This year’s fan engagement index comes on the verge of the biggest shakeup in the way football is run in decades. The new independent regulator for football will for the first time see clubs regulated in part for their fan engagement. This is an important step, but not the only one.

The fan engagement index has been running since the 2018/2019 season, and we’ve helped to drive standards in football ever since then, helping to define what good fan engagement looks like.

This is also the second year we’ve run the fan engagement awards, where we award clubs with a gold, silver, bronze or merit award, depending on their score.

This year we’ve seen an increase in the number receiving an award, as well as a double for one club. Who is it? Listen to find out!

2024/2025 Fan Engagement Award Winners. The full table is at fanengagement.net/fan-engagement-index

So congratulations to all those clubs who finished with an award. For those who didn’t, I know you’ll all be working hard to improve for next year. There are so many people who work hard for their clubs at all levels of fan engagement who don’t always get the recognition they deserve, and whether your club won an award or not, thank you for your hard work over the season.

Now more than ever, with the era of the independent regulator approaching, clubs across the football pyramid need to do more to engage with their most important stakeholders – the fans. But regulation has never been the silver bullet, and change relies on everyone - clubs, leagues, governing bodies, the regulator, fans and their representatives - to play their part.

We’ve seen countless improvements from clubs since we started seven years ago in this our seventh edition.

The Fan Engagement Index has already massively impacted the activities and culture of football. I’ll leave the final word to two of the top clubs in fan engagement in the country, at different ends of the pyramid, first, Southend United, who said:

"Being recognised in this way, particularly as the top National League club and the only National League winner of a fan engagement award, is proof that engagement works, even without the resources of bigger clubs. Regulation will bring welcome standards across the game, but regulation alone isn’t enough. Culture is what makes the difference and it’s what ensures engagement doesn’t stop when the cameras do.

Or as Everton Chief Executive Angus Kinnear, says, “A club is strongest when it listens, involves and evolves alongside its supporters”

I’d like to thank all those involved who helped with the index this year, including Lane Clarke and Peacock Sport Analytics and Advisory, who supported us by analysing overall trends over the past seven years, and also looking in particular at clubs which have excelled throughout or upped their game significantly over the period. Go to http://lcp.com/en/sports for more.

And before I go, a quick plug for our Our next, Life with Football Legislation: Preparing for Meaningful Fan Engagement and Consultation. We’ll be announcing the date and venue very soon!

Keep an ear out for the next edition of the fan engagement pod.

Music: Swing Party

Beat Mekanik

Attribution 4.0 International

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

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Join Everton FC, Lincoln City FC, Manchester United & Chelsea Supporters Trusts, plus Rhion Jones, Consultation Guru and Lane Clark and Peacock on the 14th May in London for Life with Football Legislation; Preparing for meaningful fan engagement and consultation.

This event is tailored for football club executives, senior managers, supporters’ trusts, industry bodies or specialists, those in marketing and communications roles, sports policy-makers, or those specialising in public engagement programmes.

Go to https://www.tickettailor.com/events/thinkfanengagement/1650506 to book or use the QR code in the episode.

Thanks to LCP for their Event Sponsorship and also to Tractivity for their Lead Sponsorship. Links below.

Tractivity: https://www.tractivity.co.uk

LCP: https://www.lcp.com

Everton: https://www.evertonfc.com/fans

Lincoln City: https://www.weareimps.com/fans

CST: https://chelseasupporterstrust.com

MUST: https://www.imust.org.uk

Rhion Jones, Consultation Guru: https://consultationguru.co.uk

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This episode is the first of what I hope will be several with the UK’s expert on consultation, Rhion Jones. Known professionally as the Consultation Guru, we’ve been collaborating for some months now as the Football Governance Bill makes its way through parliament, paying specific interest to the provisions on consultation and engagement. You can read the letter we wrote to the minister in charge of the bill in the Lords, Baroness Twycross, and the reply she sent, on https://fanengagement.net

The Gunning Principles

1. Proposals are still at a formative stage: A final decision has not yet been made, or predetermined, by the decision makers

2. There is sufficient information to give ‘intelligent consideration’: The information provided must relate to the consultation and must be available, accessible, and easily interpretable for consultees to provide an informed response

3. There is adequate time for consideration and response: There must be sufficient opportunity for consultees to participate in the consultation. There is no set timeframe

for consultation, despite the widely accepted twelve-week consultation period, as the length of time given for consultee to respond can vary depending on the subject and extent of impact of the consultation

4. ‘Conscientious consideration’ must be given to the consultation responses before a decision is made: Decision-makers should be able to provide evidence that they took consultation responses into account

Read more at consultationguru.co.uk

We discuss how consultation works, why it’s different to engagement, and why its impact on football could be very positive.

If you want to get in touch, ask a question or suggest a topic or guest, or register your interest in the event myself and Rhion will be hosting in late Feb/early March 2025, drop me a line at hello@fanengagement.net

Episode links available in the podcast description. Subscribe to the View on Fan Engagement via https://fanengagement.net/join

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