“This is what’s changing in football. There are now at least 27 fan-owned clubs in the UK. We all know about the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid, but in Germany the law actually says the Bundesliga sides have to be majority-owned by their fans. The same applies in Sweden. This is not because German and Swedish clubs don’t want to be successful!
Continuing with a look at other countries, Fraser said “There are many other fan owned clubs in Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Norway – like Rosenborg, fan owned in the Champions League – Rapid Vienna, Austria Salzburg, Aris Thessalonika, and so on. This doesn’t mean they can’t attract funding. It doesn’t mean they have an inferior team on the park. What it means is the club belongs to its rightful owners. It can’t be traded or gambled with.
“Supporter ownership is growing. It’s one of the very few policies that every political party endorsed at the last general election. It’s supported by the football authorities, and UEFA have been strong advocates with Michel Platini’s senior adviser William Gaillard coming over regularly to meet with fans and encourage them. Why do we send people to meet with other trusts? We’re in this together, there’s a lot happening, a lot we can learn from each other. And you’d be amazed how clubs themselves don’t talk, don’t help each other, don’t work together to fix the game.
Turning back to finances, Fraser continued “how can clubs break the cycle of spending more than they earn? Sure, a benefactor may provide funds one year, maybe even 2, 3 or 4, a player may be sold the next, but it’s 100% certain that this won’t go on forever. Additional funds will dry up. Budgets will be slashed, and without a lot of careful contingency planning, crisis can be around the corner. Things may look better in the short-term, but mid to long term they’re more uncertain and less stable. And isn’t it stability that we need right now?
“Research commissioned by Supporters Direct shows that being supporter owned actually puts more onus on clubs to be responsible and live within their means. It also strengthens the requirement for financial reporting to the fans, because they are the owners. But it also allows clubs to raise finance in new ways, such as through community share schemes, which have seen FC United of Manchester raise over £1.4 million. Community ownership is also more attractive to sponsors, because what sponsors want is to engage with the community. And it helps with council funding and local projects. It’s a model which leads to sustainable strategic partnerships, long term gain not short term gain.
“Reviews by Deloitte state that football is moving from a sustainable not-for-profit model, to one with potentially calamitous loss-making characteristics. Yes, there is something of an uneven playing field when a club tries to live within its means, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Indeed, we HAVE to because that’s the only way for clubs to survive in the long term. I know every group of fans is different, and that’s why we’re asking YOU what you want YOUR club to look like, but a Football League survey last year showed that up to 52% of fans favoured long term financial survival, versus only 6% aiming primarily for investment. And we’re not alone. Supporters Direct have launched a number of policy papers and are campaigning at local, national and international level to help level the playing field, through areas such as club licensing, tax relief and community right to buy schemes.
“This is scary. Let’s not pretend – we’re actually at the forefront of what’s happening in football, and in a way we’ve been put here ahead of schedule. We’re leading so we don’t have examples to follow from SPL clubs, but we already see Motherwell and St Mirren moving towards fan ownership. If they can do it, can’t we…?
“It’s easy to understand why being a guinea pig could have its risks, but so far despite carrying forward football debt and players getting attractive offers from elsewhere, we’ve got a strong team, and a structure which is only in its infancy but promises to be a lot more successful than the string of owners we’ve had in the past. Successful businessmen in their own fields, but consistently failing to safeguard our club. And that’s a familiar story everywhere.
“If you saw the Panorama programme, where Notts County were bought by a front man for what they thought was oil money from the middle east and even a tie up with North Korea, who passed the FA fit and proper person test, he fooled MPs, the FA, Sven Goran Eriksson, the supporters trust sold their shares to him – and then he skipped off to the middle east and was wanted for fraud. Exeter City, their trust secured 2 promotions, paid off the last owner’s debts, and he’s now in prison. Chester City, grew their crowds from 1000 to 2500, and their last owner, guess where he is now…in prison.
Fraser concluded this session by telling the fans “we’ve been a proud football club for over 100 years and we’ve got NO assets, no piggy bank, not even the stadium is ours. Continuing to spend more than we earn, even if that comes from external sources, won’t fix that. More owners, more benefactors, more of the same. If we own our club, we can begin to fix that. And football IS broken. And it DOES need fixed.”
The meeting then took a short pause, before Fraser took the mic again to discuss the Community Manifesto, launched in the week prior to open meeting