Kerteh FC Supporters Cooperative paves way in community football club ownership, financial sustainability
When I was hired with the responsibility to acquire Perak FC from the state football association at the end of 2021, I was told that the liabilities were approximately RM5 million.
When we started embarking on our own financial and legal due diligence and rummaged under the carpet, we unearthed a staggering RM12 million worth of debts.
Perak had a glorious season in 2018. The Kinta Valley team finished second in the Malaysia Super League, qualified for the Asian Champions League, and bagged the Malaysia Cup with a dramatic and memorable final performance against Terengganu FC. But it was also the beginning of the circus, and plenty of firefighting along the way.
By the end of season 2021, Perak finished 18th, relegated, and was forced to play in the second-tier domestic league (Premier League) since the team’s inception in the nation’s football, 102 years ago.
Perak’s pain continued. My employers settled one third of the liabilities within the first month of the takeover, which was inclusive of 50 per cent of the salary arrears. But then, a series of frauds led to those financial issues resurfacing to a more serious level.
The club was subsequently sold to XOX Bhd for just RM1 in May 2022.
It was an embarrassing episode. But what saddened me more were the people who abandoned the club – basking in Perak’s misery, taking aim at the off-field circus, and manipulating the supporters and media.
The passing of my mother in late January, changed my perspective on crisis management. I was like – ‘I’m not having any of that.’ I didn’t even think about the numbers. It was, “I’m going to see this through properly”.
We pushed on with an array of possible solutions, all of which brings me nicely to one of the fixes that we worked on – the formation of a cooperative society to facilitate a supporter-led takeover.
Even though Perak FC no longer needs such a fix, forming a cooperative society would still be a commercial pathway that I would pursue, and have also recommended to the new management.
Nevertheless, I am very delighted and grateful that Kerteh FC has agreed to pioneer such an important initiative. It is a refreshing feeling, to find members of a board that shares your values, and believe that football belongs to the community, and therefore, should ultimately be owned by the community.
For a long while, I have been sad at how football clubs and their supporters define success. It doesn’t have to be on the pitch. It can be measured by good financial performances, what you do in the community, or how you treat your fellow supporters, and many other metrics.
The most effective way to correct this singularity and flawed measure is by giving the supporters a feeling of ownership.
Why would you boo your players? You wouldn’t go into the office and boo all of your employees. If all you’re worried about is the result after a match every weekend, then you’re shallow-minded, and wasting a huge opportunity.
Kerteh will be in a quantum leap. Not only will the cooperative society create greater inclusivity and affinity in the community, but it will also generate a significant amount of annual revenue for the club. If the Kerteh FC Supporters Cooperative manages to gather 10,000 members, each of whom pays a minimum of RM100 a year, the club will be generating RM1 million on a year-to-year basis.
Imagine if you had 100,000 members. I’m sure it wouldn’t be very hard for a football club like Kelantan FC to come up with those numbers.
Most football supporters imagine that glory is forged in silverware. But I’m not sure it is. Especially when the club is on the brink of bankruptcy.
It’ll certainly take a long time to do anything within a cooperative society, an inordinate amount of time. But when you do it, you’d have done it together, and that’s doing it properly.
Together feels better. Even when you lose.
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