FC United
of Manchester
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But the beauty of supporter ownership
is that, unlike disgruntled supporters
at, say, Newcastle United or Charlton
Athletic, we can change things and the
club’s membership signalled their desire
for change during the summer by electing
a progressive new board that has already
taken steps to heal the rifts that have
developed amongst sections of the club’s
support and has promised to operate with
greater openness and transparency. Once
again there is a sense of optimism about
the club’s future but there is much work
to be done.
The summer has been one of
reorganisation at the club with supporters,
once again, embracing the DIY punk spirit
that got the club off the ground in a matter
of weeks in 2005 with many supporters
offering their time, skills and experience
for tasks ranging from building a perimeter
wall at the ground to getting involved
in a range of volunteer-led groups
overseeing areas like communications,
governance and finance. It’s at times like
this when we fully appreciate the wealth
of expertise, knowledge and talent that
we have amongst our members whether
it involves running businesses, counting
beans or laying bricks.
One of the challenges the club
undoubtedly faces in the next few years is
to secure its financial stability by making
the most of the wonderful facilities that
it now possesses; using the spacious
function room to host events for the
local community, businesses and other
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organisations and hiring out the superb
3G all-weather pitches adjacent to the
ground.
A new Chief Executive will shortly
be appointed to oversee the club’s
development on and off the pitch. On the
pitch, after looking out of our depth for a
large part of our first season at this higher
level, most supporters would probably
settle for a comfortable mid-table position
again this season. But arguably it will
be even tougher than last season with
the likes of Salford City, Darlington, FC
Halifax Town and Altrincham joining the
division.
Community work is woven into
the fabric of the club with its founding
manifesto commitment “to develop
strong links with the local community”.
The club’s community work covers an
impressive range of activities from the
Big Coat Day collections of warm clothing
for homeless people in Manchester
and breakfast clubs and summer youth
projects for kids to work with young
people not in education, employment
or training and support for older people
particularly those who live alone. Just a
few of the reasons why the club won the
Northern Premier League’s inaugural
Community Club of the Year award in
2014.
More recently the club has begun
working with the Sporting Memories
Network, recognising the power of
people’s memories of sporting events to
overcome social isolation, loneliness and
depression particularly amongst older
people. And FC United were the only
organisation in Manchester to participate
in a recent charity-run event to distribute
cereal to community groups, food
banks and local residents to help those
who might otherwise not get a decent
breakfast. Meanwhile, only a few weeks
ago, a theatre production of the FC United
story “Conceived in a Curry House”,
featuring FC United supporters and local
residents, played at the Lowry Theatre
and is part of a longstanding relationship
between the club and local theatre group
Moston Active Drama.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that this
supporter ownership malarkey is such a
new thing. As the film maker Ken Loach
said on a recent visit to Broadhurst Park,
there is a lot riding on the success of
this football club; there are many people
beyond Manchester willing us to succeed.
No one, not even AFC Wimbledon, has
tried to build a football club from scratch
whilst being owned and run entirely by
its supporters and to a large extent this
is a journey into the unknown with few,
if any, role models to guide us. No one
said that it would be easy and the next
few years will possibly be the trickiest
so far for this young football club. But
the passion of the club’s members and
collective desire to get the club back on
track this summer has been clear for all to
see. It’s full steam ahead, once again, for
FC United of Manchester.