Football club ownership for the millions, not just the millionaires
There’s nothing like the internet for getting people together, and there’s nothing like football for bringing people together either. Combine the two, and you’ve got MyFootballClub.co.uk, which was launched earlier this year, with the main intention of getting enough football fans signed up, at a cost of £35 each, to buy an English football club. (By the way, for those of you across the Pond, I’m talking about soccer). Thus far, around 50,000 members have paid up, (thirty five quid is about $72), and this has created a fund of about 1.3 million pounds. The site has happily announced that a deal has been agreed with Ebbsfleet United, a minor English football club, for US$1.45 million. The membership will own the club, vote on team selection, decide which players to buy and sell and, hopefully, guide the club up the leagues.
This great new venture has been set up by none other than former football journalist Will Brooks, and it is probably the first time in football history that fans have had the opportunity to buy and take control of a professional football club – both on and off the pitch. Every MyFootballClub member is going to have an equal say in team selection, player transfers and the running of the club, with decisions being made via an online private forum and voting system.
The new site highlights the fact that the internet opens up the possibility of organisations being democratically run by large numbers of members in a way that would not have been possible previously, allowing daily contact between people living miles apart, indeed scattered all over the globe. Online forums allow everyone to have their say, and website software allows large numbers of people to vote easily on crucial issues, and for those votes to be quickly counted.
So it will be interesting to see how well this idea works, and the outcome of this particular venture could point the way to future online enterprises dealing not just with football, but a myriad of possibilities in terms of co-operative company ownership, and online democratic decision making.