Is Fan Ownership The Way Forward?

I know that I'm bringing Barcelona into another celtic-themed discussion, but is their structure something that would work, and be welcomed, at Celtic by our support?

We've seen constant referral to our club holding profits before results on the field of play. Is it time for such ideas to come to an end? Should celtic be run as a non-profit making sports club?

Would our current board react differently if they knew they could easily be replaced by the regular club members, such as you or me? Would Lawwell react differently if he knew he had to "win" an election for his position?

Having our club run more democratically would certainly appeal to me, and I'd be happy enough knowing that whatever decision is reached on various matters, it would be the voice of the supporters.

Barcelona claim to be "more than a club", and I think that applies to Celtic as well.

It's been said by Florentino Perez that “Football, when you really come down to it, belongs in the sphere of human emotions. Real Madrid is a kind of religion for millions all over the world. You can’t have that in the hands of one individual. It’s as if the Catholic Church belonged to one person. It wouldn’t be right.”

It's hard to argue with him.

For anyone who maybe doesn't know the full ins & outs of how a club like Barca are run, here's a document with more details; http://www.uk.coop/sites/storage/public/downloads/insight3_bara_0.pdf

 

I'd love it, but can you imagine it with our support the way it is now, would it work? Nobody can agree on anything.

 

it would come down to a voting process probably on important decisions.

I'm all for it.

 

Hmmmmm not sure it could get * messy.

 

The majority vote would win out though, which is undoubtedly the fairest way to do it, no?

 

As soon as votes started going against people it would turn to anarchy.

 

You could have zombies sneaking in and voting.

 

More anarchy than we're seeing at present? :smiley-laughing002:

 

As opposed to what we have at the moment whereby the actions of a select few have polarized the support and, if internet land is a barometer of the celtic support, caused anarchy?

 

That is true, but is what we have now really anarchy? It's not been taken to the stands, it's just something that seems to exist on the internet.

 

It has been taken to the stands if as many people missed todays game for the reasons that some seem to believe, hasn't it?

If you ask me fan ownership and a democratic system is exactly what Celtic should have. It's perfect for us.

 

Agreed, one member one vote

 

Well, when I saw the empty stands I thought it was probably a split between the weather and what is happening with the support at the moment to be honest.

I think fan ownership would work for us as long as it was done properly. How would the fans go about getting a hold of the club? What would we have to do?

 

That's the tough part. Unless the shareholders were willing to sell their shares to the fan consortium it would be difficult.

Obviously the biggest thing keeping these people at the club is their profit that the current board generates every year.

The only solution would be making Celtic a club that is unattractive to shareholders. Cut off the profit.

 

Just the small problem of us chipping in the millions it would need to buy the club.

 

Fan ownership still involves a board who make the decisions. It wouldn't change that much. It would make things slightly fairer and give us a bit more of a say, but it wouldn't change much.

For the most part fan-ownership is recommended for teams struggling financially, because the fans won't make poor decisions in order to make money, but Celtic have one of the best financial structures around.

It's more complicated than the fans just owning the club and making all the decisions.

 

The fans would elect a President though, wouldn't they? Also, just like Barcelona we would have an Ethical Code of sorts, which would recognise and respect Celtic's roots in Irish Catholicism as well as our roots within Scotland.

The management and those placed into positions of power "must respect certain ethical values that are in keeping with the social nature and principles that inspired it. Celtic Football Club is “more than a club” and society expects its directors and managers to reflect the values that it represents."

Just like Barcelona we could have a "Control and Transparency Commission", created to "effectively define and interpret the application of the Ethical Code in consideration of pertinent and opportune criteria, and where necessary to advise which actions of governance and administration are opposed to these values."

Those points right there suggest to me that such a model would change quite a lot, and would stop situations like the one we're going through from happening.

 

Let's get the GB back :icon_mrgreen:

 

Great, people being elected by making wild promises in regards to signings they are never going to keep or even worse putting the club in financial * by following through with their ideas for the team.

 

I'm not quite sure it has to work that way to be honest...