[doheochai]

Originally Posted by MichiganRed

The question that begs to be asked is this -- How are we going to accomplish these goals? Do we want the instant fix these people promise or do we want to get down and dirty and slog through the muck and fight to make this club what we know it can be?

MFC will not be an instant fix. It will take time and effort to develop any club that MFC buys. It will take time and effort to involve and include the current supporter base of the club and it will take time and effort to preserve the basis and traditions of the club.

Football in England has changed quite dramatically over the past 15-20 years. Gone are the days when the likes of Derby, Burnley, Ipswich or Nottm Forest could be champions of England. The gap between rich and poor/ big and small clubs has widened into a chasim.

Even the continued existance of clubs is dependent on the continued input of investors to keep the club afloat (the recent example of Halifax). MFC is not an instant fix. In the first year all funds will go to the purchase of the club, clearing debts and stabilising the club. The second or subsequent years offer the potential for extra funds to be available but there are many situations that could develop to inhibit the impact of the funding. It will take time and effort. Nobody in MFC is interested in changing a club. For MFC the intent is to allow a club to develop organically without been inhibited by the lack of funding that is afflicting so many of the lower league clubs that don't have someone to come in and throw 4 or 5 million pounds at the problem (e.g. Peterborough).

These people are professing the desire to "give football back to the fans" but when all is said and done, they will have accomplished just the opposite. They will be taking away the things that make a football club more than just another business enterprise.

How will we achieve the opposite? How will actually giving the fans a say in the running of a club turn it into a business enterprise rather than a football club? How will involving existing fans in the running of the club be negative?

Let me pose it this way - how many football clubs in England are owned and run by some rich individual who uses it as a plaything and then when he gets fed up - shafts the club and buggers off leaving a trail of disaster in his wake?

They can come in and drop their loads of cash and improve the facilities and sell more shirts and programs but it won't be the same as what it could be.

The cash, shirts, programmes are a minor part of what MFC is trying to do. Nothing is static - life changes - every situation has to progress or go backwards - it cannot stay the same. Some people don't like change, but change is inevitable. The question to consider is - How will that change be managed.

So, in the end, I say, "Go away and don't look back." Sure, we're going to struggle and fight but when we do succeed, it will be for the right reasons and it will be all the sweeter.

The football fans who are members of MFC acknowledge and recognise this sentiment - the problem is that unless there is a steady inflow of finance into any club then the club will be in severe difficulty. Remember there are only two clubs in England that consistantly show a profit. Now consider where the money comes from - is it better that it comes from an individual with dubious motives or from a large group of fans who want to promote, protect and develop the club without any hidden agenda?