Is fans in the boardroom the way forward?

A placard advocates the German model, where fans hold 51 per cent of voting rights

A question that kept cropping up after the collapse of the proposed European Super League was: why did those in control at the wannabe breakaway clubs have not a clue how visceral the backlash would be?

The only reasonable answer was that powerful, wealthy people tend to be out of touch and surrounded by sycophants too scared to speak the harsh truth. Ed Woodward, the outgoing executive vice-chairman of Manchester United, ought to have been someone ready to advise the distant owners that there would be a fierce opposition on home soil, but he evidently preferred to go along with the plan and reports emerged that he “deeply regrets” not sharing his doubts about the ESL.

The English clubs involved were shocked by the backlash. Chelsea were the first to make the U-turn as angry fans gathered outside Stamford Bridge. That there was such an evident disconnect is seen as a flaw that should not be repeated and the west London club became the first to announce that it will allow three fan representatives to attend board meetings. Their role will be to convey “supporter sentiment” rather than have an active decision-making role and other big Premier League clubs are considering following suit. It may feel like a crowd-pleaser sort of move but it is entirely practical. These clubs really do not want to ever again appear so out of touch.

Three non-voting bodies in the boardroom will not be enough, though, to placate those fans who want a much bigger role at the club they support. The Manchester United Supporters’ Trust delivered a four-point plan to the Glazer family, who own the club, asking them to establish a share scheme that is “accessible to all and that has shares with the same voting rights as those held by the Glazer family.”

On the weekend Joel Glazer, the co-chairman, responded that he believes in the principle of fans owning shares, which may or may not dampen the yearning for protest.

MUST is in part emboldened by the forthcoming fan-led review of football governance supported by Boris Johnson, who certainly sniffed a chance for more support at the polls by backing fans in their protests against the Super League. Indeed, the government has let it be known that it takes seriously the possibility of bringing in legislation to give control of clubs to fans, perhaps along the same lines as in the German Bundesliga, where supporters hold 51 per cent of voting rights.

This membership model has gained almost mythical status here and some of the homemade placards at the various protests even had 50+1 as a slogan. Certainly, the ESL concept was rebuffed early in Germany not least because Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund knew perfectly well what their “supporter sentiment” was likely to be. And yet in many respects the German model is an alien one. There is a relentless domination by Bayern because no oligarch is prepared to invest in a league that gives him no power. The Premier League may not feel terribly competitive if you support West Bromwich Albion or Burnley but the race to the title ebbs and flows far more compellingly here than it does in Germany.

The ESL united us all because it was an attack on every single other club in the football pyramid and therefore an assault on the hot dog vendor in Swansea, the tea lady at Torquay and the grandfather sat with his granddaughter, a blue fox painted on her cheek in support of Leicester City at the FA Cup final.

What the rich owners failed to grasp was that most fans love the texture of difference, the trips to the coast, to the cities, to the crumbling stands followed by gleaming new stadiums – but in the midst of all that romance is a certain realism. Exeter City are supporter-owned and the fans pay to keep it up and running. In return they have a say on expansion, on image, on whether to hand it all over to someone with loads of dosh. They know there is a limit to how far they can go without new money.

Chugging away, fearful of relegation, is not acceptable to other fans. Mike Ashley is taking legal action against the Premier League in response to the failed takeover of Newcastle United by a Saudi Arabian-led consortium. This represents a rare instance of the Newcastle owner being in step with the club’s fans, who had been generally excited at the prospect of big money coming in to allow the team to challenge for silverware.

Amnesty International was appalled when the deal was first mooted and pointed to the dire human rights abuses under the incumbent regime. The human rights organisation pleaded with Newcastle fans not to overlook what it considered to be an obvious case of sportswashing. There was anger from the supporters – not at the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist critical of the Saudi Arabia government – but at the idea that their dreams of a new, wealthy ownership framework could be scuppered by delays as the Premier League spent 17 weeks scrutinising the deal under the auspices of the owners and directors’ test before Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund pulled out.

If fans had control at St James’ Park they might well have attempted to hand power over to the consortium, leaving a minority among their support disgusted that money was more important than morals. The model of fans holding the vote does not necessarily lead to nirvana. There is one issue all agree upon: the sanctity of open competition with its drama of promotion and relegation. As for everything else, there will be disagreement.

All big wealth has a backstory. United fans are appalled by what they view as their owner’s greed and lack of engagement while most Manchester City fans prefer not to dwell on the issue of whether their team’s glittering success represents a PR vehicle for Abu Dhabi’s ruling family. If the Glazers attended four games a month at Old Trafford and ate out in Manchester each time, would they be less hated? With fan power would come tough dilemmas as well as responsibility and not all points on the moral compass would be ticked.

The Sunday Times