For a football club to survive, it needs investement from its owners. To pay the staff of the club, the players, transfer fees, and general day to day runnings like any business. Most football clubs in England have private owners; they have no original affiliation to the club but they are usually wealthy. In some cases, there are clubs in England who are now owned by the fans. I want to understand why these clubs have become supporter owned and find out what the benefits are. I visited one Football League club to help me find the answer to my queries.
There are currently seven clubs in the Football League and National League that are supporter owned; AFC Wimbledon, Exeter City, Newport County, Portsmouth FC, Wycombe Wanderers, Wrexham FC, and Chester FC. There are a host of others in the lower pyramids of the Football League who have adopted a similar model. One team has even gone as far to create their own in the case of FC United of Manchester.
This is a short feature to understand what the benefits really are of supporter ownership and just how it can change a club for the better. This is by no means a dig at privately owned clubs as I will give my case later for my the achievements that can be made from being privately owned where the results have been incredible.