Membership.

Why £25?

We want to include as many fans as possible in their club purchase. It is less than the price of a football management game, why not take part in the real thing.

I want to help buy my club but I live abroad, can I still take part?

Absolutely! Overseas members can be a good asset for the club as they may be able to spot players in their country that the club can purchase.

Can I buy more than one share?

No, all members can only buy one share in any one campaign.

Can I buy a share in other campaigns?

Yes, you can register for as many club purchase campaigns you want to take part in.

What If the club goes into debt, will I be liable?

No you won’t. Once a club is purchased it will be formed into a limited company. So if the club cannot meet its financial obligations at any future date you would not be liable for the debt.

In fact this model of ownership makes it less likely that the club will encounter financial difficulties as it provides a new income stream for the club. This would be on top of the other traditional roots of providing income such as gate receipts, TV revenue etc.

Once we have reached our campaign target membership do we stop?

No. The principle of Trust ownership is to raise as much money as possible for the club, thus increasing membership all the time will improve the clubs finances and contribute to its success.

Campaign Coordinators

What is a campaign coordinator?

Once a club has received 1200 registrations, these members will be asked to contribute their membership fee of £25. The first 1000 members to pay their membership fee will become campaign coordinators for that particular club purchase. The campaign to buy that club will then become live!

What happens to that membership money?

The 1000 member’s fee will form the basis of the purchase of the club. A full financial analysis will be undertaken using the fund and a target figure agreed. There will also be a certain amount of local advertising advertising the iniative to encourage more membership.
The balance of all money will then go into that campaign fund account with each member getting monthly account updates.

What is the role of a campaign coordinator?

The campaign coordinator will actively try and recruit other members by getting them to register through the site in order to reach the target figure. For each member that registers using that campaign coordinators code, the campaign coordinator will also receive £1 per member on the membership being paid.

The Football Club

What happens at the club once the club is purchased?

It is the intention that all clubs will retain their existing back room staff so the club retains its individual identity. Staff and supporters will play a crucial role in conveying the clubs values and future direction.

How will the management at the club be affected?

The intention is to include existing employees and Directors in the club management. There will be an assessment of the management effectiveness, but the expectation is that they should possess the qualities needed to run a successful club and they should be prepared to accept instructions from ownyourfootballclub.com members

What will the structure of the board look like?

New Directors will be appointed who will be responsible for ensuring that the wishes and decisions of ownyourfootballclub.com members are implemented on a day to day basis. A member of the ownyourfootballclub.com web team will also be on the board as good communication between the site and its members and the club is crucial for the club success.

How will the board interact with members?

The board will meet to decide what major decisions are needed to be voted on by club members. Once the members have voted they will act on that decision. The voices of 5000 true supporters give a more democratic decision making process than that of a board room full of disinterested business men or women.

For the good of the club members will never be asked to take a decision that would compromise the clubs stability, such as over spending on players or players wages etc.

What happens if we make the club successful? We will share in the profits?

Any profit that is generated by the club will be re-invested back into the club. This means that members will not be paid a dividend or take a share of these profits. This will make the club more secure as there are no shareholders forever taking funds out of the club.

This will also mean that any decisions taken will be purely for the benefit of the club and its members and not by shareholders who have a financial interest in the club. There is no reason however if members decide that concessions can be given for tickets etc to members of the club.

Can we sell the club again if we want too?

Yes. However it will require a 75% majority to take such action.

What about existing fans?

We would hope that existing fans will become members and be part of the takeover. It will be up to the campaign coordinators to try to get as many existing fans on board within the membership.

Any other fans will recognise the benefits of being taken over by ownyourfootballclub.com members as opposed to a single individual with purely financial motives.

Ownyourfootballclub.com members will be putting money directly into the club and not looking to take any out, and will be motivated by the clubs success and their part in it.

Management of the Club.

The Team Manager

The manager will have to believe totally in the ethos and concept we are trying to achieve. Within their contract they will be expected to act on member’s suggestions and decisions. He will be able to advise members on team formations and players but the ultimate decisions will rest with the members.

He will benefit from a considerable wealth of football experience from true fans that have a real sense of creating success for their club. He will also benefit from a more robust financial basis to pay and contract players.

The Team Manager will be selected by members once the takeover is complete.

Players

Players are of course the life blood of the club. Ownyourfootballclub members will be able to suggest and target players for transfers, as will the manager and scouts for the club. Any deal to buy a player will be negotiated by the Chief Executive of the club (chosen by club members) and agreed in principle then given to members to vote on. The same process would exist when the club want to sell players.

Do members pay for transfers?

It is the members of ownyourfootballclub.com club campaign who will decide how to distribute the membership fees and any other income stream that is coming into the club.

How will players react to being picked by 1000’s of members?

It will motivate them and inspire them. They will know that the eyes of not just the manager but the members will be on them when performing, so will be at the top of their game which in turn will benefit the club. Players will know that they will be picked if they play well and not just because of the managers preferences which can sometimes happen.

Ownyourfootballclub.com Website.

What happens when a takeover campaign is launched?

When a potential club takeover attracts 1200 members a 1000 of those will be asked to be campaign coordinators and the campaign will swing into action.

Ownyourfootballclub.com website will keep an update of how the takeover target is being achieved on a daily basis. It will also provide a full financial analysis of the club and will coordinate marketing to attract more members in the clubs geographical area.

Once the target figure is reached, a takeover bid for the club will be launched.

Negotiations will begin with the club but we will only give the club a short period to accept our offer ( any offer will be agreed by members before being put to the club) The negotiating period will also be agreed with members. We do not want a long drawn out process.

If the offer is not accepted and the time period has elapsed we will return members membership fee of £20.

Will the website be the interface between club and members?

After the takeover the primary role of ownmyfootballclub.com is to provide a website and voting technology to enable members to have a full and interactive experience with the club. This will enable members to help control and steer the club to great success.

Who is behind OwnYourFootballClub.com?

Being impressed by the success of MyFootballClub.co.uk, why can’t the concept be driven lower to specific clubs and specific fan bases? Using this concept enables fans of any club non-league or league to really take ownership of their local football club. The owners of the site are true football fans with many years playing and coaching experiences.