The supporters are revolting - and some believe that within a decade more than half of England's professional clubs will have fallen under their control.
The increasing influence of supporters over the way football clubs are run has been described as "a quiet revolution" - and nine days ago Stockport County became the fourth Football League club to come under the ownership of its own fans.
And with disaffected Manchester United supporters breaking away to form rebel club FC United, the movement for fan ownership has moved into another dimension.
To most British football supporters, the idea of owning and running their own club is an idea straight from cloud cuckoo land - but it is common on the Continent.
Spanish champions Barcelona and giants Real Madrid are owned by their own members, while all German clubs are owned by their communities.
AFC's chairman Kris Stewart has been a driving force and says the growth of supporter power has been a phenomenon in modern football.
"The growth has been unbelievable," he said. "I went to a supporters' conference about five years ago and there was nothing then apart from a supporters' trust at Northampton and a load of good ideas. In my more excitable moments I see it as a revolution. We are not quite at that stage yet, but we have come a long way.
"It is certainly a revolutionary idea but now it is a case of how far we actually get - do we get to the point where supporter ownership is the norm, and situations where businessmen making money out of our game are an aberration.
"The FC United story is an important development because here we have a group of supporters who are turning their backs on success.
"All of the other stories of supporters taking over or setting up their own clubs are about clubs where the fans were reacting to the potential collapse of their club, its sporting failure, or a combination of the two. The FC United people could, if they chose, be watching Champions League football this season, but instead will be watching their team in the North West Counties League. That has to be pretty powerful."
The supporters' trust success story is largely down to Supporters Direct, the body set up and funded by the Government to encourage fans to get involved in the running of their clubs.
Supporters Direct claims that the views of British football fans are changing rapidly.
"We expect that within ten years, more than half of professional clubs in this country will be owned by their fans," said the body's deputy chief executive Dave Boyle, and AFC Wimbledon supporter.