Industry leaders Think Fan Engagement establish new standards for clubs
Groundbreaking new research has been published by leading experts, Think Fan Engagement. The research establishes a practical model of fan engagement that clubs can implement at any club, providing a series of useful case studies to help them.
Download the Executive Summary
The research, ‘Establishing Fan Engagement as a core value in the Football Industry during a New Era of Regulation’, is published by Think Fan Engagement, who also publish the annual Fan Engagement Index (now in its seventh year).
The report examined fan engagement at a critical time for football in England, with the the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) having commenced its formal operation in early November 2025.
The report’s co-author and owner of Think Fan Engagement, Kevin Rye, said:
“Fan engagement is too important to be left to chance. This research establishes a simple set of principles, and provides practical examples for clubs to follow as they develop and implement their fan engagement strategy. This will help them to both meet the challenges in the new era of the Independent Football Regulator (IFR), but also ensure that they are surpassing expectations, and adopting the best practice in the field.
The report has sought to both understand and address the challenges of fan engagement, including how to connect the strategic fan engagement needs of the business with fan experience (essentially, the ‘customer’ element of being a fan).
The result is a model that provides a set of principles and basic practices that are proportional but scalable, being something that can be replicated at Morecambe FC
as much as at Manchester United, based on what clubs actually do.
The full report also provides a series of club case-studies and resources that provide a level of detail that all clubs will find informative and useful.
Kevin added,
“I would like to thank my co-author, Aaryaman Banerji, who put a tremendous amount of work into this, as well as all of the clubs and interviewees who took part. Special thanks also goes to Jon Flatman, CEO at Barnsley FC, his colleague and Head of Supporter Services, John Bird, and the fan representatives who kindly allowed us to help us with our research.
The result is something that we believe reflects the growing need in the industry for structured and practical guidance on fan engagement that is based on a set of principles we all share”
You can download the Executive Summary & full report via https://fanengagement.net/establishing-fan-engagement-as-a-core-value-in-the-football-industry-during-a-new-era-of-regulation