What he thinks is the Spanish system of running clubs has been bigged up by Sepp Blatter as a model for Britain. He claims that the fans run the clubs there. In fact only four clubs are run on those lines, although they include Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletiico Bilbao.
What he thinks is the Spanish system of running clubs has been bigged up by Sepp Blatter as a model for Britain. He claims that the fans run the clubs there. In fact only four clubs are run on those lines, although they include Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletiico Bilbao.
However, as a sceptical look at the Spanish system in the latest Four Four Two argues, not everything works well there. Between them, Madrid and Barca have debts totalling €1bn. You have to raise a €60m deposit to contest the election to become president of Real Madrid.
Possibly the German 50+1 system works better. ’50+1 muss bleiben’ (50+1 must remain) banners are seen at German grounds. The arrangement allows private investment, but majority control must be retained by the parent club, often a general sporting club.
The Labour Government established Supporters Direct in 2000 to help the supporters’ trust movement and the Coalition Government agreement states that they will facilitate mutual forms of ownership of clubs. Some trusts have taken over their clubs in times of financial crisis, but invariably have had to hand back control to businessmen. The one exception in the Football League is Exeter City who remain owned by the trust.
As Four Four Two concludes, ‘Football clubs can be run very well or very badly whoever owns them,’ and certainly in Spain ownership by Spainards has not avoided serious financial problems. The examples of Liverpool, Manchester United and Portsmouth point to problems with foreign ownership, but there are counter examples at Aston Villa and Manchester City.