Mostly Good

I don't know if it's an age thing. Or the impact of the recession on the way I think about things. Or the influence of my lover who inspires me to think about things in an alternative way.

But increasingly, I am coming to the conclusion the way to make things work sometimes, is to put the power back with the people.

For example, I have been watching the series currently on television about how the Internet came to be.

And I have been struck how the altruistic ideals of those early pioneers have resulted in a tool that gives power to the masses through information and communication.

So I was interested to read about Mansfield's creative approach to encouraging more people through the gates and increasing revenue.

What is so striking about the outcome is it's success at numerous levels.

Doubling of attendance.

100% more people getting an experience of live football. Who knows, some perhaps for the first time.

For others, it could be they were drawn from a wider pool of people who go, just occasionally, rather than every week.

The takings are up.

And the detail behind that is the decision each person made about what they would pay for their afternoon's entertainment.

A range from 2 pence to £50.

What criteria would they have used to decide?

Their personal level of wealth? Their level of love for the team? The extent to which they wanted to show support for the idea?

I don't know if you can draw too much from this one experiment. You can't, for example, assess whether the fact this was the first time, with an element of novelty, distorts the figures and that people may make different decisions if this were a more permanent arrangement.

But I do really like the idea of building a relationship between a club and its fans based upon trust.

That is not to say that other fans do not trust their clubs.

But an approach like this goes much deeper because it involves genuinely sharing power.

I guess it all boils down to whether you fundamentally believe people are largely good rather than bad.

What am I?

Well mostly good I would say.

Apart from when I'm thinking about Drogba's thighs, of course.