Sfa And Spfl ...... "astonished" At Fans Bill ...... (From Bbc)

[gedee]

 .........Following the headline above, which refers to the recent news, that MSP's have backed proposals to give the fans right to buy their clubs.

To be honest I do not know the full story, but I think it refers to .......should a football club enter administration, MSP's wish to pass a bill to give the fans a legal right to be offered first option to buy.

Because I don't really know the details, I don't have an opinion on this particular issue at this time ........although I thought that in it's self, it sounded reasonable.

"However, the SFA and SPFL feel the proposals could undermine their own efforts to increase supporter involvement in clubs if the Bill is passed by the full Scottish Parliament at its final stage later this year" ........ (that quote is aso taken from the story)

I also feel "astonished" with the part of their quote that says ........."However, the SFA and SPFL feel the proposals could undermine their own efforts to increase supporter involvement in clubs"

"Undermine what efforts" ? ..........Maybe I have missed something !!

(I think both administrative bodies prefer to keep taking their money and keep their heads well below the parapet)

[chomp my root]

At the risk of covering old ground, this strikes me as another populist policy by the SNP, how realistic is it that all these fan trusts are going to be able to organise a buy out at short notice unless they take on club debt etc. I was/am probably more keen on the DFCSS than a lot of people and I think they dug us out of a hole but if FPS wanted to pull out and sell their shares, how realistic is it for the Society to pull half a million or so out of their arses to buy them out ? Staying with our club, we've seen already that the Board aren't keen on the Society wanting to build a pot of cash to buy back the ground, how happy would they be if the Society started a 'buy back DFC' fund !

I would love it if more clubs were in the hands of fans, including our own ( ), we've lurched from one bad owner to the next and that seems acceptable but when we have (what was percieved by many as) one bad Society 'term' then the baby gets thrown out with the bath water.

To sum up, good populist idea that will probably come to nothing but generates the SNP some good PR with football fans.

[gedee]

At the risk of covering old ground, this strikes me as another populist policy by the SNP, how realistic is it that all these fan trusts are going to be able to organise a buy out at short notice unless they take on club debt etc. I was/am probably more keen on the DFCSS than a lot of people and I think they dug us out of a hole but if FPS wanted to pull out and sell their shares, how realistic is it for the Society to pull half a million or so out of their arses to buy them out ? Staying with our club, we've seen already that the Board aren't keen on the Society wanting to build a pot of cash to buy back the ground, how happy would they be if the Society started a 'buy back DFC' fund !

I would love it if more clubs were in the hands of fans, including our own ( ), we've lurched from one bad owner to the next and that seems acceptable but when we have (what was percieved by many as) one bad Society 'term' then the baby gets thrown out with the bath water.

To sum up, good populist idea that will probably come to nothing but generates the SNP some good PR with football fans.

Chomp ....... I tried to avoid advancing the cause of the SNP (or any other political parties) when I raised this topic.

Maybe unsuccessfully, but where I was trying to put the emphasis of my post, was on the inadequacy/incompetence, of those guys, who are part of the ruling bodies of Scottish Football.  If there was a target at all, it was them that it was aimed at. No' meant to be a political thread at all   

[chomp my root]

Chomp ....... I tried to avoid advancing the cause of the SNP (or any other political parties) when I raised this topic.

Maybe unsuccessfully, but where I was trying to put the emphasis of my post, was on the inadequacy/incompetence, of those guys, who are part of the ruling bodies of Scottish Football.  If there was a target at all, it was them that it was aimed at. No' meant to be a political thread at all 

I get where you're coming from Gedee but there is a political aspect to this and sooner or later someone would have raised it. While I'm no fan of the SNP I'm not using this to beat them with, I would say the same for any party. My cynicism is because I can't really see this being of any use to supporters trusts and that's why I think its a populist policy to try and woo football fans. I'm more than happy for someone to (politely  ) tell me I'm talking bollox and it's just what some groups have been waiting for because as I said, I'm a fan of the idea of supporter owned/run clubs.

[Edin_Dee]

Was listening to the Alloa chairman on the radio talk about this last night who seemed to talk a lot of sense. He said that MSP's are planning to put this into law on the back of a consultation of only 250 people and that they haven't even consulted the football clubs. Shocking if that is true.

There seems to be this idea that if the fans own the club then they will avoid financial disaster purely because they have the club at heart. We should know more than most that things do not necessarily run smoothly with fan ownership. The infighting is ridiculous and the constant accusations of "people just after a blazer".

People will point to Hearts as an example of how to run it but they have Anne Budge there who has unquestionable control because, at this point, it is her money that has saved the club. Once she hands full control to the fans that is when the real work starts for them.  

It should be left up to each individual football club whether they want a fan ownership model and this is not the sort of thing MSP's should be getting involved with.

[islaydarkblue]

I think that the main problem is that the Green MSP Alison Johnstone who has put forward these proposals is clueless about football debt. 

She obviously does not realise that if a football club goes into administration and is bought out of administration by new owners the cost of football debt ( payment of redundant players contracts being paid in full) and the administrators costs must also be paid by the new owners.

This makes it more difficult for supporters groups to be able to afford to own the club and still have sufficient funds to put a decent team on the park.

[JoeCovenant]

If this is a way for *The Rangers* to creep back after another crash and burn then it will be ONE SNP policy I will have NO qualms about opposing! 

[islaydarkblue]

Joe.

The problem with the current batch of MSP's at Holyrood is that they are dreaming up all sorts of daft ideas and if the ruling group of SNP MSP's like them they use their controlling vote to let them become law despite widespread opposition throughout Scotland.

[JoeCovenant]

Joe.

The problem with the current batch of MSP's at Holyrood is that they are dreaming up all sorts of daft ideas and if the ruling group of SNP MSP's like them they use their controlling vote to let them become law despite widespread opposition throughout Scotland.

Well, thankfully we're about to have a general election soon.

And no doubt all of those MPs you are talking about will be cast aside...

[Derry Drummer]

Fans ownership does not work. Not at a competitive level anyway.

Unless every supporter donates money, week in, week out the supporters running the club have no savings for expansion etc.

And as we see, our fans no longer want to put their hand in their pocket. Even for our new board

[BCram]

Hi Joe, and Gedee

Could you get your friends who are politicians to come on here and explain the thinking behind this idea. i don't think it should be a topic that is resolved along party lines and I'd like to hear more about it. 

Our experience as Dees is that fan based ownership didn't work, Hearts have an owner who wants to hand over the club to a fan based ownership system and we have Rangers who are still in some turmoil about ownership of the their club.

there have been terrific discussions about non football stuff, I'm thinking about the Referendum, and I'd hope that this could be something that would generate a lot of discussion. I'm on the side of Gedee when he questions the whole concept that the SFA and the SPFL are working in the best interests of the fans! 

[BCram]

Well, thankfully we're about to have a general election soon.

And no doubt all of those MPs you are talking about will be cast aside...

We've got a couple of years to wait before the Holyrood election.