Broughton svarer ikke SOS

Supporterunionen Spirit of Shankly har forsøkt å få et møte med Liverpools nye styreformann, Martin Broughton, uten å få respons. SOS har imidlertid klart å få i stand et møte med Richard Scudamore, som er daglig leder i Premier League.

Spirit of Shankly jobber for å få fjernet Liverpools eiere fra klubben, og organisasjonen bekrefter nå på sine nettsider at de i den forbindelse har blitt lovet et møte med Richard Scudamore i Premier League. Møtet vil finne sted i Premier Leagues lokaler i London i neste uke.

SOS har imidlertid ikke lykkes å få noe møte med Liverpools nye styreformann, Martin Broughton. Organisasjonen skrev et brev til Broughton den 22.april, der de ba om et møte. Selv om Broughtons kontor har bekreftet at de har mottatt brevet, så har det fortsatt ikke blitt besvart.

Liverpools kommersielle direktør, Ian Ayre, har fortalt SOS at Broughton akter å uttale seg til hele supporterskaren, ikke gjennomføre individuelle møter. Dette skal visstnok skje gjennom et intervju på LFC TV, og SOS har nå bedt om å få delta i utspørringen. Heller ikke denne forespørselen skal SOS ha fått respons på.

SOS vil nå forsøke å kontakte Broughton på telefon, for å få ham i tale.

Under gjengir vi brevet som SOS har skrevet til Martin Broughton i sin helhet, og på originalspråket: 

Dear Mr Broughton,
Liverpool Football Club

I am writing on behalf of the Spirit of Shankly Liverpool Supporters' Union. While supporters have cautiously welcomed the news that current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have decided to publicly place the Club up for sale and to appoint you to manage that process, it leaves many questions and concerns unanswered.
The Spirit of Shankly Liverpool Supporters' Union was established to meet a number of short, medium and long term objectives (please see http://www.spiritofshankly.com/index.html) but to constantly hold whoever owns Liverpool Football Club to account. In the last two years this has resulted in the Union managing, and coordinating, a sustained campaign and protests to see Hicks and Gillett removed as owners, due to the way in which they have brought the Club to the brink of financial disaster for no one's benefit other than their own.

The Union has had contact with the Club at all levels - we have coordinated protests with the stewards and police, met with the manager, had players attend our End of Season events and we have met with Gillett and the Hicks' family and subsequently with Ian Ayre and Christian Purslow.

In all of our dealings with the Club our aim has been to represent the interests of our members while respecting the opportunities we have been given in terms of access to Club employees. The contact we have had with senior staff has been helpful, not only to the Union and its members, but also to the Club in projecting a perception that supporters are respected and have a voice that is at least heard within the Club.

The only problem we have ever had with senior staff at the Club was a meeting in February 2010 with Christian Purslow where he subsequently sought to significantly misrepresent Minutes of the meeting (contradicting the recollection of fifteen other people attending the meeting and the verbatim record that exists). The result of this is that Mr Purslow seems to have unilaterally decided to cease contact with us to the detriment, we believe, of supporters and the Club.

Our concerns centre on a few major issues and there are questions we wish to ask you to answer at a meeting with us:

1.       What was the motivation for your appointment? Who appointed you? What is your role and your objectives?

2.       Who is running the Club on a day to day basis?

3.       What role did the Club's bankers play in the sale decision and what conditions have they placed upon a sale relating to time and any terms?

4.       What criteria, other than the asking price, will you apply in accepting any bid?

5.       What are the immediate implications for the team on the pitch and the urgent squad strengthening called for by the playing staff?

6.       Would you speak to supporters' representatives about a stake being taken in the Club by them? If not, why not?

7.       Would you broker meetings between the Union and any serious prospective purchasers PRIOR to any sale being confirmed (we would appreciate the need for discretion).

The next few months are a key time for the Club and supporters are naturally concerned about the future and how this impacts on the Club's financial position and, as importantly, the on the field progress supporters hope to see. You clearly have a key role to play in this period and we would respectfully request an early meeting with you to discuss some key issues and to also consider an element of conciliation between you (representing the owners) and supporters.

We are pleased that our "Not Welcome Here" campaign (see http://www.spiritofshankly.com/debtliescowboys.html ) has made a contribution to Hicks and Gillett leaving but we are also prepared to consider any positive proposals you might have that we could put to our members to see protests suspended. As supporters we want to see an end to uncertainty and to get back to what we all want to do - support our side on the pitch without the worry of the intentions of any future owners and what they have in store for us.
We hope that your appointment will see a change in our fortunes going forward and we are writing to you in the spirit of working with you for the good of Liverpool FC and its supporters.

Yours sincerely
Francis Stanton
Chair
Spirit of Shankly

PS It was over the line.