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Very interesting piece, have always loved reading about FC United and wish them nothing but the best, they seem very well intentioned and are going about things the right way!

I can't say I knew much about the fanshare scheme at Arsenal prior to this but my question is how will any future battle for control of the board (Kronke/Usamov) affect the scheme ? If somebody manages to get their hands on enough shares from elsewhere (perhaps Bracewell's shares) then could they not simply force them out or, perhaps with less reputation damage, simply push them aside ?

Good blog. Arsenal should be praised for the fanshare scheme. The board room operations of so many big clubs are so far removed from the ordinary fan, that it's no wonder so many of them feel so disillusioned with their clubs. Man Utd being a case in mind and hence the birth of FC united.

As a lifelong Arsenal fan, I've always felt that our club has been run like one big family, many players would say the same thing. From the Chief exec right down to the tea lady, everyone is Arsenal through and through. The fanshare scheme is a natural extension of this ethos - bringing the fans views to the boardroom in a real and effective way

Well done Arsenal football club - an example to others

Very interesting blog :)

Good to see that its one of the country's top teams who are getting their fans more involved, and they are setting a good example. Well done Arsenal :)

My point is how will a club like Manchester United implement this, given that so many of their fans share a huge dislike for the current owners?

Also, all the best to FC United, would like to see them progress and challenge for league football in a few years time :)

Matt your blog needs a little clarification re the lack of investment in Gersave and I think its fair to say that Rangers are:

At least £27m in debt and possibly liable for a further £25m to HMRC because of possible tax avoidance;

In the midst of a possible takeover delayed due to the lack of resolution about the tax issue;

And any other debts that are owing but not publicised in the spiders web of accounting of Murray International Metals (the owners of the club) reputed to be laden with debt to over £700m.

David Murray is desperate to sell but against this backdrop who would invest heavily to buy this club at this point? Supporters may be picking the club up for a song come this May. But not for the 'songs' usually associated with this club!

Good blog. Any initiative that allows fans to have more say in the running of their club can only be a good thing. Any well run club should have a combination of business expertise and people who genuinely care for the team concerned.

Too many times in the past, fans have been taken in by 'businessmen' who have promised the world but delivered nothing.

Excellent blog post that. It is refreshing to see one of the country's leading clubs trying to make their club more accessible to their fan base when so many others are heading in the opposite direction.

It is a shame what happened at Man Utd as they had a similar scheme (Shareholders United [now MUST]) until the Glazers ripped the club away from those fans.

All the best to FC United also, they are doing things the right way and Andy Walsh is right in what he says. If a club with a core fan base of 2000 can raise £1.5 million then just think what kind of sums a club who regularly get attendances of 50,000 could achieve!

Exactly how much influence will fans have at Arsenal? An 100th percent share of 1 (single) Arsenal Share does not seem very influential to me? Or is this just a 'feel good about owning your club ' gimmick, to impress the gullible? I suppose it might get them a better seat in the Clubs Restaurant.
In todays multi-million pound business world of Premier League Clubs I cannot see it having much success, however with such as FC United of Manchester thats another thing again, they can help paint the stadium as well!

Really nice blog here, very insightful.

Taking inspiration from writers like this, There is a new blog on the Internet called thefullcircleblog.wordpress.com. It has a section about Manchester united and there is a tribute to Gary Neville. Coming on tomorrow will be a tactical analysis on Manchester uniteds defeat to wolves. There will be many more blog posts coming this week and in the future. Please could you have a look and if you like it, comment, follow @fullcircleblog and subscribe! Thank you for your time!

That sort of scheme is an excellent idea for a successful club. At AFC Bournemouth following our financial difficulties in the 90's fans subscribed for shares in the new company through a supporters trust mutual and had approx £500,000 investment in the club. Sadly the club went into administration and the shares became worthless.

I think the best scheme that has been developed in the last 25 years is the Chelsea Pitchowners Scheme. When Chelsea were going through hard times back in the 80's someone had the novel idea of forming a company that just owned the pitch area at Stamford Bridge to stop the march of property developers asset stripping their football club. Chelsea fans own shares in the company that own the pitch and shares continue to be issued.

At AFCB we entered into a sale and lease back arrangement for our ground a few years ago and we would dearly love to buy it back because paying out approx £360k a year in rent is dead money. Now our finances appear to have improved through recent player sales the next logical step would be how to achieve this. Perhaps a pitchowners scheme could work for us.

No mention of Ebbsfleet Utd and/or myfootballclub.com? A very real case of fans owning the club. A free trial membership too. Look it up!

dominic wrote:

.....I can't say I knew much about the fanshare scheme at Arsenal prior to this but my question is how will any future battle for control of the board (Kronke/Usamov) affect the scheme ? If somebody manages to get their hands on enough shares from elsewhere (perhaps Bracewell's shares) then could they not simply force them out or, perhaps with less reputation damage, simply push them aside ?
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Undoubtably, this is exactly what happened to Manchester United, I had a few shares which the Glazers compulsory took from me, there was no choice. Once they reached a certain percentage of shares themselves they are allowed to buy everyone else's shares whether you like it or not.

Agree with you totally, Tony #11. I was also a MUFC shareholder although I sold my shares before Glazer time. Schemes such as that run by Arsenal are very nice, but in the cold hard world of business they are little more than a novelty. As former MUFC shareholders (including those members of United's scheme "Shareholders United") found out, once a major shareholder passes certain thresholds, they can simply buy out the rest....and there's nothing you can do about it.

Arsenal fans will be wasting their money. They will get no real say in anything. It may give them a warm feeling inside that they own part of the club, but I see these things as yet again exploiting the most loyal supporters.

Why couldn't Arsenal (or other clubs) just GIVE AWAY shares to those fans who have held season tickets for more than 20+ years or have not missed a home and away game in a certain number of years?

That's rewarding loyalty, not exploiting it.

I can't say I knew much about the fanshare scheme at Arsenal prior to this but my question is how will any future battle for control of the board (Kronke/Usamov) affect the scheme ? If somebody manages to get their hands on enough shares from elsewhere (perhaps Bracewell's shares) then could they not simply force them out or, perhaps with less reputation damage, simply push them aside ?


That is what happened at United when the Glazers took over.

I got £10 for my 'share' because the Glazers could buy it whether I liked it or not. Once someone buys over a certain amount of shares they can buy all the rest.

As far as I can remember I put it into FCUM

Soz just seen #11 & #12

Whoops

Ironic that Arsenal moved from South London to North London and now Spurs want to do the same in the opposite direction.

Arsenal fans will be wasting their money. They will get no real say in anything. It may give them a warm feeling inside that they own part of the club, but I see these things as yet again exploiting the most loyal supporters.

Why couldn't Arsenal (or other clubs) just GIVE AWAY shares to those fans who have held season tickets for more than 20+ years or have not missed a home and away game in a certain number of years?

That's rewarding loyalty, not exploiting it.

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I don't see how the fanshare scheme exploits the fans. Arsenal get nothing from supporting the scheme.

Not sure if you watched the Super Bowl the other night Matt, but the best example of a fan owned business doing well were Sunday night's winners, the Green Bay Packers. Despite having a population of roughly 100000 they sell out their 70000+ seat stadium every game, with another 70000 on a waiting list for a season ticket. The team can never be moved from Green Bay and competes amongst even the most financially powerful sports franchises. It is a fascinating situation, probably unique.

#18 - don't forget FC Barcelona

3. No need to worry, the owners would never countenance the idea of fan ownership. Until they are gone, this model of Arsenal's would never get off the ground at Old Trafford.

The blog is interesting in itself, but its on the back of a fending political inquiry. Government intervention is dangerous, and yet again the powers that be are partly pandering to what they feel is public opinion in a way to win votes.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

the shares thing is sweet, but such a small idea. clubs' only value is in the support. fans merely need to threaten to stop buying tickets, merchandise and sky subscriptions and politely ask for the current owners to hand over the club. no customers, no profits. the glazers' bankers would not have supported a takeover if there had been a credible threat of a mass boycott. they could be forced to sell at a reasonable price by the same. ultimately, they could be broken and fans could take over the club for a pittance. it's the same for every club. forget a slow, meaningless build-up of shareholdings. collectively, you have more power as consumers than as voters.

this is also true regarding all the big corporates ruling your lives. you have all the power. is it too much to expect a jasmine revolution in football? it's just a question of desire. then we could reform the f.a., uefa and fifa and we woudl have our game back.

It cost 800m to buy United. Who would listen to someone paying £10 for "their say"?

"Ironic that Arsenal moved from South London to North London and now Spurs want to do the same in the opposite direction."

Buy a London atlas Tony :)

Good luck to all those involved. I think for many clubs community ownership is the way forward as the 'owner' model is failing. A similar model has been adopted by a lower league team in Scotland:

Exactly how much influence will fans have at Arsenal? An 100th percent share of 1 (single) Arsenal Share does not seem very influential to me? Or is this just a 'feel good about owning your club ' gimmick, to impress the gullible? I suppose it might get them a better seat in the Clubs Restaurant.
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A fan with a full Arsenal share has a vote in club decisions. Any fan with an Arsenal Fanshare has a vote that determines the voting decision made by the full Arsenal share e.g. 100 fans with 100 fanshares that make up 1 full share decide by 90% to go with decision A and so at the AGM decision A is voted on for that 1 full share.

The point with the scheme is that over time it builds up members and acquires more full shares and so has more influence over club decisions.

At no point does the club gain anything from the Fanshare members. The club doesn't own the shares, the shareholders own the shares and they are the ones who sell shares to the scheme and the ones that "profit".

#19. I don't think FC Barcelona is a good example as they are hugely in debt and couldn't pay their players salary over the summer until they got a bridging loan.

Great blog and great to hear about FC United. I think there are a few other cases that would be nice to hear about such as AFC Wimbledon. It is also interesting with the recent financial difficulties that some clubs have had such as Crystal Palace and Portsmouth that it has been fans/groups of supporters that have purchased the clubs. Do you know if there is any plans to extend the fan ownership at such clubs?

I am a member of the Arsenal Share scheme and think it is a great scheme. It is regulated by the FSA and you subscribe to a standing order each month (minimum £10) or you can make one off payments. The way it works is once there is enough money to purchase a share and you have "saved" enough to purchase 1/100th the scheme arranges purchase of 1 share. Judging by the figures above the share scheme would have about 35 shares. I agree with the article it is also about the culture of the club and the way that it is run with the fans. We know we will not have the deciding say but we are also listened to and have a right to be at the AGM. (Where you own a percentage of a share there is a "draw" for who can attend the AGM) Over time the number of people in the sharescheme will only grow and the number of shares we own will only increase and I think that can only be a good thing. The club itself wanted "Plurality of ownership".

In case of a takeover you are correct the shares would be purchased at the agreed takeover price the same as any company takeover.

The differing interests of shareholders illustrates a critical point.

The fans of a club want to buy shares because they believe in the club, because they want to be part of the club, because they support its aims.

Most owners, certainly those such as the Glazers, are clearly in it for the financial returns. I can imagine they have some interest in sport, and may even get a kick out of Man U winning a big game, but there is no doubt that their principle interest is making money.

This epitomises all that is wrong with capitalism.

The vast majority of those investing in companies on the stock exchanges across the world have no interest whatsoever in the activities of the companies they are invested in. They are simply interested in the financial returns. They may want the company to observe laws, or to avoid morally difficult areas such as child labour, or poisoning local waterways, but the reality is that the only reason they care about such matters is that they might put off future investors from buying the shares, resulting in a lower share price.

The world needs a new class of shareholders to emerge - shareholders who truly care about what the company they are investing in is trying to achieve.

Football is in many ways a parody of life as a whole. Let's hope that Arsenal and other clubs can create a path to supporters owning clubs, and that this serves as an inspiration for the wider community's attitude to share ownership of companies.

unfortunately, upside down, that new class of shareholders cannot emerge under the current system (and the concept mooted above is little more than a sop). therefore, it is up to consumers to drive the corporate ethos. the reason companies shy away from sweatshop labour is because people refuse to buy the product. consumer action works. shareholders are, indeed, motivated by profit. which makes them an easy target.

all that is needed is for consumers to have a conscience.

so... when you knock capitalism, remember you have three long fingers pointing back at you. it's not a criticism; I'm just offering some hope. :0)

if fans unite, knowing that they represent the only value in the club, suddenly they are the only ones to whom it has any value.

no need for a mass boycott, incidentally. all that is required is an agreement (say, via an online petition), that if enough fans sign up, all who have signed will boycott. once the threshold is met, wander along to the owners and provide an ultimatum. you don't need to miss a single game.

Matt, not sure why you did not mention the attempt by Liverpool fans to raise enough money to buy the club? Clearly this was an ambitious goal, perhaps overly, and perhaps the best first step is to do as Arsenal have done.
Once a board agree to this then it would be very difficult to ever get rid of without risk of a huge backlash from the fans, even if one shareholder were to acquire enough shares to have the right to buy them out.
Fingers crossed this is the first of many and we see far more fan representation on the boards of many football clubs up and down the country. It can only be a good thing.

probably the most boring blog i've ever read, struggled to stay awake towards the middle and the majority of the facts are inaccurate.

All this user's posts have been removed.Why?

Fans acquiring shares in clubs only has value if they obtain sufficient shares to carry any voting weight and the major shareholders in Arsenal will not lose any sleep over minority shareholdings whilst their motive remains to squeeze every last penny they can out of fans - the ticket prices at the Emirates illustrating the point

You fail to mention AFC Wimbledon. After our club was disolved into MK Dons, the fans started the club again and have moved up the ladder from the Combined Counties League to the top of the Conference, on step away from the league again. They are the model for a fans club. They carry a regular crowd of 3,000 + and have a strong away support. Their support carries around the globe, in particular with strong supporter groups in both Australia and the USA. AFCW actually helped and supported FCUM in their set-up and we regularly hold pre-season games with them. Certainly we deserve a mention?

Many people focus of FC Utd and AFC Wimbledon during this debate but there is a Supporters Trust owner club in the football league, Exeter City. From the depths of relegation to the conference and the arrest and conviction of the key people running our club the supporters club trust have owned the club since then. Some success with 2 promotions has followed. I think however that many fans need to get real and realise that a business model based upon running up huge debts and hoping a rich benefactor will rescue them isn't sustainable. Realistic budgets and expectations of success are required. I note the current plight of our rivals and the lack of coverage the premiership obsessed media have given them.

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"the majority of the facts are inaccurate" is a contradiction in terms.
Aside from that, would you care to enlighten us as to which ones, being as you are so knowledgeable?

Bayern Munich are incredibly rich and pay sky high wages, have a new magnificent stadium and are more than 50% fan owned. They have little debt, can afford the world's top players and can compete with Chelsea,Madrid etc on a financial and footballing level.

German clubs have strict rules where a club must be owned by I think 50% fanshare and other bundelsiga clubs have managed to build huge stadiums, have record attendances and be in far better financial health then prem league clubs although they dont get anywhere near the huge sky tv windfall of their english counterparts.

The UK gov could implement similar rules perhaps???Fanshare is the way forward

Here's a link to explain the bundesliga system in a bit of detail

//www.guardian.co.uk/sport/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2009/nov/13/bundesligafootball-bayernmunich

There's too much wrong with football for a few fan-share clubs to make any difference.Yes, we need proper scrutiny of prospective owners to stop what happened at Brighton Doncaster Wimbledon over the years, but the FA cant/wont bring any needed changes as the premier league is over represented on commitees-its amazing how OUTGOING FA chairman bemoan the lack of needed change but do NOTHING when in office.
Money speaks too loudly. I can only presume new fans (ieTV fans) are happy with the 1970's American MLS style game on offer and its Harlem Globetrotter style exhibition matches as so many teams cant compete.And as long as they are and keep paying, it doesn't matter a damn about the football fan who goes week in week out to games.Just look at Scotland to see how disasterous and tedious the English game will become and remain. Scots fans want a return to competitive football-the old 2 divisions with one home & away game a season, but there's no way thats going to happen for what little money is on offer, the TV demands (as do armchair addicts) endless Celtic v Rangers games.
Just as the Champions league is turning Barcelona v...... into a bore for football fans (not those in armchairs) so the TV deal in Scotland has done the impossible and made old firm games a bore.
The average age of a premier league match attendee is about 45, which is incredibly old when you factor in how small a percentage are 18-24.
TV and money dictates and has ruined the game forever. FIFA Manager games on X Box create more competition and excitement!