Investment in football

I have this strange urge. It is made worse if someone says 'don't be daft'. And it doesn't go away. It is not actually illegal, although you are likely to be taken to one side and asked 'are you sure?' as if you are thinking of embarking on a somewhat dodgy liaison.

I want to invest some money. More specifically, I want to invest some money in a football club.

I actually did this some years ago and didn't come to any harm. In fact, I made a profit of about 43% in just over 3 years which compares rather favourably with the annual 0.5% interest I currently get on a bank deposit account.

Of course not all investments return this sort of profit and I am not going to say you should risk more than you could afford to lose. And there are many considerations to take into account.

But the point is that I could not do this with the same club today even if I wished to. And neither could many other fans with other clubs.

Why is this? Put simply, the clubs are not prepared to offer their shares to small (in financial terms!) investors. If you could afford to spend a few million pounds, you would probably be welcomed with an open receipt book.

But recall that, except in very advanced mathematics, x times y = y times x. So, for example, 20 000 people subscribing £500 each produces the same total money as 500 people each providing £20 000 or indeed one person investing £10 million. Most chairmen would probably prefer the one rich person - much more cosy and lower management costs - at least until the lonely one aligns himself with other directors to boot out the chairman!

Vote-hungry politicians would probably, and often do, side with the fans. But in the current economic climate, can we realistically expect MPs to look at low-priority problems such as some football fans feeling unloved?

If the football club of choice (West Ham United) is not prepared to receive your investment, is there an alternative club nearby which might be more accommodating?

Well, it just so happens that a mere six stations east along the District Line from Upton Park, lies Dagenham East station. And if you head north from the station, the fifth road on the left (Victoria Road) is the home of Dagenham & Redbridge FC.

Next season Dagenham & Redbridge will be playing in Football League Division 2 and although the ground is small, they might just be able to accommodate a few refugees from the other club a short distance to the west.

We shall see!