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"Own the club, pick the team." An ideal, and a great ideal at that, has now become a reality thanks to the MyFootballClub project.

At the time of writing, this project has had some interesting developments. Ebbsfleet United have become the club of choice and have been purchased by MyFootballClub. With a 51% stake in the club.

This is the firt time in footballing history a consortium of football fans, about 20,000 in all, have banded together to buy a football club. And all for an equal share, 35 pounds per contributor. There is no one big private owner and as such the disadvantages of private ownership, as with the likes of Manchester City, do not come into play.

What makes the project all the more interesting is that this is not just a financial project, but one in club management also. While no single individual will be responsible for team matters, the clubs financiers as a whole all get a single say on team matters. No doubt, a number of these financiers are Ebbsfleet Utd fans. A revelation in football history, at last the fans can give some serious input on footballing affairs with their club; and just for a 35 pound fee.

And what are the results? The team have now won the FA Carlsberg Trophy. A first trophy under the belt for MyFootballClub seems to vindicate the decision making structure of the project. With this in mind, MyFootballClub has already proved its worth to a certain extent.

Who knows how far this can go? I don't expect them to go on and break into the Premiership big four soon, not even ever. Ebblesfleet are indeed a fairly small club, and as such will need many more contributors (running into millions) to actually give them any hope of winning the bigger prizes. But alas, the opportunity now exists for fans to get a real hand on football management. And the voting system is truly democratic also.

This scheme offers an alternative to the likes of media monguls and oil tycoons investing in football clubs. Even though Manchester Utd may be flying at the moment, the friction that has existed with the Glaziers illustrates that not all fans welcome such private investment.

Regardless of what happens on the pitch, I feel that this project gives a viable alternative to financing football clubs. The management side might not always get the right results (which football manager does?), but it still offers a great opportunity to football fans. And who knows, it could provide a model for other clubs to follow.

Learn more about this author, Matthew Adams.
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