Fan Buyout

I agree. I think a tipping point has been reached for many.

 

No chance Andy! Work all day, get home and out to a fan's forum then down to the ground in time for a half 7 kick off?

I just can't see people having the time.

 

Sounds like a nice idea in principle, but this kind of thing is nearly impossible to coordinate.

You can't just do a whip around at a game and bring the £ to Rupp. There would need to be a ton of legal work before the idea even gets any traction.

Here are just a few thoughts about the issues with the idea:

• A company would need to be formed with a complex ownership model, and this would need to pass an EFL owners eligibility test. This would need to be done before any funds are crowd-sourced. I imagine the setup alone would cost 5-6 figures. Who pays for the initial setup?
• Who runs the club operations and how are they elected? Is every decision voted on by fan owners or is a 'leader' elected?
• What happens if the club needs to raise more money? Suppose COVID 2 happens and the club needs capital to see it through. How is this handled?
• Can fans be diluted? If the club needs urgent capital and raises it from a small portion of fan owners, could the others be diluted?
• Are fan shares allowed to be freely traded? If so, it would be possible for a malicious takeover to happen. Someone could just buy 51%+ of shares and be the de facto decision maker.

 

There is absolutely no chance of raising the kind of money needed to buy out the club no matter what the price.
The way to find out what interest there is out there is to put the club on the market officially. And I believe if he was approached in the right way by the right person he could be persuaded to do that.
A good first for those interested.

 

have pure fan ownership models worked anywhere recently? I know Newport tried it but recently had to give up after two years of losses made it unsustainable

 

Isn't Exeter City a club where the fan's trust holds a majority ownership?

 

Newport have just been bought by Jenkins, the guy who ran Swansea.
They lost £1.5m last season and needed help.

 

I was thinking more in Germany, but I won't pretend to understand the detail.

I don't think its realistic for us, but i won't knock the idea or someone trying to come up with something. Under this regime, nothing good is going to happen.

 

We know what interest is out there. Sparks has said.

 

Which has not progressed for whatever reason. If he puts the club up officially it will concentrate minds. It certainly can’t do any harm asa first step

 

What exactly is he selling though?

 

The Bundesliga 50+1 as near as you'll get, though it's interpretation isn't always that straightforward
If you've got time, this is a pretty good summary

https://www.bundesliga.com/en/faq/what-are-the-rules-and-regulations-of-soccer/50-1-fifty-plus-one-german-football-soccer-rule-explained-ownership-22832

 

An owner, listing something for sale has already given away leverage.

Its fairly clear the issue is price.

 

Cheers fella, will have a read.

 

I agree with what some others posters have said in that a fan ownership unrealistically wont work, but one thing I do disagree with is some posters opinion to not believe in the idea and instantly dismiss it away, I like to think that although full fan ownership isn't realistically a great idea but with our fanbase somehow/somewhere there is a realistic deal to be put together for some sort of part fan ownership, how that would look or operate I've no idea as that's not my field of expertise. Of the top of my head thinking maybe something like x% of the club is put up for sale by Rupp say 35% Rupp lowers his £10m value to £8m to help fan investment onboard, then 35% is worth £3.2m and is split into 100k shares at £32 each, fans can then buy these shares at £40 each, of which £32 is sent to Rupp to purchase your % of the club and £8 per share is put into a safety net pot for the club should we hit hard times, and this pot is agreed upon depending on Rupp matching it. If the club is successful and makes good profits then something could be worked out by a professional to reward the investors in a way to not harm the club, there is no doubt flaws all over this as I'm no expert by any means in finance as I'm just an electrician, but I suppose the main point being is that there is definitely some form of this type of thing working.

 

Yep, it is a whole different ball game in Germany due to history and the fact that all the teams are the same