attila
1997 Club
Fan power destroyed the ESL in a day. I don’t say this often, but hats off to the Chelsea fans who delayed kick off last night by 15 minutes and celebrated when the news came through.
(Decent point, that. Should have been three. AGAIN.)
Such a ludicrous idea, created by a cabal of isolated, out of touch ‘owners’ who don’t even talk to their own players, let alone their fans, should never be allowed to take root again.
It’s time for a revolution in football club ownership. Impossible, you say? No.
Look at Germany, the most successful football nation in the world.
The reason no German clubs were involved is that they have a simple 50+1 rule. To play in the top two divisions, the majority shareholding has to be owned by the fans, who will have the club’s best interest at heart, rather than by a private investor who may not. Clubs stick to affordable budgets, wages and transfer fees are vastly lower - and as for ticket prices, a season ticket for the huge standing area at Borussia Dortmund, one of the most successful clubs in the world, is 219 euros. Think about that.
The ‘owners’ who came up with this scheme now stand alone and reviled. They must be forced, by law, to relinquish a majority of their shareholding to a fans’ trust as a punishment for what they have done.
And that should be the start of a revolution in the way football is run in this country. If the Germans can do it so can we.
My suggestion: a two tier mechanism for club ownership.
For outright ownership the 'fit and proper' test would expand and require proof of a lifelong commitment to and active support for a club, ratified by an opinion poll of supporters.
While it is still conceivable that things could go wrong it is vastly less likely.
For anyone coming in from outside a more stringent version of the current test would apply, and 51% of the shares would need to be under the control of a Supporters' Trust.
This would not mean that the wealth would change hands (against my own instincts I have to be realistic here for this to be feasible) simply that all major decisions would be subject to agreement by supporters.
Things have to change. Football is eating itself.
And, as in Germany, one of the benefits of far fewer vastly overpaid mercenaries entering the domestic league would be a much greater reliance on home player development, which massively benefits the national team, as we are all aware!
(Decent point, that. Should have been three. AGAIN.)
Such a ludicrous idea, created by a cabal of isolated, out of touch ‘owners’ who don’t even talk to their own players, let alone their fans, should never be allowed to take root again.
It’s time for a revolution in football club ownership. Impossible, you say? No.
Look at Germany, the most successful football nation in the world.
The reason no German clubs were involved is that they have a simple 50+1 rule. To play in the top two divisions, the majority shareholding has to be owned by the fans, who will have the club’s best interest at heart, rather than by a private investor who may not. Clubs stick to affordable budgets, wages and transfer fees are vastly lower - and as for ticket prices, a season ticket for the huge standing area at Borussia Dortmund, one of the most successful clubs in the world, is 219 euros. Think about that.
The ‘owners’ who came up with this scheme now stand alone and reviled. They must be forced, by law, to relinquish a majority of their shareholding to a fans’ trust as a punishment for what they have done.
And that should be the start of a revolution in the way football is run in this country. If the Germans can do it so can we.
My suggestion: a two tier mechanism for club ownership.
For outright ownership the 'fit and proper' test would expand and require proof of a lifelong commitment to and active support for a club, ratified by an opinion poll of supporters.
While it is still conceivable that things could go wrong it is vastly less likely.
For anyone coming in from outside a more stringent version of the current test would apply, and 51% of the shares would need to be under the control of a Supporters' Trust.
This would not mean that the wealth would change hands (against my own instincts I have to be realistic here for this to be feasible) simply that all major decisions would be subject to agreement by supporters.
Things have to change. Football is eating itself.
And, as in Germany, one of the benefits of far fewer vastly overpaid mercenaries entering the domestic league would be a much greater reliance on home player development, which massively benefits the national team, as we are all aware!
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