Gary Andrews

Hi, it’s me. Yes, you may remember me. I used to write things on here. Not, perhaps, overly insightful things, but things – generally known as words – nonetheless. And then it went a bit quiet.

So, er, yes. Sorry about that. Things got a bit busy, then I decided to take a short break, then I changed jobs. And, in between that, I spent the best part of a week writing a lot of articles for Pitch Invasion on fan ownership and Supporters’ Trusts in football.

All the articles are collected here – and if you’re interested in this aspect, please do stop by there, have a read and leave a comment. It’s less about on-the-pitch, than off-the-pitch business and cultural aspects, although the game itself obviously informs things. I did several interviews for this and the answers were completely fascinating.

The articles, individually are:

An overview of the current state of Supporters’ Trusts

The successes, so far, in the Trust / fan ownership movement.

And the failures.

A break from me writing as Terry Duffelen explores the Bundesliga fan-ownership model.

An interview with Brian Burgess, ex vice-chairman of Brentford, long-standing member of Bees United and Supporters’ Direct board member.

How the concept of fan ownership is currently taking hold in England.

Where fan ownership goes in the future.

And that’s that. I think that’s more words than I wrote for my dissertation. Maybe I should do another degree on this topic.

Anyway, I’m now back, I’m slowly setting into the hugely enjoyable new job, my Macbook – which died last Sunday – has come back to life and I have a host of posts in my head.

So expect the next post on here sometime in May.

written by Gary \\ tags: fan ownership, Pitch Invasion, supporters' trusts

Ever since MyFootballClub announced they were taking over Ebbsfleet United, I’ve kept tabs on the situation at Stonebridge Road.

Now that they’ve hit a crunch time in their history, with rival clubs bidding for their star players, I thought it was about time for another Soccerlens piece on them.

written by Gary Andrews \\ tags: Ebbsfleet United, fan ownership, MyFc, MyFootballClub.co.uk

Members of MyFC, the supporters’ website that now owns Ebbsfleet United, have been receiving an email from the club’s manager Liam Daish [1]. The email comes in advance of the not-too-distant time in the future when MyFC members will pick the team.

Daish’s email (assuming he wrote it) on one hand seems like a mixture of the optimistic, the cautious and the brave – there’s not many managers who’d offer to enter into a regular two-way conversation with the fans, although given the nature of MyFC, he’s got little choice. Even so, he offers more olive branches than you’d expect.

But, reading between the lines, the familiar problems and criticisms that have been levelled at the MyFC experiment. Won’t chopping and changing affect the balance of the team? Why should a player put in his all if he knows his selection next week doesn’t lie with the gaffer but 2,000-odd people on the terraces, some of whom may not rate him? What does the manager see in training that we don’t on the pitch? What the hell will the average non-attending MyFC member know about the intricacies of Woking’s tactics?

Now that Ebbsfleet have reached a Wembley final, there’s also an interesting dilemma – do the MyFC owners stay true to their principles or do they defer to Diash at a crucial time. If they do the first, isn’t that undermining the manager? If they do the latter, why the hell have their members paid £35?

And at the bottom of the email is a little poll:

The Web Team invites all members to take part in a poll regarding team selection. It will help the manager and members develop a team selection process that reflects the owners’ wishes.

The poll, which you can take part in here, asks the following question:
Which statement best describes your view on “Pick the team”?

* I want to pick the team but I don’t want the manager to make any changes to the members’ selection

* I want to pick the team and I’d like the manager to have some flexibility to make changes to the members’ selection

* I want to pick the team and I’d like the manager to consider, but not necessarily follow, the members’ selection

* I am not interested in picking the team

* I abstain

So, let me get this straight? You’re asking people who paid to join the experiment to vote to continue one of the key attractions and principles behind signing up before you’ve even put it into practice? And if members vote for anything bar the first option, why on earth should anybody carry on paying their £35 if they’ve got no connection to the club? And where will that leave Ebbsfleet?

I’ll still give it about three years, max.

Anybody want to guess what this week’s Soccerlens piece will be on? 

UPDATE: I’ve just seen on Ebbsfleet forums that the poll isn’t a binding vote. In which case, what’s the point of it? And if the majority of members vote for Daish to continue picking the team, doesn’t that leave the MyFC leadership in a pretty untenable position?

[1] WSC isn’t the only place I’ve seen the email, it’s been doing the rounds elsewhere.

written by Gary Andrews \\ tags: Ebbsfleet, Ebbsfleet United, fan ownership, Liam Daish, MyFc, When Saturday Comes