Club acquired by website

[DA11]

All these new people sound like some kind of wacky relgious cult.

[toddybad]

Originally Posted By: Chatham Gary

Originally Posted By: EUFC FAN

Read the FAQ. The other question to ask is how much is the website owner creaming off the top?

£7.50 per member, per year.
20,000 members are paying him/her/them at least £150,000 PER YEAR.
Nice job if you can get it.

To put this into context over £200k was spent on legal costs prior to the MyFC forums opening I believe. This includes the website costs also.

[Kenny]

Originally Posted By: Chatham Gary

Originally Posted By: EUFC FAN

Read the FAQ. The other question to ask is how much is the website owner creaming off the top?

£7.50 per member, per year.
20,000 members are paying him/her/them at least £150,000 PER YEAR.
Nice job if you can get it.

That's not quite right, Gary - the £7.50 pays for the upkeep of the website and other MFC admin, such as the legal fees rsheard mentioned above. Buying a football club is apparently not a cheap process. Also, the MFC website is going to have more than the odd bell and whistle on it, including plenty of video footage (of games, of course, as well as other content) so that members can make informed decisions.

Believe me, when MFC members first clocked the £7.50 charge the reaction was exactly the same but the more it was thought about the more it was generally accepted that there really will be some fairly high costs associated with this venture - and it wouldn't be fair to ask the club to pay those costs, so the members of MFC are paying it instead with this £7.50.

[low_key]

Hi all,

Have been reading all the comments with interest.

 

As a MyFc member and Hereford United supporter I could not be happier with the proposed deal. Gravesend (as they will always be to me) are a club that can certainly move places.

 

I was under no illusions as to what type of club we would be purchasing or supporting.

 

I have already purchased my ticket for the away end at Oxford on Saturday and would love to answer as many questions as possible (why I feel it's a good idea) etc. To answer some questions if the stake MyFC holds is sold at any point all money is donated to charity.

 

I would also now like to show my support for the supporter's trust at GNFC.

 

The way I see it I'm paying £35 to be a supporter of Ebbsfleet and strangely it feels good! :-s I'm not sure how the whole decisions thing will pan out but I say leave it to Liam!

 

Up the Fleet and here's hoping for a win on Saturday to begin this new era.

[Hempstead Gaz]

Why have we suddenly acquired scores of new supporters overnight when in the past everyone either laughed at us or disliked us?

Did these new fans have any inkling of this takeover?

For how long have Jason, Ada et al been 'negotiating' on this?

Why wasn't there ANY consultation, AGAIN?

Everything seems shrouded in mystery, which causes me unease.

I am thrilled for the cash input of £500,000+ per year - that could raise us above tinpot and put us with the big boys - but the crowds need to be sustained over a number of years.

 

[Hempstead Gaz]

Jason on RK as I write.

[Red Shadow]

I have just received a letter from "The Club" informing me of what is going on, of course it's all full of all the spin you would expect.

 

I am certainly not a traditionalist and we should all be open to

new ideology if it helps build a new, braver and brighter future.

 

However, this is fundamentally different. We are passing over the ownership of OUR club to 20,000 largely, faceless and nameless (pseudonyms excepted) people.

 

The conception of how all of this all will work (specifically) is totally unclear. I mean do we set up polling stations if Liam wants to sign a player ?

 

There is no transparency here and the board are potentially guilty of selling the club down the river (yet again) for a quick buck.

 

Make no mistake, this is a momentous decision and one that's treats exiting shareholders and supporters with sheer contempt, in that we are not even consulted over something that will change the face of the Club forever. Yet for £35.00 they are prepared to trade decision making to individuals who may never set foot in Stonebridge Road and know about as much as running a Football Club as the Chuckle Brothers.

 

If the Club is in the s*** financially, which I supsect it is, then I would far rather us ply our trade in the Kent League if it preserves our integrity and future.

 

FC United of Northfleet anyone ?

[PatMan]

Originally Posted By: Chatham Gary

Why have we suddenly acquired scores of new supporters overnight when in the past everyone either laughed at us or disliked us?
Did these new fans have any inkling of this takeover?
For how long have Jason, Ada et al been 'negotiating' on this?
Why wasn't there ANY consultation, AGAIN?
Everything seems shrouded in mystery, which causes me unease.
I am thrilled for the cash input of £500,000+ per year - that could raise us above tinpot and put us with the big boys - but the crowds need to be sustained over a number of years.

Gary - Fleet don't have scores of new supporters, they have scores of new owners who are interested in the club!
No-one knew until today what club would "benefit" from the MFC scheme.
Why would/should the club consult?
And hopefully, if the money turns into success this in turn will lead to the higher crowds!

[low_key]

I've been to Stonebridge twice (obvs supporting Hereford) and look forward to doing so in the future.

 

I completely understand the concerns of a lot of die-hard supporters on here.

 

But in defence of the sane MyFC members who incidently are not all mugs, there is a lot of support on the website for this deal and yeah, next home game there could be 1500+. I know of 10 or 12 of us who have already purhcased away end tickets for Saturday.

 

Look forward to seeing you all there.

[Alan ( GNFC )]

MyFC want Ebbsfleet to 'reach the next level'.

Then what? How is that sustainable long term.

Likewise what is to stop Liam Daish having to waste a lot of time on timewasters, who have never seen the team, making inappropriate team selections / signings which he has to dismiss.

The mere fact these people are on the web without a football team to support suggests they are not spending time at live football matches.

At least the manager will be able to hide behind a thousand excuses when the team loses.

Religious cult? and some I would say.

[rsheard]

Originally Posted By: Chatham Gary

Why have we suddenly acquired scores of new supporters overnight when in the past everyone either laughed at us or disliked us?
Did these new fans have any inkling of this takeover?

9 clubs were in talks with MyFC. Until today, the membership did not know anything about which club it was to be. All of the clubs, except halifax, wished for negotiations to take place anonymously.

[Hempstead Gaz]

Originally Posted By: PatMan

Originally Posted By: Chatham Gary

Why have we suddenly acquired scores of new supporters overnight when in the past everyone either laughed at us or disliked us?
Did these new fans have any inkling of this takeover?
For how long have Jason, Ada et al been 'negotiating' on this?
Why wasn't there ANY consultation, AGAIN?
Everything seems shrouded in mystery, which causes me unease.
I am thrilled for the cash input of £500,000+ per year - that could raise us above tinpot and put us with the big boys - but the crowds need to be sustained over a number of years.

Gary - Fleet don't have scores of new supporters, they have scores of new owners who are interested in the club!
No-one knew until today what club would "benefit" from the MFC scheme.
Why would/should the club consult?
And hopefully, if the money turns into success this in turn will lead to the higher crowds!

Ther deal is done (almost) and signed (almost). I guess we'll just have to laccept it, like it or not.
Any crowd increase and publicity can of course only benefit the club - even if it only for a year or 2. Can the 20,000 decide to sell Ebbsfleet and "buy" into say, Halifax?
Lord knows we have been at the butt end of the cash league since we joined the Conference, hopefully we can use some of the money to transform us into a club with a half decent stadium and a motivated football squad.

[George Reilly's Hairpiece]

Hi, I'm a Barnet fan and have been following the Myfc story for a while now. I was kind of hoping that it never got off the ground but it appers that it is going to happen.

 

Whilst the injection of money is of course welcome, running a club even at Blue Square level is a very costly business. (I was the management accountant at Hendon FC for 3 years so know a little of how a football club can be a money pit). The biggest concern for me is that there is no long term committment for memebers. The business model relies on continued payment of subs each year, or attracting new members to replace those who lose interest (and that will happen). What happens when the membership numbers start to fall? The £7.50 admin costs are only such because of an assumed membership base. If those numbers dwindle then the admin fee per member will have to increase (unless the website etc are downgraded) so the money going into the club will decrease as a result.

 

All of this before you even get into the idea of a diverse base trying to run a club and make decisions. Would you keep paying your money if it appears that you are always in the minority when it comes to the outcoming of the voting?

 

I hope it does work out and I'm proved wrong, but as you will have guessed, I'm very sceptical.

[John Pearce]

Whilst many MyFC 'members' may be serious supporters of football, the reality is that they are all playing a real-life version of Championship Manager (or whatever the bloody game is called) at our expense.

 

This is not a f^*c4ing game, it a real football club, with a history and with real supporters.

 

 

[low_key]

I would rather Mr Daish makes the football decisions and we have a poll on Business ones. There's some cracking ideas for merchandise already.

 

I am proud to be a MyFc member and also now a stakeholder in Ebbsfleet United.

[Alan ( GNFC )]

I think the whole thing is summed up by the Hereford fan who will be at Oxford on Saturday. Mate - Ebbsfleet are at Oxford, not Hereford.

Stick with your local club and football will eventually return to the real fans.

[Hirsty]

Originally Posted By: low_key

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Don't bank on it pal ! I will still be there but give me a wide berth ( no jokes here please !). This is akin to having a beer with Neil Warnock in my book !!

Cheers,

PS - If you are in the "end" then you will be in the car park ! Away fans will be in the North Stand. Oh, and our team will be in Red & White !! Nothing personal mate.....I'm just f*cked off today.

Regards,

[PatMan]

Originally Posted By: Alan ( GNFC )

I think the whole thing is summed up by the Hereford fan who will be at Oxford on Saturday. Mate - Ebbsfleet are at Oxford, not Hereford.
Stick with your local club and football will eventually return to the real fans.

[clowntown]

Originally Posted By: EUFC FAN

Does Liam still have the last say in team selection (in case these people pick 8 defenders and no goalkeeper for example!!!).

There's an awful lot of scaremongering going on here. I'm a MyFC member but realistic enough to understand what sort of options we will really be presented with. It's not going to be the "make a decision on everything" from what corner flag the subs warm up by to the price of a cup of bovril nonsense the website hints at - that's just spiel to hook in us investors.

At best, on matchday it's going to more be a choice of formation and maybe the option of starting with "the big lad" or "the small lad" up front and whether to give one of the kids a debut... we're not going to get to vote for 11 names out of the squad and they start the game, that's silly!

With transfers it will be even vaguer, as you wouldn't want to alert other bidders or jeopardise a deal, so I imagine it will be a choice of what position to strengthen and then which of a few scouted-but-not-named options (eg "experienced player from league two, early 30s, averaging a goal every 4 games, lost a little pace recently but still great dead ball specialist") to pursue as primary target.

That's the only way it could realistically work, and I think most of us MyFC members understand that. An eleven year old Champ Manager fanatic probably wouldn't, but an eleven year old wouldn't have the credit/debit card you need to pay your £35 a year subs anyway!

Chill out lads. It's not going to be the free-for-all you imagine!

[Stu B]

low_key, i'm particularly interested in your views given your previous expierence with Conference football, and your knowledge of MyFC. Would you have been happy if MyFC had bought Hereford?Or would you be scared etc?I'm not saying this in a harsh way or trying to prove a point, i'm just genuinely interested in your viewpoint.