The essential weakness in Fans' Ownership is the fans

[wafc1926]

Originally Posted by wafc1926

Not got the skills unfortunately. The thread is on Spirit of 78.

I am a member of said discussion board. My access has now been blocked.

[Inside Left]

Just wondering what the context of the debate was. We have to remember that just a few years ago there was a split of opinion within the Trust regarding then ownership. Many will recall hard earned Trust funds being handed over to the club when some within the Trust movement felt the funds should be retained for any future shareholding - or as it transpired purchase of the club.

There were some within the WST who wanted to hand over the funds to the owners in order to prop up the Youth system. Fortunately there were some who saw through the then ownership and the majority of funds remained in the Trust.

Members might consider the days of the 'Fresh Approach' where there was a difference of opinion. I won't dwell on that period of Trust history.

Regardless of what people might think of past Trust Chairs there is little doubt each has played their roll in building an organisation which eventually took control of the club. Each in their own way protected the Trust from predators.

[dagg]

Originally Posted by NottsRed

Its both its strength and weakness. With the fans fully behind the club it can do things but you have to look what happened with Chester to see how it can go wrong.

Also i'd say fan ownership can only go so far in football now. I think once you get to say League 1 / Championship then you need to look at outside funding to compete.

I think once you get to that level it would be easy to get outside funding. Most would be happy to fund a successful club.

[Kiddy Dragon]

Originally Posted by Colonel D

Well there are only one group of fans to raise money from , but any number of potential private owners.
The problem is how many honest private owners ?

Puzzling? The one group of fans has potentially 10,000+ members but to date the any number of private owners is exactly zero.

I cannot understand how anyone, except the very very few with money to burn would wish to put very large sums of money into the bottomless pit which is any football club.

[mattw]

The way that I read the comment wasn't that fans are a 'problem' it was that a lot of fans would happily abandon our current model if there was a whiff of investment, with minimal due diligence and that in itself would be an issue.

It's a number of years since we were first stung by crooks and a lot of younger, newer or forgetful fans may not be quite as sceptical of new owners or investors if someone came waving a chequebook about.

As much as i'm pro trust and think it's the right way to go... I did however think that by now we'd have seen more and more fans owned clubs in the league system; which might tell it's own story.

[louisleftboot]

I'll copy it across. I doubt you've been blocked wafc1926, the website has been dodgy for me too, had to re log in a few times.

I know that things are stable at the moment
But the essential weakness in fans ownership is the fans.
Telford gave it up last season, just a decade after going bust. Chester are on the brink becuase they were unable to maintain their promotion every season progress.
So if someone comes in with an offer or the people who run the club think its not worth aggro....what would actually safeguard the club against a Guterman, Moss, Hamilton type take over.
Specifics.

Posting for contexts sake.

[dixienormous]

Originally Posted by Alan Attack

I was speaking with a friend who’s a Chester fan and he genuinely believed the fans were a big issue in their ownership. Whilst they have a hardcore 1000-1500, that hardcore set incredibly high standards and if things go wrong in a game, they turn on the team instead of getting behind them.

In terms of those who’ve been voted to run the club, he was envious of the quality of person we had on our board. He felt those on Chester’s board had no/little experience of running decent sized companies.

It’s all to do with perception. Chester supporters don’t see themselves as a club struggling to stay in the Conference whilst a good chunk of Wrexham supporters see us as a League 1 team because of our supporter base.

Supporter based League 1 and for 87years a football league team, spent x amount of years in the championship, league one and two. I'd say it's pretty reasonable to see ourselves as a league club.

[wafc1926]

Originally Posted by louisleftboot

I'll copy it across. I doubt you've been blocked wafc1926, the website has been dodgy for me too, had to re log in a few times.



Posting for contexts sake.

Thank you for that. I'd hate for anyone to say I'd misquoted them.

[krux]

Originally Posted by Kiddy Dragon

Puzzling? The one group of fans has potentially 10,000+ members but to date the any number of private owners is exactly zero.

I cannot understand how anyone, except the very very few with money to burn would wish to put very large sums of money into the bottomless pit which is any football club.

but yet there are lots of clubs owned by these people.