Alan Liptrott

Alan Liptrott (born 1946) is a retired telephone engineer from Walderslade in Kent. cite web|url=http://www.kentonline.co.uk/gillingham/article.asp?article_id=30764&startrecord=7|title=Liptrott 'stunned' as Priestfield ban is lifted |last=kentonline.co.uk|first=|date=2007-02-08|accessdate=2007-02-12] He has for many years been a prominent supporter of Gillingham Football Club, having been heavily involved in the fund-raising campaign to keep the club afloat when it was forced into administration in the mid-1990s, and serving for a number of years as a committee member of the Gills Independent Supporters' Club. More recently he has become notable within the wider football world for a long-running and high-profile dispute with Gills chairman Paul Scally, which led Scally to hit Liptrott with a life ban from the club's Priestfield Stadium in 2001. [cite web|url=http://football.guardian.co.uk/FA_Cup/Story/0,,650495,00.html|title=Scally's rocky road to Highbury|last=Kelso|first=Paul|date=2002-02-15|accessdate=2006-12-22]

The full details of the dispute are unclear, but the most significant factor is believed to be Liptrott's ownership of the gillinghamfc.co.uk domain name, which Scally believes should belong to the club. [cite web|url=http://www.gillingham-mad.co.uk/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=11713|title=Scally Bans GSC|last="Footymad"|first=|date=2001-06-30|accessdate=2006-12-22] [cite web|url=http://www.footballfanscensus.com/popup.html?id=24|title=Fans Comments on Banning from Grounds|last=Football Fans Census|first=|date=unknown date|accessdate=2006-12-22] Although Liptrott's supporters staged an ongoing campaign to get his ban lifted, going so far as to hire an aeroplane to fly over Priestfield during a match towing a banner reading "Lift the ban on Alan", [cite web|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/10/16/gillingham_fc_fan_hires_plane/|title=Gillingham FC fan hires plane to protest Web site ban|last=McCarthy|first=Kieren|date=2001-10-16|accessdate=2006-12-22] there was for a number of years no sign that the dispute would end, despite an apparent offer of mediation from the chairman of the Football League. [cite web|url=http://www.gillsconnect.com/default.asp?sid=934&p=2&stid=8201585|title=Football League chief steps in to get ban lifted|last=Pestell|first=Keith|date=2001-11-07|accessdate=2006-12-22]

On February 8 2007 Scally unexpectedly lifted Liptrott's ban in a statement published on the official club website. [cite web|url=http://www.gillinghamfootballclub.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ChairmanDetail/0,,10416~977858,00.html|title=The Chairman Says: Alan Liptrott Statement|date=2007-02-08|accessdate=2007-02-08]

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