What if, instead of a save, thousands of people ran a real club together? In 2008 someone tried.
A club bought over the internet
MyFootballClub was launched in April 2007 by Englishman Will Brooks. The idea was simple: each person paid a £35 membership fee and, pooling everyone’s money, a club would be bought. Then the big decisions would be voted on online.
The idea caught on. By July 2007 there were already more than 53,000 members. The chosen target was Ebbsfleet United, who played in the Conference, the English 5th tier. On January 16, 2008, the members voted on the purchase: 95.89% said yes. The £635,000 deal closed in February.
Even the starting eleven went to a vote (almost)
The original plan was for members to vote on everything, including the starting eleven and transfers. A collective Football Manager, basically. But in a later vote the members decided to leave team selection to the manager, Liam Daish. Picking the eleven on screen is one thing; deciding real people’s careers with a click is another.
Even so, the first season ended in celebration: on May 10, 2008, Ebbsfleet won the FA Trophy at Wembley, 1-0 against Torquay United, with a Chris McPhee goal and more than 40,000 people in the stands.
The end of the experiment
The enthusiasm faded. By 2010 only around 5,000 members renewed, and by 2013 there were fewer than a thousand. That year, MyFootballClub gave up its stake in the club, which passed into the hands of a Kuwaiti consortium.
The lesson: running a club together is great fun until the wages need paying. In FM, at least, you can always load the previous save.
Sources: Wikipedia: MyFootballClub · FourFourTwo
