The Board of the Newcastle United Supporters Trust are delighted to introduce the 1892 Pledge Scheme
The idea
The Newcastle United Supporters Trust is encouraging supporters of Newcastle United to raise money through the Trust to one day be able to own part of Newcastle United.
Too often football clubs recently relegated from the Premier League fall into the hands of owners who do not have the club’s interests at heart. Leeds, Charlton, Bolton, Portsmouth, Bradford and Sunderland have experienced what would have been unimaginable falls as they competed, often for years, in the Premier League. The Trust is raising money so that if Newcastle United is relegated under Mike Ashley (again) and fails to win promotion back to the Premier League (or worse suffers another relegation) that we are ready to save the club if it needs saving. We want to be proactive not reactive about the club’s future. Should the club be sold while in the Premier League the Trust would look to work with new owners and purchase a small part of the club and have influence within the club on matters that affect supporters most.
The 1892 Pledge Scheme asks fans from around the globe to make small donations through the 1892 Pledge website to build a fund that will hopefully secure the future of the football club. We are asking fans to set up direct debit payments of anything over £1 to allow the Trust to own part of this football club when it changes hands in future.
This club is our club
Owners come and go. The Trust and its membership have been clear that Newcastle United can be more than it has become. This football club is reportedly for sale for £350 million. So what is so valuable about Newcastle United? It is not the below par training facilities or the faltering academy. It’s not its struggling first team and unpopular coaching staff. It is the supporters that make Newcastle United valuable. It is me and you. We are the asset that the owner of the club seeks to make millions in profit from. The 1892 Pledge Scheme seeks to allow us to represent ourselves when the club is sold. We are Newcastle United. This club is our club.
This football club must have fan representatives inside Newcastle United when the current owner does eventually sell.
Security and transparency
We cannot guarantee success in our ultimate goal. We do not seek to make promises for things that are outside of our control. If we fail in our ambition to raise the money to buy a share in Newcastle United when it changes hands, then your money will be given to charities registered in the North East of England. To ensure your money is safe we have appointed four Guardians of the Pledge Scheme:
• Warren Barton, former NUFC and England defender
• Ian Mearns, MP for Gateshead
• George Caulkin, senior football writer for The Athletic
• Lee Humble, chartered accountant
These four individuals have control over all funds raised. More information on the Guardians can be found here.
Your money, your choice
As a Trust member you have the final say over any money we raise. If the scheme was to be cancelled and the money donated to charity, the Trust membership would need to approve that decision with a majority vote. If new owners emerged and were keen to work with the Trust and sell us part of the club – the Trust membership would also have to vote by majority to approve that deal. This is your Trust and your money. You decide what happens.
Our ambition
The 1892 Pledge Scheme is an ambitious project that ultimately stems from a core belief that we, the supporters, deserve more than ‘the remit’ of Premier League survival. We deserve more than stadium name changes, than club legends treated with contempt and fans feeling wilfully ignored. We deserve better than to be labelled as ‘hysterical’. We are not the problem.
The 1892 Pledge Scheme seeks to make supporters part of the solution to the current malaise at Newcastle United. We want to work with new owners, whenever they emerge, and be part of this football club. We can only do that by raising enough money to have a seat at the table.
A global Pledge Scheme
The 1892 Pledge Scheme is open to all supporters. If you are in Byker or Brooklyn, Wallsend or Wellington, Hebburn or Helsinki – the 1892 Pledge Scheme is for you. If you’ve 300 loyalty points, had a season ticket for 30 years, never attended a game, are currently boycotting Mike Ashley’s ownership – the 1892 Pledge Scheme is for you.
We are asking you to Pledge what you can in a monthly payment by direct debit or pay a one-off payment whenever you can. We do not want anyone to Pledge an amount they would miss. The Pledge Scheme is about all of us.
If there is any fanbase that can pull this off, it is the supporters of Newcastle United. We can do this.
The worst thing we will do is raise a lot of money for some very good causes.
We hope you are behind the 1892 Pledge Scheme.
This club is our club.
Join the 1892 Pledge Scheme today and let’s help make this football club our own.
