Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Credit Where It's Due As Liverpool Fans Save For A Stake In Anfield

The Liverpool fans' group Spirit of Shankly-ShareLiverpoolFC has taken its first step towards setting up a financial foundation for supporter-led investment in the club.

The society has teamed up with the Merseyside-based Partners Credit Union to provide a safe house for supporters to save towards the goal of taking up a stake in Liverpool. The Liverpool Supporters' Credit Union scheme was launched on Saturday with the aim of making investing in Liverpool more affordable.

Fans will now be able to save towards having a stake in their club, something that the current sums involved put out of the reach of all but investment institutions and the super‑rich. "If you have 100,000 people all contributing £500, you can have £50m," said Partners Credit Union's chief executive, Tracy Fletcher. "Some credit unions have 15,000 to 20,000 members, this could be much bigger."

One obstacle to the success of the union is that regulations restrict membership to people living and working on Merseyside.

However, the credit union movement hopes that legislation which may come into effect next year will permit wider membership – a development that would open the door to the Spirit of Shankly group's tens of thousands of members worldwide.

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