Over the last thirty years, there has been a growing concern amongst football fans alike around the direction of the sport and whether it ultimately fails to serve local communities in a way many of our parent’s generation remember. A growing problem is the ever-bigger distance between fans and the club’s ownership, which can be seen across the tiers of English Football with ownership protests seen at Reading FC, Bolton Wanderers, Oldham Athletic and my own club, Sheffield Wednesday.

Protests have been sparked as a result of fans feeling as though their voice often wasn’t heard and fears around the long-term future of many of these clubs. These fears are understandable after clubs such as Bury FC and Darlington FC’s ownership battles ended in the teams having to start again at the bottom of the English Football pyramid.

The stark truth is that the last three decades have seen the gap between fans and owners widen even further, as both stakeholders have very different interests and objectives in their clubs. Naturally, fans seek investment in both the infrastructure and squad in an attempt to progress as far up the pyramid as possible whereas owners are much more focused on turning a profit or receiving a return on their investment. 

The days of the local businessman owning the football club are long behind us, now it is often rich American businessmen for clubs such Arsenal or Burnley or even the Saudi government, as is the case for Newcastle United. The objective for these owners solely comes from the drive to expand their fanbase on an international scale, in the hope of generating extra revenue for the club. This was demonstrated when Birmingham City CEO Garry Cook suggested that their League One match against promotion rivals Wrexham should be played in the States, an idea which had zero thought for the fans of the English and Welsh side yet seemed appealing to the American owners of both clubs. 

The scrapping of FA Cup replays for the current 2024/25 season, against a backdrop of much fan disgust, went ahead, with Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola conceding that it would harm smaller clubs but “much better’ for those teams playing in European competitions. The money available from playing in European competitions makes historic competitions like the FA cup of no interest to Premier League owners. 

The expansion of television coverage, particularly over the last ten years, has been another decision, taken purely for profit but with little consideration for fans. Games are now changed at short notice to appease Sky schedules and broadcast at times which hinder travelling fans. On Wednesday evening, Burnley fans were expected to make the 630-mile round trip to Home Park, a fixture which leaves fans no choice but to make accommodation arrangements. The game was also broadcast on Sky Sports Football, a match one can only assume was picked as it was a relegation threatened team versus a promotion contending team, no matter what inconvenience this makes for the fans.

As mentioned previously, my own club Sheffield Wednesday has been in the forefront of protests against our Thai-businessman owner, Dejphon Chansiri. Fan grievances come from a mixture of ticket prices, poor operational decisions, lack of investment and our near dice with relegation back to League One last season after a less-than-ideal start under the management of Xisco Muñoz.  Whilst I agree fans have a right to protest their ownership and that owners should fundamentally be ‘custodians’ of the club as opposed to ‘owners’, I often feel my own teams fanbase are so blindsided by their hatred for our owner, they unfairly portion 100% of the blame for our misfortunes on him. This view does not make me popular with friends, family and the wider fanbase, particularly on social media and I have often been called a ‘traitor’ for holding views about the club I love which differs from the consensus. 

The most recent disgruntlement from fans has come after a lack of progress for the Owls in the January transfer window. Despite no communication from the coaching team to the Chairman around which players they wish to purchase and less than helpful comments made by manager Danny Röhl around transfer rumours, fans wish to place all the blame at the door of the owner. My sympathy for our owner grows, when I see the abuse he is subject to on social media, not only directed at him but also his family. I agree that Chansiri deserves criticism for some poor business decisions in the past, particularly those that have seen the club receive points deductions or transfer embargos, yet he cannot be blamed for every issue seen at Hillsborough and he certainly should not be subject to any form of abuse, no matter your views on his ownership.

Football clearly does have an ownership issue. The distance between fans and owners is ever widening and decisions made by owners, the FA and media companies are only adding to this. However, fans must be reasonable in the blame they place on owners and, as is the case for my own club, when they should also look at the decisions by the wider footballing establishment when looking who to blame for their disillusionment with the great game. 

Words by James Childs