MyFootballClub
From FleetWiki
MyFootball Club (or MyFC for short) negotiated the purchase of Ebbsfleet United in January 2008, with approximately 25,000 members joined up by this time, which equated to a fighting fund of approximately £700,000. The agreed deal means that the MyFootball Club Industrial and Provident Society have the same authority as a single 75% shareholder on the Ebbsfleet United board.
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[edit] History
[edit] Concept
Will Brooks was the originator and driving force behind the MyFootball Club venture and in various articles, he has said that a combination of thoughts led to the launch.
Firstly that it made more sense for a football club to be owned and financially supported by thousands, rather than relying on the wealth and continued enthusiasm of one person. There was already some precedent as Supporters Trusts had been successful in various clubs that had experienced financial and managerial difficulties.
Secondly, the concept of important decisions being made by groups of non-expert individuals had gained currency with the growth of the "Knowledge Economy" and in books like James Surowiecki's "The Wisdom of Crowds" and others. It had been postulated that football fans, as a group, are often made the correct decisions, when an individual managers or pundits fail. A team managed through a website had also been seen in the lower divisions of the French football league.
The MyFC concept crystallised in February 2005 with the realisation that a website could put these elements together. Over the next couple of years, 3 football clubs were approached directly to adopt the model. After many meetings, with two clubs in particular, a new strategy was adopted.
[edit] Development
[edit] Phase 1
Advice and experience gained led to the launch of the Phase 1 website on 26 April 2007. The purpose of Phase 1 was to collect names and email address of individuals willing to pay £35 in order to buy a football club. By 1 August, over 53,000 had registered, and the Phase 2 website was launched.
[edit] Phase 2
The purpose of Phase 2 was to collect funds for MyFootballClub Society Ltd, which would purchase the football club. Phase 2 also had a members' forum, which allowed the members from around the world to discuss their targeted teams, marketing of the MyFC venture, ethos of the society and other subjects, both on topic and off topic.
[edit] Phase 3
Phase 3 was to be the club-operating website, launched on the day of the football club takeover. Some of the Phase 3 functionality was brought forward in early November 2007 as "Phase 3.1 Beta" whilst negotiations were still ongoing with various clubs.
Other functionality under Phase 3.1 Beta includes a Video player, team selector, member contributed articles, ratings system, member messaging, friends network, and the incorporation of a chat room.
[edit] Ebbsfleet United
After much speculation by members and the media, on 13th November 2007 MyFootballClub announced that it had reached an agreement in principle with the directors of Ebbsfleet United F.C. The exact terms of the deal were still to be defined, pending due diligence investigation and ratification by members vote, but were expected to include least a 51% to allow members to make the material decisions, including team selection.
The agreement was approved by the Fleet Trust shortly after, and an open forum held in December showed that existing fans also generally positive.
Due diligence was completed on the 16th January 2008, with a MyFC members vote to ratify the deal, which included a 75% shareholding for the society. This was approved by 95% of members who voted (approximately 66% of the total membership at that time). Members also approved Liam Daish's January tranfer window plans, as the final handover of the club would not be completed until well after the 31st January deadline.
By this time, a number of projects similar to MyFC had been set up around the world, including a plan to buy English Premier League team Liverpool FC.
[edit] The MyFC Board
In February 2008, the members of MyFC were asked to decide how many elected members they would like to see on the IP Society board, and were asked to submit their candidacy for the MyFC IP Society Board Elections. In March 2008, 7 members were elected to form the board.
[edit] Who's Who:
- Bodies
- MyFootball Club Society Limited ("Society") - members are all members of Society, the body set up to own a football club.
- My Football Club Limited ("Operator") - provides certain services to Society, including running the website.
- The Fleet Trust - a trust for supporters of Ebbsfleet United F.C., which runs the merchandising operations for the club and owns a large stake in it. Not involved with My Football Club, although some people are members of the Fleet Trust and Society.
- Founders
- Teams
[edit] Relationship between IPS and Operator:
- Agreements - paperwork
[edit] Structure of IPS:
[edit] Processes:
- MyFC IP Society Board Elections
- Voting on business decisions
- Ebbsfleet Teamselector
[edit] MyFC Community:
- MyFC Local and National Branches
- Great Weird Ideas (mostly great) that have been captured from the MyFC forum
- MyFC Members skills directory
