Fan ownership of football clubs

Supporters Direct (“SD”) was set up in 2000 , born out of the Football Task Force established by the Labour government in 1997 to counter the increasing commercialisation of the game in the 1990s with increased TV exposure at Premier League level, rapidly increasing ticket prices and a sense among supporters of alienation from their clubs.

SD’s brief was to promote good governance and enable the development of sustainable clubs based on supporter involvement and community ownership. Supporter groups were encouraged to form democratic supporters’ trusts and SD recommended the ideal model in the form of community benefit societies. As one of these new trusts Dulwich Hamlet Supporters’ Trust was duly incorporated in January 2003.

SD supported some trusts to acquire outright control of their clubs, often rescuing them from insolvency, while in other cases trusts have been able to engage in constructive exchange with club owners and management to further the interests of the club’s supporters via initiatives such as board representation, structured dialogue meetings and the recruitment of dedicated supporter liaison officers.

In 2018, SD merged with the Football Supporters’ Federation to form the Football Supporters’ Association (“FSA”) and the merged entity continues to champion the interests of both individual match going spectators and supporter groups seeking better engagement with their clubs.

Back in the late 1990s, the concept of community ownership was central to the thinking of the task force but, unlike in Germany where the basic club ownership model is one of 50% +1 of the voting rights being controlled by club members, community ownership in the UK remains comparatively rare.

Even today, just three EFL clubs are community owned, namely Exeter City, AFC Wimbledon and Newport County, while there are slightly more supporter controlled clubs at steps 1-3 of the National League system including recent rivals of Dulwich Hamlet such as Bath City, Tonbridge Angels, Lewes and Enfield Town.

FSA publications have emphasised the major benefits of community ownership including the following.

• A club owned by its community has the potential to develop deeper longer term strategic partnerships.

• Community ownership can attract and retain sponsorship, certainly at local level, above and beyond what a privately owned club might expect.

• Community owned clubs offer greater protection of their facilities, which may appeal to partners and funders.

• A proper democratic structure at board level will ensure decisions are taken with the best long term interests of the club at heart.

• Community owned clubs should prioritise

By the Supporters

transparency which should in turn result in greater engagement with the fan base.

• Community owned clubs are likely to operate to more financially responsible standards.

• A greater buy-in and trust from the community can unlock more volunteers and participation.

• If supporters are confident any money they spend will be reinvested in the club, it may enhance matchday spend.

Regrettably the main challenge faced by community owned clubs seeking to operate sustainably is the fact that they are likely to be competing with clubs funded, to varying degrees of recklessness, by owners willing to incur significant trading losses in pursuit of onfield ambition. By way of example, the two clubs promoted from National League South in 2021/22 (Maidstone United and Dorking Wanderers) recorded trading losses of £168k and £4k respectively, the latter benefiting from £376k of sponsorship in that year from an “associated company”.

Aside from furthering the interests of club supporters, the FSA (and previously SD) has played a prominent role in arguing the case for regulatory reform within the game. In 2015 it contributed to the DCMS Expert Working Group on Football Supporter Ownership and Engagement and much of the work undertaken then in due course fed into the Fan Led Review of Football Governance which published its recommendations in November 2021.

Although the government has responded positively to these recommendations there has been no tangible progress towards its key proposal, the appointment of the Independent Regulator for English Football (“IREF”). The proposal is that all clubs within the Premier League, EFL or National League would require an annual licence from the IREF in order to operate. Key features of the licence would be sound governance procedures and evidence of financial sustainability.

Regrettably, it is not proposed to extend that initiative down to step 2 and below, at which level Dulwich Hamlet presently plays. It follows that clubs playing at that level would not be subject to increased scrutiny and, regrettably, there are many examples of poor management practice at step 2 and below. Many clubs’ finances are extremely precarious as a result of overspending while too many owners continue to seek to separate clubs from their grounds, often with a view to redeveloping the ground while leaving the club with no secure home. Indeed it is not so long ago that Dulwich Hamlet experienced similar challenges.

So, much work remains to be done to protect the interests of all clubs but perhapsespecially those who seek to operate sustainably and observe good practice. The FSA continuesto advocate good governance at all levels of the game and Dulwich Hamlet Supporters’ Trust will continue to lend its voice in support.