Club Development Scotland Launch Blog

Date: 8th April 2016

We were delighted to launch Club Development Scotland last week. Club Development Scotland is our new consultancy service and represents a shift in approach to how we support Supporters Trusts and Community Clubs in Scotland.

Club Development Scotland is an extension of the work that has been delivered throughout England and Wales by Supporters Direct (Club Development) and has also partly been formed from a recommendation from the ‘Supporter Involvement in Football Governance’ Report which came from a Working Group involving Supporters Direct, the Scottish FA, the SPFL, SportScotland and the Scottish Government. Club Development Scotland is a combination of two recommendations from the report.

Firstly that the a Business, Football and Community Enterprise Unit be established to support clubs and supporters trusts through the transitions of increased supporter involvement in club ownership. Secondly that expert guidelines around the areas of raising finance, legal structures and governance should be produced. The CDS website www.clubdevelopment.scot brings together both these recommendations through its guidelines and searchable content on a range of issues such as supporter representation, transfer of shares and governance audits. For those seeking basic advice and guidance around governance issues, the CDS website has extensive resources to help you best govern and manage your activities. For those interested in large scale projects such as transferring ownership of a club or developing a facility, this is where CDS’s consultancy service can assist. We can help find and apply for funding as well as aid processes of raising finance through the likes of community shares or crowdfunding (through our own platform – coming soon).

Additionally we’ve built a network of consultants that can assist clubs and trusts through an ownership bids. This includes Bryan Jackson who was a football administrator with Dundee, Hearts, Dunfermline and Portsmouth, all of whom he helped transition to supporter ownership.

Bryan joined me as we launched CDS with Motherwell FC last Wednesday and with the announcement, we gained extensive media coverage, which I feel demonstrates the desire and interest in supporter involvement across Scottish football at this time. This included an STV News at 6 story and an interview with STV’s Scotland Tonight.

Club Development Scotland is open and available to work with all sports clubs of any size and are currently working with Annan Athletic, St Mirren and Rangers FC.

To find out more, visit our website clubdevelopment.scot or email us at andrew.jenkin@supporters-direct.org. We’d like to give a special mention to Reflex Blue for their design of our new website and Electrify for their public relations management during the launch. Both are highly recommended services.

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