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The English Radicals, whilst being concerned with politics, also keep watch on other matters, and an issue that hits a raw nerve with us is the situation that two of the biggest clubs in the English Premier league – Manchester United and Liverpool – find themselves in: namely, being foreign owned and in debt because of it. The predicament of these clubs is a microcosm of English business as a whole, so we thought it worthwhile to highlight the similarities, and offer radical solutions.

THE PROBLEM
Both clubs were financially solvent before their respective takeovers, in fact Manchester United was a successful PLC listed on the London Stock Exchange before the £800 million sell off to the Glazer family. The lure of big profits was too much for corporate America to resist, and so bought both clubs out with high interest loans from big city institutions like JP Morgan and the Rothschilds (United) and in the case of Liverpool, RBS. RBS have form when it comes to doing the dirty on English businesses: They were bailed out by English taxpayers in 2008, but shortly after went on to fund the American Kraft takeover of profitable English firm, Cadbury, and will be shifting production to eastern Europe, destroying English jobs. Thanks, RBS. 

What is interesting is the defiance shown by the two sets of fans, and the way they are choosing to show it. Many United fans now wear the green and gold of Newton Heath (the amateur team that went on to become United), rather than the red and white associated with the modern team. Not only is this a very visible signal to the world of their rebellion, it also deprives the Glazers of valuable merchandise revenue, thus negating one of the reasons for buying the club in the first place.

Some Liverpool supporters have formed the “Spirit of Shankly” group, who are very vociferous in their opposition to the current owners, Hicks and Gillette. S.O.S. have recently proposed to start a credit union, with the eventual intention of raising sufficient funds to buy out the club from the present owners.

THE SOLUTION
Can there really be any argument now, that a team’s loyal fans would not be better custodians than greedy, clueless American businessmen? Both clubs have massive fan bases the world over, so as many fans as possible should be given the chance to become shareholders and part owners, not the corporations or business men. United were once owned by shareholders, there is no reason why they, or Liverpool, could not be again. True fans would not sell their shares every time a Cup win boosted the share price, nor would they sell if the share price dropped on a bad league run. This means each club would have solid, reliable, and most importantly debt free, funding in place. 

Never again must a profitable English club - or any profitable English business like Cadbury's for that matter - be driven into debt to satisfy the money lust of inter- national financiers or foreign interests. Ensuring that club ownership is spread over as wide a group as possible (the fans), is Distributism in action, and acts as a safeguard against speculators, who merely wish to buy and sell shares for short term financial gain.  

THE PRACTICE
Unlike socialists, we believe in widespread share ownership – businesses need capital to make profits, and profitable companies provide dividend income for shareholders, a win/win situation for both parties. But in the modern world of electronic trading, shares are bought and sold in a heartbeat by people with no real interest or connection to a company, but purely because of an insider tip, or a favourable chart pattern. This perverts the whole principle of share ownership from one of investment, to one of speculation. There has to be a step back from the present system – you should still be able to buy and sell shares - just not at light speed. And, if people had to have actual physical ownership of a share certificate before they could sell it, this would take much of the crazy “day trader/short seller/speculator” mentality out of the markets. 

The practice of allowing fans to buy into their club, is one that should be extended to all areas of English commerce: all employees of English PLC's should by law have access to “sharesave” schemes, or opt to be given shares in lieu of payment, with income tax to be paid only on the sale of said shares. And like the football fans, it is unlikely that people with own the company they work for will be tempted to sell to outsiders, for fear of takeover.

The English Radical Alliance would fight for this right, because it gradually transfers ownership back to the employees, protecting their company from greedy predators whilst giving them a greater say in how their company is run. Here's a thought to leave you with: if BA was wholly employee owned - a co-operative - they would not need Willie Walsh at £180,000 a year to “streamline” the business, and the cabin crew would probably not be on strike – why would you strike, if you were effectively self employed? The Distributist policy of employee ownership cuts out the capitalist “profit at all costs” money lenders, and the need for militant trade unionism. Doesn't that sound better than the present system?


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Football has often been described as ‘the beautiful game’ or sometimes ‘a game of two halves’. However when you look at the financial situations some of our clubs are in and the huge divide between the salaries of football’s superstars in the Premiership and the income of a club further down the soccer pyramid, the sport does not look so beautiful. It can even be described as a ‘game of two haves’ – between the haves and the have nots.

Many genuine supporters travel the length and breadth of England supporting their teams through thick and thin. Yet many of these teams that grace the lower leagues and non-league football face a tremendous struggle just to survive. You will not see Aston Martins, Bentleys or Ferraris parked outside these grounds. What you will find is ordinary folk selling programmes, sweeping the terraces and even painting the stands because they love their club and they love football.

A classic example of such a club is non-league Kettering Town, a club with a proud tradition and loyal support and a club that is part of the fabric of the Northamptonshire town. Yet despite all this Kettering Town F.C could no longer exist in the not too distant future. They do not own their own ground, and it has been earmarked for housing development by the local council. Fans of ‘The Poppies’, as the club is affectionately known, formed a trust to keep the club in business. More recently they launched a ‘Give Kettering Council the Red Card’ campaign. This is the effort of genuine fans that go to work and then give their all for the local football club in an effort to keep it in their community.

Compare this to the likes of Premiership stars such as Gerrard, Drogba, Rooney and Fabregas. It is true each star has his adopted charity, and will make occasional donations and appear at certain functions adorned in sportswear gained as part of a lucrative sponsorship deal. Yet these donations amount to nothing but loose change in the bottom of the players pockets. What are the likes of such superstars putting back into the game itself? The answer is, apart from maybe the odd celebrity appearance, absolutely nothing.

Kettering Town are probably one of a number of clubs in a similar situation. As English Radicals we care about the social make up of England. Football clubs are a major part of that social make up and should be part of the community. Therefore we feel our superstars should put something back into the game through contributions deducted from their salaries into a Trust Fund. This fund could help players further down the ladder whose careers have been ended through injury and it could help smaller clubs survive. As well as the superstars of the game, we believe it should be up to local councils to support their teams as part of the community. Why take Kettering’s ground away from them? Surely another area could be earmarked for housing? Instead Kettering have been hindered every step of the way in their bid for survival by a council and out of touch politicians that simply do not care. Football has also been described as ‘the people’s game’, and as English Radicals we want to return the game to the people. In the meantime what do fans have to do to make hard nose council officers and the footballing hierarchy listen – take drastic radical action occupy the grounds?

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CLASS WAR IN PUBLIC SERVICE CUTS
After ten weeks of strikes by Leeds refuse workers, city council leader, Lib-Dem Richard Brett revealed the truth behind the future of public service cuts when he told reporters that it was not right that binmen got salaries of £18,000-£20,000, whilst university graduates struggled to get anywhere near that much.
Brett is a former teacher now living off a big fat pension (paid for by??) and obviously, having never left school, he would hardly sympathise with the manual worker. The strikes were caused by a decision taken by the Tory/LibDem Leeds city council to reduce the wages of refuse workers by a third and ‘modernise’ their industry (now where have we heard that before lately?). By modernise they mean work harder, longer and for less pay. This ‘modernisation’ is the way in which future Tory governments and their local authorities, will reduce the wages of the lower paid so that their Fatcat friends have more money left to buy BMWs and lapdancers.
No surprise then that Tory and LibDem councils are now leading the charge to attack the lower paid on behalf of the bankers that our taxes have bailed out. In Leeds and other cities the councils are hiding behind the equal pay legislation, reducing the wages of male workers to fund the salaries of its female employees, just like a Third World banana republic.
Oh, and Mr Brett, how come you’re not standing up for the binmen, after all they are only doing a job that you and your kind won’t do. It's an affront that teachers get paid more than binmen!

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