Supporter Trusts and Third Way Politics

In 2000, Supporters Direct came into being to facilitate the setting up of football supporters' trusts. The aim of the trusts is to provide supporters with the means of raising the democratic profile of professional football clubs in an era when increased commercialization threatens their position as vehicles for the expression of communal identity and even their existence. Established research has tended to take the view that the aims and objectives of Supporters Direct and the supporters' trust movement are consonant with the interests of the majority of football supporters. This essay challenges that consensus by revealing how the contradictions and conflicts inherent to the New Labour government's Third Way policy agenda both influences the nature of Supporters Direct and presents serious barriers to the development of supporter trusts.