Stewart Regan to Address Supporters on Project Brave at Supporters Summit

Supporters Direct Scotland (SD Scotland) are pleased to announce that Scottish FA chief executive Stewart Regan will address supporters on ‘Project Brave’ at its annual Supporters Summit.

The event, held on the 19 March at Hampden Park and open to all supporters, will see Mr Regan address supporters about the Scottish FA’s proposals to radically change the fortunes of the Scottish national team.

Project Brave, designed to overhaul Scotland’s youth academy system, is being led by the governing body’s new performance director Malky Mackay. It will see Scotland’s 29 elite academies reduced to a maximum of 16. Mr Regan will then participate in a question and answer session along with other speakers addressing delegates.

Scottish FA Chief Executive Stewart Regan said:

“Project Brave is a project that will benefit all of Scottish football. We have been pleased with the progress of our strategy so far, both with the performance schools and our national youth team successes, but it is important that we look at the most significant part of that pathway – the club academy system.

“Everyone in the game acknowledges that for a country of our size we have too many elite academies. Best v Best is one of the funding principles of the strategy and so looking at fewer players in the structure, with a more focused games programme, will allow more investment in the most talented players. That, in turn, allows those not playing regularly for their academy teams to play more often and, ideally, rejoin that pathway

“I look forward to discussing these proposals at the Supporters Direct Scotland Summit later this month.”

Andrew Jenkin, Head of SD Scotland, said:

“We’re delighted Stewart will be joining us on the day. It’s crucial that supporters are engaged in major changes to the game we all love and that they have opportunities to ask the necessary questions”.

The Supporters Summit is the only national event that brings all supporters together to share best practice, hear from a range of speakers and engage in workshops that they otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to do so.

Also speaking at this Supporters Direct Scotland’s flagship event are:

The Guardian’s David Conn – he will discuss the future of community ownership in Scottish football
Foundation of Hearts ‘ new chairman Stuart Wallace
New Supporters Direct chief executive Ashley Brown

Attendees will also have the opportunity to attend a range of workshops including informative sessions on or involving subjects such as:

Supporter Liaison Officers
Equality in Sport
Training workshop on Fan Representative

This year’s Summit will also see the launch of the 2017 Scottish Football Supporters Survey. 14,000 supporters responded to last year’s survey, with results and key asks being presented to the Scottish FA Congress. During recent weeks all key stakeholders – Scotland’s governing bodies, professional clubs, and supporters – have all been invited to contribute towards the survey’s content.

Tickets for the event are available on a ‘pay what you want’ basis from the SD Scotland website with proceeds split between the organisation’s charity partners for the event ‘Football Memories’ (part of Alzhemier’s Scotland) and Motor Neurone Disease Scotland.

After a year of discontent and division it’s time to co-operate. From helping out neighbours or volunteering at your sports club to tackling major problems like climate change, co-operation is vital. We achieve so much more when we work together which is why we’re supporting the Co-Operatives Fortnight.

For Co-operatives Fortnight 2017 – 17 June to 1 July we want people to share stories of how working together has made a difference through football.

Examples of coops operating across Scottish football are rife including Foundation of Hearts, The Well Society, Club 1872, the Celtic Trust, Hibernian Supporter Limited, Stirling Albion, Clyde and well… us!

Ask your Supporter organisations and members to share their stories of how co-operation has helped your club and community during Co-operatives Fortnight.

How you and your organisation can join in

Download resources

We’re delighted to be supporting Football Memories by raising awareness of their work tackling Alzheimer through football. To do this we’re producing a series of videos with former pros and fans about their all their best X11 that they’ve either watched or played with.

Football Memories is a product of Alzheimer Scotland’s pioneering work on their Football Reminiscence project.

The project’s extraordinary impact is perhaps best summed up by the wife of one of the men who attend these meetings: “He’s a different person when he comes out… It’s put new life into him, and you can see that with all the men there.”

Support Alzheimer Scotland

Alzheimer Scotland are looking for people who like to talk about football. By volunteering to join one of their local Football Reminiscence groups, you can improve the lives of people with dementia by helping them talk about the games and the players of their past. Football Memories will train you to plan and lead these discussions. You’ll make a big difference and have a lot of fun.

Similarly, you can donate to the project by giving whatever you can to Alzheimer Scotland’s Football Reminiscence project and help them continue this groundbreaking work.

We kick start our ‘Team Mates’ series with former Rangers and Scottish FA Chief Executive Gordon Smith and former Celt Tom Boyd talking us through the best eleven they’ve lined up with.

The MSP for Glasgow Cathcart, James Dornan MSP has proposed bringing a Members’ Bill which would make football clubs liable for the behaviour of their fans.

In his consultation document, Mr Dornan says the following:

My proposal to that challenge is the introduction of strict liability for football clubs. Strict liability means being able to hold a party responsible for certain actions and behaviours even if that party was not at fault or negligent. In a football context, this means holding football clubs liable for the negative behaviour of their supporters. My hope is that this will foster a less hostile environment at football matches, better reflecting the multicultural society that exists in Scotland, and encouraging football to become a method of bringing people together and not an event which can on occasions be used to create or perpetuate divisions. This would provide the SFA and Scottish football generally the opportunity of creating a new and sustainable vision for the sport.

SD Scotland will submit a response to the Consultation via its Advisory Group (which is open to participate in - please see below), however individuals are welcomed and encouraged to submit their own views here.

We’re currently in the process of compiling questions for the 2017 edition and are seeking input from our stakeholders – you! If there are any questions you’d like to see featured in this year’s survey, please get in touch with us

Last year’s questions were themed as below, the results of which can be seen here:

Governance
The Match Day Experience
Performance
Grass Roots
Football and Society

We presented the results of the survey to the Professional Game Board and the Scottish FA Congress and intend to ensure they (and more decision making bodies) are also presented with the results of the 2017 edition.

We’ll be formally launching the Survey at our annual Supporters Summit. Please get in touch with questions you’d like to see asked by emailing sdsinfo@supporters-direct.org

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