Ebbbsfleet's immediate future appears to have been safeguarded this week following votes made by MyFootballClub members.

Fleet officials were desperate to boost funds by increasing the annual membership fee from £35 to £100 and buying the MyFC Operating Agreement from founder Will Brooks for £15,000.

Brooks had previously taken more than 20 per cent of the membership fees to cover the cost of running the website but the purchase means MyFC can keep all the cash and will pay for the running of the site itself.

Both the decisions were overwhelmingly backed by members in online votes last week and Ebbsfleet chairman Duncan Holt said the members’ decisions would benefit the club in the long run.

He said: "The members have done a good job for the club by voting this through. These were the best things for the club."

Mr Holt said officials were working on a business plan to establish how many of their 9,000 members they need to keep to stay afloat.

He said: "We are now working out exactly what numbers we need. We are now a minimalist club – less is more. We would rather have 3,000 members paying £100 each than 5,000 paying £35.

"It is now up to everyone, every member and every supporter, to try and persuade as many people as possible to take up memberships."

Members also voted to scrap the Pick The Team function – which was one of the most high-profile aspects of the MyFC experiment but was never put into practice.

Mr Holt added: "It never really took off, I don’t know why. Even though we had 30,000 members, there were still only 200 or 300 picking the team and it was never acted upon."