To borrow from FC Barcelona’s Mes que en club, FC Isle of Man shares in the Catalan giant’s mantra of being ‘More than a Club’. Our aim is to have the Manx community at the heart of everything we do.
The Three Legs symbol on our flag and the motto that accompanies is very apt; “whichever way you throw us, we will stand”.
All of us involved in FC Isle of Man understand the role that sport plays in bringing a community together. If you’ve been to a Tour de France in recent years, you’ll have seen crowds of ‘Manxies’ hoisting those Three Legs of Man flags high in the sky cheering on Mark Cavendish.
Go to a Commonwealth Games and the same crowds are cheering on Tim Kneale, Charlotte Atkinson, and probably Cav again. And that’s just the Manx that travel to the events themselves, what about the rest of us crammed round our TVs cheering our men and women, our neighbours, on? The crux of the message is that ultimately, we support and take great pride in the accomplishments of our countrymen and women and by association share in the various emotions that accompany those competitors themselves.
FC Isle of Man’s desire is to pull together that same touchstone of community through its proposed endeavours in the English Non-League System. If the club’s aspirations come true the club will be about more than just the group of players and coaches who are involved each week, it will be about the 80,000 plus of us who share this fair Isle seven days a week, 365 days a year.
To help make this happen, FC Isle of Man will follow a familiar sporting organisation model adopted by the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid in that the football club will be owned by a Members Club known as Sporting Club Isle of Man (SC IOM). In effect FC Isle of Man will be owned by its fans. In addition Sporting Club IOM will become a charity in due course and more on this will follow in the coming weeks.
So, what does that mean, what will a ‘fan ownership’ actually look like?
It effectively means that the Sporting Club IOM membership (its followers, its supporters) will have a say in how the football club is run, including a representation on the board. The Sporting Club’s constitution has been structured so that it can never dilute its shares in FC Isle of Man below 51%. This will ensure the community-owned ethos of the club will be protected.
Consequently, how do we envisage FC Isle of Man helping to grow our vision of community?
Well, we believe it will:
- provide an opportunity for the Manx community to support a club playing regularly within the English Non-League system and to share in the experiences and emotions of a club that they, the community, own.
- provide great opportunities to boost our local visitor-economy by welcoming visiting clubs and their supporters from the UK on a regular basis.
- provide opportunities to showcase our culture, local businesses and produce to those visiting clubs and their followers.
- enable local businesses to achieve greater off-island exposure, while still supporting a local team, through strategic partnerships and sponsorship.
We believe the opportunities provided within our plans can provide a springboard that launches the Isle of Man, its businesses and its people onto greater things.
FC Isle of Man wishes for nothing more than for its supporters to own ‘their’ own club and join its players, coaches and staff on what we hope will be an incredible journey.
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Help make FC Isle of Man happen. Show your support by heading to our Support page and following the steps there.
Thank you!
