Quote ="anarkik"
For the most part I'd agree, ordinary fans don't want a direct day to day say in how the club is run (excepting team selection of course!) but you'd be surprised how many people would change their mind if they could demonstrate they were an 'owner' of their club by having a share certificate, even if they only stuck it on the wall. I'm sure I have my Bullbuilder certificate attached to something, solid, somewhere (even if it's not framed and suspended with blu-tac...) and if this allowed them a vote in who represented their interests on the Board then this might become the beginning of a cultural shift in which people can begin to take an interest. This is quite different than getting people to attend regular meetings or stand around getting petitions signed. I'm afraid we've become conditioned to one way of doing things and believe that is the only way things can be done, but you might be surprised if things start to be done differently how quickly attitudes can change.
I've seen it at first hand when visiting Green Bay in the frozen tundra of northern Wisconsin, the Packers are one of the most successful franchises in the NFL and are a community owned not for profit, prospering in the cut throat world of the ultra capitalist NFL amidst a legion of billionaire owners whilst building their roster bottom up, just as we've begun to do through investment in the academy. This is a small hard working industrial town whose civic pride is totally invested in the idea of community ownership and whose model of doing things remains an example of how things can be done very differently, if you don't believe me then have a read of the countless articles from sporting magazines to management journals. It doesn't mean we could replicate such a feat with the Bulls, the scale of the competition and revenue streams are vastly different, but now and again in the past I'm sure some of us liked to believe we were the people's team and did do things a little differently. Just because things are as they are now, doesn't mean they need always be that way.'"
I'd love to see more fan ownership. You mention the Packers, there's Germany where I think at least half of all clubs in the Bundesliga must be owned by fans. Rugby league can offer something football can't in the UK, what did the Glazers pay for Manchester United - £1.6bn - RL is small money and the finances make fan ownership a realistic and viable option. Rugby league is very community orientated and I'd love for the sport to be in the hands of the very people who turn out every week watching the sport. National media coverage of the sport is poor, the main competition can't get a paying title sponsor... power to the people!