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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.
This week, the renewals are due for MyFootballClub.co.uk, the fan website that, last year, brought Conference club Ebbsfleet United. The numbers, so far, do not look good for the club. Over at Soccerlens I crunch through the numbers and try my best to analyse why there’s been such a drop in membership (if my figures are correct, about 20 thousand won’t renew) and also what this means for the club. It probably won’t be pretty. When I first heard about MyFC, I was naturally cynical. I’ve spent enough time watching, reading and reporting on football and have seen enough ambitious and often hare-brained schemes collapse. MyFC always seemed a bit different. There was always a chance it would work, that the club would achieved success and, buoyed by that, it attracted legions of more fans and would be able to compete in the league. There was also a (to me) higher chance that the voting elements, especially fans voting on picking the team, would cause more problems than it was worth. And the idea of a business model based on an unpredictable number of yearly subscribers looked shaky. That said, even I’m surprised at how quickly things look like they’ve started to go wrong. I always maintained the idea would have short-term success but the acid test would come about two or three seasons down the line. Looks like my estimate was a little out. Ebbsfleet were owned by fans but not owned by their fans. That, I think, was always going to be a key issue. Anyway, that’s the article. Read. Comment. Bookmark. Pass it on. And if there’s anything you can add to it, please do.
At Soccerlens: The issues around the John Akinde transfer from Ebbsfleet to Bristol City. And I got a bad pun in the title.
Over at Soccerlens I’ve done quite a lengthy piece about where Ebbsfleet United go now as they begin their first close season under the ownership of MyFootballClub.co.uk. Needless to say, I’m still sceptical, but the rough conclusion is if they drop the pick the team option they might be stronger for it. Go read. UPDATE: It’s been really interested reading feedback on the Fleet forums and the article itself (wish I could access the MyFC forums but I’m not parting with £35 just for that) and raises points I’d never have thought of. What’s also interesting is the number of people who thinking dropping the Pick The Team element would be a good thing, although it’s hard to tell how representative a sample all the respondents are.
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: * 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.
“It’s about this time,” said Steve as the train passed through Dartford, “that I can feel my soul being sucked out of the window.” You could see the reason for his anguish. The South Eastern service from Charing Cross into Kent hardly passes through aesthetically pleasing parts of South East London but, in comparison to Northfleet, Lewisham is closer to the Lake District. Northfleet is meant to be an up-and-coming area: desirable due to the newly opened Eurostar terminal nearby along with a massive regeneration scheme for the area. For the time being, the area currently opens new chapters on the words grim and depressing in the dictionary. Northfleet is also home to curious football ownership experiment that is MyFootballClub.co.uk, the fansite that raised enough cash to buy Ebbsfleet United and now votes on most aspects of team business, including selecting the line-up. Quite what the Premiership and foreign fans who’ve invested their thirty-five quid in the club would make of the area when they step is the train is a moot point. Any MyFC member who hails from South Wales will probably recognise the some design principles that lay behind such delights as Port Talbot and Milford Haven: industrial estates, sparsely used land around estuaries, and the occasional bleak house and pub. The shrimp seller en route to Stonebridge Road is one of the few bits of local colour. Even the brilliant sunshine couldn’t do anything for the area. As Dr. Dave, a veteran of Northfleet away travel, commented, the concrete works look just the same in the sun as they do in the rain. Thankfully house hunting in Northfleet wasn’t the order of the day: even the grimmest parts of Britain can be lit up by the beautiful game, hence my presence on a sunny February day in Kent: Ebbsfleet United v Exeter City. [Ebbsfleet is not the same as Northfleet, although the two are close. Ebbsfleet, until recently, didn't exist until the new Eurostar terminal opened. It's soon to be joined by an Angel of the South statue. A 30ft lump of concrete would accurately reflect the area. Ebbsfleet United were, until recently, Gravesend and Northfleet but the name was changed to, apparently, tap into the potential growth of the area. Judging by the crowds, they may have some time to go until that vision is realised.] The game promised to be an intriguing one. Both terms were on a good run of league form with Ebbsfleet winning their last four and Exeter unbeaten in the same number and both had recently seen off teams with title aspirations (Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion and Stevenage Borough respectively). The stage was set for a classic encounter. Shame neither side were keen on playing classic football or, for large chunks of the game, any kind of football at all. This isn’t to say either side were committed to breaking up the match with consistent fouling to disrupt the opposition’s rhythm. More than the ball very rarely made contact with the foot in the first half, with head tennis the order of the day, and Ebbsfleet 40-love up on points, as the tactic was largely their own doing. Fleet manager Liam Daish has a side that not play pretty football but, as Jade Goody or Jodie Marsh will tell you, lacking aesthetics is in no way a hindrance to success. Indeed, previous Conference champions have employed a very direct, physical approach, with a touch of skill. Playing like Brazil won’t necessarily get you out of the league. A shame, then, that Exeter play best as a neat passing side with ball to feet and got quickly sucked into an aerial battle that they had little chance of winning. Fleet are a tall, physical side and were winning much of the headers in the centre of the park, while Akinde was having plenty of success against Rob Edwards at left-back, often drawing the centre-back out of position as well and exposing holes in Exeter’s rearguard. After nearly twenty minutes of hoof and head (with a bit of running), and Exeter getting very little of the ball, Ebbsfleet’s tactics paid off when Akinde lured City centre-half Danny Seaborne into making a lunge in the area. No mistake from McPhee and Fleet were one up from the spot. But for Andy Marriott in the Exeter goal, Ebbsfleet could have been three-up by half time. And that’s about the only other comment you could make of the first half: a dire spectacle but one with Ebbsfleet very much on top. Any MyFC fan wanting good football would have been disappointed, but impressed nonetheless at the efficiency of the home side. Proceedings picked up in the second half when Exeter manager Paul Tisdale rang the changes, moving Edwards to a deep-sitting central midfielder, bringing on teenager George Friend at left-back and removing striker Steve Basham to go 4-1-4-1. What seemed to many like a defensive switch had the opposite effect, with Edwards on hand to mop up the second ball, something Exeter were badly lacking in the first half. Suddenly the away side were on the ascendancy and were back on level terms after a sustained period of pressure saw Matt Gill strike a sweet low shot from outside the area into the bottom right-hand corner. Soon after Ebbsfleet started to work out how best to cope with the new formation and the game slowed down again, albeit in a far more open fashion than the first half. Both sides had chances to win it with Akinde rounding the keeper before deciding to take an extra twenty touches and contrive to blast over from five yards, while at the other end Exeter’s Wayne Carlisle was denied an almost certain goal by a superb last-ditch tackle from Fleet left-back, and purveyor of a dodgy mullet, Sacha Opinel to leave it honours even. If the first half was to football what Northfleet is to architecture then the second half was akin to the Eurostar terminal: pretty but not a lot going on beneath the surface, although impressive in places. Both sides look well primed to steal a play-off spot and with teams above them faltering this match could well be repeated as a play-off semi, or even final, in which case MyFC fans may fancy running a campaign to get Liam Daish installed as the ‘Angel of the South’. Assuming he stays, that is, and doesn’t resent having his team picked by people playing a glorified Championship Manager game. Waiting for the train back to civilization, the Eurostar terminal was visible from the less glamorous surroundings. On one hand, it had done its best to blend into the surroundings with a large, empty car park. On the other, the sleek new building seemed somewhat incongruous with the sparse industrial estates. And therein lies the same for Ebbsfleet United FC. The long ball football is as attractive as the area its played in, but its effectiveness is closer to a high-speed Eurostar train (albeit one that requires you to spend vast portions of the journey looking up into the sky). And just as Northfleet is looking to evolve as an area, so is the fan-owned club, although we won’t know for some time if either can be called a success.
It’s official – Ebbsfleet are now in fantasy land. Earlier today nearly 96% of myfootballclub.co.uk members who voted to purchase a 75% stake in the club, while a similar number of members who logged onto vote also gave their go-ahead to allow manager Liam Daish to strengthen his squad during the rest of the transfer window. Now begins the interesting part in what could be a make-or-break 19 months for the Kent club. If, and it’s a big if, things go well Ebbsfleet could become more than just a curious footnote in football ownership. Daish strengthens his squad, Fleet make a charge towards the play-offs (they’re too far behind to take the Blue Square Premier title this season) and the momentum they build up this season, plus a rash of new members enamoured by the concept, but who were holding off to see what could be achieved sign up, and Ebbsfleet continue their push towards league football. That, at least, is the best case scenario. But there are still a number of questions and issues that still need to be overcome if MyFc is to become a success. The concerns I had over the transfer dealings when the deal was first announced still stand, so I won’t revisit them, bar a few quick notes. Firstly Liam Daish sounded a note of caution earlier this month when he said he was still unsure what his role would be. Reading between the lines, it seems like a polite if firm message to MyFC members not to do anything too daft too quickly and to clarify uncertainties. I’d imagine there’s also a note of frustration here about being hamstrung in the transfer market while the takeover was approved, although in that respect the situation is no different to any other manager at a club in the midst of a takeover. But it would have helped the club if MyFC had completed the process sooner. Secondly, given the current climate and penchant for manager sacking, Daish has every right to be nervous over his position. What if Ebbsfleet go through a mini-slump, fall short of fan expectations or simply commit the crime of playing unattractive football?At what point through lean, or not so lean times, will the members lose patience? Finally on this front, there was a rather unhappy letter in this month’s issue of When Saturday Comes (sorry, no link) from a MyFC member in response to their article on the (then) proposed takeover, which made the point that while you’ll get a few muppets supporting every club, the majority would be taking an active interest and balance out the more irrational decisions. Wisdom of the crowd, if you will. But it’s worth repeating that not every fan (and this includes long-time Ebbsfleet fans) will have knowledge of the transfer market or the state of the team. If Liam Daish wants to sign a promising unknown, who’s to say the members won’t reject this in favour of an aging journeyman because said journeyman is more of a name with a proven track record? As for team picking, well, go back and read my original post on this. In football, given an experienced manager with a good track record or a huge collective of football fans with varying degrees of experience and opinions, I know which one I’d trust every time. For me, there’s fresh questions over the long-term viability of the MyFC vision. In the short term, as excitement grows there’s bound to be an upsurge in membership (and that’s happened today), but the real question is how long the members are signing up for. If Ebbsfleet wants to be sure of a stable financial footing, they need to be tying existing members into two or three year subscriptions minimum and get them to extend those subscriptions at the earliest possible opportunity. The danger, as I’ve stated before, with this type of model is members getting bored or going elsewhere. If you’re a dyed-in-the-wool Ebbsfleet supporter, then of course you’ll be there for the long haul, just as the majority of supporters’ trust members will carry on saying their subs no matter how lean the times are on the field. But take ‘casual’ fans, those viewing it as a novelty, an interesting experiment, or who just fancy having a second team. It’s a lot easier for them to walk away from this. Who’s to say that after a couple of years they’re not going to decide the £35 could be better spent elsewhere? Or perhaps they get frustrated with how MyFC is run. Already we’ve now got thepeoplesclub.co.uk, which appears to be the Talksport to MyFC’s 6-0-6 and run by an even more demanding and hysterical bunch (and say what you like about MyFC, at least they’ve sounded reasonably balanced and grounded throughout, even if the ideas may not be). The People’s Club were turned down after they approached to buy Kidderminster Harriers, but suppose they pick a more attractive team than Ebbsfleet, or their team starts getting better results than Fleet. It’s not inconceivable the more fickle MyFCer will take their membership elsewhere. After all, both businesses are targeting similar types of fans. What is concerning for MyFC, though, is the number of people who simply didn’t take part in today’s vote. This was the big, important vote that would determine the course of the organisation and out of 27,278 members, only 18,112 actually bothered to cast their vote. That’s just under a third of paid-up members. If they can’t be bothered to vote either yes or no to actually buying Ebbsfleet, are they really going to be on the terraces week-in week-out? Indeed, you’d have thought that given all the hype and press coverage surrounding MyFC’s takeover, and you’ve got over 27 thousand members, that Fleet’s attendances would have swelled. In reality, they’ve remained firmly entrenched in the high 900s, which is about par for a club of their level. Again, this should set alarm bells ringing, and goes back to the point of picking the team. If just a small percentage are watching the game each week, how the hell can they make an informed opinion on the team. Ok, so MyFC will make prozone stats available for all members. That’s still a poor substitute for watching a game. [And as an interesting aside, the statement on their website about the takeover is timed at 11.15am, when voting was meant to finish at midday. A small point, perhaps, but a curious one nonetheless]. Finally, onto the statement they released ahead of the vote, which is a curious mixture of legalese likely to go over the average fan’s head, promotional puff and the odd nugget that is useful for making an informed decision. Tom Dunmore at Pitch Invasion found it baffling and cast a ‘no’ vote on the basis of it, while 200 per cent had many concerns, which I share. Rather than repeat them here, go and read his whole post, although I’d like to emphasise the part where MyFC claim their new stadium could be built free of charge. I’d be really curious as to how exactly they aim to achieve that. As with when MyFC first made their announcement, there’s as many questions as there are answers, and many of those answers spawn new questions. Maybe these concerns are being dealt with, but it’s difficult to tell. As before, I maintain MyFC will probably be a success for MyFC in the short-term, and no doubt the site’s evangelists will take delight in pointing this out. But will it still be a success 36 months down the line? If MyFC do succeed, I’ll happily doff my hat to them and admit some of my concerns were ill-founded. But for the time being the nagging suspicion remains that this odd, if worthy, project won’t last the course and it’ll be the real long-term Ebbsfleet (sorry, Gravesend and Northfleet) supporters, who’ve followed the club through the best and worst of times, who will be the losers. |
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