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Supporter Ownership


smetrov

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Yes I know - I would be some fundraiser if I could rustle up £200m

 

But on the continent I understand a lot of clubs are supporter owned - anyone got any info on the mechanics of how it works ?

 

Feel free to move to appropriate area if not suitable for mainstream VT.

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In England the Supporters Trust are the 'go to' guys to find out how it works, from buying an insolvent club like Wrexham to starting your own fan owned club like FC United. They'd put anybody serious about the idea in touch with real fans that have already been there and done that and worked out the legalities of how you share ownership and make decisions.

 

Over that europe clubs such as Sankt Pauli in Germany are an interesting model.

 

With the oddball exception of the Barcelona model, not sure anyone has ever tried to convert a '£200M' club into a fan owned model. That sounds quite tricky.

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Although much smaller scale, there is the model of AFC Wimbledon. The club is owned by the Dons' Trust, a democratic supporters' group, which owns at least 75% control of the club. The Trust raises money through share issues and other devices such as Bonds, The Trust is an "Industrial and provident society", which you can read about here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_and_provident_society

 

Incidentally, the Chief Executive is a retired accountant and lifelong fan who does the job for a nominal fee.

 

Any accountants on here interested?

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I don't see it working in the Premier League. In another league where you don't need to be spending masses of money to keep up with the competition, maybe, or at a club like Barca with a massive fan base. 

Edited by kurtsimonw
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Despite all the piss-takes, I wish someone at some Premier League club would have a go at a fans takeover.

IMHO it isn't as far fetched as it seems. There would be a lot of goodwill and financial support from many quarters but it would take some very brave individuals to stick their heads above the parapet to lead any campaign!

Football fans like the working class that most belong to, are too often quick to turn on their own.

I remember the idea being floated during Ellis's time and it wouldn't have been impossible, but rather than listen many fans simply took the piss.

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I've seen stated several times on this forum that us fans are the real reason for our current plight and for us not performing in the league.

Not the owner, not the manager and not the players, but us fans. :D

So if that's true then this would be a terrible idea...

Edited by sne
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Wonderful concept, which would simply not work for Aston Villa at this stage.

 

Things would be different IF:

 

- We were starting out with a killer squad of young football geniuses on low wages.

- We had the kind of enormous revenue that spending most of the last 32 years in football obscurity doesn't provide.

- The incumbent manager was well-regarded and loved by all the fans.

- The fans had much more disposable income than they do have (do the maths on how much each of us would have to cough up every year the club loses, say 20 million pounds)

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