Season › 2014-15 › News EFCSA forum to focus on supporters trusts , 30 July, 2comments | Jump to most recent How Everton FC might benefit from a supporter's trust is a question to be discussed at a forum held by the club's Shareholders' Association at Goodison Park on Monday 4th August. The evening's discussion will be led by three guest speakers: Andy Burnham, an Evertonian, MP and Shadow Cabinet member, played a key role in setting up Supporters Direct, the independent body which has encouraged the development of fan trusts at clubs, large and small, up and down the country. Kevin Rye is Campaigns and Communications Manager at Supporters Direct. He's been with the organisation for 10 years and has taken a keen interest in the work of the embryonic Trust Everton. He will travel up from the Supporters Direct headquarters in London to join the Forum. Tony I'Anson will speak on behalf of Trust Everton which has spent three years researching in detail what would be the best framework for a trust and what should be its goals. He will describe the blueprint developed by Trust Everton volunteers over the past three years for a supporter-owned co-operative community interest company (CIC) to be the landlord for the key real estate assets of a football club. “The challenge facing any supporters' trust," Tony says of the concept, "particularly those linked to clubs in the top divisions, is how to make a significant, long-term and sustainable difference to a club that is not in a financial crisis and without simply duplicating the work already carried out by existing fans' groups and other organisations. Trust Everton sees the CIC model as one way of achieving that goal. “The aim on 4 August is to inform the trust debate by describing the characteristics that have led to a CIC-based approach here and at other clubs such as Hearts and Rangers, and describing how a pilot project might be put together for Everton FC.” Tea and Coffee will be available from 7pm in The People's Lounge at Goodison Park and the Forum will start promptly at 7:30pm. Free parking is available for all at the Park End and whilst attendance to the Forum is free for EFCSA members a small donation to cover costs is expected from other attendees. More information can be found at efcsa.org | andyburnham.net | supporters-direct.org | trusteverton.com Reader Comments (2) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Matt Traynor 1 Posted 30/07/2014 at 22:50:12 Hmmmm no responses. Must be something else going on...A shame I won't be able to make this - flying back out just before, but would be interested to hear what they say.Tony - as a regular contributor can I ask that you arrange for a summary report to be put together by a colleague?FWIW, I think given the scale of monies involved now, the time for supporters trusts - at least at Premier (and probably Championship) levels has gone, more's the pity. Tony I'Anson 2 Posted 05/08/2014 at 00:30:04 Apologies for the TW silence. The past 42 months have been fairly exhausting in many ways. We'll take stock of the feedback from tonight and report back to the fans. From the beginning of this process I have always believed that Trust Everton is for every Evertonian on the planet and tonight has only served to confirm that.Tonight, personally, I really did feel honoured to be given the opportunity to speak to a group of Evertonians at Goodison Park who care deeply about our club. To do so in advance of an inspiring talk from Andy Burnham, only served to add to that honour. Where this process goes from here is down to all of us, and I hope we can now take this opportunity as a global fan base build on what I just happened to be part of at the start.Good night. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads © ToffeeWeb