Investment by a Supporters Co-operative?

[AndyC]

Most if not all of us agree that Everton needs some serious investment and it continues to appear that the board either can't or won't provide it. That leaves us hanging in the wind awaiting another Sheikh Mansour or Roman Abramovich to come along willing to put in maybe a billion pounds with little or no chance of realising a return on that investment, so maybe we shouldn't hold our breaths.

Now this might seem somewhat off-the-wall and pie-in-the-sky, but could the worldwide fan base of Evertonians not come up with some sort of co-operative fund?
I have no genuine idea of even a rough estimate of the worldwide Blues, but a guess might be a figure in excess of 500,000 and maybe far more.

Imagine for argument sake if 500,000 could donate just £1 a week, in just one year well over £20 million could be raised.

It would need serious financial management, but the potential financial muscle of the worldwide fan base could bring about some of the changes we desire.

There must be people out there with better knowledge and experience of such an idea than I gave who could suggest a potential discussion document, but getting it out to the worldwide fan base could be an issue - who has access to such a potential data base of names?

 

[Groucho]

Most if not all of us agree that Everton needs some serious investment and it continues to appear that the board either can't or won't provide it. That leaves us hanging in the wind awaiting another Sheikh Mansour or Roman Abramovich to come along willing to put in maybe a billion pounds with little or no chance of realising a return on that investment, so maybe we shouldn't hold our breaths.

Now this might seem somewhat off-the-wall and pie-in-the-sky, but could the worldwide fan base of Evertonians not come up with some sort of co-operative fund?
I have no genuine idea of even a rough estimate of the worldwide Blues, but a guess might be a figure in excess of 500,000 and maybe far more.

Imagine for argument sake if 500,000 could donate just £1 a week, in just one year well over £20 million could be raised.

It would need serious financial management, but the potential financial muscle of the worldwide fan base could bring about some of the changes we desire.

There must be people out there with better knowledge and experience of such an idea than I gave who could suggest a potential discussion document, but getting it out to the worldwide fan base could be an issue - who has access to such a potential data base of names?

It's a good idea. £2 per week is affordable for a lot of people and is something I'd probably be interested in, yet know very little about.

I'm sure I'm not alone.

£20m won't make a great deal of real-world difference though will it? We need more investment than that I'd say? What would that amount achieve?

 

[summerisle]

From the rumblings on GOT I don't think the supporters are in a co-operative mood at the moment.

 

[AndyC]

At £2 a week from 500,000 a co-operative could make an offer for the club inside two years.

 

[dholliday]

Most if not all of us agree that Everton needs some serious investment and it continues to appear that the board either can't or won't provide it. That leaves us hanging in the wind awaiting another Sheikh Mansour or Roman Abramovich to come along willing to put in maybe a billion pounds with little or no chance of realising a return on that investment, so maybe we shouldn't hold our breaths.

Now this might seem somewhat off-the-wall and pie-in-the-sky, but could the worldwide fan base of Evertonians not come up with some sort of co-operative fund?
I have no genuine idea of even a rough estimate of the worldwide Blues, but a guess might be a figure in excess of 500,000 and maybe far more.

Imagine for argument sake if 500,000 could donate just £1 a week, in just one year well over £20 million could be raised.

It would need serious financial management, but the potential financial muscle of the worldwide fan base could bring about some of the changes we desire.

There must be people out there with better knowledge and experience of such an idea than I gave who could suggest a potential discussion document, but getting it out to the worldwide fan base could be an issue - who has access to such a potential data base of names?

A genuine Supporters Co-operative who are willing to donate to a club owned by millionaires and played by millionaires would number very few indeed. Anyone feeling that strongly about it should form their own club, ala FC United or AFC Wimbledon.

 

[Basil Fawlty]

At £2 a week from 500,000 a co-operative could make an offer for the club inside two years.

If we were for sale, and if the current owners were willing to halve their asking price

 

[roydo]

This chimes with my long forgotten "how to fund a fan owned ace stadium idea".

It is a numbers/organisation/regulation conundrum. Possible, but costly to whoever starts the serious ball rolling, with no guarantee of a result.

 

[AndyC]

A genuine Supporters Co-operative who are willing to donate to a club owned by millionaires and played by millionaires would number very few indeed. Anyone feeling that strongly about it should form their own club, ala FC United or AFC Wimbledon.

I have respect and even admiration for those who have formed FC United and AFC Wimbledon, but I personally don't want a second Everton, I want THE Everton, our Everton to return to its former glories.

 

[ilikecheese]

This chimes with my long forgotten "how to fund a fan owned ace stadium idea".

It is a numbers/organisation/regulation conundrum. Possible, but costly to whoever starts the serious ball rolling, with no guarantee of a result.

I was just going to post something about using this idea as a means to fund a stadium remodel.

 

[OneTrueLegend]

At £2 a week from 500,000 a co-operative could make an offer for the club inside two years.

Don't the board value the club at around £125m?

It would take more like 6 years for the fans to raise the money.

How about instead we get a stadium fund from the fans? It would be a unique way to fund the new stadium and those involved could have their names somewhere in or around the stadium

 

[Woolly Blue]

At £2 a week from 500,000 a co-operative could make an offer for the club inside two years.

I'll collect it and keep it safe !

More seriously, I don't know the background, but it's not so unusual in Spain for a club to be owned by it's fans. It'd be a hell of a jump for this to happen with a top English club. though.

Probably more likely, but even then, quite unlkely, is if one of the current larger shareholders was willing to sell to a co-operative. I'd be up for being part of that. Buying a few shares in the club at the moment is a nice idea but would get me more or less zero influence, being part of a fans co-operative who owned a goodly % of the club would be much better.

 

[dholliday]

I have respect and even admiration for those who have formed FC United and AFC Wimbledon, but I personally don't want a second Everton, I want THE Everton, our Everton to return to its former glories.

Your idea is completely unrealistic then. We all want the same thing (former glories), if the majority genuinely want the board out, then everyone should vote with their feet, and/or organise demonstrations.

Problem is, the majority are actually quite content with Kenwright's tenure. It's only the loud forum communities that complain. Reasons for this are debatable: you could argue the online community are better informed and thus more aware of the real issues.

As I said...debatable.

 

[AndyC]

If we were for sale, and if the current owners were willing to halve their asking price

If 500,000 worldwide fans could fund £2 a week for two years and the board resisted or turned down a fair offer, they would surely reap the potential reward of that worldwide fan base going the FC United route.

 

[Deco]

Don't the board value the club at around £125m?

It would take more like 6 years for the fans to raise the money.

How about instead we get a stadium fund from the fans? It would be a unique way to fund the new stadium and those involved could have their names somewhere in or around the stadium

Now that is an idea..

Especially if the fans group can have a big say on the stadium etc.

 

[Dutch Toffee]

I'd defo be interested in being part of that. £2 would be easily affordable.