When not being a brilliant expert in Portuguese football, Ben Shave works as a development officer at Supporters Direct, whose goal, in their words, “is to promote sustainable spectator sports clubs based on supporters’ involvement & community ownership.” It was in that capacity that Shave wrote an op-ed in today’s Guardian on a recent parliamentary committee meeting and group of fan workshops on supporters-owned clubs.
The highlight: Shave’s criticism of Football League chairman Greg Clarke’s remarks that supporters-owned clubs are at risk of losing money:
As long as English football governance lacks a comprehensive whole-game regulatory approach aimed at securing both the sustainable development of the game and its clubs, and supporter community engagement in the running of clubs, the unlevel playing field that puts sustainably run clubs at a disadvantage will endure. The current system incentivises irresponsible spending, encourages the acquisition of eye-watering debt, and allows “chasing the dream” to masquerade as a business plan. Clubs like Exeter, whose supporters’ trust has over 4000 members, are not relegated because they run out of money: the unlevel playing field is to blame.
This is why these Supporters Direct initiatives are so important, because, united by a common agenda, these groups can have a strong voice in pushing for a financial model that respects grassroots football as a kind of community trust, rather than as a business.
As I’ve exhaustively written on this blog before, in a league that levies heavy financial punishment on clubs that fail to compete (relegation), whilst showering money on clubs that do manage to succeed (relegation), promoting a model which allows wealthy investors to spend in excess of club turnover on player transfers in the hope of overnight success and increased revenues promotes player wage inflation. It is, in economic terms a vicious cycle, a “race to the bottom.” It has left countless clubs facing administration at best, economic ruin at worst.
The current set-up cries out for better, centralized relegation to preserve English football’s rich heritage, and to promote small, local clubs as community-owned assets, rather than vanity-projects for irresponsible investors. Only a united Supporters group can push for these changes.
You can visit Supporters Direct for more information here.
Very apt point. I think that another factor is that in most circumstances Supporters Trusts are only able to get involved in the running of the club after a bad owner has left the club in a vulnerable position.
The football league & premier league needs to take a good look at itself. I would have thought that Leeds experience would have woken a lot of clubs up. However the situation at Portsmouth, where the league approved CSI as owners and allowed them to take on more wages without addressing the debt issues of a club that had just emerged from Administration now has the club facing liquidation. Funnily enough the football league’s decision to further punish Pompey with a second 10 point penalty is a contributing factor. The string of irresponsible owners along with the premier league and football league all share the responsibility for the impending liquidation of a club that was an FA cup finalist and Premier League side in 2010.
I am happy that the Supporters Direct is there to stand up for the small clubs that have been taken over and risen from the ashes by their supporters. Without the supporters, alot of small clubs in English non-league football would not be around today.
Just a side bar note: Victoria Highlanders FC of the USL Premier Development League is the only supporter-owned football club in Canada and United States. Currently, the supporters own 60% of the club (30% local football associations, 30% supporters). I am one of the supporters of this club, living in Victoria and supporting this club since it’s inaugural season in 2009. Plus I am a member of the club’s only supporters group, the Lake Side Buoys. This is how small clubs survive in lower league football leagues here in Canada/USA. There isn’t anything better :)