Manchester City fans are the latest set of supporters to come together to launch their own independent supporters’ trust.
The Citizens Trust – open to all Manchester City fans – has launched this week becoming the newest supporters’ trust in English football.
City was one of the few clubs remaining in the English professional game not to have a supporters trust but Citizens now have a transparent, independent democratic organisation at their club.
Interim chair of the trust Nick Clarke said: “The lack of a supporters’ trust at City has long been a missing link in the chain between the club and its fans. Now our fans have an opportunity to build a strong, collective voice to reinforce that link.
“Supporters across the country feel increasingly disconnected from the modern game, often feeling powerless in relation to decisions impacting both their clubs and traditions they’ve built over generations – Blues are no different. This is our chance to begin reversing that trend at City in a really positive way.”
The Citizens Trust have been supported in their formation by the FSA and has initially been established by an interim board comprising nine match-going City supporters from a variety of backgrounds.
Nick said: “Getting launch-ready has been a long process, but one that would’ve been much longer without the support of the FSA and, in particular, their finance and governance manager the fantastic Nic Cave.
“Nic’s vast expertise and timely guidance as we got to grips with the new model rules for trusts has been greatly appreciated and no doubt will be relied upon again as we work towards our first AGM.”
While representing Manchester City fans the new trust will also lead campaigning on issues that impact the supporter experience such as ticket prices, unnecessary restrictions on how season cards can be used, accessibility, fixture scheduling, terms and conditions and more.
Interim vice chair of the trust Mark Todd said: “The Citizens Trust is for everyone who loves Manchester City FC, and who believes in the power of people coming together for the benefit of our communities. If that’s you, then we’d love to have you on board.”
In the coming weeks and months the trust’s interim board will establish the initial managing committees, which members are encouraged to join, and then stand down at the first elections where they hope to be joined by new members on the first fully elected board.
FSA chair Tom Greatrex congratulated the work of the interim board for establishing the new supporters’ trust at Manchester City.
“It’s always great to see supporters joining forces and it’s a pleasure to welcome aboard our newest members at The Citizens Trust.
“Manchester City fans have been a strong campaigning force on various important issues such as ticket prices and facial recognition technology in recent seasons.
“The trust will provide a democratic, inclusive, powerful voice for the club’s fans and we’d encourage all supporters to get involved as members.”
You can follow the Citizens Trust on social media: Twitter/X, Instagram and BlueSky.
To find out more about the FSA’s governance training including establishing a supporters trust, contact Nicola via email: [email protected]
All of the information on our training courses, auditing and resources for board members can be found our our website here.