Dialogue in 2019/2020

‘Dialogue creates equals of publics in relation to the organisation communicating’ (Michael Kent & Maureen Taylor)

• Dialogue isn’t just a conversation, nor is it a negotiation, nor one side listening and the other talking. It doesn’t mean only listening to those you already agree with
• In football, the term is now widely used, particularly since the 2015 Government Expert Working Group (EWG)
• There are a range of different expectations and demands from fans where dialogue is concerned
• Some want to just be able to ask the club about a match, ticketing or merchandise issue
• Others might attend fans forums, or watch the live or recorded stream online.
• Others are activists who take a greater interest. They are often elected to represent the views of other fans. They all require different forms of dialogue

Plenty of clubs only appear to operate Fans Forums, which whilst they are good for overall transparency & dialogue, don’t help clubs to drill down into the issues and get more qualitative feedback, nor do they help build closer relationships with groups of activists (supporters’ trusts particularly, but also ‘ultras’ groups concerned with issues like ticketing, affordability or stadium atmosphere.

We could find little or in some cases, no information for the period about regular formal meetings between fans and club that could qualify as ‘dialogue’ at several clubs: Swindon Town, Stevenage, Cardiff City, Port Vale & Macclesfield Town. This doesn’t mean that they didn’t carry out any such meetings, but we haven’t been able to find a record of them. We are aware that at least one of those clubs – Cardiff City – have begun to make sure that is happening, which will be reflected in the 2020/2021 edition.

Part of what the Index does is to follow the journey of a fan trying to find out information about how a club engages with them, and this is a problem. More concerning still is if some clubs really aren’t carrying out any formal dialogue. It raises the question of why, given that the report of the Expert Working Group on Supporter Ownership and Engagement (2015) made this an expectation if not a requirement. We’re left asking: who holds clubs to account if The EFL or Premier League don’t or won’t do it?

Some clubs are not properly using the processes of dialogue they do have to engage and consult across all relevant issues and areas of the club that concern fans and their representatives. There is a habit of ‘box ticking’. Some clubs will point to consultation and engagement on ticketing, or even guarantees that they won’t make changes to the ‘patrimony’ – colours, badge, identity – of the club without the active say-so of fans. Whilst this is clearly a big step-on from the near wild-west period particularly between the 1980s and early 2000s when clubs, the very real concern remains that many clubs still have a habit of practising ‘engagement’ at arms-length, and not seeking engagement on certain issues, presumably because the owners or officials regard those as ‘off limits’.

This raises two questions: how do you balance the legitimate interests of someone who owns the football club as a company who regards it as their right to make largely unfettered decisions about their property, with the legitimate interests of the fans who regard that football club as theirs in the moral sense? If some of the outstanding clubs in this area, for example Reading, Carlisle United, Lincoln City, Luton Town and Leicester City manage to bring fans into their decision making processes through Dialogue, why not any others?

Fans are part-time customers but full-time stakeholders, and have a very distinct form of relationship with the business (the club). At times, therefore, that will require a club that is otherwise privately owned, as many who perform well in the Index already do, to actively incorporate the views of those fans into decision-making. If the owners of a club don’t like that, then we would advise that they don’t own a football club, and instead invest their money elsewhere!

If you’re interested in chatting about the Fan Engagement Index, or what Think Fan Engagement can do for you, your club, your brand or your client, drop us a line.

Dialogue Table 2019/2020