Arsenal Football Club has finally succumbed. For a long time the Gunners, backed by their influential supporters trust and long time majority shareholders, remained steadfast in their belief that mixed public ownership was in the best interests of the club.
But after 5 years of cold war competition between an American property magnate and a Russian oligarch, the tides have turned. The only thing standing in the way of Stan Kroenke and full ownership is the agreement of his rival for full control, Alisher Usmanov.
Five of the Premier Leagues top six clubs are now owned by foreign investors. My objection is not to foreign owners themselves, but to the underlying perception that has given rise to current ownership trends. The point of this post is to highlight the potential dangers of the current situation.
It is widely accepted that football clubs must be run as businesses if they are to ensure their long-term stability. But what kind of business should a football club be? They do not merely supply a product or service to satisfy a market demand, they provide wide ranging social goods.
They play a defining role in the maintenance of social cohesion and the formation of national identity. But the markets don’t deal with social goods as well as they could, and traditional business principles are ignorant of the role clubs play in the stability and longevity of football as a national past time, which is based above all on the strength of it’s foundations.
Football is socially, economically and politically accessible to kids from all backgrounds. The extensive network of local clubs and leagues allows those who develop a passion for the game to take it one step further.
Footballers progress up the ranks of the amateur game, hoping to reach the top of an exceptionally large pyramid. Few footballers ever make it all the way, but the strength of the pyramid allows them to forge livings in the lower leagues, or continue to participate at different levels of the amateur game.
The kind of passion that fills stadiums week in week out is based on our ability to provide kids of all ages and abilities with the opportunity to develop their interest in the game at an early age. Today’s Under 11 is tomorrow’s paying punter, and football clubs have historically been very aware of this fact.
They have also been very aware of their broader role in society and their role in ensuring the stability of the pyramid. The danger for English football is not that Premier League clubs increase their commercial revenues in Asia and America, but that they do so at the expense of their role in the domestic context.
The pursuit of profit encourages clubs to raise prices, and exploit their fan base through the commercialisation of the brand. There is nothing wrong with developing a global supporter network, building a brand and increasing revenue, but if doing so results in the exploitation of grass-roots support and the undermining of the game as a whole then it needs to be reconsidered fast.
The Premier League and its member clubs need to regain a sense of their responsibility to local communities and to society, whilst recognising that their own long-term sustainability is dependent on the stability of the domestic footballing pyramid.
Foreign ownership in itself is not a bad thing, but the idea that football clubs represent lucrative monetary investments is potentially fatal to the game’s overall health. Football clubs need to be run as social enterprises, as revenue generating companies whose profits are redirected into developing their overall role in society.
Interestingly one of the few foreign owners to have identified this fact is Sheikh Mansour, the oil rich owner of Manchester City. His investment in Manchester City’s community projects has been significant and whilst recognising that the clubs finances need to be sustainable, he has attempted to avoid the financial exploitation of the common fan.
This is by no means an ideal situation. A genuinely forward thinking football club that recognises the need to preserve the importance of its role in society would look at new models of ownership that genuinely empower fans to make decisions, cementing the link between the club and its foundations.
But if clubs are inclined to encourage big money takeovers, then they should look to owners who are aware of the need to balance commercial gain against social benefit. By preserving the footballing pyramid, and encouraging community involvement clubs are not merely providing a significant public good, but they are ensuring their own long term futures.
