ONE Football League club is about to find out that there is a reason why fans don't pick the team.

A website has been set up to allow football fans across the country to become part owners of a club for the cost of £35.

That stake will give them a vote in team selection and various other matters including the signing of new players.

A total of 50,000 members have already been recruited and four clubs have approached the website to see if they would like to make a bid.

The website are currently collecting money from members and are said to be almost ready to bid for a club - with members having the final say on which club is purchased.

It is an intriguing experiment and the people involved seem to have the best of intentions. They have done well to get so far.

But, like nuclear weapons or human cloning, there are some experiments that should just never take place.

The comparison between such matters and football may seem a little bizarre and, granted, if this experiment goes wrong things will be a little less disastrous.

But the website should not underestimate the passion existing fans have for their club, even if they do play in League One or Two. The Football League is no place to experiment or mess about.

Clubs hold the hopes and dreams of many of the local population and if I were a fan of the club about to be taken over I would be seriously concerned.

After all, why should a bunch of people who do not support the club or know the area start picking the team? They will lack the understanding to make informed decisions.

Many of the voters will not choose to or be able to attend matches, so the likelihood is they will simply select the big name players, even if they are not up to the job.

The manager of the club is set to become the head coach with no control over team selection, save for giving members information before they make their decisions.

The coach not picking the team is not unusual on the continent but various attempts to introduce a similar system here have largely been unsuccessful.

The website is keen to protect the identity of the club it purchases but a takeover would instantly dilute whatever characteristics the club has.

And similar things were said when Wimbledon were taken over a few years ago, only for the club to be stolen, moved to Milton Keynes and renamed.

The Conference vetoed a similar idea in 2002, when Channel Four wanted to make Stevenage Borough into a reality show with phone voting.

The FA have already betrayed Wimbledon fans. For the good of the game, do not make the same mistake by allowing this to happen.

* Antonio Puerta was the dashing left winger who lit up the 2006 European Super Cup Final.

Tomorrow Sevilla will attempt to retain the Super Cup against AC Milan still mourning the loss of their teammate, who died in hospital on Tuesday after collapsing during a match broadcast live on Sky Sports on Sunday.

Twelve months ago I watched a match in Spain with a Premiership scout dispatched to assess the 22-year-old's potential. Alas, the transfer never happened.

But Puerta had talent. Just how much, we will never know.