I have always been a sceptic about the idea of fan owned clubs. It's not just a question of the lunatics running the asylum: one can usually find well qualified lawyers and accountants to sit on the board. However, even if fans can raise the purchase price of a club in administration, they find it difficult to sustain the losses needed to secure success on the pitch and a downward spiral on and off the pitch can often result..
Exeter City has been referred to as the glowing example of a fan owned club, escaping from the clutches of the administrators, albeit with the benefit of some lucrative FA cup games.
Yet they raised their playing budget by £1m in two years while everyone else in the league was raising it by £3m or £3.5m. The highest playing budget in League One is £19m. The Grecians are currently fifth from bottom. General manager Clive Harrison admitted that it was not possible to guarantee selling a player each year to fill the financial gap.
An investigation by The Times has found evidence of serious financial mismanagement and the club's problems have been compounded by a serious fire which led to the home game against Burton Albion being called off.
Following an overspend last year the club has had to announce a second round of redundancies. The club's owners, the Exeter City Supporters' Trust, has been asked to provide a £200,000 loan to cover costs. £400,000 was handed over by the Trust to the club in the summer to deal with cash flow issues, four times the usual amount. Money does not always seem to have been spent wisely, to put it mildly.
A new supporters' group, Trust in Change, has emerged and they had some success in recent fan elections, but the underlying problems are far from resolved.
Before anyone mentions AFC Wimbledon, remember they are in an affluent part of London which has led to injections of investment. A county town in Devon is a different locale.
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