Trust members should have received a formal notification by post - if you haven't received yours, please email members@palacetrust.org.uk.

Further details will appear here shortly.

John Finn has stepped down from his role as Treasurer but will remain on the Board. Given the increasing hours demanded of the Board and the Treasurer in particular over the coming months, John felt it was right to stand aside due to work demands and his home/work life being split between Ireland and the UK. The Board would like to thank John for his commitment to the role over the past 11 years and look forward to him continuing to contribute at this crucial stage. Board member Furhad Zaidi has become Treasurer with immediate effect, where he will be able to draw on his experience as a City accountant.

Finally Ray Wright has been co-opted on to the Board. Ray is an independent planning consultant, who has 30 years experience of working for local authorities, including being Head of Development at Horsham District Council. Ray has supported Palace since the 1960s. He is currently advising the Trust on planning matters, in particular the Training Ground project, and is working closely with Raj Chandarana and Croydon Council on this.

After a lengthy process into domestic football governance which began back in December 2010 to establish the seriousness of the problems facing football, the Select Committee on Friday announced its recommendations.

John Whittingdale MP, Chair of the committee, said:

"No one doubts the success of the Premier League in revitalising English football.  But it has been accompanied by serious financial problems throughout the football league pyramid. Significant changes need to be made to the way the game is run to secure the future of England's unique football heritage, and the economic and community benefits it provides.

The FA is the organisation for the job, but it has some way to go getting its own house in order before it can tackle the problems in the English game, and address the future. We need a reformed FA to oversee and underpin a rigorous and consistent club licensing system and robust rules on club ownership, which should be transparent to supporters.

Almost all our recommendations could be achieved without legislation, through co-operation and agreement between the football authorities, and we urge them to respond positively with an agreed strategy and timetable for change. Legislation should considered only as a last resort in the absence of substantive progress."

A summary of the recommendations and the full report can be seen from the Parliament website. The recommendations include;

• Trusts, or consortia involving Trusts, to be given an opportunity to make a successful matching bid for a Club that has gone into administration
• Protection for minority supporter stakes that would otherwise be the subject of a compulsory purchase order 
• The reform of the F.A. Board and Council concentrating in particular on the representatives and make up of the main Board and the distribution of surplus revenue
• The introduction of a formal licensing model, with the F.A. taking on a strong scrutiny and oversight role and making the final decision on contentious licence applications
• Licensing to help protect the sale of a Club's ground, unless it is in the best interests of the Club 
• The abolishment of the Football Creditors rule
• Complete transparency around ownership and the loans provided by Directors to clubs

Supporters Direct has welcomed the report and issued a statement on the SD website

It should be reiterated once more the strides that have been made working co-operatively as a movement, from the lobbying of MPs to attend the Westminster Hall debate in September 2010 to the individual and Trust led written evidence that has helped shaped the findings. Thanks once again to all those who have played an active part in bringing the debate forward to where we are following the release of the report last week.

Financial Fair Play Survey

Some of you may already have heard of UEFA’s ‘Financial Fair Play’ initiative aimed at stabilising European club football and preserving / enhancing its appeal.

‘Financial Fair Play’ has a range of objectives, including: to stop clubs paying excessive salaries and transfer fees; to promote investment in youth development and playing infrastructure; and to prevent clubs from financial collapse.

To complement this initiative the plan now is to run a research project looking into football fans’ opinions on ‘Financial Fair Play’. The intention is that the results of this survey will contribute to making the UEFA ‘Financial Fair Play’ initiative potentially even better.

We would be delighted if as many of you as possible would like to take part in this survey and thus play a part in improving European club football.

In order to be able take into account the views and interests of football fans from the whole of Europe, the survey is being conducted on a pan-European basis.

Completing the questionnaire only takes about 12 minutes. You can access it at http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/hsw/sportwissenschaft/financialfairplay/

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