Very interesting and honest write up from a subscriber to The Tomkins Times.
The Long and Winding Road: LFC supporter ownership is no longer just a beautiful dream
By Dan Kennett, subscriber to The Tomkins Times.
Like many LFC fans, Iāve long had my doubts about Spirit of Shankly. Iāve said in the past that āthey donāt speak for meā. I thought that they were simply a niche group of hardcore űber-fans, most of whom seemed to sit in block 306 of The Kop.
For many fans, the catastrophic public relations disaster of the Munich-singing footage cast a long and dark shadow. In the past, theyād never really made it clear what their overall aims are in laymanās terms. Perhaps more importantly there never seemed to be any sense of an overall strategy to reaching those aims. It always seemed to be much more haphazard, almost off-the-cuff and simply responding to events.
I therefore thought long and hard about attending the Spirit of Shankly āIndependence Rallyā at St.Georgeās Hall yesterday. I go to most home games but donāt go to away games. Iām lucky to live close enough to walk to the ground and never have to leave early to ābeat the trafficā. My political views are left of centre but not socialist. Iāve no inclination to get involved with militant activism, my upbringing and parentās finances were much too bourgeois for that. OK my Mum and Dadās upbringing was working class in 1950s Liverpool but theyād both worked their socks off and ended up with good jobs.
In the end I decided to go on the basis that I class myself as a mainstream fan. Part of the āsilent majorityā if you like. Iād had the pre-event emails from SoS (and ShareLiverpoolFC ā donāt forget this was definitely a joint event) advising about the Credit Union scheme. As a fan who loves my club and despises everything our owners stand for I wanted to hear more. SoS are never going to get anywhere without the support of mainstream fans and I wanted to see if they could reach out to me. Boy was I glad I attended. I went a sceptic and returned a convert. This wasnāt just a load of fans making noise to no effect. The whole rally had a purpose. Raising awareness of a plan which if fulfilled could see genuine supporter-ownership (or at least supporter-representation) in Liverpool Football Club.
St.Georgeās plaza was full but not chocka. Two-thousand is a good estimate, though others say more. More importantly, the demographic was good. Families. Women without fellas. Pensioners. Dads ānā Lads. OK the predominant demographic was white male aged 30-50 but did you expect anything else? The atmosphere was light-hearted, almost friendly. The speakers had a lot to do with that. Neil Fitz as compere set the tone. Funny but mostly sensible and not aggressive. John Bishop was hilarious. The music was great. Karen Gill was great. OK she didnāt have her Grandadās oratory skills but her speech still set the romantic and nostalgic emotions running. The speakers also continually (and correctly) acknowledged the huge amount of scepticism that is still out that needs to be overcome. Beforehand Iād been worried about the potential for the event to backfire through some idiots burning American flags or the atmosphere turning sour in front of the media. Thankfully apart from a couple of minor cases of foot-in-mouth syndrome from some of the speakers this didnāt happen.
The chap from SoS who had to deliver āthe boring bitā did a great job. Speaking to others around me in the crowd, the āboring bitā was why theyād all come as well. So what did we learn?
Firstly came the announcement that ShareLiverpoolFC and SoS are working as one. Very welcome news, the last thing we need is different groups pulling in different directions.
Secondly they said the driver should be āthe average fan in the streetā (whatever that is). Therefore the cost of a share has been set at Ā£500 instead of ShareLiverpoolFCās initial Ā£5,000. Afterwards I found that the Liverpool groups have also been consulting Supporters Direct whoāve already helped small clubs set up not-for-profit ownership.
Thirdly, and most importantly the objective is to secure a minimum 10% stake in the club. Obviously more depending on how much money is put into the Credit Union. The stake will be equity, not debt and the 10% will be a permanent āblocking stakeā ensuring that never again could Liverpool Football Club be sold lock, stock and barrel to people who do not have the best interests of the club at heart. Thereās also a schedule of dates throughout July and August. The Credit Union scheme will be established and legitimised. They want to start getting the money into the scheme as soon as possible. Due to current UK legislation, the scheme will only be available to those who either live or work in Merseyside. SoS did assure that this legislation is being changed in the future to allow rest of UK and rest of the world participation.
So there we have it. Itās not Real Madrid or Barcelona yet, or even one of the Bundesliga clubs. But itās a start and itās no longer just a pipe-dream. The sceptics will still be out there saying that this isnāt realistic, that the owners/banks will never talk to us. Theyāll also refer to the āreal politicsā behind SoS and how weāre all just stooges in some kind of dastardly militant plot. Theyāll also say that the scheme will be raided in the same way as Maxwell raided the Mirror pension funds. But itās easy to snipe from your armchair and behind your keyboard. Itās much more difficult to try and do something about it.
Liverpool Football Club is representative of a wider problem in the UK. Every week over 30 pubs close. Petrol Stations lie abandoned. General stores and Post Offices are closing. Not-for-profit community buyouts are already commonplace in rural parts of the UK (
http://www.plunkett.co.uk/). The only difference with LFC is the size of the task and the amount of money needed.
If you want supporter-ownership of Liverpool Football Club then get involved.
If you think thereās even the remotest chance that this could succeed then get involved.
No-one is asking anyone to join a picket line or take some form of direct action.
Join the scheme.
Tell all your Liverpool supporting friends, family and colleagues. Download and distribute the SoS Credit Union leaflet.
Raise awareness in your local communities.
Itāll be a long and winding road but letās start the journey together and believe that this can work.
Link