GTFC fan's ownership

I suppose the ebst examples are in non league circles, from whence we came.

FC United of Manchester. Came about as a result of disgruntled Manchester United fans being financially shafted by the Glazers. Have had a successful start to life, and although struggling on the playing side this season have moved comfortably up the Pyramid. See below

Supporters[edit]
F.C. United are owned by 5,000 of their members and are the largest supporter-owned football club in the United Kingdom by number of members.[2] Each member can vote on how the club is run, including voting for board members, kit designs and season ticket prices.[8] Most F.C. United supporters still support Manchester United and many were previously season ticket holders at Old Trafford.[96] F.C. United fans are known for the large range of songs that they sing at matches, and the atmosphere created by fans has been praised in the media.[97][98][99][100]

During their first season (2005–06), F.C. United had the second-highest average attendance in English non-League football with an average gate of 3,059 and were the 87th best supported club across all divisions.[101] Attendances fell in the next two seasons and they were the 92nd best supported club in 2006–07 and 100th best supported club by 2007–08.[102][103] Their average league attendance then levelled out at approximately 2,000 per game,[104] before rising to an average of 2,155 in 2014–15, the then-seventh highest attendance in non-League football.[105] After moving to Broadhurst Park in May 2015, the club averaged a gate of 3,394 in 2015–16, a season-on-season increase of over 57% and the fourth highest attendance in non-League football.[106]

Organisation[edit]
F.C. United operate as a community benefit society.[3] Membership is obtained by paying an annual fee of £12 to the club (£3 for children) but each member receives only one share in the club and is entitled to a single vote at meetings, regardless of the amount donated.[107][108] The board consists of up to 11 members who are elected by the members of the club.[17] Day-to-day operations of the club are overseen by a Chief Executive Officer; Andy Walsh, a founding member of F.C. United, was appointed to the position in 2005.[2] He stepped down from the role at the end of June 2016.[109] Damian Chadwick, another founding member of the club, took up the position in November 2016.[110]

The club's manifesto includes the following core principles:[107]

The Board will be democratically elected by its members;
Decisions taken by the membership will be decided on a one-member, one vote basis;
The club will develop strong links with the local community and strive to be accessible to all, discriminating against none;
The club will endeavour to make admission prices as affordable as possible, to as wide a constituency as possible;
The club will encourage young, local participation—playing and supporting—whenever possible;
The Board will strive wherever possible to avoid outright commercialism;
The club will remain a non-profit organisation.
The club accepts sponsorship but does not allow sponsors' logos to be displayed on the team's shirts.[65] The club's main sponsor in its inaugural 2005–06 season was the Bhopal Medical Appeal and in the 2006–07 season it was the Williams BMW Group.[111][112] Between 2011–2016, F.C. United were sponsored by mxData, a Manchester-based mobile app development company.[65][113] In October 2014, F.C. United became the first football club in the United Kingdom to be accredited as a living wage employer by the Living Wage Foundation.[114]

They also own their brand new stadium, built at a cost of £6.3 million. Ring a bell anyone?

Hereford United are another fan owned club, albeit they're a phoenix type set up, and have had great success since coming out of administration since 2014-15. They average just over 4,000 at home at about four levels below our standing in the Pyramid, and I have no doubt whatsoever that they will be a Football League team again in the enxt five seasons.

These two clubs can do it, and both from scratch as well. Now please tell me why GTFC couldn't do similar? If the will's there it can be done. I'd probably put some of my own savings into a fan's owned GTFC. I wouldn't put a penny into the current set up, and I guess there'll be many more like myself who'd be more than happy to do that.

Quoted from Jaws

Steady on. The trust is essentially a supporters group. I am sure there are some intelligent people running it. But managing an entire business (and a complex one at that) is a different kettle of fish.

I think Fenty is doing a crap job but just because someone is a fan and can organise things amongst the fans doesn't mean they could run the club.

Many Town fans run and work in senior positions in large complex organisations, public, private and third sector. And people who have no managerial experience also have a lot to contribute to the running of a business.

I think your attitude is stuck in the 19th century.

And at the end of the day, GTFC is only turning over £3m a year with a few dozen employees. Hardly a mega-corporation.

Quoted from Mariner93er

Let's not forget that Grimsby isn't exactly an affluent town. In fact it contains some of the poorest areas in the country. It seems highly unlikely to me that people would have anywhere near enough money to make this viable. It's ok pointing to other examples of clubs that have been successfully fan owned, but I'm willing to bet that these clubs are predominantly southern based with few northern examples.

It's as much about commitment and organisation as about the wealth of members. Are you really saying town fans lack either? And many people are already acknowledging they're deciding to spend less money on GTFC than they can do because of the way it's run. This on top of the failure to capitalise on the feel good factor of 2016.

And don't forget the fanbase extends countrywide (and worldwide). Grimsby might not be affluent but the fanbase is more affluent than you might realise.

PS How about FC Utd as mentioned by Jock. Not in the least bit southern.

It gets better....first Barcelona as a model now FC United and Hereford.....

FC United...a spin off of Man Utd...alongside Barcelona one of the largest clubs/ brands in the world and ...as with Hereford ...a new club built from zero at which point it is easier to do as you are starting with a completely blank sheet and low level running costs.  

I notice that FC United backers didnt actually try and takeover Man Utd to make it fans owned did they ? No... they set up a protest club which rode a wave of media hype and initial success and is now starting to fade....they have seen membership drop over 3000 in the last two seasons and now stands at around 2300.
They certainly have been succesful to date to achieve what they have, in around 10 yrs managing to build a community stadium with what appears to be little of their own money but they had a blank sheet to start with.

If we went into admin and became a phoenix club or were gifted the club gratis then hey there might be a viable place to start rebuilding from and in 10 yrs we too might be in the Northern Premier with a community stadium but frankly i cant be @rsed with all that......why wait 10 yrs when we could get relegated twice and be in the same league and probably in admin anyway and JF would have fcked off and the club could be ours.
Lets hope the stadium gets built which may inject some new interest and JF may sell on as doing it ourselves just wont happen.

Aren't Exeter a "fans owned" club and they don't seem to be doing too badly at the minute.

Something not picked up by others is Cloudys’ suggestion of a sustainable way forward. With tinkering it looks sensible and pretty much how Southampton do things.

Town have a hardcore of what, 2500 who will buy season tickets and merchandise regardless.  Relatively minor success has proven recently that it's far from the realms of reality for that figure to increase to a minimum of 4000.

So worst case scenario 2500. Best case (on a very glass half empty basis) 4000.  There's absolutely no reason why this football club shouldn't be self-sustaining. The problem and therefore any annual losses are simply through bad business decisions, wasted resources and missed opportunities.

Great example above with the size of the squad. flipping ridiculous. We're paying good wages for people to be fringe players, meanwhile we've got home grown talent that is far cheaper out on loan.  A well run club would set out the number of professionals needed in the summer and any additions must be from the youth set up. Someone signs off these contracts. How much money a year are we wasting on players who play less than 10 games? Are they really value for money?

Don't be fooled into thinking a football club needs a benefactor. It just needs running properly and cloth cut accordingly.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Town have a hardcore of what, 2500 who will buy season tickets and merchandise regardless.  Relatively minor success has proven recently that it's far from the realms of reality for that figure to increase to a minimum of 4000.

So worst case scenario 2500. Best case (on a very glass half empty basis) 4000.  There's absolutely no reason why this football club shouldn't be self-sustaining. The problem and therefore any annual losses are simply through bad business decisions, wasted resources and missed opportunities.

Great example above with the size of the squad. flipping ridiculous. We're paying good wages for people to be fringe players, meanwhile we've got home grown talent that is far cheaper out on loan.  A well run club would set out the number of professionals needed in the summer and any additions must be from the youth set up. Someone signs off these contracts. How much money a year are we wasting on players who play less than 10 games? Are they really value for money?

Don't be fooled into thinking a football club needs a benefactor. It just needs running properly and cloth cut accordingly.

Great post.
"a football club needs a benefactor" we have been brainwashed for years into thinking this.
Fenty Out

There's no reason that a club of our size couldn't be successful if it were owned by the fans. It would need a clear plan putting in place from the start and people would have to be realistic with the club living within it's means. It would be difficult to chop and change manager becuase it is costly (I'd say this is a good thing). The club lives within it's means at the minute, it is just run at the whim of rich men.

I'd like to see the club focus on bringing through its own players and taking players from lower leagues to sell on. Can you imagine what the support would be like if everyone was united behind the club and felt the support made a difference.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Town have a hardcore of what, 2500 who will buy season tickets and merchandise regardless.  Relatively minor success has proven recently that it's far from the realms of reality for that figure to increase to a minimum of 4000.

So worst case scenario 2500. Best case (on a very glass half empty basis) 4000.  There's absolutely no reason why this football club shouldn't be self-sustaining. The problem and therefore any annual losses are simply through bad business decisions, wasted resources and missed opportunities.

Great example above with the size of the squad. flipping ridiculous. We're paying good wages for people to be fringe players, meanwhile we've got home grown talent that is far cheaper out on loan.  A well run club would set out the number of professionals needed in the summer and any additions must be from the youth set up. Someone signs off these contracts. How much money a year are we wasting on players who play less than 10 games? Are they really value for money?

Don't be fooled into thinking a football club needs a benefactor. It just needs running properly and cloth cut accordingly.

I know a lot of people who don't attend because of the way the club is run. Making GTFC more fan inclusive would increase gates and revenue without any shadow of a doubt and would make much greater appeal to the marginal supporters than continuing to sustain the current regime.