KOCHI: Setting its sight on putting in place a sustainable financial model to run a club in the football crazy Kerala, the proprietors Thrissurbased FC Kerala, launched in 2014, have come forward with a form of crowdfunding, ensuring that the corpus fund of the investor is left untouched. Their model is borrowed from Bundesliga side FC Augsburg.“The club would be run chiefly by utilising the interest generated from bank deposits so that the investors don’t run the risk of losing heir money,” V A Narayan Menon, one of the promoters, told Express. Rather than depending on huge investments from particular individuals, the plan is to turn it into a ‘public club’. They aim to bring on board at least 1000 members who would be willing to deposit Rs 25,000 each for life membership status, apart from an annual subscription of Rs 2500. Counting other sponsorships as well, the annual budget has been currently pegged at Rs 50 lakh. “We have been getting a tremendous response to the initiative and hope to have the system in place from the upcoming season itself. The money would be deposited in a joint account in the name of the member and the club. Documents will be prepared in such a way that the investors get back their money if the club is unable to continue its operations due to any reason,” said Menon, the former national under-19 coach.The club is set to be registered as a public limited company. “Rs 100 or 200 each from every investor will be converted to 10-20 shares in the company. That way, every member will have a genuine feeling of belonging to the club,” said Menon, who is also the head coach of the club. The promoters also plan to open a “fan club” where FC Kerala fans can get memberships for a payment of Rs 1000. In the first two years of existence, the promoters didn’t take any money from outsiders to run the club which primarily comprises players from Sree Kerala Varma College, with the stress being on convincing everyone that the club can produce results, he added. In the next phase of development, two years into the implementation of the proposed management structure, the club plans to set up its own ground, academy and allied facilities.
PLANNING WELL
In the next phase of development, two years into the implementation of the proposed management structure, the club plans to set up its own ground, academy and allied facilities.
The promoters also plan to open a “fan club” where FC
Kerala fans can get memberships for a payment of Rs 1000