With the membership approval of the Mercury 13 investment approved we find ourselves in a weird period of unnecessary uncertainty, bemused by the identity of Mercury 13 and their backers, whether the investment will even go ahead, the real ramifications for the club, the women’s team locked in a downward spiral of results and at a time when the Kings Speech embraces the Tracey Crouch report, a report which suggests this is the sort of scenario football clubs must be moving away from.
Now it just might be I end up with egg all over my face with the club and Mercury 13 any second now about to officially announce the deal as signed off, with Mercury 13 letting us know what is going on and what they are all about in relation to specifically Lewes FC. But I am already feeling a bit queasy about them.
Paramount to the whole ethos of fan and community ownership is accountability, disclosure and transparency. Asked to comment on a television piece prior to the investment vote Mercury 13 announced no comment, they were in a period of due diligence and subsequently since the vote the board have reiterated this is still the current state of play. I don’t think this is on.
The uncertainty over the future of the women’s team runs commensurate with a dire run of form that sees the Lewes FC Women rooted to the bottom of the league. It is obvious this decline in form is going to continue until there is some resolution. During the next two Sundays we have two games before a month long break that we desperately need something from. Lose them and the teams above us win, we are going to really struggle to stay up this season. Speculation is brewing that Mercury 13 are possibly getting the jitters over the takeover. Lewes looked a safe bet?
The Lewes FC Women have consistently been a mid-table team for the last five years and I don’t think for one moment Mercury 13 thought there would be a risk of us being relegated. On a three-year project to potentially get into the women’s Premiership, kick starting that from tier 3 clearly was not a scenario in their minds. I can understand that and why they would potentially pull out, but it certainly should have been. Announcing to the squad of the Lewes FC Women at the start of the season that essentially, they were going to be improved would surely suggest that those players that the new ownership thought them maybe not quite fit for purpose, let us face it that is not exactly fantastic for confidence. This is leading to idle speculation that maybe they will not proceed. The club have stated that the players are all behind the deal and I’m not suggesting that they are not, but it is perfectly natural to also feel a bit peeved about it and perform a few percent under your full capabilities. Those percentages are crucial in a tight league.
It is fair to say that after the Mercury13 initial announcement of a huge investment into various global women’s football teams the silence has been deafening. The Tracey Crouch report takes a withering view of football club supporters being kept in the dark. I absolutely understand that investments etc carry certain elements of privacy, but the wall of silence here is not acceptable. We are supposed to be a transparent fan owned club and to steam in with a huge pot of investment of money and a wall of silence is not acceptable.
I am not for one moment suggesting that they will walk away, although certainly not writing off that conclusion. Every lost game during this period of uncertainty continues at the moment to look like a nail in the coffin for the women’s team. Don’t get me wrong, I am more than happy for Mercury 13 not to get involved and for the Lewes FC Women to play in tiers 3 and 4 of the women’s pyramid at a sustainable level for us. However, 68% of the membership and a lot of fans are expecting a lot from this deal and having supported Mercury 13 deserve more transparency, even just a ‘we appreciate the confidence of the membership’.
I’m sure this will be resolved but my concern with how things have been conducted so far is that Mercury 13 are going to be a very large part of Lewes football club but also a very private part, and I don’t think that is acceptable. I don’t know what’s happened during the negotiations, but I would really hope the board of directors rammed home to them the points about our constitution and in particular the part about transparency.
Could be I am worrying about nothing, Mercury 13 are starting with a blank canvas but at the moment we do not know the artists style, medium or competency.
The Rights of Fans. 