What we do
Relationship with Crystal Palace Football Club
The purpose of a supporters’ trust is to establish a strong, positive working relationship with the owners of its football club, with a view to supporter input. This can be through a range of means including ownership of shares in the club, but in general means a meaningful working relationship, through forums, consultations and regular dialogue.
At Crystal Palace, we have fostered an excellent working model, which is a continuation of our work whist the Club was in administration in 2010.
We are about to launch a unique initiative which will see the Trust build a new state of the art training ground to lease to the Club. Further details can be found here.
Over the past 18 months, we have:
- Sponsored a home match during administration
- Funded the academy’s travel to cup competions
- Sponsored and voted for the Young Player of the Year Award
- Contributed to the Fans’ Forum initiative, and all of its sub-groups
Relationships with the local community
The Trust is committed to playing an active part in civic society, to help foster a closer bond between Crystal Palace Football Club and the local communities it serves. We support numerous local initiatives, including Radio Mayday’s broadcasts of home matches to people in hospital, local football in the community schemes and the Crystal Palace Study Support Centre.
Relationship with wider football community
The Trust Movement is recognised by government, the FA, Football League and internationally, as the most effective way of representing the interests of fans within football.
The Trust is a member of Supporters’ Direct, a national organisation funded by the government, the FA and PFA, whose objective is to facilitate better relationships between Trusts and owners of football clubs, with a view to securing partial or total ownership of clubs by fans.
Members of the Trust are also involved with the Football Supporters’ Federation, which works with the FA to improve the fans’ experience of football.
The Trust is a part of a larger grouping within Co-operatives UK. This gives it access to finance (through the Co-operative Bank) and business expertise (Co-operative Retail, Co-operative Wholesale etc.) it also provides expertise in property / asset management, particularly in the Leisure Industry through links with leisure providers such as Greenwich Leisure, who run sports and recreation facilities for many local authorities.
