Letter from the Brentford FC boardroom, 23rd April 2007
Dear Supporters,
Can a supporters' trust run a football club long-term?
There is no doubt this has been a terrible season. Many supporters I have spoken to have given me their opinions on why this season has been so poor. A significant proportion of you have said that the Club has gone backwards since the supporters’ trust has taken ownership on 20 January 2006. Then the team was well placed in the promotion race but ultimately failed and this season the team has completely failed.
So how much of this failure is due to the change of ownership? Last season I don’t think any of it was, and no the Trust did not encourage the sale of DJ Campbell (that was Martin Allen’s decision). This season the most critical decisions that were got wrong were the two appointments of first team manager, and yes Trust representatives were involved in both appointments, although others were involved too. If the Trust members were not on the board would the appointments been the same and would we have been relegated? We will never know. I think we now have to look forward without forgetting the harsh lessons of this season.
The success of any football club is usually judged on the performance on the pitch, not necessarily how well a club is run. Hence many clubs “chase the dream” and spend more than they can afford, get themselves into financial difficulties and hope someone will come and bail them out. Supporters’ trusts have done a great job in these situations pulling supporters together focusing effort to save their Club. They are often not able to takeover the club themselves although, working with other financial backers, are able to secure their club’s immediate future and also sometimes secure a place on the board. Why can’t they always take over their clubs? The answer is usually due to one thing: lack of cash.
For those clubs taken over by Trusts the issue of money does not go away. The majority of cost in professional football goes on players and managers’ wages. The football wisdom being the more you spend on the playing side the more likely you are to get success. Now take Scunthorpe, who have a playing budget at around the mid-point of other clubs in the Division, who will be League 1 Champions. Then consider Nottingham Forrest, who have a budget at least double of any team in the Division, who failed to make the play-offs last year and are most likely to be in the play-offs this and you’ll see money doesn’t guarantee success.
Whilst money doesn’t guarantee success it does improve your chances of it as typically teams who do spend more do better than those who spend less. People often speak of football as a “money game” and the pinnacle of this in England is at the top of the Premiership. The concern over money is not just concerning us in this country but all over Europe, so much so various proposals are coming from the EU, and being championed here by sports minister Richard Caborn, recognising the impact of money in the game and seeking to restore the “competitive balance” in leagues.
Legislation in this area will take time and in the meantime what do we do? Well we have to compete, but how? The money problems at Brentford are well documented so we need to manage our way out of these problems in a sustainable way.
The Bees United plan is to deliver a new stadium in “five years” that will generate non-football related income. I put five years in speech marks because that always seems to be the timeframe that has been spoken about for several years and I know supporters are understandably sceptical about this. Being part of the Club board I am privileged to know details of progress in this area. In the last six months there has been progress and I would hope that there will be concrete information about whether or not the stadium is likely to progress in next 3 months. Then you will know how close a new stadium really is rather than a generic five years.
So if we have a realistic chance of a new stadium what is the plan? Well the Trust does not have the money to fund the Club in the interim. Together with the Club board they are exploring a couple of funding options that will keep the Club running in the interim pending arrival at a new stadium. In conjunction with this the Managing Director has been asked by the board to reduce non-playing related costs further for next season’s budget, thus minimising the amount of additional finance.
My big concern is what happens if a new stadium is not going to happen? I cannot see a way that the Trust can sustain this football club in the long-term and keep it competitive whilst retaining ownership. The money to do this is simply not there.
To date no Trust in the English Football League has truly got to grips with how to be competitive in a market which operates like no other. Bees United is often quoted as being a trailblazer for the trust movement; well I think there are some tough choices over ownership to be had.
At this Thursday’s Bees United board meeting I want to start the process of ensuring the Trust is adequately communicating its future funding plans for the Football Club, with or without a new stadium. I know this is something that is concerning you and it is also concerning me.
Let's work together!
Jon Gosling
Comments can either be sent to me on or directly via comments page.
23rd April 2007