BILLY BREMNER MEMORIAL JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN
Date: 11th April 2025
On April 13th 2025 it will be ten years to the day since the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association began life. The two co-founders, Simon Barrow and Paul Goodwin, have been involved with the organisation since then, with Paul especially being its beating heart for much of that time.
Over the last decade, Paul has helped grow and develop our organisation to its current robust state of health, with 80,000 members, a weekly news-letter, a direct line to the media (who regularly report on much of our research and invite us to comment on current football issues, from VAR to pyros to alcohol in grounds), the Fan-led Review of Scottish football, with its myriad ideas on how the game and its governance might be improved, and a host of other research and studies into issues that really concern fans. In particular, he has played a pivotal role in the development of fan-led and fan-owned clubs, acting as a consultant to a number of clubs who have gone down this route.
One thing we have both personally seen, having joined the organisation at different intervals several years ago, is his wholehearted passion for football. Like all of us, but perhaps even more so, Paul is a football addict, combining his work with the SFSA with coaching his local youth team in Kippen in Stirlingshire and working tirelessly to help bring youngsters through the system.
As someone living in the area, he’s been a driving force behind the SFSA project to honour Billy Bremner with a statue in his native Raploch. He’s also been the instigator of our National Fans’ Awards, securing wonderful support from Caithness Glass for the trophies we hand out every year. And, crucially for the long-term success of our organisation, he began the process of offering university students the chance to be seconded to us for six weeks as part of their degree course. Our very first such student volunteer, Ben Ramage, is now a journalist with The Sun, while others have gone on to jobs at clubs across the UK, including Falkirk and Rangers. Paul was also (and still is) a huge supporter of the campaign to bring Scottish international football back to free-to-view TV, a campaign that is now bearing fruit.
Now, with the SFSA evolving, underpinned by a growing and developing infrastructure with new leads in place for the women’s game, disability, membership and grassroots, Paul has decided to step back from front-line activity and withdraw from our Board and Senior Management Team. This is principally because his expertise has been sought by a start-up which is using data in a unique (in the proper sense of that word) manner to study the emotional engagement of players within teams. We are sure that given his immense experience and expertise he’ll bring a huge amount to the table and we wish him and his new employers every success.
Although he’s heading off on this new venture, Paul will continue to have some part-time involvement with the SFSA. He’ll still lead on our charity work with Malawi, co-ordinate our student volunteer intake (which is growing rapidly as more universities ask us to help their students) and also help with some fundraising to keep our coffers full. On top of all that, we are sure he will have more time now to enjoy taking his dogs on longer walks (which he is often what he is doing when we phone him most mornings!), while, no doubt, keeping an eye on what the SFSA does and how it develops in the next decade (and not being slow to tell us when he agrees and disagrees!). Thank you, Paul, for your unstinting service and your sage advice and counsel over the years.
Andy Smith, Chair, Stuart Murphy, CEO, SFSA
Posted in: Latest News
Tags: Scottish football