governance in this country, we are confident that we can offer the panel some crucial insights on areas such as (but not exclusively) the Owners & Directors Test, EFL transparency, enhanced representation for fan groups and the benefits or otherwise of independent regulation of football.

Although it cannot be guaranteed we are hopeful that CAST will be able to make a direct submission to the panel in mid June and we are currently preparing our evidence. We are already grateful for the input and assistance of CAST members Richard Hunt and Marc Stellmacher who are sharing information on the background to and practicalities of the German 50+1 model.

We are also in contact with the club-led organisation Fair Game who are lobbying for change. They have organised a series of free online presentations and panel discussions over coming weeks on key topics, open to all.

We are very interested to hear the thoughts and opinions of Charlton supporters as we prepare. We invite you to write to us at secretary@castrust.org with your thoughts and comments.

Some background to the review:

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has announced the full membership of the panel which will join Chair Tracey Crouch MP as she commences the Government’s fan-led review of football.

The panel includes the Chief Executive of the Football Supporters Association (Kevin Miles). The full panel (with biographies) can be seen here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-expert-panel-for-fan-led-review-of-football

The Football Supporters Association is planning a series of online events for all FSA-affiliates and associates at every level of the game so they will have an opportunity to present their ideas and experiences to the panel.

That will largely be organised by league, while a separate session for community-owned clubs is planned. In addition those clubs with especially relevant recent experience of governance problems will also be given special opportunities to present to the panel. 

The first meeting of the panel was on Monday 24th May with the first fans’ session taking place the following day. Events will continue throughout June and the FSA will publish a full timetable once they have shared further information with member groups.

The panel is an advisory panel and the final report will be the chair’s report which will be written after taking evidence from hundreds of fans and supporters’ groups.

An interim report is planned for July while the final report has been scheduled for October.

The National Council of the FSA have already met with Tracey Crouch and their comments are here:

https://thefsa.org.uk/news/chair-of-fan-led-review-meets-fsa