Just over 150 members responded to the invitation which went out to 3,300 members. Many members also took up the option to offer their views in their own words. Here are a selection of what members told us:
| ‘Clubs of course don’t need to wait to be told what to do by the leagues or a regulator (or maybe they do if they’re only obsessed with the next fastest dollar) – if they believe in the fans’ relationship they should walk the talk and dig up decent partners – people, sorry, fans, with limited financial understanding could get badly hurt through exploring and purchasing something that is very high risk because they trusted Brentford – what an abuse this is by a “Family club” of a relationship.’ |
| ‘It’s too early for crypto. Not safe or regulated enough yet. Reassess it again in a couple of years’ |
| ‘The club can sustain itself on tv money alone if it elected to’ |
| ‘An extremely volatile market which could lead to people losing a lot of money’. |
| ‘BFC is admired by the press and all their suppoters it would be a great pity if the club got involved in any adverse publicity’ |
| ‘As a seasoned member of life’s temptations I would tread very carefully where something that is offered as too good to be true usually turns out not to be’! |
| ‘Bookmakers at least properly articulate what a bet is, cryptocurrency is deliberately confusing to take advantage of people. Its simply not aligned with who we are’ |
‘Crypto currencies have no intrinsic value and are not backed by governments. They are 21st century tulips. Investing in them is a huge risk that the average football fan is not qualified to understand. There is a huge reputations risk to the football club of being seen to endorse them and I don’t feel it is consistent with a community/family club, whatever the Premier League or other clubs do.’
| ‘Crypto currencies have no substantive backing and are completely unregulated. Avoid like the plague!’ |
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‘ Brentford should engage exclusively with “bitcoin only” companies as every other crypto is a scam.’
| ‘Crypto can be more dangerous then having a betting account’. |
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‘Crypto currency is a completely unknown quantity which could blow up in people’s faces. Brentford could lose all credibility if seen to be endorsing it’
‘Crypto currency is in the same general area as betting. It is ethically questionable whether a unique family brand like Brentford FC should associate with either. However it is a tricky balancing act when trying to maximise commercial revenues. At very least we should advertise these with a Bees health warning!’
‘Crypto is a big ponzi scheme. Buyer beware. I don’t think it should be promoted by family football clubs.’
‘Crypto is both nonsense and much of crypto isn’t even crypto but unregulated shadow banks. We should stay far far away’
| ‘rypto is unregulated and therefore open to misinformation and abuse by unscrupulous investors. In my view, as a financial advisor, it does not fit with the clubs image or public values.’ |
| ‘Don’t really understand how Crypto works, but know you can make huge gains, but also huge losses. Too volatile and risky unless strict safeguards in place.’ |
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