German model of club ownership

hoof_it_up_to_benty

Whatever problems we have at Charlton will continue to be mirrored elsewhere until there is a change in the way clubs are owned and run. The German model protects clubs as a community resource and gives fans a voice which in England they often don't have.
With owners like RD fans are largely powerless to protect the interests of their club or have a say in its future.
It's incredibly insulting how concerns are so casually dismissed and how little regard there is for the history and culture of a club. The Premier League has only served to make things worse and you're left with the feeling that the football authorities have no interest in protecting grass roots football.
RD would not be allowed to own a club in Germany and the likes of KM would certainly not get a CEO position.

rananegra

Surely RD does own a part of Carl Zeiss Jena, which is in Germany. (Expect to see their head coach when we're looking for manager no. 3 in our first season in L2)

ForeverAddickted

rananegra said:

Surely RD does own a part of Carl Zeiss Jena, which is in Germany. (Expect to see their head coach when we're looking for manager no. 3 in our first season in L2)

He only owns a maximum of 49% of it because of the way ownership is ran.

Means that its difficult for him to push anything through there because the fans (Who own 51%) can instantly block it

PragueAddick

ForeverAddickted said:

rananegra said:

Surely RD does own a part of Carl Zeiss Jena, which is in Germany. (Expect to see their head coach when we're looking for manager no. 3 in our first season in L2)

He only owns a maximum of 49% of it because of the way ownership is ran.

Means that its difficult for him to push anything through there because the fans (Who own 51%) can instantly block it

I've mentioned this several times on various threads, but to recap. Around this time last year @GlassHalfFull and I pitched up in Jena and we met up with two of their commercial managers. They confirmed that RD only has 49% thanks to the German 50 plus 1 rule. As a result the club was in a position to listen to, accept or reject his various proposals. One that was rejected was any participation in his network player malarky. Accepted was his plan to develop the stadium. From what we saw, it needs it, it won't detract from it, and is likely to make the atmosphere better.

It looks at the moment that Jena is the most harmonious of all his acquisitions because the German 50 plus 1 rule has put him in his place, and he has chosen to still invest.

I agree with all @hoof_it_up_to_benty 's conclusions. The problem is how on earth you make something like this happen in England. Only high level politics could do it, and even then there will be lawsuits and the rest as the oligarchs and sheikhs playthings are expropriated from them.