whats stopping a fans consortium?

[Dirka Dirka]

i think people are getting bogged down with the figures involved but i've given it some further thought and as ay barcelona who every contributed to the supporters buying the club would have a say we could elect a chairman ala the spainish system who ever wanted to be chairman would have to present proposals to us the fans for how they would continue the traditions of the club how they would finance the clunb and so on and so on.

all we as the majority oweners would have to decide is who to have this can be done as in spain by a ballott.

thats what i was aiming for and it is possibly something to think about isn't it?

[sean_lfc]

FLMAO this thread, LOL, haven't laughed so heartily in ages!




PS: I agree with the sentiment that it's unrealistic. lol

[ronanm]

the fact that i'd give away 3000 means 5 wouldn't have to

alright that leaves 999,995 but couple that with reds who have more money than me, then the overall figure of fans wouldn't be 1 million would it.

ok so the generalo concensus on this site is that it's a **** idea right know where i stand then.

Do you accept Maestro?

[DeeGame]

I am donating £1.50 to the bid but want 2 seats in the boardroom

[Dirka Dirka]

isee i'm wasting my breath it's not us who will own the club we will be the majorrity shaeholdrs as is the case in Barcelona it works there so why not here

[rushscored4]

Like everybody else I've taken the Michael on this thread but in theory Dirky Boy's got a point. With Rafa at the helm and so many Spanish speaking players we are the nearest English equivalent to Real Madrid or Barca who are both owned by the members. The new stadium should hold 61,000. Let's say we had 50,000 members who for the privilege had to invest an initial £3,000 each (£150m) to buy the club plus (say) £1,000 a year for annual membership which entitles them to a seat in the new stadium and a right to vote for important club issues. The annual 'subs' (£50m a year) would help run the club and service the loan we would need to pay off the existing debt (around £80m) and finance the new stadium (£200m).

In addition to the members' subs we would have the usual income from TV, other commercial activities, additional gate receipts and matchday revenue, etc, which would be around £70m - £100m a year depending on success on and off the pitch. A proportion of the total income of around £120m - £150m would be earmarked for new players (say 20%) and wages (say 50%) each year.

The members would appoint a board and elect a chairman or president every three years. Like in Spain that would probably be a wealthy local businessman who could pledge his own funds to help run the club. All very romantic I realise, and I'm not an accountant so don't criticise the figures, but it works in Spain and Real and Barca haven't done too badly using these principles have they? For once we could genuinely say we are "The People's Club"...



Right, back to work now...

[disco]

It's a good idea, but I doubt the majority of Liverpool fans who go to games and can't afford £3000 will be too happy losing their seats.

[Fowler_God]

I think Dirka has a good thought with this.
For it to work though you would really need the help of the present board, for it to be plastered all over .tv, offical magazine, the echo, all the worldwide fan clubs, offical supporters etc etc. Plus it would take at least 2 years to get off the ground.
It would stop us becoming another faceless club which every club seems to be turining into.
Alas its a swell idea, but not one that could realistically get off the ground

[RoadEnd]

Would the members also get free ale and pies at Half Time?

[rushscored4]

It's a good idea, but I doubt the majority of Liverpool fans who go to games and can't afford £3000 will be too happy losing their seats.

Stuff them all!

Seriously, I'm a season ticket holder and would be one of those affected. Other clubs in many sports have offered similar debenture type schemes. The £3,000 could be a joining or purchase fee then you need to pay an annual membership of (say) £100 pm or £1,200 pa and perhaps a long-term discount could be offered like £5,500 for five years and £10,000 for ten. I'm sure somebody like RBS or MBNA could do a deal offering low interest loans to help and the membership could be sold like any other commodity thus proving to be a good investment. If it was a recognised security it could even be bought like shares through a SIPP (Self Invested Personal Pension) on which income tax relief could be obtained.

We might not have 50,000 people prepared to pay £3,000 each and £1,200 per annum but we could have 25,000 paying that much as Gold members and 75,000 members paying £1,000 up front and £400 pa as Silver members who could be offered six league games a season each (the other one could be a wild card) plus a 1 in 3 chance of cup tickets.

Like I said in my previous reply, I know this is just a romantic pipedream but it needn't be. The model works in Spain on a bigger scale so why not over here?

Would the members also get free ale and pies at Half Time?

Yes, as long as Dunk wasn't a member...

[Jayesh87]

Would we have elections like at Barca and Real?? With candidates promising players etc.

[disco]

YOu just know that like everything else in the world, the rich will buy up the 'shares' and sell them at a premium and fans will get screwed.

I LOVE the idea, just can't see it being popular.

[rushscored4]

YOu just know that like everything else in the world, the rich will buy up the 'shares' and sell them at a premium and fans will get screwed. I LOVE the idea, just can't see it being popular.

The memberships would be offered first to the current season ticket holders and PTS members then other fancard holders. Only if they all weren't taken up would they be offered for general sale. As I said earlier, I know many people couldn't afford to buy into this scheme so financial assistance could be offered or perhaps the memberships could be bought on a family or friends basis, e.g., four mates club together and buy a membership between them like some season tickets are unofficially done now.

I also said all the maths were just hypothetical (I'll leave the figures to you more qualified guys!) but it would be interesting to find out how it works (and how much it costs) at clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona where it obviously works well.

[Red Chilli]

Rushie, how much would it cost to buy out the entire share allocation at say 4000 pounds per share?

[The Glove]

Every fan throws in £50 tops. They then get an equal share.

I would not want an 'elitist' fan base owning the club just because they have excess income. If the fans are to buy it all fans should have the chance equally.