20,000 Board Members

Interesting news on the football front today - the MyFootballClub.co.uk website has agreed a deal to purchase Blue Square Premier Division side Ebbsfleet United.

The concept is certainly innovative - each person who signs up at the website pays £35 to become a member of the club, but not of the club's board. The club will be owned by MyFootballClub, which will essentially be a co-operative. So far, so normal - Barcelona, to name but one side, have more than one million 'members' who can vote to elect a president who is then in charge of running the club for a fixed term.

But MyFootballClub is promising an even more hands-on experience than that - each member will be given a vote on team selections and transfers. And it is here that the plan falls down.

So far, 20,000 members have stumped up the £35 membership fee. Each of these members will therefore be entitled to a vote on tactics. But how is that workable - will there be a poll on the website before each match to determine the formation? Will the members then have to vote on which players will wear each shirt? Frankly, it's unworkable.

The same applies to transfers - will each of the 20,000 members be canvassed to determine their preferred signings? Again, that's unworkable, especially in a sport where player movements are restricted to two transfer windows. Running such a system on transfer deadline day, where a single minute's delay can make or break a deal, would be a complete non-starter.

The aims behind MyFootballClub are to be lauded - to take a club into the hands of the fans, and prove that the combined will of the members can be a positive force in British football.

And, if it were simply a case of each member putting in their cash and attending the matches, it might work. But if every Tom, Dick and Harry then expects to have a say in every single decision at the club, I can only see the whole experiment descend into farce.