Ebbsfleet & MyFootballClub rebuilding squad and confidence

MyFootballClub is still a rollercoaster ride. A couple of weeks ago the Club Secretary resigned and we lost several key players who were out of contract  to other clubs in the Blue Square Premier, in fact half the main team have gone.

Some of the remaining players are being sought out by rival clubs, and we’ve voted to reject offers on Michael Gash and Darius Charles.  This was a tough call, as the sale of these players could boost the playing budget for the rest of the squad.  But these two in particular have performed well this season and are firm favourites – both were bought after fundraising drives by members.  I think the most positive thing is that it’s raised the profile again, and seen the biggest vote turnout in a long time, almost 3,000 taking part.

The coach, Liam Daish,  announced that he’d like to stay on at the club, working with the “prudent” budget we’d approved; we voted to offer him a new contract.   The tight budget meant that we lost the assistant coach, but Paul McCarthy’s stepped up in this role, something members had been suggesting for a long time on the forums.

But we’re still better off than many other clubs at the moment, with no debt and a unique revenue stream.  Today it’s also reported that Setanta Sports, who have TV rights for Blue Square Premier matches, face administration, potentially a loss-earner for many clubs, but could actually be good for us  as our ability to provide TV coverage to the global membership has previously been hampered by the broadcast rules and contracts.

But you’ve gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don’t want no volunteers, I don’t want no mates, there’s just too many captains on this island. Quint – Jaws (1975)

So it’s going to be an interesting summer as we fight off the circling sharks, try to boost the playing budget so that the coach can build a better team. And we’re still going through a process of organising ourselves, with votes on the size of the Society Board, and how we communicate with the Club management and each other.

Crowdsourcing at Ebbsfleet United: building the Republic of Football

One of the exciting principles of MyFC was that it would allow ordinary fans to get involved in the decision-making at a football club, in a way that had never been achieved before, the theory being that the crowd could make a better decision than experts.

In recent weeks, for example, we’ve been voting on:

• Season Ticket and Matchday ticket pricing
• Home and Away kits for 09/10 season
• 09/10 Season kit supplier

as well as some of the internal Society governance and club management issues.

Firefighting leads to disengagement

The voting process is far from smooth: there’s a constant balancing act between transparency and privacy, between “authority figures” recommending an option or a free vote.

There are also situations where the members approval is sought in order to authorise a Club officer to undertake an activity,  usually a forgone conclusion because we don’t have much choice in the short term but to accept the recommendation.  These kinds of votes cause the most division and the Board of MyFC really should have learned long ago that long term planning was needed as well as the short-term fire fighting.

MyFootballClub's Working Groups process

Groups, working

This is where the Working Groups come in, allowing a group of ordinary members to tackle an issue, break it down into to manageable tasks, and make well reasoned recommendations to the members, with open-ended votes.  They’re still in early stages, but already we’ve seen progress from the active groups.

For example, the Financials Working Group came back with a procedure for arranging and publishing the Society and Club accounts, something that had previously been bogged down by lack of ownership and inertia.  This will add clarity to discussion and allow decisions to be made with full awareness of the implications for the Society and Club.

These are the groups that are currently in progress or being considered,  all initiated and given the go-ahead by ordinary members of the Society, and approved by the Society Board.  Links require MyFC login.

Financial WG
Aim: Strengthen the flow of financial information and prepare forecasts and draft budgets for the Club and Society (full aims)
Status: In progress, Private, Open Forum
Leader: rugbyswift
Last weekly review: 15/4/09

Marketing & Advertising WG
Aim: Focus marketing and advertising campaigns for Club and MyFC Society (full aims)
Status: In progress, Group Area, Original thread
Leader: roca
First weekly review: due 27th April

Communications WG
Aims: Make recommendations to improve communications between members, Board, Club and general public (full aims)
Status: Awaiting Greenlight Vote, Forum Discussion

Surveys WG
Aims: Facilitiate surveys to members on behalf of Society and WGs
Status: Forum Discussion

Live Streaming WG
Aims: Investigate options for providing cost-effective live streaming of TV footage to overseas members
Status: Forum Discussion

Calendar & Planning WG
Aims: Establish timelines for activity leading up to important deadlines and improve Calendar functionality
Status: Forum Discussion

Get stuck in!

Weekly reports allow the wider membership to keep a casual eye on the situation, meaning they can get on with working on areas that interest them.  Other members may stick to discussions or just engaging in casual chat.  Nothing wrong with this, as it still contributes to the fabric of the Society.  Governance and communication are likely to be ongoing issues: the need to keep all types of member involved and informed.

This framework can take MyFootballClub from an unfocused mob to a more constructive, forward looking organisation.  Providing the Society’s Board, the Website Operator and the Club management cooperate with the recommendations of the members, finally MyFootballClub can get to grips with the fundamental problems and start owning Ebbsfleet United.

Wanted: Mashers

Many months ago, MyFC members started organising lifts across the country to get to games.  Like many of the inspiring possiblities, this fell by the wayside as the competent coders left.  Yahoo pipes offers some interesting possibilities, but I’m no coder.   So I offer it up as a challenge.

I’d like to see a mashup that:

• Retrieved a set of fixtures for a particular club
• Allowed users to offer or request a specfied number of lifts to a match
• Match up requests to offers based on deviation from route and other preferences, e.g. time of travel
• Allow people to create groups / networks for trusted lifts/offers.  E.g. there may already be a supporters trust that want to coordinate lifts.
• Print off a simple map / contacts list for the driver & passengers
• Provides an easy way to spot new offers/requests

This could be used by lots of lower league clubs to boost attendance, home and away.  Alternatively as a plugin to lastfm.  Anyone interested?

Bishop’s Move

The Working Groups framework, which I mentioned last week, allows small groups to go off and undertake some research or an activity on behalf of the Society of Club.  One group has been formed and approved by members and Board to sift through the Finances and produce some solid recommendations for a sustainable Club.  Another group is being formed to look at Advertising and Marketing for both the Society and Club.

I can’t tell you enough how exciting it is to see these come to fruition, and the change in tone that I observe in the forums.  It’s like the sound of F1 car changing up a gear.

Willfull neglect
But despite my optimism, looking back to last September’s update on MyfootballClub and Ebbsfleet it’s sad to see that the problems I described are still there.

Any attempts to draw attention to the impending peril that the MyFootballClub Society and the Club faces are still met with disdain by some members.  As the day of reckoning approaches, the same people resort to illconsidered, out short-term panic measures.

The two Working Groups I mentioned above could provide recommendations or solutions within a month or so.  Some solutions that have been mooted could be implemented within a matter of weeks if allowed to be properly pepared, but there are still calls for these activities to be abandoned in favour of recruiting more members or just donating more cash.

Cumulative effect
When you add this attitude to a poorly run website which can’t adequately facilititate communication between the dwindling membership, and a Board who aren’t willing to tackle either of these issues, you can see how perilous the situation is for both MyFootballClub and Ebbsfleet United.

MyFootballClub just isn’t learning from it’s mistakes.

Cassandra
I predicted several possible scenarios in September as follows:

Things carry on as they are, the renewals don’t materialise and the club goes bust sometime between now and next christmas.

Membership dropped to 10,000 total probably 2000 regularly active.  Current projections are May/June.

The Operator starts to open up to suggestions and criticism, the site becomes more democratic and open and useful, people get engaged, the project continues as it should have.

Has not happened, despite my attempts to nudge him in this direction earlier in the year.  Even basic changes to improve navigation get ignored.

The FreeMyFC people produce an alternative to the Operator and come to the rescue of the Society.

Sadly there was too much anger, argument and resentment from both sides for this to happen.

The FreeMyFC people start a new venture without the baggage.

And so they did.  Southill Alexander FC have applied to join the Spartan South Midlands League, and appear to have modelled their venture based on the MyFC experience.

They are starting with a brand new team, with no baggage, several levels below Ebbsfleet.  Many members wanted MyFC to use this approach, rather than buy Ebbsfleet or even an existing team at this lower level.  They also don’t have the problem of “Traditional Fleet Fans” vs “MyFC football manager wannabes”, which could have been resolved quickly by bringing the existing supporters trust into the MyFC fold, as partners rather than rivals.

Like MyFC, they’re using member subscriptions to finance the club, at a low entry price of £25 per share.  But in the first year they’re only issuing 1,000 shares, and members can buy up to 5 if they want to contribute more to the pot.

There are other aspects that show how they have learned from MyFC’s mistakes:

Finance – Full Access to Club Financial management, budgetary planning and joint decision making.
Marketing – Members will drive recruitment, develop new income streams and marketing the club both locally and globally.
Website / IT – Work with the Clubs IT Managers to implement the tools Owners need.
Match Day Management – Help plan & add resources to create the best Match Day Experience for SAFCs fans.

Board Directors will serve either a 2 or a 4-year term of office, to ensure that there is both injection of new ideas alongside ongoing stability.

Starting at a lower level will enable Southill Alexander to develop these structures and procedures organically as they progress, something MyFootballClub hasn’t been allowed to do.  And they’re likely to succeed as they’ve got some the most enquiring, intelligent, witty and resourceful members that MyFC ever had.

Whilst I’d love to join them, I still think MyFC and Ebbsfleet United can be saved, though the attempt might drive me potty.

Post-Apocalyptic vision

February 20th 2009 and MyFootballClub is left with just under 10,000 live members, with 22,000 having decided the venture wasn’t worth staying involved with for whatever reason.  Communications are still a problem, both in terms of the infrastructure we use to disseminate information, but also there’s great confusion about who does what.

We are currently holding another Board election, this time an interim election to fill the 5 missing board members.  That’s right, of the 7 members we elected last year to drive and monitor the strategy of the Society, only 1 remains, with 1 more having being coopted a couple of months back to fulfill legal requirements.  Bizarrely, one of the candidates is someone who resigned in December.

There are still a lot of passive members, but on the positive side, there seems to be a lot more willingness to challenge each other on issues we disagree with.  This almost always descended into personal argument, but perhaps we’re recognising the challenge we face to turn the organisation round and keep the club going.

The biggest plus point was the implementation of a Working Group structure, which I steered through, mindful of the need for a clear process and understanding of Roles and Division of labour that I picked up from Activity Theory.  This framework should allow us break down the many problems that the Society needs to deal with into manageable chunks, and give a mandate for small teams of members to go off and do the work, presenting their final findings to the wider membership for a decision.  David Pollard’s post on the appropriate use of Crowds and Experts in the decision-making process was a good reference point in this.

So yes, there are still problems, but it was too interesting not to stay involved.