An article in Wednesday's Guardian Sport caught my eye.....the thing that dreams are made of, and this is ten years later down the line. FC United of Manchester was formed by a group of Man United fans who rebelled at the Glazer family's debt-loaded takeover at Old Trafford in 2005....for them it was an outrage too far. These fans have built a football club of their own, won four promotions and now have moved to the tougher semi-professional level of the Conference-North, built a fine £6.3 million stadium.....and have booked a Benfica eleven to christen it's opening. Fans who have fled the expense,compulsory seating and increasingly passive nature of the Premier League experience,as much as investor-owners exploitation.made it clear that they wanted to stand and sing. Their new ground has a terrace behind one goal and a standing area in front of the main stand seats. There is an attention to detail through the whole FC United enterprise,which is no doubt surprising to those who scoffed, including Sir Alex Ferguson himself,who sneered that these fans seemed to be getting above themselves. The First Ten Years. May 2005.....formed by fans. April 2006.....promoted as champions of the North West League second division, and named as the non-league club of the year. April 2007.....promoted to the UniBond Northern Premier League as champions of the North West Counties league first division. May 2008.....Promoted from the UniBond League by the play-offs....three consecutive promotions. Nov 2010.....Beat Rochdale 3-2 away in the first round of the FA Cup.. Drew 1-1 at Brighton in the second round,losing 4-0 in the replay. May 2011.....First of four successive failures to win promotion in the play-offs, lost in EvoStik Northern Premier League premier division final. April 2015.....Promoted to Conference North as champions of the EvoStik Northern Premier League. clinched by a 1-0 win over Stourbridge. May 2015.....Due to open new £6.3m. 4,500 capacity Broadhurst stadium with friendly match against a Benfica B team. The article also mentions that some players over the years have been offered transfers to bigger clubs with wage offers that would secure their futures....but have turned them down because they feel valued at FC United.....the average wage is £150 a week. One member, one vote is a fundamental part of what they are about,and that is the principle that holds them together. The members set the rules, directly elect the board and keep to the core aims of the club. Now that is a club you could support whatever level they play at......they have the Glazer's to thank for that........and obviously everyone feels valued.
Their's is a wonderful achievement Plymborn but it was born out of bitterness and, I regret to say, the typical football fan's attitude to the financing of football clubs. The Glazer's adopted a very well known and perfectly respectable form of finance for their purchase of the club. Having weathered the recent recession, it's clearly sustainable and any drop off in United's performances has been due to the purchasing of mediocre players for very large amounts of money, not a lack of finance in itself. The model doesn't conform to the average fan's attachment to the Sugar Daddy owner who admittedly may be putting more of his own money in but can just as quickly withdraw it if a whim takes him. If there's a club in Manchester that ought to be boycotted due to very dodgy finances and ownership, it's City not United. Yes, a one main, one vote system is fantastic but that of course means the fans have to ante up the club's financing. As soon as you rely on an external owner, he's going to demand a large degree of control. Could we finance Argyle? I doubt it very much.
