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50,000 football fans worldwide to buy an English club and pick the team

myfootballclub.co.uk — This is a football club takeover with a difference. Not like Glazier, Lerner or Kroenke buying into English football - this is a website that harnesses the power and enthusiasm of football fans around the world. They will have an equal share in the club, vote on team selection and tactics, buying and selling players and club business decisions.

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upbusbys 1 year 170 days ago

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lukychmz, on 11/13/2007, -12/+1this is such a dumb idea that will never work.....what team are you gonna buy with 1.35 million pounds lol
- CaptainNoPants, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3There's nothing wrong with the idea.
  Gathering the necessary resources to actually get the idea off the ground will be difficult.
- upbusbys, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6You can buy a controlling stake in Halifax town for around £0.5m, so it won't be a problem. After one day live it's looking like we'll exceed 50,000, so we may be able to target clubs higher up the pyramid.
tonysusi, on 11/13/2007, -0/+10Brilliant idea! Welcome to Football 2.0.
charliecharles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Will be a small team for that money to start with. but I guess if it gets up the league that would be a bonus.
TB73, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Macho Man Randy Savage for Manager...."Digg It!!!!!". Seriously though, great idea and good luck.
jimlo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is going to be revolutionary. 50,000 is a massive fan base for any club and just because you may support a team already taken over or worth more than 1.35M doesn't mean you can't get involved. English football needs a massive kick up the arse, so come all you left-sided championship managers and we'll stick a big two fingers up to the monster that skytv created and reclaim at least one club back for the fans...
- karlatkinson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Why not join your clubs supporters trust instead?
karlatkinson, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Very bad idea.
But maybe they could buy Leeds and take them to the conference?
- upbusbys, on 11/13/2007, -0/+10Why is it a bad idea, you should explain? Looks to me like it gives soccer fans the opportunity to get closer to the game than ever before. Plus, it could turn around the fortunes of an ailing club. Win win in my book.
tonysusi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1But this seems to be membership of a Trust with bells and whistles on! Picking the team, a real team is revolutionary. Also, doing transfers will be great. Will be interesting to see how they go about it.
Choppington, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If it gets Halifax into the Champions League I'm all for it. Get the right PR around this and it could really take off.
mark78, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2It wont work for many reasons
1. It assumes money is the only reason for a teams successes
2. It assumes that a fan base of 50,000 can make collective decisions, better then professionals individuals (managers, chairmen...)
3. Many teams can generate larger sums of long-term finance through conventional methods
4. Important decisions in the football industry must be made quickly and be centralized, a de-centralized e-mail voting system would take to long (e.g. end of transfer window)
5. If the manager had little to zero authority, then players would lack respect and discipline
6. Regardless of what anyone says, i know if my team Lincoln city were subject to a takeover of this kind, the board would simple re-ject it

i personally doubt this project will ever take off and if it does manage to buy a team (god forbid), then it will simple fail to perform and most likely become the laughing stock of the league

i assume the owner of this project was most likely out his face at a bar when he thought of this great idea, he should go back to playing football manager
- upbusbys, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Thank you for taking time to think about it. Fair enough if it's not for you. I'd reply to your points this way:
  1. It doesn't, the main point is about fans getting closer to football than ever before. True, the club will have more money, and money does help bring success. Take a look at Chelsea, or clubs in lower divisions who can out-spend their rivals.
  2. A collective decision can be made by 50,000 in a millisecond thanks to a database. It will also be representative, and also informed as professionals will advise the memebrs.
  3. The history of English football, and the experience of the majority of clubs, might suggest otherwise. Only a handful turn in a profit.
  4. '2' answers this one.
  5. They won't have zero authority. Plus, it will also be interesting to see how players perform when they know they have the backing of the supporters. Remember, football has many examples where footballers won't perform for certain managers due to some sort of falling out.
  6. That's a fair point. It will be important to find a club who sees this as an lifeline and opportunity.
  The person who thought is up is very sober and never played Championship Manager!
asellick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5lukychmz - this is such a dumb idea? such a dumb idea that it has made it on to the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6611729.stm

What clubs can you buy for 1.35 million pounds? - Err most clubs from League 1/2 downwards.
- charliecharles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Mark78,
  1. Not the only reason, but a major factor. Which clubs are top of the premiership? In general, the richest clubs. Compare the top 20 teams in Europe to the list of the 20 most wealthy. They're almost exactly the same;
  2. At least every decision will be mulled over. Maybe 50,000 people voting on a decision can do it better. It's worth a try. And they'll be taking into account the recommendations of the manager, if you look at the bbc website. How many times have fans shouted at managers and complained about decisions?;
  3. This misses the point completely. "Long term finance" implies repayment of interest and principal, which means less money available for the club - which is why everyone was against the Glazers taking over at Man U. This is the equivalent of equity, and would not need to be repaid by the club. Think of it as more of a gift to the club, rather than a loan - the club should generate more money through the site going forward, and get more support (I bet attendance would go up), which will also lead to more money through merchandising etc;
  4. They'll have idenitified their targets long before the end of the transfer window. That's just when the deal's done and announced. Online voting can be done relatively quickly;
  5. Why? The manager will prepare reports on players to the members, and if they under perform and the manager doesn't stick up for them, then they'll be out. The manager can still have a big influence over how things are run, and the players can't complain about formation and tactics etc. because he won't have decided on those things;
  6. Why? The club could become a well supported rich club, and go up the leagues. Who wouldn't want that. Ultimately, if the experiment fails, well then your club could have bought some good players in the meantime it couldn't otherwise have afforded, and got a new fan base and a lot of publicity.
  Don't be so negative.
biggieyeo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i think its a cracking idea gives us real fans a chance to own a bit of a club pluss we have all dreamed of owning a club also its only £35!!sounds like fun to me
crazyknight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I joined up and my main misgiving is that a football agent and his friends can nominate their clients and get the club to buy them. I'd also like to see some sort of proxy system where, if you trust the coach, you can say that you will give the coach free reign to pick who he likes.
bamberamber, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Interesting concept but i believe it to be fundamentally flawed.

Let's use the team i support (Cambridge United)

We have a reasonably wealthy board of directors, And even with their backing and financial help the club is losing i believe around £20,000 A WEEK ! ! ! !
So my first question would be what could 50,000 people do to help that situation? And my next question would be are they willing to fork out the 10 million a year losses out of their own pockets? that means that their initial £35 investment will need to be bolstered by further payments of £208 per year.
Then you have the issue of the ground, a fair few lower league teams are having to sell or have already sold their grounds and rented them back to keep the club from going bankrupt. Currently Cambridge are trying to work a way to buy their ground back.
he chances of the ground ever belonging to the club again are slim, So we are going to need to look into relocation, This involves purchasing a huge piece of land and then having a stadium built, A stadium is going to cost between 10 and 15 million pounds. so another £200-£300 per person.
So far i think i have worked out it's going to cost £35(initial investment) + £200-£300(new stadium) + £208 PER SEASON (operating losses)

Given that these are just our well known financial issues and i am sure there are plenty more how can you expect 1.35 million to ever be anywhere near enough? Yes i know not all clubs are in this sort of position but a lot of lower league clubs are money pits, People spend and spend and spend just to see their club go into administration and potentially die.

I think it's an interesting idea, but i don't see how 50,000 strangers are going to be able to match a team of directors that meet regularly and have face to face contact, 50,000 strangers that don't know the local companies for sponsorship deals and so on.

In my humble opinion it's not something i could see taking off and as a fan it's not something i would welcome happening to my club.
- upbusbys, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1One point I'd make is if a club is losing £20K a week, that surely isn't a reason not to give it a go? Also, who's to say there won't be more than 50,000 members, and who's to say that in year 2 they don't agree to put in more than £35 each?
  - artyom4, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0exactly, 50,000 was the first milestone that Will Brooks wanted to reach. It's perfectly reasonable to expect that, if this is successful, then more people will want to get involved. Barcelona (although obviously one of the world's biggest club) has a membership of over 150,000 and all the members get for their money is the chance to vote for their club's president every 4 years. Myfootballclub will involve its members in a lot more decisions!
- crazyknight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0£20,000 divided by 50,000 people is 40p/week. Over the season, that is £21.
  
  Certainly, there needs to be consultation on how to set the club up. There will need to be the infrastructure of a football club there but one thing I've always said is that a football club's most underused commodity is the expertise of their fans. However, you do seem to think that Cambridge are a well-run club, which may not be the case.
- mickhazza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+150000 people to make up 20k a week, how many of the 50000 will buy club merchandise or even buy a matchday ticket, your comments i feel would be proved wrong
mark78, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1i realize some people might like the idea of being able to make decisions, but what i meant by centralized decision making is that regardless of the coaches training reports and his ideas on squad selection, the members will not be informed or capable of making accurate decisions. And when it comes to quick decision making, i was referring to the fact that there will be a lead time from when a decision is posted on the web-site and the time till the last member replys.
I understand the economic principles of this idea, but i carnt help thinking, maybe this is a money making scam, im sure the creater is going to take some kind of profit, and at the end of the day, the members own nothing in the football club, the holding company (and therefore creater) will have real control of the club (there is in principle no shares, you are just a member of an online group). Maybe this is just an ego trip for the owner
dixie28, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Count me in - love it. It'll be rough and ready to begin with but it can be fine-tuned along the way. Tbh one of my main concerns is that the very thing that appeals to me about this [namely the idea of a true People's Club, owned by the supporters] might also be it's undoing. I'm not sure that total participatory democracy'd work from a footballing point of view. Even given that thousands of intelligent, well-informed fans know more than most professional managers I still think it's a shakey notion in the sense that it ammounts to asking the professionals to operate with their hands tied behind their backs. Having said that, anyone who's ever served on a Jury knows that many heads are better than one and that collective wisdom can achieve wonders.

The main point is that footie's been nicked off us by the money merchants and it's time to take it back. This idea is revolutionary and it's a breath of fresh air. The doubters have missed the point. Imagine the level and intensity of support a club operated along these lines would generate. Imagine the noise on the terraces. Imagine the sheer fun of it. The Peoples Club needn't replace the supporters' inherited or selected club loyalities it'd be a shared club as an added bonus.
mark78, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2lincoln city my club, has always been a community club, ealier this year a consortium promised to buy the club generating up to £2million of funds for the clubs development. The idea was to sell the club to two old chairmen, who were going to sell shares to private investors. Virtually every supporter of the club rejected the proposal. We didnt want to lose the history and heritage of a community club, how many clubs that are bought by consortiums actually sucseed? not many, mainly clubs who are outright bought by millions sucseed (the web-site says that 50,000 fans have more wealth than any millionare, hahaha he having a laugh? anywho...
halixfax, cambridge who ever can dream of the prem but it will never work, peterbough now owned by a millionarre, where are they not even in the league two play-offs, they spent £3million this year and achived nothing, money is nothing in the lower league
- Nailoss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Hello. You make some interesting comments mark78 and it's a good debate. One aspect that hasn't really been touched upon are the potential huge revenues that might be generated by this project beyond the £35 fee x number of punters. As the number of punters increases then an exponential increase of possible turnover (capital for club I nope, not cream for the creators) is possible. I'm no business guru but I reckon 50,000 people taking a very close interest in a website would be an excellent bargaining tool. That's just for starters, I imagine the eyes of the football world will be on the myfootballclub team so there a bound to be loads of other things for the marketing people to get their teeth into.
  
  As someone else said I think it's a great idea for a seond club for people feeling disenfranchised by a lot of the ***** things happening in our beloved game today. Weybridge...the mighty Terras, get my vote.
  
  The game needs a kick up the arse and I hope this is the tonic. Good luck
Minchinlad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The manager deserves more opportunity to dictate formation and tactics, but i suppose it will save a Lampard/England scenario where he's never dropped. I'm a Man Utd fan who has little chance of a season ticket but this although it'll never replace MU will give me an opportunity to take up a sort of second team. Huddersfield has my vote, great stadium, large town and not too far down the ladder. Why are those joining voting for the massive clubs its pointless, somewhere small where we can do some good please.
Minchinlad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Its not just the money its passion. People with money involved gain a interest. Take replica Kits as an example of the multiplier effect, a lot of members will purchase one even at £40 a pop boosting funds still further. In a similar vein what about increased attendances at least in the short term. The positive feeling created about the club could provide one promotion but after that the skys the limit, as long as there's no Risdale and the members trust it will work. Although i have just joined so it might be blind optimism speaking.
abbeylad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Vote for Leyton Orient, got a new stadium owned by the council, (low overheads), and the chance of taking over the new olympic stadium. Barry Hearn bought the club for pennies and could settle for £1.5m easy.

come you o's
bamberamber, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just a quick question.... 50,000 x £35 is 1.75 mil, The 400k shortfall is for what exactly?

Just thought i'd ask so as to have a fuller idea ofhow this is supposed to work.
- crazyknight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Read the FAQ. £7.50 covers running costs of the site, £27.50 goes to the fund.
si23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1An idea like this to me is brilliant. After looking at BBC I stumbled across the news article regarding this idea. After doing some more research I found potential worries however this didn’t stop me from registering.
A very good idea and I will be sure to tell all I know!
Just to say I didn’t make a preference on the club of my choice however maybe a conference/league one team may be suitable.
- liverpool1975, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1great idea.give the power back to the people but i would have to say that the manager will have to have a certain amount of control otherwise it will make his job next to impossible.My own preference would be for a club down the leagues and with the possibility of growth.All the best with it and my 35 quid will be in the post as soon as things are sorted.and being from ireland i,m sure if it gets off the ground we,ll have to get on to ryan air and get cheap flights sorted for ourselves.
dixie28, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm wit minchinlad here - go for a little club n make a difference. Small is beautiful. I'm a third generation Evertonian and that'll always be my first club [once a blue - always a blue] but I'd follow a small club with a different set-up too. If this is done right I reckon there'd be a load of supporters of different clubs, some small some big, that'd be up it. There's thousands and thousands of footie fanatics who hate what money's done to the game [overpaid players whose first loyalty is to their back pocket, seedy agents, club owners who don't give a flying f about football, payola n backhanders, soulless megastadiums with piped muzak, foreign mercenaries edging out local lads, fixture lists chopped n changed to make Murdoch more money, expensive new kits rolled out every five minutes, ticket prices that price people out of the game, sponsors logos everwhere you look, all that]. If . . .
onthepunt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2sounds great. I hope its a lower league club that is struggling though, would hate to see an established team go down the swanny for this, but a little club could use it as a boost
- mickhazza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0maybe a bury or sommet
ashleah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hey, why the fuss on whether or not the team will actually perform well. When you get down to it, isn't this about entertainment? I'd say so, in which case, £35 is an outstanding deal. Let's get on the bandwagon, and celebrate this for what it is: a unique and fun idea. I'm on board!
caniac322, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this is a great idea, im on board here in america. and i agree go for a little club. a league two side with a decent park. wycombe, or some club along those lines. what a great idea. if it goes down the tube, then hey, its just as good as a computer game.
- dalgia, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Clearly you havent thought this one through. How are you going to buy a team with its own stadium for a million when the value of the stadium and land is probably more than that? And how are you going to support transfers and the like?
gbnz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Great Idea ! I did ask the following by email to the site - but since the questions seem to get answered quickly here and this question may also be of interest to others...

The £35 is effectively an annual subscription, right ? If so, what happens if we front with the initial funds - the club is purchased, but then we do not pay the £35 the following year ? Does that mean we lose our ownership rights ? If so, I'm a little confused as to we have "ownership" of this club ?? Doesn't this mean that we are merely voting members ?
caniac322, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0gbnz...im pretty sure that of the £35, £27.50 goes to the ownership trust and £7.50 goes to the annual payment. so i think that £7.50 is the yearly due.
KingCafego, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I love the idea. I'm not certain about the ambition (Halifax Town, Cambridge, Torquay or Leyton Orient in the Prem?), but this is a chance to stabilise a lower level club and give it a platform to move forward. I'm an American who loves English football and I certainly view this as an opportunity to give back a bit of the value I've received from the game over the years.

How many times have we seen chairmen or smaller ownership groups take a club and run it into administration? Terry Smith at Chester. Reynolds at Darlington. Richmond at Bradford. Ridsdale at Leeds. You also have examples at Hornchurch and Lancaster where one owner or group have left their clubs devastated. Who says 50,000 or more owners can't do better than the current ownership templates on display?

I think this approach is very similar to the management style in place when modern football started in the 1850s. The board often would choose the players under advice from managerial staff, while a trainer would be responsible for the on-pitch development of the players and the tactics utilised during a match.

Instead of a handful of board members, the "head coach" would be giving advice to 50,000 or so as they make these decisions. In this era of lightning-quick communications, the numbers would not hinder progress.
yerbutno, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I think it is a really strong idea and if it helps a smaller club out, why not?
malrob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I also agree this is a superb idea, having been a number of roles in a non-league club, program editor for 5 years, secretary for 3 years, kit man, and even making tea for the players and officials. People get a real buzz from being closer to your team. I personally believe the best way forward would be to buy a semi professional club, say conference north or south level or even one step lower.
Then you would have more money to develop the club as a whole and move it forward.
The bonus of so many investors is that most weeks members will want to watch the club and will increase the gate and therefore increase the revenue of the club. even 1% of members visiting each week will give 500 extra people through the gate and for semi-professional football this is a huge revenue increase.
Success breads interest and starting lower will get a chance to get a couple of years under your belt with some success rather than starting high and trying to play the big boys straight away.
Overall excellent idea and hope it comes off.
- dalgia, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0These additional supporters who come from the 'trust' are the owners and therefore shouldn't be expected to pay to get to see the team! How is that going to generate extra revenue!
ghostbotherer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I am loving this idea and have signed up along with the husband and offspring. Its only £35, Ive paid as much as that to sit in a wet and windy stand and watch Pompey play like the local under 11's side (been better this season tho!) Yeah, it may fall flat on its face, but it might just work and the media exposure its currently receiving will ensure that the membership target will be met. If just a small percentage of members actually start going to games the revenue will be increased and I,m hoping that its a team not too far away - its all very exciting
banthamtom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Brilliant - just signed up and hope I'm lucky enough to get in. With 50 000 self selected, motivated individuals it will work. I am hoping the decision makers pick a lower league club like Woking or Brentford and the club's existing fans prove to be keen. The potential at Woking is enormous given the towns accessibility by road and rail (I live in Devon and support the Sky Blues so no vested interest). Please not a stake in a bigger club (Leeds, Arsenal) - that would be no fun! Does Woking FC own its ground?
rberbe2002, on 10/12/2007, -1/+150,000 x £7.50 = £375,000

It don't cost this much to run a website so a hefty chunck will be going in this blokes pocket...
KitchyNI, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think it is a good and interesting idea but I just have a couple of questions.

It says that £7.50 of each £35 goes into the day-to-day maintenance of the site, But 50,000 x £7.50 gives you £375,000. Surly it would never cost this most to run a website. Can you give a break down of where this extra £375,000 is going?

can you tell me how many have registered so far

Cheers
- upbusbys, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Here's something for you to consider. 375K is taxed. Approx £50K to build the site, almost certainly more. Then staff, there will be 4 full-time minimum (have you seen how much digital skills cost these days?). And then an office, as well as costs.
  Perhaps 63p a month isn't for you, which is fair enough. But you suggesting it's a way to clear 375K profit is way, way off the mark.
- KitchyNI, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If you are paying 50K to built a site you are bieng ripped off. Can you tell me what is the 50K is getting you in your website. I work for a webhosting/ design company and if you need cheap prices I could get you them a lot cheaper than 50K. Why do you need 3 to 4 people? You could have an automated system where people put there own details in and the system will do the rest. What would the duties be of the 3 or 4 people?
  - dalgia, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I agree! There is no way that it costs more than 50 grand to build a website!! And 4 people to run a website?? he quotes, ' have you seen how much digital skills cost?' Seems like you obviously have your family getting employed here!
    
    Besides which, every team has a website nowadays so when you buy them over you don't need to spend all that money on a new one.
    
    Where does the other 325K go, and it certainly isn't on a tax that doesn't exist! You don't get taxed for putting money into a trust!
    
    And what team can you buy for a million quid these days when this sort of theiving is already taking place! there is nothing 'community' about this scheme whilst there is one person making these decisions and others such as ' 4 teams already asking to be bought' yet not telling what 4 teams!
    
    And this is the problem with a scheme like this. Decisions will come down to the 'owner' pulling this kind of unvoted for crap .
- Nailoss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0FAQs seem to suggest there will be a few other things in the background other besides the website and the staff teccys involved. ie. Head coach reports (TV), other commercial activies. I hope that cash raised is invested back in the club but if this project does come off who would begrudge the creator(s) being rewarded?
- KitchyNI, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I am not saying they don't deserve taking any money for creating the idea. I would just like them to be upfront about it if they are taking a slice and for them not to say the money is going elsewhere. Surley trust would need to be high in this situation when there could be a lot more money coming into the club. Does the creator then get a bigger slice as time goes on or would there be an aggrement that everyone registered could see the account books to see all the money coming in and then agree what to do with it.
  
  Will the 50,000 have a say when it comes to advertising/ or how spend any extra money?
rberbe2002, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0haha thats wat i said above...
joeflint82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I must admit that I don't envisage any clubs being sold to be ran like this, but I'm very interested and very hopeful that I'm wrong.

If in season 2, some members want to invest £200+ in the club a year, but initial investors cannot justify/afford that much, what happens then?
- charliecharles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0There are several costs associated with this kind of project - firstly building the website, which is relatively expensive, but shouldn't cost anything close to GBP375,000, but then (and much more expensive) running the website on an ongoing basis.
  
  For that you'd need at least 2 or 3 full time staff, plus an office and a server - the website will need to be managed to be useful. All of that together with bills, national insurance, insurance, disaster recovery, etc. etc. will cost money. So I imagine that there will be relatively little money left over after those costs have been paid.
RichieBoi777, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The sooner we can get to 50,000 the better because I can't for us to buy a club!!!!
Minchinlad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0He did say it would be a Limited Company as well to protect the members of liability which i think costs about £50k, can you please vote for teams who own their stadium as opposed to Leeds who don't and I'm pretty sure don't own their own training facilities. We do not want to be struggling from the start.
- KingCafego, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Completely agree with you. Leeds United has too much baggage. They don't own their ground and there is no telling how much debt they still have hanging over their heads from the Ridsdale excesses. A minority of their fanbase constantly cause trouble for the rest of them; that would certainly cause those of us in this project problems as well.
  
  My guess is that Bates will want much more for them than we have to offer, although that could change if the Leeds fanbase in decide to join this project in mass.
Minchinlad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Again i'm with the others i'd like to know how many members we're on now, the sooner the better.
Boose, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I have joined, but have a suggestion to make. Can we please have another chance to select the team to be bought? On a whim, I voted for Leeds (buyable, in trouble etc etc) but on reflection I think we should buy a team much further down the leagues (maybe Leeds in another year or two?). So, given time for reflection, I ask that all 50,000 subscribers are given the option to change their vote at some future stage.

I also agree with the growing pressure for the 'owners' to declare the current rate of membership. Even if it is currently low, I have every confidence that this will grow over the next few weeks. Lets hope we are in a position to do something before the start of next season!

Come on you Purples! Or Greens! ........
rberbe2002, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I like this idea, I had the same idea about a fantasy football website I am looking to start, but with legal implications I am waiting for a reply from a solicitor.
Eyeballs99, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Boston Utd all the way.

Would certainly be interested in what the numbers are up to now
rberbe2002, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0it got coverage on the Chris Moyles show today so should be big numbers I reckon.

Anyone thats interested in fantasy football or any other fantasy games let me know on rberbe2002@msn.com
RichieBoi777, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I've spread the word a bit about it by posting about it on a few internet forums.
ronaldinho666, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i think its a great idea in principal, id like to see them buy kettering town, beacause the current chairman is a bit crappy, theres a good basis there with potential, somehow attracts the likes of the nutty Gazza and Big Ron Atkinson, also has a good fan base, i think they might own the stadium, from what the local newspapers say alot of people would welcome the move to get rid of the chairman. ive post a bulliten on my myspace to let other people know bout this idea of buying a club
Hendosyndrome, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I am very much on board - sounds like an entertaingin and enlightening idea but...

...What if x amount of people register but then decide that the dont want to pay...the fund could fall very short!
studiosonic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Signed up this morning - will be interesting to hear what the numbers are looking like at the moment. There's no real timeframe of when things will kick off (pardon the pun) at present.
charliecharles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It says that there are "well over" 6,000 who've registered so far.
RagingBull84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0For the record I've signed up for this and I'm very excited, though I do have some reservations, vested interests for one. As this will be most members 'second' team, then say, for example, our team is battling for relegation/promotion near the end of the season, what's to stop members of our club voting for our team to field a weakened side, assuring that the interests of their 'first' team are served first?

Also, I'm a little concerned about ownership. Do the original 50,000 members own an equal share of the club? If so, what happens if more people want to join, surely we would have to sacrifice a percentage of our stake to allow them to join? - Or are we simply paying a fee to be allowed to make decisions about the running of club, something I wouldn't be too happy about.

I also can't envisage any club wanting to sell to a consortium of this type - would you want you're club to be run by 50,000 people, many of whom will have no credentials to run a football club? This would mean that we would need to look for a club either in administration or on the brink. Realistically, if we want to be able to spend money on players then surely we are looking at a League 2 side at best, not a bad thing in my book but i feel people are setting their sights a little too high!

I realise there are many other implications that will be discussed and look forward to taking part in them - I'm encouraged by the start we've made so far as I was a little anxious to see what standard of debate would be generated on an anonymous forum such as this.
- studiosonic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm not sure that vested interests will be an issue. The majority of 50,000 won't be supporting the same club, so anyone with ideas like that will just get drowned out.
  
  As for your point about finding a club who will sell - that is my main fear about the project. I think it is an amazing idea, but I hope that boards/fans don't get put off by the idea without thinking it through. It would be a major opportunity and financial 'boost' for a club.
  
  I also hear what you're saying about what happens if more people come on board - if I'm in the original 50,000 I'd like to think my 'vote' and percentage share in the club doesn't get diminished the more people join in - but then the more people on board, the more money available. A tough one!
rberbe2002, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0on the site it says the 50,000 will be apart of a trust for the club? for 1 a supporters trust is a not for profit orginasation and with regards to shares of clubs, as far as im aware it is illegal for a company to offer shares for sale to the public unless u set up a plc...
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50,000 football fans worldwide to buy an English club and pick the team

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