I read a very good article in the Observer at the weekend by David Conn (I’ve blogged about his writing on football before) about the gradual takeover of english football by overseas investors.

I really don’t like the way the Premiership is going, and as much as I’m looking forward to seeing Fernando Torres playing for Liverpool next season (thanks to our US investors), I just don’t believe that the vast amounts of money going into the Premiership are a good thing. The Observer article reminds us that it doesn’t have to be like this – witness cheap ticket prices in Germany and clubs owned by fans in Spain.

The article explores the roots of english football clubs (note the word club). It reminds us of the original FA rules:

“In 1899, just as professional, commercialised football was taking off, the FA imposed rules to protect the clubs’ sporting heart. These allowed clubs to form limited companies, but prohibited directors from being paid, restricting the dividends to shareholders, and protected grounds from asset stripping.”

It sounds very much like a Community Interest Company. I don’t know quite what I think yet, but it’s interesting to reflect on what happened to football, and to wonder whether something similar could eventually happen in the social enterprise movement. Will shareholders eventually get fed up with capped dividends? Will the asset-lock one day be gently eased to allow for a bit more flexibility? Or will we find clever legal ways around the structure (like football clubs have done with their holding companies) to enable us to compete more aggressively in the capitalist world? In other words could the CIC eventually become capitalism-lite as opposed to a truly different way to do business?

The role of the regulator is crucial here. Football’s regulator – the slothful FA – has basically stood aside and let clubs do what they want. Let’s hope the CIC regulator can do a better job. No doubt the CIC structure will need continual tweaking, but we need to ensure that in 25 years time the CIC structure doesn’t stand for sweet FA.

Allow me to indulge myself in a brief moment of glory – my team Liverpool beat Barcelona in the Champions League last night.

I’m biased, but I think both Liverpool and Barcelona are very special football clubs – largely because of the way their fan base identifies with the club. Barcelona, motto Mes que un club (More than a club) are owned by their fans and, because of a history of suppression under Franco, are a massively important expression of Catalan identity.

There’s no point in me trying to be objective about Liverpool, but I think they’re one of the few clubs who can match Barcelona in terms of the relationship between the fans and the club. Sadly, that relationship doesn’t stretch to ownership. Where Barcelona are owned by their fans, Liverpool are owned by two American venture capitalists. It’s unrealistic to think that a Supporters Trust could have taken over Liverpool, but you do wonder about the long term viability of football if it loses touch with its most important constituency – its local fan base.

But in the meantime, well done Liverpool!

Now that an Icelandic consortium has taken control of West Ham United, a quarter of Premiership clubs are owned by foreign investors.

Does that matter? I think most football fans would agree that it does, even if they can’t quite pinpoint why. I recently read an excellent book called The Beautiful Game, by investigative journalist David Conn. In it he explores the impact that money has had on the game.

He also recounts the history of football in this country – I didn’t know that most football clubs were originally formed as mutual organisations, (that’s why their called clubs) and until recently, directors were unable to make any money out of their involvement. How times have changed.

There is hope. Barcelona – with their affordable ticket prices and lack of advertising on their shirts (other than Unicef), demonstrate how a club can be mutually owned and successful. Across the UK football fans have formed Supporters Trusts – mutual organisations which pool fans’ shares in a club to enable them to have a bigger say in how their club is run. As someone once said, football is the most important unimportant thing in the world – and the way the Premiership is going needs to be challenged. The FA doesn’t seem too bothered by what’s happening – so it’s up to the fans to take control.