1.) The Board Election…out of a global membership, 6 of the 8 board members woudn up being from the local Kent area (I think 2 were even from the previous supporters trust). Once the board was up and running, it seemed like members no longer had a say, but were expected to be a rubber stamp for the boards decision.

2.) The increase in player budget…during the heady post FA Cup days the members (many of whom no doubt bailed on the club shortly thereafter) voted overwhelmingly voted to “go for broke” (who knew literally) by increasing the salary budget to 10K per month from 7K. The club was losing money hand over fist with the lower budget averaging 1,400 per game. According to my calculations the club would’ve had to average nearly 2,500 just to have a chance of breaking even with that budget.

I think in hindsight the concept would’ve worked MUCH BETTER if it worked like a true Partnership…instead of 35,000 people paying 35,maybe 4-5K paying 250-300 quid, then members elect general partners to oversee the running of the club, with some input from the members. I am very optimistic a concept like that could work well, to bad MyFC isn’t going to be that concept.

What happened at MyFC was Cargo Cult. Like those guys in the South Pacific after WW2 who thought they could get airlifted supplies simply by donning a coconut headset and waving some palm leaves (look it up if you don’t believe me). Those in charge at MyFC thought they could just make it work if everyone “believed”. Stick up a forum, that’ll do.

There are plenty of good examples of communities collaborating through websites, and plenty of good examples of real supporter owned clubs. But there was no attempt to understand how both of these really worked, and deeper than that, no attempt to understand how individual members were interacting with the Society and the Club, how the Society needed to communicate with the Club and the Members. Do also recall The Metrologists comments made 2 years ago, this is what MyFC was supposed to be, and what the remaining members are still pushing for: http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2007/11/13/myfootballclubcouk-purchases-ebbsfleet-united-fc-fan-ownership-on-the-rise/#comment-829

Take something like Hattrick – slightly different as it’s a game, but there are many ways to be involved in the game and the community. You can spend every day on there, get really involved in the national game, youth system, or you can just log on once a week to set your team. Again, there’s a difference in that the basic product is free, with premium options available for a small subscription.

I still think the MyFC model could have worked, but wasn’t implemented properly, and not allowed to develop into what it needed to be. MyFC could have retained the core local Ebbsfleet fans (1000 or more?) but provided an interesting enough experience for those casual members worldwide to log in once a week or less and still feel involved. And most importantly to bring their £35 each year.

I hope that in looking at this experiment, observers are able to distinguish it from anything to do with real community collaboration websites, that have actual sustainable business plans.

Dave — do you think I seriously meant “no-one saw this coming” given what those words link to and the title of this piece? Those other questions are interesting, but in my opinion the MyFC model was flawed from the very start. As we addressed here two years ago.

Now whether the MyFC model can be fixed in order to keep and grow the membership is up for debate at MyFootballClub. Other debates include:
Should our membership fee be higher or will this put people off?
Can we run the website ourselves?
Has MyFC only held off the inevitable for a season or so buy clearing the previous debts?
Should MyFC wind up and sell the club back to the former directors for a nominal fee?
Can the Supporters Trust bring anything new to the club if they own it?
If the local attendance at Ebbsfleet is only 1000 or so, does the club need to accept relegation and find its level?

Is your only point on this article a single mis-placed apostrophe? And on the subject of being picky, do you actually know what self-effacing means?

Maybe your next article will “explore” the concept.