03/04/2013 00:00
TW
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by RAY FLEMING
THE news that Labour may be including proposals for giving football fans a chance to invest in, or even own, the clubs they support is likely to re-energise the election campaign and push voter turn-out to heights not seen for decades! If 44'000 Southampton fans can travel to Wembley Stadium to see their side win the Johnstone' Paint Trophy - as they did on Saturday - then there must be votes in football. The Labour party has been looking at this matter in a desultory way for several years but seems to have speeded up proposals in the light of the widespread dissatisfaction with the way in which English football is mismanaged nowadays. Another factor in getting a move on may have been the likelihood of UEFA intervention in the financing and administration of football clubs.

Two proposals are under consideration: the first would force clubs to make a proportion of their shares - say up to 25 per cent - available to supporters' trusts which would be elected and recognised in law; the second would give a properly organised supporters' group the right to raise money to bid for a club up for sale or in danger of being put into administration. It all seems to be too good to be true -- so much so that if the news had appeared on Thursday of this week it might have been taken as an April Fool's Joke.