Owners may show same loyalty as fans if they faced 10-year commitment clause | Jason Stockwood

As nervous Everton and Reading supporters will probably tell you, ownership can’t be like upgrading cars or changing houses

In life, we all retain the right to change our minds. Sometimes we choose the wrong job, love affairs end and a once strongly held view about our membership of the EU can change with the passage of time. Football, of course, is different. As a general rule, once you have inherited your club, there is no change or cancel option. I was reminded of this at lunch just after we got involved with Grimsby Town. I made a speech that the two lifelong commitments you make are your marriage and your football club. Someone at my table locked eyes with me and said in all seriousness: “You can always change your partner if needed.” Maybe our lifelong commitment is to one thing only.

Those who share this view feel there’s something unusual about owners who move from one club to another in the same country, like someone trying to start afresh with a not-always-younger model. While I’ve never met John Textor (the co-owner of Crystal Palace and also owner of Botafogo, RWD Molenbeek and Lyon) or Rob Couhig (who sold Wycombe in May), it seems a bit odd in an English football context to see their social channels full of love for Palace and Wycombe respectively, and then think that allegiance could be shifted with the exchange of share certificates to Everton and Reading.

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