ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to examine whether the current political environment across Europe reduces the likelihood of success for supporter-owned football clubs. It looks at two countries, England and Germany, where historically contrasting club structures have meant that the relationships between fans and their clubs are significantly different. The chapter argues that, as the neoliberal agenda continues to marginalise the idea of the co-operative in each example, the shareholder model and private ownership of clubs is likely to become ever more dominant. At present, the rampant commercialism evident in the English Premier League and the unregulated nature of the leagues mean that there is, effectively, a glass ceiling in place restricting the upward mobility of supporter-owned clubs. This and the pressures that the German 50+1 model also faces in order to continue are all facets of the external neoliberal environment that the game of football operates within.
