• Campaign for democratic involvement led by Supporters Direct
• First example of top club encouraging fans to buy shares
The Arsenal Fanshare scheme is a landmark in the campaign to encourage mutual, democratic supporter involvement in football clubs, which is led by the organisation Supporters Direct.
The opposition to the "leveraged buyouts" by the Glazer family at Manchester United, and by Tom Hicks and George Gillett at Liverpool, is being led by formally constituted supporters' trusts, which have been established at 160 clubs at all levels in Britain.
Arsenal Fanshare is the first example of a top club co-operating with its trust actively to encourage its fans to buy shares and have a voice in the club's running. The prohibitive cost of buying club shares has meant just one professional club in England is fully supporter-owned, Exeter City in League One.
Elsewhere in Europe, many football clubs remain majority supporter-owned, including Barcelona and Real Madrid, and all but two clubs in the German Bundesliga.
