We started the fanzine long before fan ownership was introduced at Lewes FC. Over the past 15 years, we have been consistently critical of the board and its decisions. However, we have always acknowledged that the directors volunteer their time and act with the club’s best interests at heart, even if some of their actions may sometimes suggest otherwise! Because of this, we have never previously called for board members to resign.
The release of the updated business plan on Tuesday was a display of poor judgment and mismanagement that, in our view, brought Lewes FC into disrepute, the annihilation of trust and respect. The evidence would suggest not all of the board members signed this off and I feel genuinely gutted for those who did not and have to be associated with it.
Friday’s follow-up email, a welcome temporary halt and reappraisal was a vastly significant improvement—well-measured, carefully considered, and setting out a clearer path forward. However, the fact remains that the business plan was initially approved, meaning a majority of the board must have signed off on it. It is galling to see the integrity, skill and indefatigable spirit of the managers and leaders of our men and women’s teams, dealing magnificently with heavily reduced budgets, simply unmatched by the boardroom failing and flailing away, they deserve better than a mess that breeds no confidence that there will be funds in the pot next year.
Anyone who supported that stance should not hold a position on the board of Lewes FC. We do not yet know who those individuals are, as there has been no transparency on the matter. All we know is Chairman Trevor Wells was expected to provide a letter embellishing the proposal to owners and members.
Why it was pulled is anyone’s guess; the speed of the U-turn would suggest a huge upheaval within the leadership and hopefully some home truths. I hope and trust the board is not influenced by outside influences and maybe it was sensible heads within the supporters group who knocked heads together.
But what a cock up. Let’s unravel.
Three days. That’s all it took for Lewes FC’s board to expose the utter incoherence of their strategic thinking. In one email, they presented a business plan with a fundamental contradiction at its core—inviting investment from owners but then stating owners must cease being owners to invest. In another email, just days later, they performed a complete about-face, pausing the entire process. This fiasco raises a critical question: Who on earth thought the original plan was fit for purpose? People who should not be anywhere making strategic decisions at a fan-owned community club.
What Board Elections?
Remember these huge fundamental changes were to be voted on just before, hopefully, the election a new swathe of board members. So potential new directors had no idea what governance model they would be directing, We may have had a scenario where a new board had a new governance framework most of them did not want, absolutely insane
The Initial Email: A Disaster in Logic
Lewes FC’s board triumphantly announced that owners—the very people who were supposed to have an emotional and financial stake in the club—would not be able to invest unless they first relinquished their ownership. The proposal defied both common sense and the principles on which the club’s community ownership model was built.
They claimed:
- They had spent months consulting owners and governing bodies.
- The proposed investment model was “imperative” for the future of the club.
- The structure was designed to ‘protect’ community ownership while opening up avenues for investment.
- That, despite all the effort, the only path forward required owners to give up their ownership to participate in investment.
This final point was the moment of sheer lunacy. Owners were sold on the vision of deeper engagement with the club. Now they were being told they must sever their ties to financially support it. How did this contradiction not set off alarm bells at the very first discussion?
All irrelevant as within three days these core and pivotal pillars of the plan were removed. I have already written a blog on the proposal ‘Making It Up As They Go Along.’ Enough said.
Are You Kidding Me?
Amid the fallout from this fiasco, Lewes FC, one of the most well-known community football clubs in the UK, has attempted to justify its flawed business plan by blaming the fan ownership model, suggesting it is “past its sell-by date.” This must come as great new to the hundreds of people over the last fifteen years who have worked so tirelessly on maintaining fan ownership.
Of course, this claim is simply not true. Many clubs successfully operate under the fan ownership model, demonstrating that it can be both sustainable and effective when managed correctly. The real issue at Lewes FC is not the ownership model itself but years of poor decision-making and mismanagement.
Instead of taking responsibility, the club has ignored the fundamental principles of fan ownership and sound financial management. Now, rather than acknowledging these failures, it is trying to shift the blame. Let’s be clear—this is not a failure of fan ownership. It is a failure of the club’s leadership.
And, Our Final Trick.
Amidst the general melee of incompetence, the new plan seeks to abandon the pure fan-owned model in favor of a hybrid structure. Fundamentally altering the club’s governance demands a proper period of explanation, reflection, and debate. To propose such a drastic change and then send out the voting form the very next day is disgraceful. This is not Russia—this is Lewes, the home of Tom Paine.
The Swift Retraction: A Desperate Damage Control
Three days later, clearly after a wave of outrage behind closed doors, the board hit the brakes. The second email, far more measured, admitted to ‘listening to feedback’ and paused the entire vote. They are now continuing to work with the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to refine the proposal. That’s odd, as they stated three months ago that they were working with the FSA and FCA
Incompetence or Panic?
The entire situation reeks of mismanagement. Either the board, yet again, failed to do its due diligence before presenting an unworkable plan, or they panicked when faced with backlash and scrambled to backtrack. Neither scenario inspires confidence.
The club’s owners and staff deserve better. This shambolic management suggests those at the helm either do not understand or do not respect the very principles they claim to uphold.
Time for Accountability
If the board had any integrity, those responsible for the original email would tender their resignations. This is not a minor misstep, it’s a fundamental failure of leadership. To go from enthusiastically selling a plan to completely abandoning it in 72 hours is an admission that they never had a solid plan to begin with and quite simply, to use the chant from the terrace, ‘you don’t know what you’re doing.’
Lewes FC needs competent governance. If this episode has proven anything, it’s that those leading the club have no clear vision, no consistent strategy, and no idea about making critical decisions about the club’s future.
It’s time for accountability. Those on the board behind this embarrassment are not fit to direct our club and must own up to their failure, and those responsible for this absurdity should step aside before they do any further damage.
However, a big cheer for those directors who have forced a new approach and presumably were not keen on dragging our club through the gutter.
For readers on other media groups, we cannot publish what are proposals designated to Lewes FC owners. However, we posted the first of these two blogs seven days ago and the second one four days ago, and they will give you a good ideaa of one hell of a mess.
The Rights of Fans. 