In Back Home: Returning Football Clubs to their Communities British think-tank mutuo uses historical lessons and provides current examples in its bid to argue that football clubs should share ownership with the local population. The report shows that clubs are best served when they get closer to their constituents.
Fans and local businesses can become members in the clubs and share their common interest not only to save the club but to help the community as well. Stadiums maybe used for musical and other cultural activities to attract people to the stadium and by extension to the club. It is argued that ownership in the hands of a wealthy few is not a stable one citing the recent failure of a TV deal in England and its impact on the ever-growing payrolls of teams vying for more and more of the available cash.
The report calls this concept the community mutual ownership, the mutuality has been part of football from the early days, teams such as Arsenal, Leicester City and Scotland's Celtic were formed and operated by a group of local people in the early days of their formation. Hurdles to the wide scale implementation of the report are pointed out including required football association rule changes and support from government. The report shows why of the hurdles are serious and can be easily overcome.
Case studies are included to show that not only the model is a viable one but it can actually succeed. European giants such Real Madrid are using a similar model and so are several English teams such as Chesterfield.
A timely and interesting report, one that will hopefully be noticed by all football authorities.

The report is available from mutuo or by writing to 77 Weston Street, London SE1 3SD, UK for £10