Governanace of Professional Football Clubs

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There has been a Parliamentary debate today regards the ‘Role of football supporters in the governance of professional football clubs’ brought up by Steve Rotherham MP for Liverpool, Walton.
Steve wanted to focus on the supporters input into the governance of clubs, and wanted to highlight this specific idea.

2009 UEFA President Michel Platini has said that supporters should take on a full role within their clubs, because they are the identity of the club. We are, and we need to be heard.

In 2009 the all party parliamentary football group found that the supporters were the most underrepresented, those of us who pay for the sport by being a fan are left out of the decision-making processes.

A YouGov poll of all football supporters, in April 2010, found that 56% of fans wish to take control of their clubs – When the same question was filtered down to Manchester Utd and Liverpool FC fans, these figures rose to 82% and 72% respectively. A related YouGov poll found that supporters are prepared to invest an average of £600 each to seize control of their club. Obviously this is not possible for everyone, we don’t all have that amount of money sat around, however one idea that was started at Arsenal by their supporters trust, was a fanshare scheme that allowed a £10 per month payment into a fund, which will buy shares at a later date, allowing members to view the corporate information, attend the AGM etc. This is something that the Arsenal chief exec is quoted as saying, ‘is good for the soul of the club’.

There are now football supporters trusts in 160 UK clubs, 15 clubs are owned/controlled by their trusts, 110 trusts are shareholders in their club. As stated by Northampton Town Supporters Trust, formed in 1992 and the longest established supporters collective in the UK, supporters involvement in football governance – ‘has an inescapable political dimension’

Spirit of Shankly-Share Liverpool (SOS-SL) have 30,000 members and a board with massive expertise and professional experience. They have a detailed proposal for funding and securing a buyout of Liverpool FC, and a plan for governance restructuring with more democracy involved. As a proud member of SOS, I encourage any Liverpool FC fan to join SOS and make your voice heard in the correct manner.

It was put to Steve Rotherham about a groundshare, specifically asking the question of one for LFC/EFC. Steve answered this as any supporter would…the tribalism of football does not always allow for the business sense option to prevail. This type of answer to a business decision sometimes points to the reasons why supporters co-operatives would not work, however until we are in a position to put this to a members vote we will not know the majority reaction, although I know what my response would be!

Steve went on to say that the Government has to get involved now, as the standards have slipped and the self governance and self policing is no longer working due to the business aspect that has grown out of all proportion in recent years. As Steve rightly states, ‘profit fixated asset strippers’, cannot continue to ruin our heritage and if that means that the Government need to be involved then they need to act fast.

In Germany any football club has to have at least 51% owned by supporters, their clubs cannot be owned outright by an individual or company that may want to use the ‘brand’ to make money, it’s about time something similar happened here. In Spain, FC Barcelona are wholly owned my their supporters and they continue to be one of the world leaders in football. Both of these examples may not fully fit the model for British football, they show the way and give ideas on how governance can improve. There needs to be a long-term vision, whether that be of outright supporter ownership or a majority share supporters, need to be heard.

The Minister for Sport Hugh Robertson ended the debate asking, ‘What do you want me to do about this?’
The governance reform agenda and supporter involvement is something that he seems to both understand and want to find a solution to, hopefully this is not more political bull and something will come about from the debate that was secured by Steve Rotherham, I personally would like to thank Steve for securing this debate and getting this out in public and have personally emailed him my thanks.

I must admit that, until I had heard this debate today, my focus has been on the effect that governance has had on the Premier League football clubs, specifically Liverpool FC. But I am now aware of the issues right through the beautiful game and beyond! I urge any supporter who has the long-term interest of their club at heart, and I fail to see how someone could call themselves a supporter if they did not, to join their respective supporters trust and make a move towards having your voice heard, whether the sport be football, rugby or any other sport!!

Transparency and Accountability are what we need in our clubs. Some may be global brands, but all are local businesses with a community and a heritage, let’s make sure that this is not forgotten.

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