Alex Hurst, the former NUST chairman spearheading the 1892 scheme, has explained how fans can support the initiative bidding to buy a stake in Newcastle United under new owners.
As explained in the video below, Hurst insists that this is a “long-term project” where they are asking fans to pledge whatever they can afford on a monthly basis (if not via one-off payments) to build a fund that would ensure supporter representation if and when new owners replace Mike Ashley.
Here’s what he’s told The Chronicle about the pledge – which you can sign up to HERE:
“We think football fans – and Newcastle fans – don’t realise how much power they have and how much influence they have.
“We think that when the club is sold the fanbase needs to start representing itself in terms of how the club is run. The only way to guarantee that is to own some part of the club so what we’re trying to do is to set the fanbase up to genuinely represent itself at ownership level to make sure the club is run on behalf of its supporters rather than what we have at the minute.
“We’re asking the fans to pledge what they can – ideally on a monthly basis but one-off pledges are absolutely fine, people can dip in and out but the best thing for us is monthly donations. Whether it’s a £1, a five, a tenner, £40, we don’t want people to give us anything they’d miss.
“This is supposed to be an affordable, long-term project. That’s the key for us: it’s long-term.
“It’s not going to be a month, or six months or a week, it’s going to be as long as it takes. If Ashley’s here for another five years, we’ll do it for that long.
“What we want is for fans to pay into the Trust to give the Trust a chance of buying a share in the club when it gets sold or stepping in to save it should it fall through the leagues.”
It’s also worth noting that every penny donated will be spread across local charities IF the appeal is unsuccessful – making this a win, win for fans.
Watch the 1892 scheme’s promotional video below following today’s launch:
