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Abstract
Fan ownership has long been predicated as a possible route by which struggling Football Clubs may survive. After a long period of financial turbulence and using the Supporters Direct ownership model, Exeter City Supporters took majority control of the Club in 2003. The paper charts the progress and changes in that the model of supporter control in the 10 years from 2003, and attempts an overview and critique of the situation in 2013.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Exeter City Supporters Trust Website: ‘Our History’.
2. FA Compliance Report: Football Association/Exeter City Football Club, 2003, Internal Document.
3. Minutes of Extraordinary Meeting of Exeter City Trust, 18 February 2003, held at St. James Centre ECFC.
4. Exeter City Supporters Trust Website ‘Our History’.
5. Minutes of the Exeter City Board meeting, 18 November 2004. Paper circulated to Board Members.
6. Michie, Oughton, and Walters, The State of the Game – The Corporate Governance of Football Clubs (Deloitte/Birkbeck Football Governance Research Centre, 2006), 58.
7. Football Association Compliance Unit Report, 2005. Internal Document; The issues and recommendations here are published under the terms contained in 1.7 of the introduction of the report 24.05. This acknowledges that the Directors ‘shall be entitled to deal with any information of the Club which may be contained in this report in such a manner as is deemed appropriate’.
8. Exeter Express and Echo Saturday 4 February 2006, 62.
9. Supporters Direct, The Supporters Trust Initiative 2, March 5, 2007, 6–7.
10. EMail from ECFC Director Paul Morrish to various parties. Author’s personal copy.
11. Morrish – Undated email – Personal copy of email circulated by Morrish ECFC Director.
12. T. Badcock, ‘An Alternative Club Board Model – A Discussion Paper’, 10 June 2008.
13. Exeter City Football Club Supporters Trust Board minutes. Reference B 08/025, 18 May 2008.
14. Exeter City Football Club Supporters Trust Memo; ‘Progress Report on the Standing Joint Board Arrangement 7 July 2008’.
15. Supporters Direct: The Social and Community Value of Football, Summary Report, 16 June 2010.