What about a co-operatively-owned football club?

Co-ops
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Reading this,

Without a regulator with teeth, my beloved football will destroy itself | Alison McGovern | The Guardian

and it occurred to me that the co-operative ownership model would be ideal for football clubs.

Create a templated format, and then try talking with the local clubs. :smiley:

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There are many co-operatively owned football clubs, and at top levels

Recent additions include Bury FC and Bolton after they went bankrupt (known as “Phoenix clubs”), and St Mirren (the pride of Paisley) after it was bought out by supporters

Bayern Munich is 84% owned by the fans, I think Dortmund is majority fan-owned too. It’s often a lot less expensive to buy tickets to see a co-operatively owned team, a ticket in the away-end at Arsenal actually cost Munich fans the same as their season ticket! (roughly £90). I don’t know what else these clubs have achieved collectively or how they are governed

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I didn’t know about those! :smiley:

Excellent! :smiley:

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Supporter-ownership is a popular model in Spanish football too, most famously at Barcelona:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Barcelona#Ownership_and_finances

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In the UK, haven’t most fan-owned professional Football League teams been sold to charismatic capitalist carpetbaggers like, most recently, Wrexham to Ryan Reynolds? How do you stop that and establish a tradition of successful fan-owned teams?

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There is a discussion on Asset Locks for co-operatives here,

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The Fan Led review of football, run by Tracey Crouch MP (who did some great work on fixed odds betting terminals FOBTs a while back) has some great recommendations in support of fan ownership. This recent Guardian article covers some of the salient points.

Those with slightly longer memories might recall Supporters Direct which set about the creation of supporters’ trusts for clubs, as democratic cooperative, fan-owned mechanisms for building an ownership stake and a voice for fans. The Crouch Review looks to be re-energising that work.

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And here is the link to the final report from that review: Fan-Led Review of Football Governance: securing the game’s future - GOV.UK

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Note in particular recommendation number 30 on page 139 of the report: “The Golden Share should be held by a Community Benefit Society formed for the benefit of the club’s supporters operating under standardised rules set by IREF in conjunction with the FCA.”

And this article in today’s Guardian should raise a smile, comrades: Dispatches from the communist party’s people-led review of football governance | Football | The Guardian

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