The Impact of Community-Owned Clubs in English Football’s Lower Tiers
OXFORD, UK: Close-up of the SkyBet League One emblem captured during the match-up between Oxford United and Coventry City, held at Kassam Stadium in Oxford, England.
Community-owned football clubs are a rare sight in English Football yet there are a few clubs in the English Football division that are partly owned by the fans. Giving the supporters some sort of authority in the boardroom is a good thing.
Community-owned clubs are run with the interest of the club’s supporters at the forefront. There have been recent examples where a few clubs have gone into administration or gone bankrupt because the owners are not trustworthy or fit to run a football club.
Clubs Get Saddled with Debts
Manchester United is the biggest example of owners saddling the club with debt. The Glazers who bought the Manchester club in 2005 have currently saddled the club with £600m debt. The fans of United have been protesting against the Glazers for a decade without any avail.
Sheffield Wednesday is the other example of having an owner who doesn’t know how to run a club. Wednesday was found guilty of breaking the EFL spending rules when they were in the championship in the 2019/20 season.
They were given a 6-point penalty that meant they would start the next season on -6 and that ultimately led to their relegation to League One.
Bankruptcy, Wind-up, and Administration
Community-owned clubs keep the finance of their clubs under check. There are no reckless decisions in-comparison to clubs that are owned by single owners or a company. It is not only the financial side but also the community around the club that gets a boost from the Community-owned clubs.
Bury is a great example of how not to run a club. On the pitch, Bury was killing it, they were getting promotions and playing decent football but they were getting killed by an owner who did not know how to run that club. Ultimately, Bury got the orders to wind up and then completely became defunct.
Derby County, Leeds United, Portsmouth, Crystal Palace, Wigan, Bolton, and Leicester City are some of the other big clubs that went into administration due to financial irregularities.
Community-Owned Clubs
There aren’t many community-owned clubs in the English Football League but there are a couple of clubs that are partly owned by the club’s fans.
1. Newport County
Newport went bust in 1989, but their fans rallied and reformed the club. They had to start in the Hellenic League which is 4 tiers below the English Football League.
There are membership tiers for Newport County with perks added to some of the top tiers. The Club’s Supporter’s trust maintains the majority of stake in the club and that is where all their main decisions come from.
2. AFC Wimbledon
After the breakup of Wimbledon, 1200 Wimbledon fans voted and created The Dons Trust. The Dons Trust is a not-for-profit that now owns the majority stake in the club.
The club which was founded in 2002 has gone through six promotions and now sits pretty in League One. It became the first club formed in the 21st century to play in the Football League.
Currently, 4,400 supporters continue to operate the club, and being the most successful community-owned club on our list, we think they’re doing pretty well for themselves.
3. Exeter City
After the arrest of John Russell and Mike Lewis, Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Exeter City, for financial irregularities, it would have made sense that the club would have gone into a spiral but out of adversity a new hope emerged.
The Exeter City Supporters Trust was formed and now they are the majority shareholders in the club. The club was saddled with a debt of £4.5m in 2003 but they managed to clear the debt in 2005.
Exeter made £1m from a lucrative tie with Manchester United in the FA Cup. That in part helped clear the debt on the club.
Now plying their trade in the English Football League, Exeter City is yet another fine example of how to run a community-owned club.
The Bundesliga Model: A Beacon for English Football?
Bundesliga has a strict 50+1 policy where more than 50% of the club is controlled by the fans. Community-owned teams rarely get into financial turmoil and that is the ultimate aim of a sports franchise apart from winning titles. Financial stability is important, hopefully, we will see a bit more community-owned English clubs in the future.
The Future of Community-Owned Clubs in England
In summary, community-owned clubs in English football offer a refreshing contrast to the conventional ownership models. With fans as stakeholders, these clubs operate under more democratic, transparent, and accountable frameworks. This model has not only saved many clubs from the brink of financial ruin but has also cultivated a sense of belonging and community engagement that is often missing in clubs owned by single entities or corporations. Looking forward, as football becomes increasingly commercialized, it will be interesting to see if the community-owned model gains more traction. For now, it serves as an important reminder that football clubs are more than just businesses; they are integral parts of their communities.
