Wednesday 11th December, 2019 at 4:21pm
As the first step down the route of fan ownership, the Working Group is organising a series of opportunities for fans to learn more about fan ownership. The aim is to ensure that when presented with a model for Partick Thistle, Jags fans have a practical understanding of what owning a club means.
The meeting on Tuesday 17th December, chaired by Allan Heron who is Secretary of the Working Group, will focus on the good, the bad and the ugly of fan-owned clubs. There will be two guests to answer questions, both with experience of fan ownership across Scotland and England.
The first is Bryan Jackson, one of the most well-known figures in Scottish insolvency, having been practicing in the industry since 1979 until he retired in 2015. As well as leading the formal insolvency appointments at a string of clubs, he is also responsible for taking a number of clubs out of insolvency and in to fan ownership. The second is Paul Goodwin, experienced in the introduction of fan ownership in a number of clubs and part of the Working Group charged with identifying the model for Partick Thistle’s move to being a fan-owned club.
This free event starts at 6.30pm in the Alan Rough Lounge at Firhill with short presentations from the two guests, followed by a Q & A session with the fans. It will be filmed to be shown on social media for those who can’t attend.
Tickets, which are free of charge, can be obtained from Eventbrite (PTFC Fan Ownership) in advance. There will be a limited number of tickets available at the door on the night.
The plan had been to have an evening to meet the Working Group first and discuss what lies ahead, before getting in to other events. However, the opportunity to have Bryan Jackson arose and given his knowledge, it was too good a chance to turn down. So meeting the Working Group will be rescheduled and a date announced asap. There will also be an evening with representatives from Hearts to talk about their experience on 9th January – more to follow on that.
Biographies
Bryan Jackson: A partner with BDO LLP until retiring from the firm in August 2015, prior to this Bryan was a partner in PKF (UK) LLP for 35 years before its merger with BDO in 2013. A corporate insolvency expert, he successfully led the formal insolvency appointments at seven football clubs, including Heart of Midlothian and Dunfermline Athletic in Scotland and Portsmouth FC in England. He is a famous face in Scottish football having run 8 clubs out of insolvency. His most recent work has seen him be responsible for the transformation at Heart of Midlothian, where he took the club directly out of insolvency and into stability with a sale to the supporters of the club. He is a passionate – but realistic – advocate for community ownership in football.
Bryan continues his love of football with regular 5 a side games while helping fans of clubs who aspire to own their club. He recently saw his play about Scottish Football – “The Pieman cometh” – performed across Scotland as he explored the crazy world of Scottish Football.
Paul Goodwin: A marketer to trade, Paul worked in a range of high profile roles, including Marketing Director for HMV, culminating in establishing his own successful specialist Sport and Entertainment agency. In parallel, he worked on several projects for Partick Thistle pro bono and helped attract three major shirt sponsors over a six year period.
His football marketing experience has taken him into working at Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and, most notably, the multi award winning campaign with the England team for Nationwide that ran for ten years. On returning to Scotland in 2005. Paul consulted with the CEO of the SFA to develop a new commercial strategy then went on to run the first major campaign to bring Stirling Albion into community ownership, saving it from liquidation. He ran the club (then in the Championship) for two years. He was then appointed by the Scottish Government to develop fans affairs in Scotland after the demise of Rangers.
His expertise and knowledge contributed to the successful community ownership at Heart of Midlothian, Dunfermline Athletic, Annan Athletic. In 2015, he co-founded the SFSA and continues to work with a number of clubs around community ownership. Well-regarded by the Scottish Government, his work forms the basis of current policy in Scotland but Paul has also presented across Europe on this subject. He is the author of two Books Saving the Albion and Saving Scottish Football.
