Jason Stockwood (Guardian)

I lived in Newcastle for a while in the late 1990s and absolutely loved my time there. Nights out in the Bigg Market and on the Quayside, dancing on the rotating dancefloor of the Tuxedo Princess, a boat-turned-nightclub, and the occasional short walk from the town centre to St James’ Park to see Newcastle United. As co-owner of Grimsby Town, I know how the football club looms large in people’s imaginations and their sense of civic identity, especially in post-industrial towns and cities. That’s why it struck me as odd when news of the Saudi-led takeover of the club was met with almost universal delight from the fanbase.

It’s been difficult to absorb on a couple of levels. First, Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy ruled under sharia law: how can the notion of independence of ownership make any rational sense for a consortium bound by the customs and practices of that country? Then there are issues such as the attitude towards the rights of women in their own country, the violations in Yemen or the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. If I was a fan I’d be keen to understand the manner of the “legally binding assurances” that there will be no interference from the ruling elite of the country they are from. Moreover, the deal raises serious questions about the Premier League’s own bar for moral and financial suitability, the owners’ and directors’ test. Can they really be satisfied that the consortium will act independently of the Saudi state?

Obviously, the consortium will bring vast amounts of money and investment to the north-east, and undoubtedly, the team will be full of even bigger names over the coming years, but at what cost to the region’s integrity? The primacy of money over every other consideration is a continuation of the issues we saw with the European Super League debacle. Newcastle fans only have to think back a few months to see how international owners really feel about the fans who live in the communities of the clubs, those who walk through the turnstiles at each home game, and realise they are secondary to global audiences and revenue maximisation.

Our view of organisations as purely economic entities can only be a partial version of the truth. Much of what is important and valuable is clearly non-monetary or even measurable. Yet mainstream economics has long been concerned only with profit and competition; as Milton Friedman put it in 1970, the “sole purpose of a business is to generate profits for its shareholders”. It is perhaps time to listen more attentively to the words of Robert Kennedy, who in 1968 stated that GDP “measures everything except that which is worthwhile”.

The belief that profit is the only measurement of value has long characterised the way our economy and our football clubs are managed, often with disastrous results. Last month, Derby County went into administration and, like many football fans, I have followed the story with interest, not least because the club has been docked 12 points by the Football League, sending them to the foot of the Championship, the second-tier of English football.

In the language of economics, the loss of status and civic pride resulting from the closure of a football club would be regarded as a mere “externality”. In recent memory Bolton, Bury and Macclesfield have all “done a Leeds” when their owners could no longer fund the failures of their strategies. Those clubs and their fans now face a potential decades-long climb to reclaim their former glories.

If capitalism is to sustain football for the next 100 years, it will need to put the interests of fans and the local community above those of shareholders. Fans are the most important constituent of football clubs, bar none. Every weekend many travel hundreds of miles to support their teams, home or away. This is why Grimsby Town FC is 17% fan-owned through the Mariners Trust supporters’ group, a fully democratic representation of our fanbase that holds two of the five seats on our board. This type of ownership model needs to be enforced in clubs across the country, giving fans a meaningful seat at the table in every boardroom of every professional club in the UK.

It is the sense of togetherness that has helped Grimsby Town to have our best start to a season since 1982. Despite the football cliches that “nothing gets won in October”, we are quietly pleased about the positive start to our season. A large amount of credit goes to the revitalised fanbase who are embracing the new era in our corner of north-east Lincolnshire.

To prevent another tragedy like Derby, we need a strengthening of the oversight of financial suitability to run clubs through reforms in the owners’ and directors’ test. There are already oversight measures in place to ensure financial stability at the point of purchase but owners should be obliged to demonstrate how they will cover projected losses on an ongoing basis. Issues around ownership are not merely a question of finances, however. For newly monied Newcastle there need to be commitments to the values of the local community to ensure that those steeped in the club’s history and rooted in the local area are the primary stakeholders in the vision for the team. When success is transactional and bought through the brute force of money alone, what’s left for the ordinary fan to call their own?

I am sure many football fans are keen to see what the government’s forthcoming fan-led review delivers, and how durable and meaningful its recommendations on ownership are. While any reform has come too late for Derby fans (or the few Newcastle supporters who seem to care), perhaps a different way of thinking about football could extend beyond the world of sport, encompassing a different way of thinking about what we value in life.

    Jason Stockwood is a technology entrepreneur, fellow at Oxford University and chairman of Grimsby Town FC

Terrific stuff from the 'boss' (again).

The "legally binding assurances" are just a smokescreen.

If the ruling Saudi "elite" can order the murder and dismemberment of a journalist, does anyone really expect them to take notice
of legally binding assurances?

People who respect the law don't go around killing their political opponents...

Thanks for posting this John.

Expecting the sport (or any area of business) to clean itself up is naive of Jason. A few good eggs like him are helpful, but turkeys don’t for Christmas. And the FA, Premier League  and Football League have proved it time and again. It needs legislation.

We will all watch the upcoming World Cup including Jason I’m sure, but as long as we don’t boo BLM everything’s fine.

Quoted from Humbercod

but as long as we don’t boo BLM everything’s fine.

A quote of yours from Saturday

Quoted from Humbercod

Difference being Emily Davidson was fighting discrimination all her adult life, unlike the woke white middle class idiots!

Spot the contradiction.

Quoted from Humbercod

We will all watch the upcoming World Cup including Jason I’m sure, but as long as we don’t boo BLM everything’s fine.

Thanks, a really useful contribution.

Quoted from Roast Em Bobby

A quote of yours from Saturday


Spot the contradiction.

No contradiction at all  BLM cause nothing but division and discrimination.

Aside from the seemingly irrelevant but thinly veiled attempt at a futile argument about something that isn’t related to the article per se, how refreshing is it to see someone connected with our club writing at a level and for once agreeing.

It’s a well written piece and whilst one might argue it’s a tad naive to think the ruling bodies of football will actually reform enough to care about anything other than money I suspect Stockwood is well aware they won’t but surely one can hope?

Could you ever have imagined the owner of GTFC ever writing such an article and being focused on fans and community rather than cash?

Quoted from Humbercod

No contradiction at all  BLM cause nothing but division and discrimination.

it also has nothing to do with the article by Mr Stockwood

are you one of those who boo's taking a stance against Racism?

Stockwood gets coverage in a well-read national newspaper. The cumulative effect of all these articles he writes - in which he always talks about the town of Grimsby, as well as the football club - contributes to the overall effort to improve not just the town but the perception of the town.

That in itself makes me wonder (alongside some on-pitch success) whether it'll attract more investment, more collaborative opportunities, etc. It's the vision he and AP had from the start - use the football club as a catalyst for positive change, so the whole town benefits.

The value of what he says is also in the consistency of it. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but soon, in the not-too-distant future, people might think differently about Grimsby.

You can see this strategy come to life. It's impressive after only five months. Imagine what impact it could have after five years.