The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on the unique and impactful work carried out by community trusts that are the community arm of football clubs up and down the country.

Football clubs and community trusts have been hit hard financially by the pandemic and one of the consequences is that there is increased pressure on all sources of income. This is negatively impacting upon the work that trusts can do. The reason for this is that the income trusts receive from funders is substantially restricted for use on specific projects and that puts pressure on trusts to raise unrestricted funds to pay for salaries and general running costs.

At Millwall we are taking an entirely different approach and one that is progressive and benefitting the trust and club alike, but, more importantly, is benefitting the most vulnerable people in society. We have become a key player in assisting local councils in Lewisham and Southwark to meet the objectives set in their community strategies. Soon, we hope to extend that influence into Sevenoaks if we succeed with our planning application for a new training centre in West Kingsdown.

I took on the role of Trust CEO two-and-a-half years ago and it is no secret that the relationship between the club and the Trust at that time was strained for a variety of reasons. I sat down with Steve Kavanagh and developed a three-year business plan which put at its heart a much closer working relationship.

There are so many examples I could give of that new relationship. In lockdown, the Trust delivered hot meals to 5,000 young people who would otherwise have gone hungry. Those meals were cooked by the club's catering team in the kitchen at The Den. The club stored PPE and operated as a vaccination centre and the Trust ran a support hub at Lewisham Hospital. Barclays ran financial workshops for NHS staff to help them with managing their money, there were yoga sessions for the same staff and first-team players read bedtime stories to the children of NHS staff.

Earlier this year, the club and Trust joined forces to establish a media college at The Den and that will only grow going forward and benefits local young people. Some students have had their work published in the matchday programme or on the club and Trust websites.

The planning process for the proposed new training ground has been a model for collaborative working. The club has concentrated on the technical aspects of the application and the Trust has articulated the community benefits for the people of West Kingsdown and the wider Sevenoaks area.

Whether it is toddler soccer, walking football for seniors, healthy eating programmes, tackling knife crime or education projects, the Trust and the club are working together to achieve positive outcomes. The club takes no income for these programmes, but in return the Trust is a conduit to give communities a taste of football at The Den for lower profile matches, and this generates valuable income each season. At events like the club's Player of the Season event, the Trust pays for its table.

The fact that the Trust's board of trustees contains four club representatives makes for greater co-ordination and effective delivery and is such a positive way of working.

I believe we have developed a model of working at Millwall that should be a blueprint for clubs up and down the country and I know the EFL are very supportive of this model, so let's hope others follow suit.

Sean Daly

MCT CEO