Lee wanting to sell his stake in the club.

Not for me. I get why people look at it like this but I'd care what division we were in. If we were successful I wouldn't care less who owns the club. I want to see us back in the premier league, I'd love to see us play in Europe. Pipe dreams maybe, but isn't this the whole point of being a football fan? We won't attract many new fans through being able to say that we are a fan owned sustainable club, only success on the field will make us more attractive to new fans and any potential new investors.

 

I was living in Chester when they got thrown out of the league and had to start again as a fan owned phoenix club. I'm not sure if they're still 100% fan owned, I think they broadly are. They found their level at roughly tier six which is a good two to three tiers below their previous history as a league club.
i reckon if you turned virtually any club in the top four divisions into a 100% fan owned club they'd drop down one or two levels. Maybe the really big clubs like Man U would survive in the top flight but they'd certainly be outwith the top six.
I'm not saying us being a fan owned club in the fourth tier would be a bad thing. I'd rather be in the position we are now where, with sebsible, prudent owners we can still just about remain in contention to be a Championship club. I think a sizeable proportion of our fans would be extremely unhappy with having to adjust expectations by a couple of divisions.
Like Marc though I think I'd cope. Most clubs have to have different definitions of success that doesn't involve winning things. Let's face it our chances of winning the cup come round on average about once every 50 years and winning the top division...never.
Success for us is competing in the Championship. Some clubs have to readjust.

 

I believe every league should adopt the 50%+1 rule. I dont follow German football but they have the lowest season ticket prices, highest attendances and lowest player wage structures of the top 5 euro leagues.

 

I know it doesn't make it right but like been said if we went fan owned and cut cloth according competing against other clubs losing money we would drop like a stone through the leagues.

 

Yes it only works if everyone is forced to do it.

 

The top league in Germany is the most attended in Europe although that's down to ground size aswell. The German 2nd and 3rd tier get no where near the amount of fans compared to the English equivalent.

 

Somebody earning £200,000 a week for ten years would just about be able to afford Jude Bellingham, assuming that they hadn't paid any tax and he played for nowt. Somebody earning £5000 a week over the same time frame would have made £2.6m before tax, so about half what the BBS reckons Mads is worth. That's not a lot, even at our level. Perhaps fifteen years down the line Stonesy will have a go, but I don't think he'll bankroll us to the Prem.