President

Ian, now in retirement, has been a Sunderland supporter since the age of 7 and became involved in the supporters’ movement in the mid-60s when, after moving to London for employment, he initiated the formation of a London Branch of his club’s Supporters’ Association.  Ian was Branch Chairman for the first 19 years of its existence and has remained on its Committee in a variety of roles ever since, currently being its Membership Secretary.

In 1975, as a last minute replacement for his parent Supporters’ Association’s delegate, Ian attended the Annual Conference of the National Federation of Football Supporters’ Clubs in Ipswich and the rest, as they say “is history”.  A regular attendee ever since, he was elected to the Federation’s National Council in 1980 as its Travel & Crowd Control Officer and, after a series of other portfolios was elected its Chairman in 1998.  In that role, he was a member of the Government’s Football Task Force, one of whose recommendations was the formation of a single national supporters’ organisation.  Ian took a positive role in the negotiations with the Football Supporters’ Association towards amalgamation, which was achieved at the respective AGMs of the two organisations in 2002.

In its first year, 2002-03, the newly formed Football Supporters’ Federation had joint Chairmen, with Ian taking on the responsibility for Administration and Finance matters whilst Malcolm Clark concentrated on Policy and Campaigns.  At its conclusion, Ian stepped down as part-Chairman and was honoured to accept the position of President, a role in which he has remained an active participant in FSF matters.