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Bryn Law: Fan involvement could rejuvinate Leeds United
Posted on February 18, 2015 by Radebe Leeds in Featured, Latest Lucas with 0 Comments
Photo: Gareth Copley/PA
Sky Sports reporter Bryn Law is no stranger to financial mishaps, having lived in Leeds for 20-years seeing the goings on at Elland Road, and his own beloved Wrexham FC going through administration and near extinction.
Aside from sports reporting, Bryn is the President of the Wrexham FC Supporter’s Trust, the current owners of the Welsh outfit.
From joining as part of the ‘beer a week’ scheme to holding a figurehead role between the Trust and the Club, he is all too familiar with being wary of ‘white knights’ after seeing previous owners (Hamilton and Guterman) try to make a quick buck on the land from which the Racecourse Ground stands and shun the Trust’s advances of a buy-out.
“At the time the Trust became serious about taking control of the club, there appeared to be alternatives, but the owners seemed intent on selling to anybody but the Trust†he says.
“You wouldn’t believe some of the people who came close to taking control. As each one appeared, fans got involved to highlight their unsuitability. Ultimately, the only real offer on the table, the real money, belonged to the supportersâ€.
Taking on debts of £750,000 and sacrificing ownership of the stadium, Wrexham FC were declared debt-free after two-years of fan ownership back in 2013. A quite remarkable achievement for the third oldest team in World football.
But what does this have to do with Leeds United? Not a lot, until the recent emergence of the Leeds Fans LLP scheme, with the intention of raising £10million to acquire the 25 per cent currently held by GFH.
The success of Wrexham is a sign that fan ownership has a means of fruition, but many see Leeds as too big a venture for a group of fans that have often been labelled ‘potless chancers’ on social media.
Despite the divide and uncertainty over the financial backing of Leeds Fans LLP, Bryn can see the reasoning behind the scheme and the similarities between the two club’s ownership issues.
“I think, after years of bad leadership, turmoil, chaos and financial uncertainty, a lot of Leeds fans have started to wonder whether they wouldn’t prefer a bit of the same. Forget the white knights, let’s try and do this thing ourselves†he says.
“Whilst many of the ownership issues have been very similar, there’s one obvious difference between the two clubs, size of fan base. At Wrexham, that became a big advantage. The fans pulled together to save the club themselves.
“From big protest marches held in the home town of one of the club’s unscrupulous owners to a crazy whip-round that raised over £100,000 in less than 24 hours.
“To ensuring the club could pay a bond demanded by the Conference to allow us to start the new season. Now, that same commitment to the cause sees fans devoting huge amounts of their spare time to helping to run the clubâ€.
Elland Road itself has seen several protests, with the likes of Ken Bates, GFH and Massimo Cellino subject to hostile receptions in the past.
But the one anomaly between the two sides is the fact that a divide between supporters exists surrounding the proposal of the scheme that was previously known as ‘Together Leeds’ – a brand passed on by Mike Farnan – a man both liked and disliked by the Leeds faithful.
With his professional eye on the goings-on, Bryn is yet to see the collectivity Leeds need to emulate any branch of success that Wrexham FC have achieved.
“Leeds has many more supporters but I’ve not seen the same collective commitment to the cause. Too many factions, opinions and too much of a willingness to let others get on with the job of running the club, no matter how badly.
“What ought to be the strength has been the weakness, until now, perhaps?†he states.
Split opinion remains over the Leeds Fans LLP scheme, with some unwilling to hear their ideas and intentions whilst others are pro-actively working towards a common goal of buying a minority stake to give the fans a say in the running of Leeds United.
Bryn is ‘encouraged’ by what he’s read about Leeds Fans LLP and thinks more fans can be persuaded it’s an ‘attainable goal’.
“The key steps are being realistic, getting good, credible, people involved and engaging as many fans as possible†Bryn states.
“There are lots of Leeds fans involved in all sorts of roles that could prove massively useful in the short and long term. The fact that they’ve identified a seat in the board as a first step is realistic.
“Leeds is a great club and it’s shameful what has been done to it in the time that I’ve been living in the city.
“I truly believe the club could be rejuvenated and reborn with the real involvement of the fans, harness all that passion for something more than the 90 minutes on a match dayâ€.
For more information on Leeds Fans LLP visit their website. To read about more about Wrexham Supporters’ Trust click here
