FC United of Manchester – the football club founded by Manchester United fans – is pioneering a new model in football finance with help from Turquoise PR.
The club has launched a £1.5m community share issue to help raise funds for the development of its new stadium. Pauline Rawsterne of Turquoise PR has been advising the club on financial PR for the share issue, which has resulted in widespread coverage in publications ranging from the Financial Times, the Daily Mail, Independent and other national newspapers to finance, sport and leisure titles and the regional business press.
Pauline said: ‘As the first football club to use the community share scheme to raise funds, FC United is leading the way in pioneering a new model of football finance. The club enjoys good relationships with sports journalists but needed some financial PR input to help it communicate the share offer to existing fans and the wider business and investor audience.’
‘PR is critical to the take-up of any share issues like this but it must be done in a responsible manner. Although community investment schemes are not subject to the same regulations as public listed companies, communications must be balanced to ensure potential investors can reach an informed decision.’