3. Financing Supporter Community Ownership

“Achieving club ownership always requires supporters’ trusts to be able to finance that ownership.”

This paper provides information and guidance on the different forms of fund raising available to supporters’ trusts. Supporters Direct believes that the best way for supporters to have a meaningful role in the running of their clubs and to achieve the best possible social and community impact of clubs is through supporter community ownership based on the democratic supporters’ trust model.

However, achieving the ownership of football clubs always requires trusts to be able to finance that ownership. One of the major obstacles to extending current supporter community ownership – whether for wholly owned, majority or minority ownership – is the ability of trusts to raise capital finance. An additional difficulty is the huge variety of circumstances in which opportunities for developing ownership through collectively and democratically held shareholdings occur. For those supporters’ trusts that do have an ownership stake in their clubs, there are additional capital requirements, such as the development of new facilities. This briefing paper examines the relevant issues, and outlines how supporters’ trusts can finance supporter community ownership.

Briefing Paper 3