Football 2.0

You can stick your Russian Billionaires, Ebbsfleet United has become the first club in Britain to be owned by a website.

Actually, it’s rather more complex than that. While MyFootballClub is technically the new owner, the real power lies with its 53,000 members, all of whom paid £35 to join. Each of them now has a say in how the club is run, what players are bought and sold, even team selection.

The Manager Liam Daish reckons it’s great news for football fans. I’d like to ask him that in Jan when he’s trying to argue his case for new signings with 53,000 armchair managers.

Looking at how MyFootballClub was set up, it seems to have struck a chord with investors and football fans alike almost immediately. I’m not too sure I’d want my club run by committee, but for a team like Ebbsfleet it seems like a good deal.

I really like the idea of communities coming together to invest time and money in a cause and I wonder how many other models this approach could be applied to? The only pre-cursor I can see is that the investment has to have appeal that transcends political, religious and cultural barriers.

I can sit and talk footie gibberish to someone in a pub regardless of whether they’re a Socialist or a Scientologist. Trying to get that same level of connection when dealing with something as contentious as education (as this mass ownership model could easily be applied to a school) would, I’d argue, be nigh on impossible.

I might see if I can become part of the “back room staff” at Ebbsfleet, I’ve got some revolutionary ideas for the catering side of the business…half time curries.