The fear of being just one building block among many in the future was omnipresent. Various published within a few hours fangroups a first statements, in which the followers positioned themselves clearly against the plans. The following weekend, fan representatives set out to follow suit Manchester and made there in front of the stadium of man city with a big banner their dissatisfaction with the planned one deal clear. Your message: “Stay out of our territory, NAC is none City Group Story!”
Others were hanging at the same time fans at SK Lommel in Belgium and at ES troyes AC in France the same message at their stadiums. Also in these clubs is the CFG involved. Pictures and videos of the protests were shared on social media. The fan groups wanted to generate as much attention and resistance as possible in order to get the other fans behind them: “We have managed to define ourselves and what we are for fans stand to develop and knew how to protect this special character”says Decker.
“Golden share” as an ace up your sleeve
Breda fans were not so naïve as to believe that protests alone would prevent the takeover. Too many clubs have already been sold against the will of supporters. But in Breda the fans had an ace up their sleeve: They are in possession of a so-called “Golden Share”. Their owners have rights that go beyond those of the other shareholders. At the NAC The “Golden Share” gives Breda the right to veto important decisions, such as takeovers by investors.
Since 2011, Breda fans have owned a “golden share” in their club. At that time, the club could only avoid bankruptcy through the entry of investors. And with the help of the fans. They collected over 400,000 euros, which they promised the club for the licensing process on one condition: the fans should receive the “Golden Share”. After tough negotiations, the club agreed to the supporters’ terms. As a result, the fans founded the NOAD Foundation, which officially holds the “Golden Share”. The leadership of the NOAD Foundation consists of a fan representative, the head of the NAC Museum, a former player and the head of the youth academy.
Local investors as an alternative
In order for the fans to actually be able to use the veto power of the Golden Share to prevent the CFG takeover, they had to submit an alternative offer. Again they collected a lot of money – a total of 15 million euros. The participants founded the investor group “NAC=Breda”, which consists of local companies and people related to the city and the association. It was agreed with the group of investors that they would gradually return their shares to the association. In this way, the association is to be protected in the long term against unwelcome takeovers.
Just a few weeks after the agreement between NAC and the CFG the club announced on its website on May 20 that “the shareholders of NAC agreed on the takeover by the investor collective NAC=Breda” had. The fans were overjoyed. “We learned how much power we have, not just as fans. We were the first club to reject City Football Group. This could be a game changer.”says Leon Deckers not without pride about the success.
Balm for the soul of many football traditionalists
The events aroused great interest at home and abroad. Many fan groups from other clubs contacted Deckers and his comrades-in-arms. In times of club takeovers and sports washing by highly controversial groups of investors, the Breda story is balm for the soul of many football traditionalists. “We hope that we have shown everyone that it is possible”, says Deckers. It is important “to be a healthy club and not to make investors necessary at all”.