With the Man Utd debts the fans knew if the Yanks took over that alot of trouble would go ahead with the fans turning on the team & forming a brand new club, would any Arsenal fans do the same if the Russian took over????
Can't see it.
The enthusiasm for both FCUM and AFC Wimbledon has wained among it's original fan base, they still get high attendances but not what it originally got.
You have to remember that the vast majority of people who support big clubs like the Arsenal don't venture to Essex or Middlesex Senior league level and the shit level of talent available is a culture shock once the romance of it has worn off. You have also got to remember it takes years for a club to work it's way through the pyramid of non-league football and although it's been restructured, progress gets bottlenecked at some point.
If you look at Canvey Island, who were one of the richer non-league sides, they took years to get through the Ryman league, coming 2nd three years in a row, even though they were probably better than most of the conference sides throughout this period. Fans used to Premiership football just wont have the patience with it.
The closest thing I think that could be practical would be an Arsenal supporters trust buying out an existing club, say Barnet and molding it as an Arsenal themed club, buying former Arsenal players on the way down in their careers, with a clubhouse showing the Arsenal illegally on foreign satellite, if the kick offs don't clash.
This also has ethical problems as Barnet fans wont like their club hijacked by disgruntled Arsenal fans and of course what would happen should the Russian fucks off, we'd all fuck off back to Arsenal.
Sadly we're hooked and the *word censored* who run football know it and rip us off with gusto, which is why it pisses me off when people say football is a business like any other. Nobody stands outside Coca-Cola's offices shouting sack the board and protesting takeover bids while still consuming the product, they just buy Pepsi if they don't like the taste anymore.
