Rogan Taylor

FANS last night unveiled their vision for the future ownership of Liverpool FC under a “one member, one vote” scheme.

Rogan Taylor, a Kop season ticket holder and a director of the Football Industry Group at the University of Liverpool, is leading the buy-out campaign and led a press conference last night.

He explained the details of how the possible £500m buy-out of current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett would work.

The Share Liverpool FC plan is for 100,000 fans to each buy one share for £5,000, with no one allowed to hold more than one share and which would not be ordinarily tradeable.

The membership would vote for a board of directors for a fixed term, but not for the manager as his appointment would be down to the board.

Shareholders would not have an automatic right to tickets but a scheme to give preferential treatment to the first 20,000 who sign up is proposed.

Last night a website – www.shareliverpoolfc.co.uk – was set up to gauge support for the plans before due diligence is carried out and a legal constitution set up.

If a constitution is set up, a bank would be sought as a partner where the £5,000 contributions could be kept.

Dr Taylor said the group was hoping the two Bishops of Liverpool will agree to watch over the accounts to certify all the money is there.

The group is being advised by the Government-supported Supporters Direct, which helps set up supporters’ trusts, and by Manchester-based legal experts Cobbetts.

Dr Taylor said: “This may or may not be a historic day, we don’t know. It’s the last day of the transfer window of January, 2008.

“Perhaps it’s appropriate that we might talk about the greatest transfer of power of a football club to the fans who love it.” The website will be the main mechanism to judge popularity for the idea but public meetings in Liverpool and in London are also planned soon.

Many Anfield fans are furious a £350m loans package secured by Hicks and Gillett last week will saddle the club with massive interest payments of up to £30m a year.

“Our argument is not with the current owners of the football club, it’s with the structure,” said Dr Rogan.

“Sometimes we feel that as a football club we are standing on a street corner in a short skirt waiting for a passing punter.”

He said the idea was to replicate other European clubs like Barcelona and the majority of German teams which are owned by their fans.

“This is a serious proposal. There are a huge number of Liverpool fans, not just here but all over the world – this is not simply about a local issue.

“This story has been round the world five or six times already today.”

He said that, in the space of six or seven hours, his email inbox had received 380 emails, and had been contacted by the Chicago supporters branch to offer their support.

“If you want to give, what to my mind is the greatest gift you could ever give to your football club, now is your chance.”

He said together the fans could deliver a debt-free legally secure football club run democratically on a one member, one vote basis which could never be bought or sold ever again.

“This is not a pipe dream, this is not a bunch of fans in a pub corner saying why don’t we?”

“But we will not know, as we dip our toe in the water this afternoon how warm the water is. It might be lukewarm, it might be pleasantly warm, it might be boiling hot, we just don’t know.

“We are not asking for a penny at this stage.”

“This will be done in an appropriate way, not a fly by night operation.”

He was asked whether he thought Hicks and Gillett would sell.

He said if fans could come up with hard cash offered in good faith, “you can deny them, you can say no, but how successfully can you really hope to plan to go forward in the teeth of a bid that represents hundreds of thousands of football fans who want to own the club?”

The only way that question could be answered would be by “sitting down at the table” with the owners with the hard cash ready to negotiate.

Dave Boyle, deputy chief executive of Supporters Direct, said: “The question comes down to as a supporter are you so concerned about what has been happening at your club for the past few years that you are prepared to put your hand in your pocket?” Dr Taylor added: “I first had this idea around 12 months ago when the Dubai Investment Company and the American pair that wanted it were negotiating.

“At the moment I had the thought I wished I had that thought 12 months ago.

“I am sure it’s the kind of thing that he [former owner David Moores] certainly would like to have looked closely at.”

Your questions answered

Isn’t this a pipe dream? You’ve no chance, have you?

IT’S no pipe dream; it’s do-able. Liverpool FC has millions of fans across the world. Most of them will have been worrying about what has been happening to our club lately. And they’ll be realising that life as a Liverpool fan could get much more expensive.

There may be no plans yet, but ticket prices may have to be steeply hiked in years to come to help repay debts. What will happen when the debts bite (and we have seen more and more debt secured on the club’s equity)? Our guess is that fans will bear the brunt in the end, not just in Liverpool but all around the world as the club “sweats” every asset. So instead of paying off the millionaire owners’ debts, why don’t we just buy it ourselves instead?

Are you really going to get 100,000 people to sign up in this short a space of time?

WE TOOK nearly 50,000 fans to Istanbul – Athens too. In reality, it cost most of us between £1,000 and £2,000 to make the trip; more if we took our partners and kids along. Liverpool fans have always turned out when the club needed them. They find the money somehow, even at short notice. And remember, there are literally millions of us around the world who really care about LFC.

Yes, but £5,000 is a lot of money. Won’t many Liverpool fans be effectively priced out of something they’d love to take part in?

TAKE your point. We don’t want to see any Liverpool fan excluded. We will seek to provide opportunities for groups of fans to purchase one “member share” (carrying one vote) between them, providing they can nominate one individual to represent them.

Why shouldn’t I just wait and see what happens, without putting up any money?

YOU could miss out badly. The list will close. Also we will propose giving the first 20,000 people to respond special status and possibly enhanced advantages for ticket purchase.

Those who commit first deserve some reward for their enthusiasm.

Modern sports clubs can’t be run like this, can they?

WHY not? Many people know that Barcelona and Real Madrid are owned by their fans. So are German clubs, apart from Bayer Leverkusen. In fact, teams owned by their fans like this have won the European Cup six times since it became the Champions League in 1992.

That’s fine, but in Britain, especially if you need a new stadium, you need a sugar-daddy. That’s the reality, isn’t it?

NO. LOOK at Arsenal. They’ve no sugar-daddy. The club costed up its plans, secured loans and convinced people to lend to them at a fixed rate.

The banks trust the club’s finances will be well-run and that fans will continue to watch the club. If we could show how much fans of this club care and how they’re prepared to back their faith with hard cash, then everything changes. We don’t need a sugar daddy – we ARE the sugar daddy – because most of the money comes from us in the end anyway.

How do we get investment in the future or cash to buy players?

IF WE have a well-run, debt-free club to start with, there will be money to buy players (how much do you think is spent servicing the club’s debts?) Also the elected Board may wish to raise money (as any business must sometimes). At Barca, very rich individuals stand for election with promises of further investment. But it doesn’t mean they “own” any part of the club.

What if we don’t get the £500m?

LET’S say we only get £100m – the equivalent of 20,000 fans signing up. At that point we would ask the 20,000 “members” what they want to do.

Some of us might want – as a group (Fans’ Trust) – to buy a significant portion of the club’s shares. Certainly, at that point, any individual member who wanted the money returned would be entitled to it.

Can I sell my share later on? What if I need the money back in a rush?

THE simple answer to the first question is no.

There will be no ordinary “trading” in individual shares – no profit can be made from selling them – (otherwise the club would be permanently up for sale – just like Man Utd was). But if a member can find someone who does not already own a member share, then a transfer at the original price may be arranged through the elected board.

What will we get to vote on?

Members will elect the board of directors for Liverpool FC, for a term to be decided by you. (Barcelona elect their President every four years). After an election, just like the Government, the Board will have executive control of the Club, but they may want an elected “Fans’ Council” to advise them.

The Board will know that in a few years’ time they will be judged on their performance by the owners – YOU.

Will we get a vote on the team or the manager?

NO. THE elected Board has responsibility for running the Club and will employ professional administrators and managers to deliver the targets it sets.

Will members be guaranteed a ticket if they want one?

WITH 100,000 members? You’re kidding!