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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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