FANCY A VISIT TO THE NEW WEMBLEY
Fancy a visit to the new Wembley ? Why not go and watch the FA trophy final between Torquay United and Ebbsfleet United on the 10 May - tickets go on sale from the
Who was that second team I hear you say ! Well read on to find out the story about the newly named and newly owned side that until a few weeks ago had a chance of promotion to the Football League.
It's an unusual story and one that just might be the future !
The article was originally published in the Brentford home programme but is reproduced here for your enjoyment:
(W)ebbsfleet United
By Howard Borrell
You may be aware that Ebbsfleet is a new railway station on the Eurostar route from St Pancras International but it's also the name of the Blue Square Premier (formerly the Conference) side that, at the start of the season, changed it's name from Gravesend and Northfleet as a result of the Eurostar sponsorship.
Last November, the club that's now in it's sixth year of fifth tier football, became even more famous when the web based "MyFootballClub" effectively took control of the club. There had been fears that the club was getting into a financial mess, certainly they were living beyond their means and poor attendances meant there was no easy way forward. When MyFootballClub was launched there was little initial interest in the
The Chairman, Jason Botley, explained that the club had, for the last three years, been propped up by directors' funds, donations from individuals and the Supporters Trust and that the situation looked unsustainable.
Fans community website MyFootballClub entered into negotiations with nine clubs but decided Ebbsfleet was the most suitable and eventually agreed the deal. Our visitors today may be interested to know that Brentford came 13th in the poll to decide which club to buy - decide for yourselves if that's good or bad !
If you haven't followed this story in the media you may wonder where all the takeover money came from - the answer is from genuine football fans all over the world. Fans were asked to pay £35 to become a member (this is an annual fee) and £27-50 will go towards the running of the club and £7-50 to the running of the MyFootballClub Trust and the maintenance of the website (the organisation is based on the Industrial and Provident model just like CFSS).
So far over 20,000 fans have signed up - from all over the
The Views
Writing to you guys from up north in
Having spent a lot of time in the
Best wishes,Simon Staffans,
Me and some guys from work all joined My Football Club, we have all said from about 4 months ago regardless of team and location we would support and follow like we do our first teams. Statements like this may annoy the long term Ebbsfleet fans, but we are all committed to attend home and away games, and push our cash in to the club. We will buy the shirts, buy the membership and if My Football Club come back and ask us for more money to buy a player or extend the stands we will all put our hands in our pockets. We are already planning to attend the Woking Away match at the end of the month, so four more people at an away match, our members come from all over the
Chris Tiltman,
The general consensus seems to be that so far the takeover has been nothing other than benign. "We are united in believing this is a great opportunity," Ebbsfleet chairman Jason Botley told the BBC "This extra finance and support will enable our club to progress."
After the takeover the existing board remained as did the manager Liam Daish, who acquired the more continental (maybe in-line with their Eurostar link) title of 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."
Supporters Direct, the government sponsored quango that promotes supporter involvement in football sees it differently. Spokesperson Kevin Rye, said:
"Fundamentally, playing fantasy manager is not about responsible democratic supporter representation or community ownership, which are the core values of the trust movement. "Indeed we are one of the most vigorous exponents of reform of the ownership structures in football, but our interests are in long term sustainability and governance of clubs. "This might be seen as a one off gimmick, and harmless enough by many, however this is a real football club, these are real finances, and real fans. The question needs to be asked what happens to the club finances and its supporters if the novelty starts to wear off ?"
Head coach Daish disagrees and 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."
Jessica McQueen , Ebbsfleet United Supporters Trust Chair is similarly supportive " Being a trust our members understood the MyFootballClub concept immediately. We are really looking forward to working with their members for the benefit of Ebbsfleet United"
Over £700,000 was raised in just 11 weeks and with currently over 27,000 members I think the quirky idea is worth a try. Nobody has paid their money over wanting to do anything other than help a football club flourish. The rules expressly forbid the club to get into debt and if the club was ever sold the proceeds would go to charity.
Thet takeover was only ratified at the end of last month when over 95% of the members voted to both complete the takeover and allow manager Liam Daish to complete any deals he had in mind for the transfer window. Members recently voted to go for a new kit supplier next year (Nike) and they subsequently chose the designs via the web site;soon they'll also have to elect the Trust board who will have to take some of the more serious decisions.
The takeover obviously enthused the Ebbsfleet team as just days later they ended Burton Albion's unbeaten away run to go 7th in the table, just 6 points off a play-off berth. Last weekend they lost 3-1 at Plainmoor, their first league defeat in eight outings, to free scoring Torquay United, this was a setback to their promotion aspirations but today they play Burton Albion in the quarter final of the FA trophy so maybe a trip to Wembley is a more realistic aspiration now that the gap to a play-off berth has stretched
to eight points.
The hoped for crowd surge even seems to be gathering momentum: the
There is every reason to think that, at this level of football, this model can succeed - get into the Football League and then all the problems that we (and I'm sure Brentford too) experienced with Trust control come to life. Just a few activists at most clubs want to be seriously involved, the majority (probably not unreasonably) just want to turn up and watch their club perform but don't want a structure in place that could inhibit the club's
progress.
Certainly it's an interesting new attempt to further fan involvement. No doubt when it comes to paying the second £35 (as it was with CFSS members paying their renewal fee) the membership numbers will drop but, as this is an idea that has prompted fans in 48 countries to become involved, I think there's a few years mileage in the idea yet !
(For more information see www.myfootballclub.co.uk )
