Eventual Supporter-led ownership.

AFC Wimbledon are still 75% fan owned and the Chief Exec for 17 years came from Sunderland.
But they are now probably at their maximum level

There's fierce debate going on in their Supporters Trust now on whether to sell a 30% stake in the club and board representation to private investors. They're £11m in the hole building their new ground.

While it's not something Sunderland would have to worry about, the danger is always letting debt get out of hand in other ways, as we've found to our cost. We would need to have learned from the long line of errors of our previous owners to ensure we wouldn't fall into the same trap.

It seems to work with Hearts at the moment. Their supporters trust have pumped £9m into the club over the past six years, including a significant contribution to the cost of their new main stand.

The reins are being handed over to their supporters trust this season with finances and resources all in place. Saving the money up before committing turned out to be a wise move.
 


61% voted against the town's biggest employer and want to be poorer so buying footy clubs on the rock and roll is highly unlikely :rolleyes:
It works if one of the supporter is a billionaire
Arron banks is a mackem and he owes the town a favour,divant want nige as manager like
 
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Is it achievable for a club the size of ours?

I imagine we'd have to fall a bit further for the amount of money needed to be realistic but that might be about to happen under the current leadership.

There were rumours that explayers had shows interest in buying the club before SD. Maybe they could provide the capital for a group to bring the club back to the people who support it? Fullwell 73 is another potential source of backing.

I feel utterly pessimistic about SD, especially given his doubling down on how great a job his mates are doing. Not sure a supporter owned group could perform much worse.

Careful that's Socialist Talk (of which I'm all for) and of course it's achievable. I remember when I lived in Munich when Man United came to play in 1999 - the tickets were about 1/2 of what the they were at the SOL - and the beer was cheaper and first-class. The smell of spliff was joyous too!

At the time Bayern were thought of as an expensive club to visit.
 
Is it achievable for a club the size of ours?

I imagine we'd have to fall a bit further for the amount of money needed to be realistic but that might be about to happen under the current leadership.

There were rumours that explayers had shows interest in buying the club before SD. Maybe they could provide the capital for a group to bring the club back to the people who support it? Fullwell 73 is another potential source of backing.

I feel utterly pessimistic about SD, especially given his doubling down on how great a job his mates are doing. Not sure a supporter owned group could perform much worse.
I think you're right about the last line but on the rise and higher than this position we are in its too much of a limiter.
 
Sounds great in theory but mate of mine involved in fan ownership at Darlington. He says it’s a nightmare dealing with cash flow and because so many are involved it’s virtually impossible to make any quick decisions.
 
Sounds great in theory but mate of mine involved in fan ownership at Darlington. He says it’s a nightmare dealing with cash flow and because so many are involved it’s virtually impossible to make any quick decisions.
They’ve obviously set it up wrong then.
The few who were willing to pay up would be at each other's throats in a matter of weeks. So, no definitely not.
A president is elected for a set period and his board run the show. It’s not 60,000 screaming mackems sitting round a big table arguing ynar.
 
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They’ve obviously set it up wrong then.

A president is elected for a set period and his board run the show. It’s not 60,000 screaming mackems sitting round a big table arguing ynar.

That's my thoughts on it also. Get the cash together, put a plan in place, elect a chairman and a small group of reps with a specific area of focus for each.

Regular performance reviews and election cycles should make sure changes are made of needed.
 
If there was a fan buyout ,we would be stuck in League 1 ,with no hope of progressing higher . Even with our fan base we could never cover the costs of running a club of this size . Nice thought but never going to happen.
 
About a thousand different camera angles uploaded to members only website and 100,000 internationals paying 200 quid plus the SOL gates should make us more than competitive in the Champo.

and once we’re back in the PL don’t squander the TV revenues.
 
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can someone smarter than me explain why being in the championship as a fan owned club is impossible?

in very basic terms, if a business runs with a very small profit, i.e not running at a loss, then why does it matter who is in charge?

is every single club in the top two divisions running at a loss, year on year? so each club is propped up by private people who essentially pump money in just to keep the business going, for no returns?

It's because Championship clubs make massive financial losses, and the cost of the infrastructure of a Championship club is very high. Championship clubs need rich owners to bankroll their losses.
 
They’ve obviously set it up wrong then.

A president is elected for a set period and his board run the show. It’s not 60,000 screaming mackems sitting round a big table arguing ynar.
And there’s another problem. The president or a board is spending the money of the fans as owners. You just have to look at how successful our recruitment has been in recent years and the difference of opinion on here when we make a signing to see how that could pan out.
Most German clubs are fan owned, so yes it's possible.
If most are fan owned, it’s more of a level playing field . Here it would be just us.
 
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A variation on the Bundesliga 50+1 rule would work in my opinion.

Where a supporter consortium holds overall voting rights but external investment is possible but never to the extent of overall ownership.

In Germany supporters pay an annual fee to have a voters share. Then under one share, one vote the supporter bases voice is heard where majority rules in any vote. It’s informal rule but all Bundesliga subscribe even though Red Bull Leipzig are bending the rules massively!

Amount of shares and cost of annual fee to be decided upon buy the supporter trust (or whatever you want to call it).

50,000 shares with an annual fee of a grand and we can keep the lifts running!

Yeah it’s quite simple really, and works around a lot of the world. In England football clubs aren’t “clubs” - they’re private businesses.

A real club is owned by its members. They elect a board to run it. People can run for the board, they can pour in as much money as they like, but they can never own the place - they serve at the pleasure of the members and are voted in or out by them.

It needs to be implemented across the board, however. I dunno how you do it now with clubs so far gone. Manchester City are owned by a foreign state ffs. They’re not a “club” in any sense of the word.
 
And there’s another problem. The president or a board is spending the money of the fans as owners. You just have to look at how successful our recruitment has been in recent years and the difference of opinion on here when we make a signing to see how that could pan out.

If most are fan owned, it’s more of a level playing field . Here it would be just us.

RB Leipzig and I think a couple of others have found a loophole around that issue so it's not totally 'fair' - but yes it would just be us
 

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