Forest Green Rovers owner Dale Vince reveals he is ‘accidentally’ funding protests that disrupted games involving Newcastle United, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal
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Games involving Arsenal, Wolves and Tottenham Hotspur have also seen similar protests in recent weeks, all aiming to raise awareness over environmental issues.
Remarkably, today, Forest Green Rovers owner Dale Vince revealed that he has been ‘accidentally’ funding the group who are organising and carrying out the protests.
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Hide AdSpeaking on TalkSport with Jim White and Simon Jordan, when asked about who was funding the protests, Vince admitted that he was partially responsible:
“It’s me actually. I had a chat a few weeks ago with the people that founded this,” Vince said.
“They live in Stroud and people that I know reached out and said ‘look we want to start a new campaign, could you help us with a bit of cash?’ And I did.
“What they didn’t say to me was that they were planning on disrupting football matches which I find amusing.
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Hide Ad“I only bumped into this story in the last couple of days anyway after the disruption has taken place because, as Simon [Jordan] knows, I’m more interested in League Two.
“I think it’s amusing to me that I seem to have my fingerprints on this accidentally.
“I’m accidentally funding the disruption of Premier League games.”
The disruption at Goodison Park, caused by a supporter tying himself to the goalpost wearing a ‘just stop oil’ t-shirt, lasted for six minutes and this delay was arguably one of the contributing factors to Newcastle’s subdued second-half performance.
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Hide AdWhen asked whether he would pull the funding from the group, Vince made clear his view on the protests and their ultimate aims:
“They haven’t asked for more money, it’s about £10,000 to keep them going or something like that - and I don’t know if they need a lot of money.
“But I support their aims and I don’t really have a problem with what they are doing as long as it’s a non-violent protest.
"Disruption is part of a protest, it’s how you get and draw attention to really big issues that, as I say, transcend football and transcend most aspects of life.”