AST meeting at the House of Commons, Monday February 9

The evening following the 0-0 draw at WHL, some 60+ members of the AST turned up at the House of Commons for a rare glimpse inside Parliament and the chance to question three MPs, secretary of state Andy Burnham and two ministers, Gerry Sutcliffe and Jim Knight, the last being a Gooner and former Arsenal season ticket holder.

The meeting was arranged by Trust board members Tim Payton and Emma Shepherd, for which many thanks are due from all who attended.

Around 6.30, having gone through the rigmaroles of airport-like security (my asthma inhaler requiring special scanning by security!), we filed into Committee Room 5.

First up was Bradford MP – and Manure supporter – Gerry Sutcliffe. His other duties include being Minister for Sport and (to some mirth from the assembled gathering) being the goalkeeper for the House of Commons football team. No one asked him if Harry Redknapp had tried to sign him on a free before the Sp*ds got Cudicini; I wish I had, but the idea only came to me afterwards.

Anyway, Gerry Sutcliffe spoke about his role in helping with the World Cup bid and emphasised his commitment to Supporters Trust idea. He urged clubs to seriously consider reducing their ticket prices for next season, following Sunderland’s decision to just that. He stated his preference for seating over safe standing as the way forward at football stadiums in answer to one question, although his reference of the Bradford disaster as one of the reasons had some shaking their heads, given the facts of that terrible afternoon.

Next up was Jim Knight, schools minister, a Gooner himself and MP for Weymouth. He spoke about his involvement with Arsenal, having been to the stadium recently as part of an anti-racism initiative when he met Abou Diary (who was presumably on day-release from the treatment table). Mr Knight also spoke very favourably about the club’s involvement in a new education initiative involving the development of a new humanities qualification for 14-19 year olds. This was interesting because while many football clubs, Arsenal included, are well-known for their involvement in Maths and English programmes in junior schools, this is the first example – according to Mr Knight – of a football club being actively involved from the outset in new education initiative. Another first for Arsenal and a very worthwhile one it seemed to me.

Jim Knight also revealed that there were more Gooners in the senior positions of power than fans of the Evil Empire down the Seven Sisters Road. Our foreign secretary may have his detractors, but he is a Gooner too, as is James Purnell (who was meant to address us but was kept away by other business), local MP Jeremy Corbyn and a number of others whose names unfortunately escape my memory, my scrawled notes being less legible after the meeting than they seemed to be at the time. Significantly there are no Sp*ds fans in senior, ie Cabinet positions: David Lammy (he of the less than inspiring appearance on Celebrity Mastermind fame) and (I think) Bill Rammell are two junior ministers whose careers may well be stymied by their having chosen the wrong team to support.

Andy Burnham, secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport, was the “star turn”; we and he sat through an impressive presentation charting the history of the AST (take a bow Emma Shepherd) and then Andy Burnham spoke; he was notable for his evident enthusiasm for the game (and Everton) and significantly for us, for the role of Supporters Trusts in general. He spoke, I felt, from the heart when he said he wanted to see a Premiership Club owned by its supporters within a decade. An ambitious aim no doubt, maybe idealistic, but we should all be thankful to have a Cabinet member so committed to the idea.

He spoke very positively about the success of the AST, stating how the AST is the leading Trust in the country, and by far and away has the greatest voice of any Trust through being attached to one of the leading clubs in the country; the efforts of Tim Payton, Glyn Taylor, Nigel Phillips and everyone else responsible for getting the AST to its position of prominence should be acknowledged.

Andy Burnham was asked about ways to make it easier for fans to buy shares in football clubs and Glyn Taylor explained that the Trust has a Sharesave scheme close to being ready to roll, along with provisional support for it from Arsenal itself. The difficulty with getting the scheme off the ground centres on some provisions within the Financial Services Authority rules; under the current regulatory structure, Arsenal would have to comply with these, some of which are complex and potentially onerous; Mr Burnham committed publicly to arranging a meeting with the FSA and indeed the Treasury, who frame these rules, with the aim of finding a way to create an exemption for ideas like the Sharesave scheme. The Trust will, I am sure, hold him to this commitment.

Other questions to the ministers throughout the evening included:
• Should there be a European super-regulatory agent for football, as proposed by Michel Platini? No, seemed to be the government’s line

• Can the government force clubs to appoint fans to the boards of clubs? Again no was the line taken, but the government would do all it could to promote supporters’ trusts

A number of those present then retired to The Red Lion in Whitehall to continue discussions of weightier matters, such as Emmanuel Eboue’s future, whether we would finish in the Top four (have faith Glyn, we will) and having a good laugh at that class-less bunch of nouveaux-riches (or should that be has-beens?) in West London. Three managers in a just over a year; they’re just like London buses.

But back to the meeting – it seemed to me, as a relatively new member of the AST, that it really has come a long way in a short period of time. One particular statistic stood out from the presentation to Andy Burnham – members of the AST own 3% of the shares in Arsenal. If we can get the Sharesave scheme off the ground – and then get people buying into new shares – there is a real chance that the fans can indeed have a real voice on the board.

For details of how to join the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust and attend events like these, click here. Membership starts from £2 a month for standing orders and is open to all Arsenal supporters with an interest in the ownership issues of their club.