During the course of the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, a whopping 25% of voters switched allegiance. With many people unsure of what the ramifications of a yes/no vote were, everything was to play for; unlike a general election where pre-determined alliances are strong and there is usually very little swing in opinion during the length of a campaign.
If the Lewes FC board cared for Lewes and respected out town’s history, where the Battle of Lewes was the foundation of our modern day Parliament and with the impact of Thomas Paine being an advocate of people power, they would have approached the election to discard fan ownership in a different and more democratic manner. Maybe if more than one boardmember actually came from Lewes, when they started negotiations with Mercury 13 the first thing that would have sprung to mind was that the membership must have a vote. Until I see evidence to the contrary I do not believe, neither do most of the club, that an election was ever on the agenda at the start of the Mercury 13 deal – I don’t recall seeing anything in the original email from the board announcing that the membership would vote.
The decision to introduce Equality FC a few years without a members vote, went through with little real opposition, it was a decision by the board, members liked it and it didn’t fundamentally change the make up of the club. I think the board were caught off guard with the opposition to the Mercury 13 deal and naively thought they could march this one through as well; believing that a measure which would effectively change our fan owned model into a fan owned/private investment hybrid was okay.
There was uproar from members and supporters and the fan owned club governing body, the Football Supporters Association, called for a vote. The confused and tentative announcement from the board announcing there would be a vote, was the board bowing to pressure and hedging its bets on democracy.
In the first few weeks of members being taken by surprise about the Mercury 13 proposal, there was a push for the board to publish a detailed alternative to the Mercury 13 option. This never happened. Eventually the board agreed that a No campaign could publish something to owners – but by this time the Board (and Mercury 13) had had effectively 6 weeks of campaigning with no opposition.
From the announcement of Mercury 13 before the August bank holiday and an impromptu brain storming session on the 8th October from a makeshift NO group, a No ‘manifesto’ was published 2 days later by the board along with more information on Mercury 13, there was essentially no official proper NO campaign. For six weeks members were told one side of the story which was firmly embedded as the route forward. The board were never prepared to put forward two clear articulate and well thought out options for ‘saving the club’ – they had their predetermined and only desire from day one.
Having to rush a No campaign, headed superbly by Miranda Kemp, the focus was on maintaining the principles of fan ownership, our independence and saving the club for the town. There simply was not the time or information to build an economic argument or counter the points of the nuances of the financial arrangements, in essence how the deal was a big pie in the sky. In two weeks, what channels were available were bombarded with a NO message, the ground was leafletted and Miranda appeared on local TV and radio. Eight ex-Directors wrote a letter with their support for a No Vote. For a small group driving an opposition campaign with no time or resources, it was an impressive effort.
Had the NO campaign had another 6 weeks and were able to co-prepare presentations, hustings and Town Halls, as the Yes campaign did, and having had the time to arrange a more robust social media campaign the outcome could be very different.
But how different? One off campaigns like this are prone, as we saw in the EU Brexit referendum, to huge swings as voters get a grasp on an alien topic. Unlike a general election where voters generally have a lifelong allegiance to a political party, with a de facto referendum it is all to play for. It is won or lost on fresh arguments from sides able to get their message across on equal terms.
When one side has eight weeks and the other only two, it is a shameful kick in the teeth to democracy. The YES vote are likely to win, but unless it is by a huge figure the result will never be a fair result. If it is 75/25 in favour, I think you can probably reasonably say another six weeks of campaigning for a NO vote wouldn’t have made a difference. If it is 60/40 in favour, it will be a travesty of epic proportions as a large swing could have happened with a fairer democracy.
I always thought and said from the start, that a yes vote would likely win. It does not need to win ugly though. The smaller NO vote is largely made up of long standing fans and locals. The people who were behind rescuing the club all those years ago and backing the start of a community football club in 2010. These people have been the most outspoken and vociferous group over the years, and essentially alienating a deep rooted heart of your club is a very stupid thing to do.
We will never know if it is a cynical agenda or incompetency that has led to such an unfair election, but the ramifications will leave Lewes FC a permanently divided club, and a club where the support base who once on the whole tootled along regardless are now empowered and pretty angry. The board have been given oodles of slack over recent years and an easy ride. From this perspective I think they know the party is over and that they need to shape up, as they will most certainly be under the microscope more after this debacle.
Winning an election unfairly is one thing, but I suspect like Brexit where the claims of the YES campaign have been proven to be totally false, the board will have the impossible job of proving everything they promised to members on the back of M13’s investment, will radically transform the club. It won’t do. Mercury 13 is a sticking plaster not a practical , long term solution. The board will have to prove us doubters wrong, and I do not believe for one moment they will be able to do so and it will all sadly unravel and go downhill from now.
The Rights of Fans. 