Everton only Premier League club in top 20 on fan engagement index

Everton are the only Premier League team to feature in the top 20 of an annual index which measures fan engagement for all 92 professional teams in England.

Now in its third year, the fan engagement index has rated clubs for last season based on publicly available data for their dialogue with supporters, how fans are involved in governance, and transparency of decisions.

Manchester United, who earlier this month appointed their first head of fan engagement, are the only ‘big six’ team to feature in the top half of the table (44th) and improve their position.

Manchester City (58th), Tottenham (67th), Liverpool (73rd), Arsenal (79th) and Chelsea (81st) all dropped places or points.

But index author and consultant Kevin Rye said Manchester United and Liverpool had shown signs of “reflecting” on supporter reaction to the ill-fated European Super League.

Liverpool are set to announce in March an arrangement which locks fan engagement into the club’s articles of association.

“The dynamics have changed and the government’s fan-led review is forcing clubs to think about this more carefully and more quickly to expedite change,” Rye added.

Exeter City topped the table for a third year running, followed by League Two rivals Cambridge United and Carlisle United, with League One’s AFC Wimbledon and Lincoln City making up the top five.

Everton, who have announced plans to have a fan-advisory board, are 20th in the table, with Newcastle the lowest Premier League club at 87th of 92.

Their new owners, who took over in October, have promised to better engage with fans

Salford City are 85th in the table, with fellow League Two club Swindon Town bottom of the pile.

The data was collated for the 2020-21 season, when fans were largely not able to attend matches because of Covid-19, and clubs cut back on staff.

"A little allowance was given for an exceptional season where resources were limited, and lots of clubs made cuts and redundancies including fan engagement staff. But lots of clubs still improved and the index shows that long-term culture is still the issue."

Concerns over crypto-currency and NFTs

 

Rye said Premier League clubs had to “focus more on getting the basics right” and was concerned by the focus on fan tokens and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) as a way of engaging with fans.

“The technology with these options is fascinating, and there are some good uses, but it is still at an early stage of disruption and a lot of bad actors are offering money when clubs are desperate for cash after Covid-19,” Rye added.

“The clubs who are good at fan engagement are not embracing this. They realise it is a dash to monetise the relationship.

“Engaging with your fans can be messy and hard work but it’s a basic function of business and the value you get from it is phenomenal.

“The index tells us one thing: there are good clubs in the top flight like Everton and Brighton, and the reason for that is that they are focusing on what their business is and that fans are the primary stakeholder.”

 

Liverpool’s ‘ground-breaking’ improvement

Liverpool supporters’ group Spirit of Shankly said the club’s lowly position only told part of the story of their engagement with the club, but was helpful in showing where it could improve.

Chair of the group Joe Blott said the damage done by Liverpool’s part in the European Super League was “quickly repaired” and some of the measures recently introduced had been “ground-breaking” and had informed the fan-led review.

It hopes to announce in March that fan engagement will be written into the articles of association with the club, meaning that they will be “legally binding” and “future proof” regardless of who owns Liverpool.

But Blott said improvements have already been made with regard to decision making at the club, and the representation of all parts of the fan base.

“There is a three-stage process now with decision-making: engage, consult and consent, Consent is the powerful one. Without that consent, Liverpool cannot move grounds, cannot ground share and cannot join the European Super League.

Concerns over crypto-currency and NFTs

Rye said Premier League clubs had to “focus more on getting the basics right” and was concerned by the focus on fan tokens and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) as a way of engaging with fans.

“The technology with these options is fascinating, and there are some good uses, but it is still at an early stage of disruption and a lot of bad actors are offering money when clubs are desperate for cash after Covid-19,” Rye added.

“The clubs who are good at fan engagement are not embracing this. They realise it is a dash to monetise the relationship.

“Engaging with your fans can be messy and hard work but it’s a basic function of business and the value you get from it is phenomenal.

“The index tells us one thing: there are good clubs in the top flight like Everton and Brighton, and the reason for that is that they are focusing on what their business is and that fans are the primary stakeholder.”

Liverpool’s ‘ground-breaking’ improvement

Liverpool supporters’ group Spirit of Shankly said the club’s lowly position only told part of the story of their engagement with the club, but was helpful in showing where it could improve.

Chair of the group Joe Blott said the damage done by Liverpool’s part in the European Super League was “quickly repaired” and some of the measures recently introduced had been “ground-breaking” and had informed the fan-led review.

It hopes to announce in March that fan engagement will be written into the articles of association with the club, meaning that they will be “legally binding” and “future proof” regardless of who owns Liverpool.

But Blott said improvements have already been made with regard to decision making at the club, and the representation of all parts of the fan base.

“There is a three-stage process now with decision-making: engage, consult and consent, Consent is the powerful one. Without that consent, Liverpool cannot move grounds, cannot ground share and cannot join the European Super League.”

Original article published 24.02.2022 on the BBC Sport website.

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