Well, the answer could be «yes»! It happened before but not for five pounds, the price was 35 pounds and the club is Ebbsfleet. The club was taken over by the contributing fans in 2008 and the system allowed them to have control of the team right down to voting on transfers and team selection. There were 32,000 people that jumped on the opportunity. Things didn’t go to well though as Ebbsfleet United got relegated from Blue Square Premier find themselves one division lower, and the club budget still needs fund raising to be completed. The experiment didn’t fail totally though, the club still exists and there are others who might have been wise enough to learn from their mistakes.
Last week I received an email from Nick Thompson, the founder of a recently launched website called fivepoundfootballclub.com.The aim of the website is, according to what Nick said, «to pool the resources, knowledge and enthusiasm of our members to take control and run a lower league football club in either Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales». I was quite curious to learn more details about his initiative, one that I consider extremely courageous. Here are the facts in brief:
You can become a member for only five pounds. Once enough members would be on board (currently there are around 250 members) the organization will try to take control of a club in the above mentioned leagues. I think that this target is pretty realistic since a club in England would be way more costly to sustain. Then the members would elect a board and a president and will contribute with the same five pounds every season. And then the members would get to vote and decide on what to spend the money: players, a new training ground, whatever. The final aim is to run a sustainable club, one that would pay for it’s own running costs and allow the investment fund to be spent only for further development. That’s in brief how it should work, you can find more details here.
I have to say that I am starting to believe in this idea and I am most probably going to join and give my five pounds for this cause. Football is not only about Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi, I think that football relies on the millions of unknown players that give their best on the pitch just because they love the game and not because they want to buy a Ferrari every week. A football club run by fans is not an utopia, such things already happened in Spain or Germany although the business models are slightly different. Anyway, there is a lot to say about this initiative and I hope that you will join the debate and maybe make this project even better. I am looking forward to reading your comments as I will try to invite Nick Thompson to answer your questions too.
