This is a very interesting and reflective article on the subject of club ownership. It states its case well and does not go over the top in its arguments as so many commentators do. Whilst being critical of bad owners, it is not another diatribe against foreign owners.
This is a very interesting and reflective article on the subject of club ownership. It states its case well and does not go over the top in its arguments as so many commentators do. Whilst being critical of bad owners, it is not another diatribe against foreign owners.
I don’t agree with all the arguments put forward, in particular its endorsement of the German club model that has become a kind of conventional reformist wisdom. It reflects the insiduous effect of the ‘Varieties of Capitalism’ model which tends to hold Germany up as an example to be followed in all things.
I would also disagree that fans did not know who the owner was in the past. When I started to watch Charlton in the 1950s, my father was careful to point out the owner in the directors’ box opposite where we stood. There was also quite a lot of casual discussion about the owner’s policies among fans. However, there is no doubt that the question of who owns a club has become more central than it once was.