As a Chelsea fan, Tom Dear is faced with the prospect of paying about £50 for a ticket to watch his team in action. Instead he spent £35 to help to buy his own club - and manage them.

Democracy gatecrashed the autocratic world of football yesterday as Ebbsfleet United agreed to be bought by 20,000 people who will run the club and pick the team via the internet. It has been a strange few months for Ebbsfleet supporters. In May, the Blue Square Premier club were effectively renamed after a train station; now they are the subject of an experiment that could transform the way teams are owned and operated.

Myfootballclub.co.uk, a website created by Will Brooks, a former football journalist, talked to about a dozen clubs before settling on Ebbsfleet. The site’s members have each paid £35, raising £700,000 to buy the club. Users will go online to decide tactics and transfers on a one-member, one-vote basis. At most clubs it is considered daring if a supporters’ representative is let anywhere near the boardroom; at Ebbsfleet, power will rest with the people, not profit-hungry billionaires.

The news was greeted with fear by many locals, who face the prospect of punters from Argentina to Azerbaijan to Australia deciding whether Ebbsfleet should deploy 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 and if Chukki Eribenne is worth his place up front. “It was a complete shock,” Jessica McQueen, of the club’s supporters’ trust, said. She has been a fan for 33 years. “It’s difficult to say whether it’s good or bad until we know the business plan. I’ve subscribed to the site, since I need to have access to the information.”

Ebbsfleet’s new online era began shakily yesterday: the club’s website crashed because of demand. “What is happening now makes the whole exercise in supporting your local team completely meaningless,” one supporter wrote on an internet message board. Another added: “Twenty thousand people playing fantasy football with a club that real fans love – I can only see it ending in disaster.”

Dear said: “To be honest, I didn’t even know Ebbsfleet existed. I don’t know if it will work, but it will be interesting. It’s an opportunity for an average person with no experience to have a go at management. It’s like playing Championship Manager [the computer game], except it’s real life.”

Gravesend & Northfleet were renamed this year after a sponsorship deal with Eurostar, which is no doubt delighted at the publicity during the week that its new St Pancras terminal opens. Ebbsfleet are ninth in the Blue Square Premier and attract crowds of about 1,000 to their Stonebridge Road ground. But they may prove a shrewd investment. Ebbsfleet are located in an industrial zone near the Thames, a couple of minutes’ drive east of Blue-water shopping centre and only 500 metres from Eurostar’s new Ebbsfleet International station, making the area a prime candidate for regeneration.

Liam Daish, the Ebbsfleet manager, will be downgraded to head coach, but he is online and on-message. “During and after matches, Ebbsfleet supporters often give me their opinion on which players should and shouldn’t start games. Now they can have their say,” he said. “As a coach, I look forward to the challenge of working with thousands of members to produce a winning team.”

Daish will brief members on form, fitness and the opposition and offer suggestions on team selection and tactics. Members will submit their desired XI, tactics and formation and a computer will calculate the most popular choice.

“We approached them [the website],” Roly Edwards, the club secretary, said. “As with a lot of clubs at our level, finances are not what they might be. The takeover is expected to be completed by the turn of the year, with the website buying 51 per cent of the club, with an option to buy it outright.

Ebbsfleet’s board was seduced by the prospect of money to spend in January, increased attendances home and away, greater media exposure and the dream of promotion to the Football League. But who will fans find to make the scapegoat if it goes wrong? In cyberspace, no one can hear you scream “you don’t know what you’re doing”.

Weaving the web

- When the takeover is complete, the 20,000 people who paid £35 for annual membership will become Ebbsfleet United’s decision-makers. Existing staff will stay and the manager, Liam Daish, will be renamed head coach. The board will oversee the day-to-day running of the club but members will vote on all the key issues – player transfers, managerial changes, business decisions. All profits generated will be reinvested in the club.

- Before matches, the head coach will brief members via the myfootballclub.co.uk website, offering a review of the previous game, training-ground reports, scouting of opponents and opinions on the form and fitness of the squad. He will suggest possible selections and tactics. Members will vote for their preferred XI, formation and tactics and the most popular choices will be instigated. During the game itself, the head coach will run the team.

Most wanted The most popular prospective clubs, as voted for by members of myfootballclub.co.uk

1, Leeds United
2, Nottingham Forest
3, Cambridge United
4, Accrington Stanley
5, Halifax Town