There are many ways in which supporters attempt to quantify how much they love their team. Some do it by talking about the number of matches they attend, others by how far they have travelled or what they have sacrificed to be there. How much money they spend is a common one, or there are simpler but more permanent tributes such as tattoos.

But here is the real question - if your club was in real trouble, would you put your hand in your pocket to save it? Yes? I thought so... but while you are thinking about that, consider this. By the time you are taking your purse or wallet out, it might well be too late.

History is useless unless you are willing to learn from it, and the time has come for supporters of all teams to learn from events up and down the country and at the nation’s two biggest clubs.

' 'Supporters forming trusts to buy clubs can and does work. But to be taken seriously the trusts need to be in place, with the required finances ready to make a bid as soon as the current owner wishes to sell'


Liverpool and Manchester United have a lot more in common than either set of supporters would ever dare admit. Both have been hugely successful through the years, both command large loyal followings and now both have fallen victim to a leveraged buyout which has resulted in millions of pounds worth of debt being placed on the clubs - a debt solely acquired to enable their new owners to purchase them!

The net benefit to the supporter is nil, but the net cost is repaying that debt (plus interest), along with a healthy profit for the directors.

In both instances groups of supporters responded by trying to raise the capital to buy the clubs themselves but despite being the two best supported teams in the country both have failed (OK, the Liverpool attempt hasn't failed yet but the chances of success are slim at best).

At other clubs, we have seen directors being arrested for fraud, gambling with the club’s future and plunging them deep into debt, or even moving the club to a different town altogether.  While Liverpool and Manchester United are unlikely to be left facing relegation as a result, many other teams subsequently plunge down the divisions to compound their problems. The catalogue of mismanagement is growing by the season, and all the time it is the supporters who end up paying for it.

As the attractiveness of owning a football club continues to grow, supporters need to be acting now to ensure the long-term future of their teams. It's no good waiting for things to go wrong and then trying to rescue the situation. A more proactive approach is needed.

Supporters forming trusts to buy clubs can and does work. But to be taken seriously the trusts need to be in place, with the required finances ready to make a bid as soon as the current owner wishes to sell. In other words, supporters need to be acting now to be ready whenever the opportunity comes along, be it in a few months time or in the years to come.

Waiting and responding to a crisis simply isn't good enough - just ask the supporters of teams where they have done that if they wish they'd been prepared and I'm pretty sure you can guess what their answer will be.