Football 2.0 (or, How I learned to stop worrying about Abramovich and love Soccr)

August 2, 2007 4:55 AM

In Britain, just as the football season ended 5 months ago, a football fan and journalist launched an endeavour to buy a club. MyFootballClub asks for £35 from their members and in return, trustees are given the right to vote on transfer deals, squad choices and managerial appointments. But first they are to decide which football team to buy. From across the world people are invited to play the tycoons at their own game. With the target 50,000 members signed up already, and with the new season set to start in a few weeks it looks like this radical trust has a fighting chance.
posted by takeyourmedicine (22 comments total)

That's awesome. I think I'll sign up.
posted by sveskemus at 5:00 AM on August 2, 2007

Just because 50,000 people signed up, that doesn't mean 50,000 will cough up. Good luck to them, but I can't see it working.
posted by salmacis at 5:02 AM on August 2, 2007

What a fantastic idea. I'm tempted.
posted by teleskiving at 5:02 AM on August 2, 2007

Yes I think I will too. It sure as hell beats football management games. And for less than the price of a ticket (so says the ex-journalist and copyrighter owner) it seems like a good deal. Not sure how happy the existing fans will be though...
posted by takeyourmedicine at 5:04 AM on August 2, 2007

that doesn't mean 50,000 will cough up.

I think the fact that they managed to get 50,000 before it hit the front page of Mefi (oh and the BBC) indicates that they will likely far exceed the 50,000 required. And if you look closely - you'll see that they are not actually updating the counter on the website so that it doesn't bias any take-over talks. I think they'll easily buy a club (my money's on Nottingham Forest).
posted by takeyourmedicine at 5:08 AM on August 2, 2007

I tried to sign up but got this:

We are temporarily unable to accept payments from overseas members. You will receive an email alert as soon as your payment can be taken.

Thank you, The MyFootballClub Team

posted by sveskemus at 5:09 AM on August 2, 2007

Apologies - I thought it was clear from the FAQ.

“I love English football, but I do not live in England. Can I still join?”
Absolutely. Overseas members are positively encouraged. This will also help the club’s scouting network.

But that's fine - I'll set up a trust, and 34 mefi members can each paypal me £1 (+paypal fees
+ administration fees so I can manage this trust full time) and together we'll buy a share, and vote on how to vote.
posted by takeyourmedicine at 5:13 AM on August 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

Caveat emptor: "Membership fees are annual. If you do not want to continue being a member, there’s no obligation to renew. "
posted by takeyourmedicine at 5:17 AM on August 2, 2007

Semi-related funny
posted by tellurian at 5:21 AM on August 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

takeyourmedicine, I think that is just a temporary message and hopefully we should be able to sign up soon.
posted by Fence at 6:38 AM on August 2, 2007

I had no problem signing up. I just used the UK payment option and Paypal took care of the rest.
posted by chachee at 6:45 AM on August 2, 2007

I know its unlikely, but wouldn't it be great if they somehow got to wrangle Leeds from the grasp of pond-scum "cuddly" Ken Bates and his secretive offshore companies and Arthur Daley-like dodgy deals. Yeah, to quote Kevin Keegan, "I'd luv eh!".
posted by Sk4n at 7:10 AM on August 2, 2007

they are currently holding talks with 4 league 2 and conference sides who have approached them.
posted by takeyourmedicine at 7:13 AM on August 2, 2007

Paging Adorno. This kind of kills the whole "sports are produced by the hierarchy and consumed by the proles" argument you see from cultural studies. In this case, the viewer/consumers become the owners and exert some fractional control over the entity.

Cool. I for one am goddamn sick of the "production of culture" bullshit po-mo analysis. Adorno made sense during the high modernist era with centralized production and so on. It does not make much sense now.

Oh and he hated jazz too. That's another strike against him.
posted by wuwei at 8:31 AM on August 2, 2007

As an overseas member you simply have to try and log in with the username and password you signed up with and the site lets you pay via Paypal. What crappy usability but never mind, I'm in now, woohoo!
posted by sveskemus at 8:35 AM on August 2, 2007

In this case, the viewer/consumers become the owners and exert some fractional control over the entity.

And we have evidence that this works in the US. A small Wisconsin city is the home of one of the most legendary US Football teams of all time -- the Green Bay Packers.

The Packers are currently owned by 112,015 people, sharing 4,750,934 shares of stock. By rule, redemption price is the legal minimum, you cannot sell the stock on the market, no dividends are paid, and no person or body can hold more than 200,000 shares. It is real stock, you get voting rights at the annual shareholders meeting. (There are limited inheritance/marriage rights, you can leave your stock to Cheesehead, jr.)

The result? There are damn few fans more loyal than Packers fans. The Packers aren't moving. The last stock sale, in 1997, raised enough money to pay for the Lambeau Field renovations, with some left over.

The Packers are run for the fans, and it shows. The point of the Packers isn't profit, it's to provided a competitive team for the fans, and they've done so.
posted by eriko at 8:56 AM on August 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

Barcelona are run in a similar way. I think as long as you separate the fan control from the day-to-day management of training, etc., you have a winning package.

I would join, but I'd feel disloyal.
posted by athenian at 12:32 PM on August 2, 2007

Brilliant idea. I've signed up, and my vote's for Leeds United.
posted by veedubya at 2:52 PM on August 2, 2007

This is a great idea.
posted by ob at 6:41 AM on August 3, 2007

I don't have a whole entire pound, but if 9 mefi members paypal me 10 pence (+paypal fees) together we'll buy a vote on takeyourmedicine's trust, and vote on how to vote on how to vote.

I'm happy for groups of ten to chip in 1p each, but you'll have to vote on how to vote on how to vote on how to vote and present me with the results.
posted by The Monkey at 7:03 AM on August 3, 2007

^ metavoting?

(related)
posted by takeyourmedicine at 1:36 PM on August 3, 2007

Discussed in April on SportsFilter.

yes, I posted it there.
posted by terrapin at 4:42 PM on August 3, 2007