Arsenal Supporters' Trust

Infobox Organization
name = Arsenal Supporters' Trust


image_border =
size = 100px
formation = 2003
type = Supporters' trust
status = Industrial and Provident Society
purpose = Football fans' advocacy
membership = Over 500
main_organ = Board of directors
affiliations = Supporters Direct
website = [http://www.arsenaltrust.org/ arsenaltrust.org] The Arsenal Supporters' Trust is the official supporters' trust of Arsenal Football Club, as recognised by Supporters Direct. The group, like other supporters' trusts, seeks to strengthen the influence of supporters over the destiny of their clubs through democratic supporter ownership.

History and constitution

The group was founded in 2003 as The Arsenal Supporters' Trust and is registered as an Industrial and Provident Society, which means the Trust is owned equally by all of its members. Each member has one vote in the Trust's elections. Though it is recognised by Supporters Direct as the official Supporters Trust for Arsenal FC, and holds regular dialogue with the club, the Arsenal Supporters' Trust is wholly independent from the club, and is in no way directly connected with the club or its owners.

With a membership of over 500,cite web | url=http://www.arsenaltrust.org/trust.php | title=The Trust | publisher=Arsenal Supporters' Trust ] it is one of the smaller supporters' trusts in the United Kingdom, but has a close working relationship with the club. AST's members include small shareholders as well as supporters and the Trust itself owns three of the 62,217 shares in the club, including the so-called 'orphan share', donated by the club in 2007. [cite news | url=http://www.arsenaltrust.org/recent-news.php?article=87 | title=Arsenal’s Orphan Share Finds a Good Home | publisher=Arsenal Supporters' Trust ] [cite news | url=http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=&article=354536 | title=AST Awarded Orphan Share | work=Arsenal.com ]

The Trust has played a role in the ongoing takeover bids for the club by rivals Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov. In May 2008 the Arsenal Supporters' Trust came down in favour of Stan Kroenke as a more likely long term, supportive, investor in Arsenal FC and published a summary of their point of view, following a visit to some of the sports franchise and TV interests of Kroenke in the United States. [cite news | url=http://www.arsenaltrust.org/recent-news.php?article=156 | title=AST letter to Stan Kroenke, following visit to Denver | publisher=Arsenal Supporters' Trust | date=2008-06-18 ] The trust went on to work as bridgebuilder between Kroenke and the Arsenal board, in preparation for a future full takeover by Kroenke. [cite news | url=http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/arsenal-put-kroenke-in-position-to-take-over-club-850928.html | title=Arsenal put Kroenke in position to take over club | work=The Independent ]

References

External links

* [http://www.arsenaltrust.org/ Official website]