Andy Walsh - Supporters Direct award winner 2010

At the Supporters Direct Conference today FC United’s General Manager, Andy Walsh, was presented with the prestigious Richard Lillicrap Award for 2010.

This award was created to honour the memory of the late Richard Lillicrap, who was one of the founding members of Swansea City’s Swans Trust and served as a Director of Supporters Direct. It is presented each year to the individual who best embodies Richard’s spirit of helping fellow supporters in their journey to achieve a greater involvement in their own clubs.

The award was a complete surprise to Andy and he seemed a little emotional during the presentation, but most people will know it takes a lot to render Andy speechless. He made an impromptu and gracious acceptance address, which, for Andy, was surprisingly short. We only had time to scribble one inspirational quote for the record. After acknowledging the efforts of the many fellow fans who give their time to supporter issues, Andy concluded that with all these dedicated people:

"We know the sky is achievable and it’s our job to pull it a bit closer."

Given time, Andy would probably have honed that into a careful reworking of the "Standing on the shoulders of giants" quote. It’s not known who was the originator of that phrase, but it was famously borrowed by Isaac Newton. It was particularly apt that in the Institute of Engineering and Technology, surrounded by portraits of many eminent scientific peers of Newton, Andy borrowed the same concept to create his unique version.

FC United’s co-owners know all about the tremendous amount of work Andy does for supporters everywhere, giving up large amounts of his spare time to help others, despite his enormously demanding day job running our club.

Well done, Andy. We congratulate you on this richly deserved award.