Pink News 6th November 1999

Easter Road faithful place Trust in club

Pioneering Hibs fans launch money-making scheme
By David Hardie

HIBS fans will take a ground-breaking step next week, setting up a trust which ultimately hopes to raise £1 million a year for the Easter road club.

In doing so the Erin Community Trust believes their move, the first of it's kind in Britain, will prove to be the way forward for Scottish football clubs, with other supporters already expressing an interest in following them.

Although the Trust was launched six months ago, legal technicalities have had to be observed and on Thursday night at Easter Road, the official signing of the Deed of Trust will take place, witnessed by Hibs chairman Malcolm McPherson and other directors.

But even before the ink is dry on the required document the Trust has received a massive boost, with Sports Minister Kate Hoey saying earlier this week that the government would look closely at supporting such ventures. Today Jillian Binnie, a member of the Trust's managerial committee, said: "It will truly be a historic day for Hibernian Football Club and Kate Hoey's statement couldn't have come at a better time."

"Aberdeen fans are thinking about doing the same thing and we've had other supporters in touch but we are going to be the first. The idea was first mooted a years ago and although we launched the Trust in May the delay has simply been down to logistics."

"Various documents have had to be signed and checked by lawyers and Malcolm MacPherson, as a lawyer himself, has come back on a number of occasions asking for checks to be made, although the club have been very supportive."

"We've had to make sure everything is water-tight legally and our own lawyer Paul Doyle has been doing it all in his spare time for nothing."

"The five signatures of the Trustees have been sent to the bank manager and our account is now open. We've been careful to keep everyone, who has expressed an interest in joining the Trust informed as to what has been happening and we have held off taking any money from them until now."

The Trust believe that by asking fans to contribute as little as £5 a month they can 'make a difference' at Easter Road. And although the football club have taken a great interest in what has been happening, Binnie stressed that the Trust will be totally independent with the Trustees, who include former Hibs stars Lawrie Reilly and Craig Paterson, deciding on how the money raised is spent.

She said: "We will be completely independent , totally apolitical. Football club boards are always going to be attacked, sometimes wrongly, sometimes rightly."

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but we agreed we won't become involved in club politics. It doesn't matter who the chairman is or who is on the board, our focus will always be on bettering Hibs, that's all that matters."

"We have a good relationship with the club but they will have no say in how we spend our money."

Academy

"We will spend it in what we believe will be the best interests of Hibernian Football Club, it could be to help Alex McLeish, to help fund redevelopment of the stadium, for training facilities, or the youth academy which the club is proposing to set up."

A present the Trust has 500 fans interested, a number big enough, Binnie insisted, to raise a 'six-figure sum'.

Binnie conceded that in today's game a sum of say £100,000 was not a massive amount, but she was adamant that it could make a difference, if say, McLeish was keen to sign a player but the club was short of money.

"Like it or not, fans of clubs like Hibs and Hearts have to take a long hard look in the mirror and say we'll never have the money the Old firm have."

"In the past the playing field was more or less level, player wages were roughly the same wherever they were and so players like Lawrie Reilly stayed at Hibs."

"He was the Dennis Bergkamp of his generation and in today's era Hibs would never manage to keep a player like him. People like Jack Walker are a bit thin on the ground and at most clubs the only people who are going to invest regularly are the fans."

Binnie added: "It's perhaps best that we have a gradual build-up from a solid base. No-one quite knows what will happen but things are ticking over nicely."

"Similar successes work at Barcelona and at the American Football team the Green Bay Packers, but we will definitely be the first in the United Kingdom."

"After the formal signing of the Deed of Trust in the Almond suite in the Famous five Stand (7pm), a football forum will take place featuring Pat Stanton, Willie McFarlane, Bill McMurdo, Martin Clark and Derek Campbell. Tickets, priced £3, can be obtained from Alison Campbell (661-2974).