August 1999: In August 1999 Team Mansfield set out it's plan to try and buy the football club......

In August 1999 a public meeting was held to measure if the public of Mansfield would support a fan and community based takeover attempt of MTFC. The evening attracted in excess of 500 people who gave the project an overwhelming mandate. TEAM Mansfield (TM) was born. In November 1999, the Government launched its Supporters Direct initiative with the stated aim of increasing supporter involvement in the running of their football clubs. At the time, there were very few examples supporter involvement at board level in professional football clubs and TM's stated aim was attracting attention nationally.

After attracting interest from a number of businessmen who were prepared to loan TM money TM approached Keith Haslam in January 2000 and made a significant offer for his majority shareholding. This gave Keith the opportunity to state that he did not want to sell his shares and had no intention of leaving Field Mill in the foreseeable future. TM felt it would be a wasted opportunity if the momentum built up in the supporters organisations and their new found voice was not exploited even if the stated objective of buying MTFC was not achievable. In October 2000 a second public meeting was held, with Keith Haslam present, announcing that a Keith was prepared to sell a minority shareholding in MTFC to the fans and that a community agreement giving the fans certain rights and responsibilities at the club would be put in place . A postal ballot of TM members gave the proposal over 98% backing. Regular meetings between Keith Haslam and fans representatives started in February 2001 (called Community Consultation Meetings - CCT's) and a significant thawing of relations between the Chairman and the fans started. By April 2001 over £33,000 had been raised by fan donations, at this stage TM converted to an Industrial and Provident Society (IPS) and the serious work of drafting and implementing a legal agreement between MTFC and its fans began.

In August 2002 a formal agreement between MTFC and TM was finally signed. MTFC issued 3,300 (3.3% of the issued share capital) new Community Shares to TM and the fans of the Stags had a legally binding agreement which gave them amongst other things; regular formal access to the Directors of MTFC, Fans Forums and the opportunity to increase their shareholding in the future.