This Thing of Ours
Chronicles a momentous year in the life of England’s largest wholly fan-owned football club, FC United, who were the only English side to win a European trophy in 2024.
In 2005, a group of Manchester United fans stood up and said no to the rampant commercialisation of football and set up their very own club. Some reckoned it would be ‘all over by Christmas’, but two decades on FC United of Manchester provides a beacon for supporter ownership in a world that increasingly views football clubs as the property of the fabulously wealthy.
Read and you will discover:
- A unique perspective on life at England’s largest wholly fan-owned football club as it approaches its 20th anniversary
- How a collectively owned and run club – which seeks to unite football, fans and community – copes with turbulent economic times without the backing of a wealthy owner while staying true to its core values
- The inside track on FC United: in his role as volunteer board reporter, Jonathan Allsopp has reported on more than 80 FC United board meetings over the last eight years, writing nearly half a million words in the process
- How a regular pre-match ‘club night in the afternoon’ offers football fans something more than cheap lager, saturated fats, fixed-odds coupons and gawping at a big screen
In its founding manifesto, FC United set out to be ‘a good example of how a club can be run in the interests of its members and be of benefit to its local communities’ – 20 years on, has it succeeded?
Jonathan Allsopp is a founder-member and co-owner of FC United, and is the author of two books about the club: The Red Thread and It’ll all be over by Christmas. He has also written for numerous publications and websites including The Guardian, openDemocracy, the Manchester Mill and United We Stand. Away from football, Jonathan is an accountant who has worked as a finance manager in the NHS for more than 30 years.