'Working for all Leicester City fans' - Inside the Reform The Foxes Trust campaign lobbying for change

The Foxes Trust is the official Leicester City Supporters' Trust with a clear aim of representing the 'best interests of Foxes Trust members and, by extension, those of the supporters of Leicester City Football Club'.

Younger fans may not be aware, but the Foxes Trust played a big role in helping the club avoid administration in 2002. Their shares were then bought by Milan Mandaric, who bought the club in 2007.

In basic terms, the Trust is in place to ensure City is not making any bad decisions that will affect the long-term health of the club or the fans. That hasn't been an issue in the last 15 years with the on-field successes, but it has changed as of late.

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A number of decisions made by the club have not gone down well within the fanbase. Towards the end of last season, the club confirmed the £25 fee for a physical season ticket card before matchday tickets increased ahead of the return to the Premier League. Amid the dissatisfaction among some supporters, these changes prompted a rise of memberships purchased over the summer.

Plus, there was social media outcry over the decision to charge £10 per game to stream pre-season friendlies when previously they had been offered for free. This season, fan group Union FS has claimed they were denied access to the stadium to lay out flyers on World Mental Health Day for the Bournemouth game in October.

Not every supporter will agree or have the same view on these issues. But one thing that a large proportion of the fanbase will agree on is that Leicester used to be held up as an example for other clubs to follow in regards to the relationship between the club and its supporters.

In March 2024, a group of like-minded Foxes fans joined together to form 'The Foxes Trust Reform' campaign in the hope of creating a more effective Foxes Trust. Fast forward nearly a year and the group has successfully secured an early AGM at the Trust which could result in a potential election for new faces to be placed on the board.

The early AGM comes after months of lobbying and campaigning and follows a change in Chair of the Trust for the first time in over 20 years. Steve Moulds, a member for the last seven years, and Lynn Wyeth, founding member of the Trust over 20 years ago, have been appointed by the existing board, taking over from Ian Bason - who is the Trust's representative on the Fan Advisory Board.

Recently, the club held the first meeting of the FAB to discuss important issues for supporters. The matchday experience at the King Power Stadium, safe standing and supporter behaviour were all discussed.

On the FAB, the Trust said: "The Trust is backing the FAB, and the Fan Engagement Framework generally, but the entire framework needs to deliver meaningful consultation and results, e.g on safe standing.

"The Trust would like to see more prominence given to the FAB minutes in future, as they were somewhat hidden on the LCFC website with no fanfare, and it would also like a timelier publication of the minutes."

The Foxes Trust Reform campaign are putting at least three people forward for board positions at the Foxes Trust. As well as standing to accelerate the progress made at the Trust, the campaign intends to submit a resolution to change the rules of the Trust to ensure that, in future, board members can be removed from their positions when the confidence in their ability has vanished.

To be effective in representing Leicester City fans and holding the club to account, the Trust has to be vocal to fans in its communication and independent of the club to ensure an appropriate space is in place to react when needed.

Speaking to LeicestershireLive about the objective and vision for the Trust, one member of the reform campaign said: "It's really important that we have a Supporters' Trust that is vocal and independent of the club so that it is able to push the club, challenge the club and have the mindset of working for all Leicester City fans.

"We've been on a recruitment campaign over the past six months and the membership number has almost doubled from 340 to over 650, nearly 700 now.

"The main thing [that we want to do] is to improve the effectiveness of the relationship with the club. What needs to be done for that to happen is the club needs to see the Trust as someone they cannot ignore.

"The Trust needs to modernise and digitise it to make it a membership that supporters want to be part of. Let's say there are 10,000+ members, we can say to the club that these fans are members, here's what they think about certain issues."

To prepare for potential involvement at board level, members of the group have been speaking with other Trusts to get inspiration for what the Foxes Trust could be doing as well as attending Football Supporters Association training.

One interesting initiative they highlight as an example of how Trusts can work with their community comes from Blackpool Supporters' Trust: "They've got some research that shows the club that you support at the age of seven is the club that you're most likely to support for the rest of your life," the member explained.

"So, given that they're in the North-West surrounded by the Manchester and Liverpool clubs, they've run an initiative where they bought shirts at a cost price and on their seventh birthday, every kid in Blackpool receives one of their shirts."

The Foxes Trust Reform campaign are encouraging those who would like to see a more effective Foxes Trust to take the opportunity presented by the AGM. The Foxes Trust have confirmed that the deadline to return nomination forms is Monday December 2 at 5pm.