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Men's Football Clapton fans start a new fan-owned club

FANS of Clapton FC have started a fan-owned club called Clapton Community Football Club which will play in the Middlesex Counties Football League for the 2018-19 season.

Days after Clapton’s entire youth structure left to merge with a rival club, the announcement is the latest in the battle over the Old Spotted Dog ground.

With the help of Clapton’s Life Members, whose connection to the club traces back to the early 1990s, this new club is “open to all, with transparency and inclusivity as its key values.”

Clapton fans boycotted the entirety of last season’s home games after the club chief executive was alleged to have attempted to liquidate the charity running its home ground in Forest Gate.

Average attendances fell from 366 the season before to 52, as fans protested against the the way the club was being run.

“I am delighted that having hibernated, our historic club is reawakening,” said Clapton Life Member Michael Fogg.

A club statement added: “Tons supporters, famed for being some of the most fervent in non-league, will once again get to decide how their club is run.

“Set up as a co-operative, each member will have an equal vote in the direction fan-owned Clapton CFC will take. Hundreds of members have already signed up and the process is open to all.

“The club’s mission statement champions community football and its aim is to build on the fantastic work of fan groups like Clapton Ultras in promoting wider community participation in local, grassroots football.”

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