Fan-Ownership: The Future of Scottish Football
In the tail end of summer last year, Heart of Midlothian Football Club became the largest fan-owned club in the United Kingdom and the eighth club in Scotland to become majority fan-owned.
The Foundation of Hearts chairman Stuart Wallace described the moment as “a truly historic occasion for the club and its supporters”. With now three out of 12 Scottish Premiership clubs being fan owned, it might be the start of all clubs in Scotland being in the same position.
A model which Scottish clubs could potentially look to for inspiration is the 50+1 rule whic German football follows.
Introduced in 1999, the 50+1 rule means that fans hold a majority of their clubs voting rights on the board of directors. Under DFL (German Football League) rules, if investors have more than a 49 percent share in a football club, they will not be allowed to compete in the Bundesliga.
The 50+1 rule provides safeguards so that business investors cannot buy a club and push through decisions which goes against the opinions of fans.
Tushar Bahl is the writer and editor for the BVB Buzz; a news site for German side, Borussia Dortmund. He discussed the 50+1 rule and how German football fans feel towards it.
He said: “It is favoured for the most part, I think 90% of the fans would favour it. It has made German football stand out compared to other leagues and German football still has that traditionalist sense to it.
“Fans care about more things than just the results on the pitch and transfers and I think that is very important.
“You look at clubs like St. Pauli and Greuther Furth, you won’t have those types of clubs in England. St. Pauli is a club that doesn’t make that much money and they don’t really care as much as they care about the core values of the club and that is what the 50+1 rule is all about.”
German football has probably become a lot popular around the world due to the benefits that the 50+1 rule has created. Some benefits include cheaper match tickets, high attendances at matches and a higher standard of performance from teams.
Discussing on whether he thought the system would work in Scottish football, he said: “I think maybe in Scotland it would as I don’t think there is as much craze for transfers or money as there is in England.
“It would be a nice way to start off the 50+1 rule in Scotland and if it worked, maybe English clubs would be encountered to implement it.”
Despite the majority of German clubs following these rules, some clubs have been able to apply for exemption while others have found ways to still follow it, however, it is frowned upon by many fans in Germany.
Three clubs have been able to apply for exemption from the rule due to their owners having an interest in the club for more than 20 years. These clubs are Bayer Leverkusen, Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim.
Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg are able to avoid the rule due to being owned by pharmaceutical company Bayer AG and car company Volkswagen AG since 1904 and 1945.
Hoffenheim have recently been given exemption from the rule in 2014 when software engineer Dietmar Hopp became the majority owner after investing in the club since 1990.
Although, the majority of German fans aren’t pleased with these clubs being able to avoid the 50+1 rule, there is one club in Germany who towers over the former three as being the most hated.
Rasenballsport Leipzig (RB Leipzig) have been flouting the rules since their creation in 2009.
Austrian Energy drink company Red Bull bought fifth-division club SSV Markranstädt; a club that rarely many in the state of Saxony have even heard of.
Red Bull changed the clubs license, name, kit and crest, and was given a budget of €100 million to spend in the transfer market. Clubs in German football are not allowed to be named after their sponsors, hence the name Rasenballsport Leipzig.
13 years on and now RB Leipzig are one of the top clubs in Germany, finishing high up the table for the last five years. They have also managed to achieve European football, reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2020 and the same stage in the Europa League this year.
Tushar discusses how clubs like RB Leipzig and Hoffenheim differ from other German clubs and explains why fans have always labelled RB Leipzig as a “plastic club”.
He said: “There has been quite a bit of controversy. Fans in German football tend be more traditionalist and they tend to be a bit more vocal on their views on certain topics and RB Leipzig and Hoffenheim have come under a lot of criticism.
“Fans from clubs like Borussia Dortmund have been banned from visiting Hoffenheim’s stadium because of their views towards them.
“All over Germany, people have been against the RB Leipzig model because they only follow the 50+1 rule on paper and they don’t really follow the rule like other clubs do.”
Regardless of some clubs finding ways to defy the 50+1 rule, it should still be looked at positively as a way for fans to decide the decisions in which a club makes and this system or even a similar one should be looked at for other European leagues to use.
Motherwell Football Club have been fan-owned since 2016. The Well Society took over the 76 percent of shares that majority shareholder Les Hutchinson had in the club.
The takeover led to Motherwell becoming the first top-flight club in the UK to be owned by fans.
Since becoming fan-owned, Motherwell have been praised for their efforts of keeping the community spirit alive amongst the club and supporters. They have also teamed up with many mental health organisations to raise awareness for the illness.
Douglas Dickie, co-chair and director of the Well Society, discussed the early stages of the organisation and what targets were first set when it was started up.
He said: “Our previous owner, John Boyle, always had the idea of fan-ownership on his mind and he was looking at some point to leave the club and transfer the club to the fans.
“What he worked out was that if the fans could raise £1.5 million which was seen to be a figure that would sustain the club over a period of time, he would hand the club over with belief that the sum of money would be enough for the club. The vision was always to be fan-owned.”
With the coronavirus pandemic being one of the challenges the Well Society has had to deal with, Douglas explained the other obstacles the organisation has had to cope with since owning Motherwell.
He said: “There were certain stipulations obviously. How we run is we have an executive board at the club. The executive board run the football club but don’t own the club. We are legally responsible for Motherwell Football Club Ltd and as directors we have our duties to the football club and the shareholders.
“The Well Society are major shareholders and they are a separate entity which runs with a board of directors. Nobody has done this before so I would say the governance and maintaining that governance of the Well Society.”
The possibility of more Scottish clubs becoming fan-owned in the near future is looking more likely with supporters trusts in Scotland taking more shares in their chosen clubs.
Douglas discussed whether it would be beneficial for more clubs in Scotland to follow in the path of Motherwell.
He said: “The short answer to that is yes but what you’ve got to bare in mind is that it is a big financial responsibility. Football is a business and the club has got to survive which is not always easy in terms of financial constraints.
“I definitely think the fan-ownership is the way forward but I think clubs need to have the realisation and responsibility of what they are taking on. I think it would be a fantastic addition to Scottish football.”
Fan-ownership has been debated in Scotland and is an idea that will never go away. A system like the 50+1 rule would definitely improve the standard of football on show in Scotland and would lead to an enhanced relationship that clubs have with their fans.
The many benefits that it brings to German football is definitely something that the SFA and SPFL should look at for guidance and should be the start of a new era for Scottish football. An era which showcases why football is so loved by many fans and they are what makes Scottish football so great.