Week Three on Site

The diggers have moved on to site and the soil strip is well underway. The groundworks contractors have been able to take advantage of the run of reasonably dry weather. The soil is reportedly of a good quality and will be stockpiled for use when building up the pitches.



A steady stream of FC fans have been down to the site to check on progress and take souvenir snaps. We have purchased a timelapse camera and it has been installed on site this week, after running a few tests over the next few days we hope to have it up and running and feeding images back to the website.

As part of our wider work to improve the environment around Ronald Johnson Playing Fields we are in discussions with the council about improving the drainage at the south of the site, behind the houses on St Mary’s Road. These improvement works include de-silting the current drainage into the wetland, which will help reduce a recurring problem of rainwater pooling at the rear of the houses and garages after heavy rain.

The main terrace behind the goal on St Mary’s Road is being constructed from steelwork salvaged from the demolition of Northwich Victoria’s ground. Northwich’s former home at the Victoria stadium was sold off and earmarked for demolition earlier this year. The large Dane Bank stand that ran the full length of the pitch was originally in place at Northwich’s historic Drill Field home and held great emotional attachment for Vics fans. After discussions and receiving the blessing of officials of fan-owned 1874 Northwich FC we stepped in to save the Dane Bank from being crushed and melted down for scrap. The stand is currently with our engineers being re-engineered ready to be installed in Moston.



Around the club
The success of the previous week’s opera night was followed up this week with a sporting dinner featuring Wilf McGuiness, Sammy Mcilroy, Alan Wardle and Carlo Sartori. The event was a sell out and raised over £1200 for club funds. The top table are all members of the Association of Former Manchester United Players and the Q&A revealed that the association now has less than 50 former players involved as more recent United players sadly show less interest in being members. The players posed for photographs and autographed a whole host of items of memorabilia; it was great to hear their stories and they reported how much they had enjoyed the evening and promised to return for another event in the new ground.

Moston supporters’ branch are organising a benefit night for Jerome Wright at the Gigg Lane Social club immediately following the game against Barwell on 21st December. Jerome lost his job after breaking his arm against Skelmersdale United and in true FC-style supporters have rallied round to raise funds for him in the lead up to Christmas. Tickets are just £2 and available from sellers at games. If you cannot attend but wish to contribute to the fund please contact the office or visit the programme stall on a match day.

Community work
The community pages on the website have undergone a revamp, the new pages give more information about the kind of community work that we do and will carry regular updates on courses and activities.

Click here to access the new pages.

FCUM Radio’s Ben Hughes is delivering a course for anyone who wishes to learn how to produce a radio programme starting in December. Ben has recently joined the community team and came up with the idea of designing a course that would assist participants develop their employability skills via the creation of a radio programme. Click here for more details.

Our adult education courses are proving to be very popular and the community team are expanding the number of adult courses. We will be on the lookout for new tutors to help us deliver the courses too and an announcement will be made shortly so keep an eye on the website if you think that you might be interested.

Not for Sale
Where have we heard that before?

Football supporters are engaged in campaigns across the English game to stop owners trampling over tradition and club history. MUFC played Cardiff last weekend where the owner, Mr Tan has not only changed the colour of the Cardiff home kit from blue to red but has taken to deciding which players the manager should sign. At ’capital of culture’ Hull the owner wants to change the club name and Hull fans are organising their forces. At Ipswich the club has severed its ties with its community trust and supporters there are concerned that club owners are distancing itself from involvement in the local community. If supporters had a stake in their clubs much of this corrosive behaviour could be challenged and it is important that FC United plays its part in supporting fellow supporters, a stronger supporter movement will benefit all fans at all clubs.

More details on the campaigns at Hull and Cardiff can be found on Supporters Direct website click here

Supporter ownership in this country is still a relatively new concept and Germany is often cited as a good example of what is possible, with top flight ticket prices much cheaper than in England and the supporters role in the ownership of clubs secured via the 50%+1 rule. Supporters in Germany also need to remain vigilant and protect what has been gained and there have been a number of attempts to challenge or dilute the involvement of supporters in the running of the clubs. The latest challenge comes at Hamburg SV where a lobby group is attempting to change the constitution of the club to allow private equity investment. HSV are wholly owned by supporters, their supporters’ association is one of the oldest and biggest in Germany and they have made an appeal to football supporters everywhere to support their campaign. HSV representatives brought their campaign to England recently and attended our game against Frickley. To find out more about HSV fans ’Not For Sale’ campaign click here

FC United’s ownership model is a community benefit coop that places people and ethics before profit and greed. The mutual ownership of football clubs follows a strong and successful pattern of mutuality in other sectors of the UK economy. The mutual sector has been booming in recent years as people look to take more control of their lives and find different ways of running enterprises. The recent problems at the Coop Bank and the scandal surrounding the bank chairman have hogged the headlines of late and you would be forgiven for thinking that the whole mutual sector was in financial meltdown but nothing could be further from the truth. Whilst not underestimating the problems at the Coop it should not be forgotten that it is the privately owned banks that have been the ’market leaders’ in poor governance and business misjudgements.

FC United officials will be joining partners and fellow mutual organisations at an event in January to discuss the fall out from the Coop bank situation. The event will feature experienced plenary speakers, best practice case studies, workshops such as membership engagement and management capture, exhibition stalls, networking, open space. Any interested FC United members can book places by clicking here

The events at the Coop and at HSV carry reminders for FC United that members need to play an active role in the governance of mutually owned organisations such as ours. We continue to have a good level of participation of members in our governance structures, comparable and often better than that experienced at other fan-owned clubs. There are those who remain implacably opposed to fan-ownership and if we are to protect our hard won achievements and gains from the inevitable buffeting of the economy and brickbats from our critics there is no room for complacency.

Stand for something - or you will fall for anything