Newcastle United Supporters Trust

The Riverside stadium saw a record low attendance for a league game yesterday, 14,633 for the televised clash between Middlesbrough and Sheffield United. There are those who think that a mixture of television overkill and the recession will empty stadiums everywhere.

There are, however, probably special factors at work at Middlesbrough. Boro manager Gordon Strachan commented, 'In area like this, where unemployment's huge, you're not going to get people turning up to a game that's on TV. The recession's hitting hard, especially in this area. It's only footballers who seem to have money.'

Football still has vast social value despite financial crises. Do we need more supporter-owned clubs to restore its rightful place at the heart of communities, asks David Conn.

With barely a breath caught since the World Cup, the Premier League season sprinted forth at the weekend to stadiums packed with expectant crowds, customarily feverish television coverage and a flurry of stories with one unifying theme: money. Prospective bidders from overseas to buy debt-laden Liverpool football club; the manager of Aston Villa, Martin O'Neill, walking out apparently over lack of funds ; three Football League clubs staving off winding-up petitions in the high court.

Released earlier this summer with a touch less fanfare was a report that found that for all its crises and financial overkill, football remains a sport of immense social value, and its clubs – when not falling into ruin – are widely considered to be rallying points for civic pride.

Commissioned by Supporters Direct, the government-backed initiative to encourage democratic, mutual ownership of football clubs, the report documents the beneficial impact that clubs can have in their communities, and recommends a series of ways in which this can be improved.

• 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.