When I was told about Scott McLachlan and his quest to walk to all 92 league grounds in all 4 professional divisions in the space of 8 months, I wondered about the man's sanity. However, after meeting him and walking along side him for a couple of miles shooting the breeze about life, football and what he was hoping to achieve, it all seemed to make some sense. After growing a little jaded with life in London, the 44 year old I.T. Expert, Scott planned an escape to his beloved home City of Portsmouth for August but wanted to do something significant to mark the occasion. Scott is a lifetime Portsmouth supporter who works as spokesman for the south coast clubs supporters trust, so something football related seemed to be a good idea. He also wanted to do something unique and if possible, something to help his fellow man. So he came up with the mammoth task of walking to all of the 92 English 1 at a time continuously, starting at Portsmouth.

As far as Scott knows, it has never been done before and I'm not surprised as it's nearly 2,500 miles which means walking in the worst weather this country can fling at him, because he is doing it during the football season! Scott is also hoping to raise £92,000 Prostate Cancer research as his Charity and you can donate at http://www.justgiving.com/Walkthe92 .

Yesterday Scott started the Shrewsbury Town leg of his journey from Atcham, where he had reached the following day having walked from Wolverhampton. Shrewstrust were in attendance with Adrian Plimmer and I representing Shrewsbury Towns only democratic supporters organisation. We'd originally both planned to walk the 5 mile leg from Atcham but I managed to squirm my way out of it and took pictures from the car along the route. They seemed to make the distance in double quick time and were soon at the gates of the Greenhous Meadow, where I snapped them a few more times for the record.

Shrewsbury Town was Scott's 20^th club and was ably represented by Community Liaison Manager Martin James, who extended a warm and welcoming hand over a few cups of tea , a quick photo call (with Paul Parry, thanks Paul) and an exhaustive tour of the stadium. We were keen to point out the concourse project as we walked around, and we spent quite a bit of time looking at the different prints. After another hot drink, we dropped Scott off at the hotel that S.T.F.C had kindly laid on(we would like to thank Tim “Hoggy” Draycott of www.shropshire-hogroasts.co.uk)with me promising to return in the morning and walk a few miles myself.

So at 9.30 this morning we started, ticking Shrewsbury Town off again as we walked down the Oteley Road, accompanied by young Shrewstrust member Jacob Braddock. We chatted as we walked and covered a range of topics, one of which was the current plight of the Pompey supporter and some of the Pompey Trust's hopes for the future. It's must be difficult to see the club you love have such a torrid time and I got a sense of the powerlessness that Portsmouth supporters must have felt as it all went wrong. But hopefully, things will be more stable soon with the trust now named as the preferred bidder for their beloved club.

We also talked about the difficulties of Scott's journey which has had it's difficulties with injuries and bruises from the ruck sacks he has had to carry. But he's become hardened to it now and when I asked about the difficulties of walking up north in the winter, he seemed quietly confident if not determined. I felt a little sad as we parted, it had been a nice morning with good company and decent weather for November. I felt that I had been part of something special, something unique and something that may not be done again.

If you would like to donate to help Scott reach his £92,000 target for Prostate Research, please visit http://www.justgiving.com/Walkthe92 .

And if you would like to keep up with him, or read about his journey so far, please visit http://www.walkthe92.co.uk

COYB!!!

Marcus Braddock- Media Director-shrewsTRUST

The Charles Darwin pub in Sutton Farm, in association with Shrewstrust, are offering a coach trip to the Trafford Centre and Oldham Athletics's Boundary park for the match on November 24^th. The coach leaves at 10.30.

Tickets will cost £15 and are available from Rob Jones at the Charles Darwin 01743 600140.

shrewsTRUST AGM

Wednesday 29 of August

7.30 for an 8.00 pm start

At

The Charles Darwin in Sutton Farm

shrewsTRUST would like to thank Rob at The Charles Darwin for his help.

The Shrewstrust annual crown green bowling competition took place on the 1^st of July despite heavy rain throughout the preceding afternoon.

As luck would have it though, the rain cleared up nicely to give the well attended event a rare window of opportunity given this summer's weather.

We had 8 teams of two who also brought supporters along to one of Shropshires best alehouses, the Prince of Wales in Belle Vue.

The 8 teams were split into 2 groups of 4 who battled it out to make the knock out stages. Competition was friendly and relatively

straight forward in group A as the well fancied Ellesmere Boys (Mike Dovaston and Alex Lewis) and Walter Kitty (Ian Jones, Michael Pinches and substitute Adrian Plimmer), made it through to the next round.

Group B however was a much tighter affair, with a 3 way tie which needed a tiebreaker end to separate the Darwin and Dick and Harry, from Ghosties Goolies.

The 2 semi final games were both hard fought with 1 end separating the teams. Winners of Group A, Ellesmere Shrews played against the runners up from group B Dick and Harry which ended 3-2 to the Ellesmere Boys.

The second semi final was between group B winners Darwin and group A runners up Walter Kitty and ended with a close 3-2 win for Walter Kitty.

This meant our final was between Ellesmere Shrews and the Darwin, which the Darwin won 4-1. We also had a 3rd/4^th play off in which Dick and Harry were 3-2 victors over Walter Kitty.

The competition was a lot of fun but the main feeling I left with is what a nice pub the Prince of Wales is. Ian and Vicky are great hosts and laid on a nice spread for the hungry bowlers. They also gave a gift to each of the children who came to the event which this writer thought a lovely touch. Thank you very much The Prince of Wales!

Shrewstrust Player of the Year!

Well it's that time of year again and after a very successful season, there are plenty of candidates.

Will you plump for a forward like James Collins, or Mark Wright who have a hatfull of goals so far?

Or maybe you think that the midfield maestro's Matt Richards and Nicky Wroe have been the

difference this year! And don't forget the defence! Ian Sharps, Jermaine Grandison, Shane

Cansdell Sherriff and Joe Jacobson have all had great seasons in front of Chris Neal!

Ally you have to do to vote, is send us your choice of player with your membership number

by one of the following methods:

Twitter @shrewstrust2010

e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Or message us on Facebook

members will be able to vote in person between 1 and 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Brooklands

COYB!!

Shrewstrust are proud to announce details of the sponsorship

package for the Concourse Project.

Concourse Board Sponsorship costs just £50, which is well within

Christmas Present range. For that, you will have your name on our

sponsorship roll of honour, located within the concourse area of

the Greenhous Meadow. You will also receive a replica of the

board that you have sponsored in A4, to keep for ever. Your name

will be honoured in the official match day programme, around

the time of your sponsorship. We will also arrange for you to have

your picture taken with your sponsored board, and a member

of the Shrewsbury Town squad! (if available)

For further details ,write to us at PO BOX 4642, Shrewsbury,

SY3 6WX. Or email us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

After a lengthy process into domestic football governance which began back in December 2010 to establish

the seriousness of the problems facing football, the Select Committee on Friday announced it's recommendations.

John Whittingdale MP, Chair of the committee, said:

"No one doubts the success of the Premier League in revitalising English football.  But it has been accompanied

by serious financial problems throughout the football league pyramid. Significant changes need to be made to the

way the game is run to secure the future of England's unique football heritage, and the economic and community

benefits it provides.

The FA is the organisation for the job, but it has some way to go getting its own house in order before it can

tackle the problems in the English game, and address the future. We need a reformed FA to oversee and

underpin a rigorous and consistent club licensingsystem and robust rules on club ownership, which should be

transparent to supporters.

Almost all our recommendations could be achieved without legislation, through co-operation and agreement

between the football authorities, and we urge them to respond positively with an agreed strategy and timetable

for change. Legislation should consideredonly as a last resort in the absence of substantive progress."

A summary of the recommendations and the full report can be seen from the Parliament website.

( http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/culture-media-and-sport-committee/news/football-governance-report/ )

The recommendations include;

• Trusts, or consortia involving Trusts, to be given an opportunity to make a successful matching bid
• for a Club that hasgone into administration
• Protection for minority supporter stakes that would otherwise be the subject of a compulsory purchase
• order .
• The reform of the F.A. Board and Council concentrating in particular on the representatives and make
• up of the main  Board and the distribution of surplus revenue
• The introduction of a formal licensing model, with the F.A. taking on a strong scrutiny and oversight
• role and making the final decision on contentious licence applications
• Licensing to help protect the sale of a Club's ground, unless it is in the best interests of the Club 
• The abolishment of the Football Creditors rule
• Complete transparency around ownership and the loans provided by Directors to clubs

Supporters Direct has welcomed the report and issued a statement on the Supporters Direct website

( http://www.supporters-direct.org/news/item.asp?n=13245&cat=sd_eng )

It should be reiterated once more the strides that have been made working co-operatively as a movement, from

the lobbying of MPs to attend the Westminster Hall debate in September 2010 to the individual and Trust led

written evidence that has helped shaped the findings. Thanks once again to all those who have played an active 

part in bringing the debate forward to where we are following the release of the report last week.

This weekend saw the installation of the first of our concourse prints, which are

located under blocks 17, 18 and 19 of the Railway side of the stadium. The 10

prints are the first of an estimated 90, that are designed to celebrate the history

of Shrewsbury Town FC. The installation is particularly pleasing as they are the

culmination of a lot of work by the trust board in sourcing the right sort of frames,

images and printing etc. The project is an ongoing one, and needs your funds to

be completed. You can contribute by joining the supporters trust or making a

donation (or both!). We also have various levels of affordable sponsorship,

for just £50 , your football team, supporters club or just you and your mates,

can sponsor your choice of print! Please contact us for details.

With the open day in full swing, I took the Shrewstrust camera down to the

Greenhous Meadow and took some snaps of the first boards.

More photos can be found at our facebook group

http://www.facebook.com/groups/128669620543124/

Shrewstrust would like to thank all contributors, particularly the Shropshire star

who have supplied many of the most recent images for the first boards. Shrewstrust

would also like to thank Martin James and Ian Bebbington and Shrewsbury Town

for their support with the concourse project.

Photos: Marcus Braddock

Press release issued 26/7/2011

Shrewstrust-Shrewsbury Towns independent supporters trust are searching for the

football supporterof tomorrow as their AGM approaches.

The trust already have a working board and thriving membership but there are

concerns that the current board do not reflect today's young football supporters.

Mike Davis-Chairman of Shrewstrust:

“ At 28 I'm the baby of the group which is kind of nice, but with our AGM

coming up on August the first, now is the time to look for new people to

enhance the current board. It may suit students looking for work experience

as voluntary work can look good on a CV”

Adrian Plimmer-Board Member of Shrewstrust:

“We would like to invite anyone of any age to join us, but youth is the future

of organisationslike ours and we want to see how we can work with younger

supporters to mould the trust for later generations. We have a stand at the

Shrewsbury Town open day so pop along on Sundayand have a chat”

Marcus Braddock- Press Director for Shrewstrust:

“we are always on the look out for new board members that can add

something to the currentboard, but we did a quick average of the boards

ages and it's just over 40. Our youngest board member is in his late 20's,

so we think it is time to bring in some new blood.”

Interested supporters would need to be available once per month for

meetings and are asked to contact Shrewstrust via one of their facebook

groups, Twitter @shrewstrust2010, or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Alternatively, pop along to Shrewstrust's stand at the STFC open day on

Sunday at 10 A.M. New board members will be ratified at the trust's AGM at

the Prince of Wales pub onAugust the 1st at 7 pm.

The SD report

A fortnightly report from supporters direct that highlights online articles of

interest to discerning football supporters.

Barnsley fan awarded £3,750 after police dog bite and Section 27 order

A Barnsley fan has been awarded £3,750 compensation by South Yorkshire Police after he was bitten by a police dog and served with a Section 27 order on his way to Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane. The incident occurred in 2010 and came to our attention after the fan in question contacted the FSF saying he had done nothing at all to deserve such extreme treatment.

http://www.fsf.org.uk/news/Barnsley-fan-awarded-3750-after-police-dog-bite.php

Fans' views on FIFA crystal clear

Back in June the FSF asked how do you solve a problem like FIFA? Almost 700 FSF members voted and, remarkably, three out of every four (76%) said they'd 'tip the boat over' - that is, resign from FIFA altogether. 17% said they'd prefer the FA to mount a media offensive while 7% thought quiet diplomacy the best route. FIFA has an awful long way to go if it's ever even going to win back the fans' respect.

Booze news: Campaign launched to loosen alcohol restrictions at football

Football industry magazine FC Business has launched a new campaign to scrap the laws which currently make it illegal to consume alcohol within sight of the pitch. FC Business says it intends to lobby for the support of all league clubs to change laws which discriminate against football fans. FSF Chair Malcolm Clarke said: “This legislation is outdated. What does it achieve? It doesn’t reduce drinking; it just means fans drink in a shorter time.”

And finally... it only takes a minute

Ever wondered what it would look like if it only took one minute to build a stadium? Us neither but that didn't stop us being impressed by this rather excellent video of the PGE Arena in Gdańsk (Poland) being constructed for Euro 2012. Days and seasons fly by in the blink of an eye.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HugGFtmvcr4&feature=player_embedded