Website agrees to buy football club!

[Napoleon Solo]

Fans' community website MyFootballClub has agreed a deal to take over Blue Square Premier outfit Ebbsfleet United.

The 20,000 MyFootballClub members have each paid £35 to provide a £700,000 takeover pot and they will all own an equal share in the club.

Members will have a vote on transfers as well as player selection and all major decisions.
"We are united in believing this is a great opportunity," Ebbsfleet chairman Jason Botley told BBC Sport.

"This extra finance and support will enable our club to progress."

The deal is expected to be completed in a few weeks after a due diligence process and the website will purchase a 51% controlling stake, while also having the option to buy the club outright in the future.

The takeover is a landmark for English football, given the website's stated intention of involving the members so radically in the running of the club, particularly with team selection.

After the takeover goes through the current board will stay in place, as will manager Liam Daish, although his title will change to head coach.

Daish insisted that he was happy for fans to have an input on team matters.

"Picking 11 players and formations isn't a precise science and luck often plays its part," stated the Ebbsfleet boss.

"During and after matches, Ebbsfleet supporters often give me their opinion on which players should or shouldn't start games. Now they can have their say.

"My job won't change that much. As a club, we'll select the starting 11 players and formation together.

"But just as before, what goes on at the training ground and in the dressing room on the day of the match is down to me.

"It's the supporters' money that finances this club and pays my wages and those of the players.

"So there's a good argument for them having a say in what players they want to see."

Ebbsfleet were formerly Gravesend and Northfleet but the club's name was changed in May in a bid to tap into the regeneration of the area.

They are currently ninth in the Blue Square Premier, six points off a play-off place for entry to the Football League.

And Ebbsfleet's push for a spot in League Two will receive a boost as some of the funds raised by MyFootballClub members will be available in the January transfer window.

MyFootballClub members will be given the option to vote on who the club should buy.

Daish added that he was fully behind the radical model for the club.

"We all agree we need something extra to take us to the next step," he said.

"As a football fan, I think the MyFootballClub idea is fantastic.

"As the coach, I look forward to the challenge of working with thousands of members to produce a winning team.

"My assistant Alan Kimble and myself are 100% committed to making this work."

Since the website's launch in April, 50,000 members have signed up, with 20,000 of those paying the registration fee.

The membership subscription is paid annually so new members can join and become owners at any time, adding to the club's finances.

MyFootballClub was approached by nine clubs and looked into seven of those before opting to take over Ebbsfleet.

The Financial Services Authority has approved the setting up of the MyFootballClub Trust to safeguard members' interests in the eventuality of the club running into financial difficulties.

"The MyFootballClub ownership model is an innovative way of funding a lower league club," said Dan Jones, partner at Deloitte and editor of the Annual Review of Football Finance.

"Reports of having raised over £700,000 in 11 weeks suggests it is viable too.

"Deloitte has been following its progress with interest and we're now looking forward to offering our experience in football finance to assist with advice and guidance during the due diligence process."

MyFootballClub creator Will Brooks added: "We hope that MyFootballClub members and Ebbsfleet supporters will join forces and make the football club more sustainable and successful."

Jessica McQueen, Ebbsfleet United Supporters' Trust chair commented: "Being a Trust, our members understand the MyFootballClub concept immediately.

"We very much look forward to working with the MyFootballClub members for the benefit of Ebbsfleet United."

From the BBC

[all_funkt_up]

I think Mickey posted the story up about the website a few months back. Well its all come to fruition and they've bought the club eh.

Nice idea isnt it, exactly what the people get for their money and how much input they will have remains to be seen.

[ONEDUNME]

Never heard of them. What a waste of fuckin publicity that was.

May as well have sponsored a school football team or something.

A total gimmick doomed for total disaster. When the idea was first lauded they were talking about anything up to the level of CC Championship.

Pile of wank

[all_funkt_up]

I think they used to be Grays but changed their name last year.

[Napoleon Solo]

Originally Posted by all_funkt_up

I think they used to be Grays but changed their name last year.

They used to be Gravesend and Northfleet, but changed their name to tap into the regeneration of the Ebbsfleet area (whatever that means)!

[ONEDUNME]

Three positives I see in this, versus a couple of thousand negatives.

1. The publicity will increase their advertising value.

2. The may get a couple more live TV games on the back of the interest raised.

3...and probably most important, some of the 20,000 people who have chipped in and who are fairly local are bound to want to go and see their team in the flesh which should boost the crowds.


I haven't got time for all the negatives but "too many cooks spoil the broth should just about cover it".

[AnothrSpacecat]

can see them selling 20,000 replica shirts now for at least 2 seasons.

just about everybody who has signed up will be a football nerd and will want one, there will be a short term boost in attendance figures and had they done this at the start of the season then season tickets wouldve gone through the roof.

i feel for the fans of the club, especially those who have had to endure a change of the teams name already, as a fan myself of a club that has gone through big changes i know what the damage can be.

15 years ago there were 3 teams in inverness outwith the senior scottish leagues, despite the place being bigger than places with premier league sides like kimarnock, motherwell, dunfermline and perth (plus loads more who have fleeted in and out of the top diviision such as falkirk and kircaldy). the sfl invited a merged inverness side to join the league, which was difficult for the fans of the old 3 clubs to handle (obviously) and was given to the owners of the clubs as an ultimatum.

the merger trials lasted for 2 years, massive opposition on all sides, but before the hype around the merger both inverness thistle and caledonian fc were only attracting 600 punters between them (clachnacuddin opted out of the merger early and continue in the highland league still). it wasnt until the clubs were to be taken away that passions for the old sides really went over the top, the final votes from the then season ticket holders of both sides narrowly voted in favor of the merger going ahead. when it was all done and dusted there was alot of soul searching to be done, and although a few hundred people were too shattered to go with the change and play in the senior league, it has proved a total success for those who joined the new side. we were promised top division football in 10 years and we got it, that wasnt the driving force behind the new supporters flocking to the club, rather it was the huge latent support waiting in the wings who hated the old 3 part time team system.

as for ebbefleet, i can see their genuine fans and those who used to support gravesend and northfleet going through what many in inverness did 15 years ago. they will have to make a choice that has been forced on them and the worst ever for a football fan... your teams been taken away.. do you follow the reincarnation which will be guaranteed success? or sit back and watch them rise to levels youd never see the old side?

it be easier for them if they just went bust and died, at least they couldve moved on, its going to be a total shite for the loyal old fans to deal with

[ONEDUNME]

Originally Posted by AnothrSpacecat

had they done this at the start of the season then season tickets wouldve gone through the roof.

"Through the roof" is a bit optimistic. Given that this was a national (probably international) project and nobody knew which club they would end up with, how many of those who signed up are going to be within regular travelling distance and want to go every week. Not many.


Short term, with the novelty value they will get an extra couple of hundred bums on seats but season ticket sales? I don't think so myself.

[AnothrSpacecat]

perhaps ive got a different idea about the kind of people who would sign up and pay towards a numpty project like the above, i think hey must be absolute geeks who would love nothing better than adopting ebbsfleet for real (by that i mean as a fan)

it cant be an accident that theyve picked a side a few miles outside london, a good chunk of people who singed up to this must be there and are probably the sort who will goto the games despite having no previous connection with the club

[ONEDUNME]

Well you certainly have a different idea to me, yes.

These 20,000 must be scattered the length and bredth of the country (and even abroad). I'm not sure what logic would suggest that a lot of them live just outside London but there are enough clubs in London for them to latch on to anyway.

MK Dons are in an ideal spot to take advantage of the lack of local decent clubs just outside the London area. They started off with an existing fan base and a history and are currently top of League two and how many are they attracting to games? Six thousand or so?

Football is all about history. Changing their name is a backward step in my view and this lark is gimmicky, pie in the sky stuff.

[AnothrSpacecat]

with 20,000 people paying and a further 30,000 odd signed up to tag along, perhaps there room for both of us to be right. for every native of london there must be another who has moved there from another part of the country, not everybody there wouldve adopted a team and those who have are the types who could change. also the people who have paid £35 to a website knowing they would be destroying a club, will very unlikely be a fan of another club whole heartedly, anybody signed up to this must have at best questionable loyalties elsewhere. considering the number of 'owners' or shareholders, i doubt any of them are in it to make money and wouldve done it purely out of being a fan and probably stupid enough to turn up on a regular basis

ive seen it with my own eyes in scotland, people latch onto clubs, once upon a time livingston had an average attendance of 7,000, it was a similar venture to mk dons that has gone backwards since debts caught up with them.

[all_funkt_up]

Originally Posted by AnothrSpacecat

perhaps ive got a different idea about the kind of people who would sign up and pay towards a numpty project like the above, i think hey must be absolute geeks who would love nothing better than adopting ebbsfleet for real (by that i mean as a fan)

it cant be an accident that theyve picked a side a few miles outside london, a good chunk of people who singed up to this must be there and are probably the sort who will goto the games despite having no previous connection with the club

These sorts of people dont leave the house. They might have to come into contact with the general public and heaven forbid, they might even meet a girl.

Euuuw, girls are smelly.

Nah, these sorts of people will no doubt still be living at home with their mams and will buy the kit but no more. They will no doubt take over ebbsfleet on football manager and don the kit at the same time. They live off pot noodles and when they've had the re-hydrated slop, they crack one off to countdown before carrying on with FM2008 on one pc and chat to their mate on ICQ about C++ on their other pc.

Geeks one and all.