
Fan Ownership Is the Alternative to Football’s Oligarchs
This week’s chaos at Chelsea exposes football’s complicity in providing cover for unscrupulous billionaires and brutal regimes – the only way to save the game is to fight for fan ownership.
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Will Magee is a football journalist who has written for Vice and the i newspaper.
This week’s chaos at Chelsea exposes football’s complicity in providing cover for unscrupulous billionaires and brutal regimes – the only way to save the game is to fight for fan ownership.
Last month, Dortmund fans voted to prevent their club changing its name, playing home games outside the city or leaving the Bundesliga – a reminder that fan power can stand up to modern football.
From Enfield Town to FC United and AFC Wimbledon, fan-owned clubs are succeeding across the English game – and offering a model for supporters who want to reclaim football from the corporate elite.
German football’s 50+1 model gives supporters a real say in their clubs and a better culture in the stands – if English fans want to be treated as more than consumers, it’s time to build a movement demanding the same.
Before Marcus Rashford’s free school meals campaign, football fans were bridging age-old rivalries to support foodbanks – and shame the government over its failure to tackle Britain’s hunger epidemic.
Labour’s bold plans to reform football – redistributing wealth from the richest clubs, and empowering fans to buy shares and sack directors – could save the beautiful game from the oligarchs.