Member Article

Attempt to mine One Direction fanbase is falling flat for Doncaster Rovers

Attempts by John Ryan and Louis Tomlinson of the band One Direction to crowdfund £2 million, forming a supporters’ trust, have fallen flat it seems.

The first £500k was put in by Tomlinson and Ryan to kick start the campaign, and at the time of writing, there was £674k raised of a target of £2 million on crowdfunder.co.uk.

With only 17 days left, over £1 million must be donated to the cause or all pledges will be returned and the project will not go ahead.

Only 2 pledges have been made for the top range of donations, £12k, which would get you a VIP box at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium.

This could partly be to do with the fact that you must be over 18 to donate to the cause, which is being promoted using #FansUnited on social media. Critics of the project are calling it a ‘get-rich-quick’ scheme.

The projects agenda states: “One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson and former Chairman John Ryan have teamed up to create an ambitious new Trust at Doncaster Rovers Football Club.

“Doncaster born-and-bred, the lifelong fans now have the opportunity to secure the future of ‘Donny’ and take the club to the next level.

“To do that they have a big idea: to bring together football, music and crowdfunding fans through Crowdfunder to do something quite special in the South Yorkshire community they were brought up in.”

Find the crowdfunding page for Doncaster Rovers here.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .