Lets buy a player

[BornCaley]

I dont know where to post this, so maybe a Mod could oblidge.....

Over the last year there has been a couple of instances wherebye fans of 2 small clubs have invested in their club, to the point that they are basically running the show. I cant remember the names. So i though of an idea.

By the looks of things CB will not recieve any cash from Mariusgate , so Is there anything stopping fans on CT online investing money to buy a player. Even if 200 people chipped in ?500 each; that would raise ?100,000, which would be handed to the club for CB to get a 1/2 decent player.

I know this is far fetched and maybe over the top, but i think the fans should be allowed more of a say in the running of a club. Yes there are fan associations and fan trusts, but how great would it be if we actually influenced the buying of a player through our own investment.

Personally i would probably be able to provide ?500 if the idea was seen as a winner

any thoughts brothers & sisters?

BC

Edited August 7, 2008 by BornCaley

[Guest birdog]

I dont know where to post this, so maybe a Mod could oblidge.....

Over the last year there has been a couple of instances wherebye fans of 2 small clubs have invested in their club, to the point that they are basically running the show. I cant remember the names. So i though of an idea.

By the looks of things CB will not recieve any cash from Mariusgate , so Is there anything stopping fans on CT online investing money to buy a player. Even if 200 people chipped in ?500 each; that would raise ?100,000, which would be handed to the club for CB to get a 1/2 decent player.

I know this is far fetched and maybe over the top, but i think the fans should be allowed more of a say in the running of a club. Yes there are fan associations and fan trusts, but how great would it be if we actually influenced the buying of a player through our own investment.

Personally i would probably be able to provide ?500 if the idea was seen as a winner

any thoughts brothers & sisters?

BC

:018: :thumb04:

Sorry but our fan base is nowhere near big enough and ?500 is a lot to ask from the average football supporter.

[Scotty]

I admire your thinking but the practicalities are somewhat different as I will explain below. As a shareholder, I will also want answers to some fairly serious questions if there is a huge hole in our accounts once the dust has settled around Marius. I tend to agree with CaleyD's sums on this whole thing and even if we pay him his cut in full, then we should still have turned a profit on the sale as well as on the signing a year ago.

anyhoo, back on topic .....

If you read Ian Broadfoot's book, you will see my name mentioned a few times and one of the times is in relation to a scheme I dreamt up called the "Pay A Player" project.

The idea - which emerged when we were very close to a financial precipice before DFS did his juggling and magic act to make our debt disappear - was that fans would join a scheme that would take anything from ?10 upwards from their bank via direct debit each month and that all money raised would go to Steve Paterson to either enhance conditions for existing players (thereby keeping our best ones) or to pay the wages of a new player. Basically, Steve was going to get the money and so long as it went to one of those two situations, he could do what he preferred.

It got decent press coverage, I got stopped in bars and on the street with people telling me it was a great idea, and some of the club's smaller sponsors even contacted me to say they would consider coming on board because this way they knew their sponsorship would be used where they wanted it to be used.

In the end, it never got off the ground, not because of lack of trying but for two main reasons. The first was David Sutherland's financial turnaround of the club which made the idea less pressing, and the second was the apathy of people when the idea of parting with money suddenly became the reality of parting with money. For some reason they were happy to talk the talk, but when it came to parting with cold hard cash, the list of interested parties shrunk quicker than Gordon Brown's popularity. I was only asking for a minimum of ?10 per month with the proviso that people signed up in something like 6 month stints at a time so the expenditure for someone who joined and then left would only be around ?60 ..... If I couldnt get ?60 from many supporters, then I fear ?500 is a figure that most would scoff at, especially when most have other financial concerns of their own.

[Guest birdog]

After that well considered reply by Scotty I feel I may have been a little harsh by adding the rotfl smiley. What Scotty says is true though, I for example have 2 kids both Caley daft I buy them each a strip every season, I pay a season ticket for myself and my son (well get my boy for free this season but back to paying next season), I have decorated my son's bedroom with bed set and curtains from the club shop, I visit the club shop every match I attend and generally the kids empty at least ?10 from my wallet, I buy food and beverages from the eateries within the stadium all in all I spend way too much time and money on the club already but I get something in return for all that handing over cash to spend on a player I would get nothing in return especially if said player gets injured or turns out to be another Deano. Additionally Brewster would be under more pressure to play a player who was bought by the fans and Brew's tactical abilities are sadly lacking without any added pressures. An idea born from good intentions is not always a good idea.

Again sorry for my first post in this thread.

Edited August 7, 2008 by birdog

[+Gringo]

Over the last year there has been a couple of instances wherebye fans of 2 small clubs have invested in their club, to the point that they are basically running the show. I cant remember the names.

I think one of them was Ebbsfleet Utd, I believe a group of fans saved the club (formerly Gravesend & Northfleet) by rallying round and raising the cash in much the same way I yu are suggesting here.

As Scotty quite rightly says apathy will set in once it becomes a reality and its time for folk to part with cash. I also feel that, in the current finacial doldrums, many folk will see this as an unnecessary expense. Doubtless there are enough of us out there that could (not necessarily would!) stump up the ?500 but I think the legal proceedings will be far too much and would probably cost just as much through solicitors fee's etc. Also if the player was sold at a profit who would get the money?

[CaleyD]

If people want to invest in the club then I believe there's still available share. Last time I heard anything about it the minimum purchase was ?250 (?) so anyone with a spare ?500 to throw at the club could do so that way and get something in return.

Granted, you wouldn't have any (direct) say in how the investment was used, but being a shareholder does give you a voice and entitlement to attend AGM's etc.

[BornCaley]

good points raised. I didnt realise there was a similar and better thought out Idea...one of which i would have happily given ?10 a month to...

The ?500 figure was just the first that came into my head, and on second thought i suppose it was a bit high, but besides that the idea i still think is a good one, yes i agree there are legal and logistical issues with such a scheme.. but hey we need to have these hair brained schemes out there, lol

Like Birddogs kids, ive been Caley since i was a kid myself and i think ideas like this should be encouraged...god knows our club needs some more innovations & proactive thinking.

Ebbsfleet Utd was indeed one of the teams i was thinking off

Birddog - no offence taken

[The Mantis]

Just think of the response when the club wanted 1000 people to pay ?100 each to get their name on the away shirt.....