The Fan Engagement Pod

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 ...

Welcome to the Fan Engagement Pod. 

Don’t forget the first event of the Fan Engagement Network is on the 26th July at Bristol Rovers. It’s a joint event with Rovers and CEO Tom Gorringe will be speaking.

If you work or volunteer in a fan engagement role at a club, a CEO, MD, director or owner and want to attend, drop us a line at hello@fanengagement.net and we’ll reserve you a place.

This episode is with the aforement...

This episode is with Aaryaman Banerji, author of the Civitas report, Governing the Beautiful Game, The Future of Football in Civil Society.

Aaryaman produced the report as Lead Football Analyst at Civitas, a political think tank based out of Westminster. Civitas is an independent think tank which conducts forensic research and analysis into critical topics within the British political ecosystem, in order to instruct government p...

This is our first face-to-face recording, done at the RSA in John Adam Street, just off the Strand in London, where I’m a fellow. Apologies for some background noise at times.

This episode is with Kat Law and Martin Cloake, who until last year were co-chairs of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust, and who formally stepped down from the board this year. 

If you want to know what meeting with Spurs CEO Daniel Levy &...

This episode is a chat with Deborah Dilworth, Head of Women’s Football at the Football Supporters Association. 

Our paths very nearly crossed, as she joined Supporters Direct not long after I left, though then working in the men’s game with supporters’ trusts. She took up a role post-merger of SD & the FSF, and now leads on The FSA’s work in the women’s game.

She meets with The FA and other key stakeholders regularly...

This episode is a chat with Gerard Lawlor, Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Football League.

Gerard has been CEO since 2021. Professionally, he was in the hospitality industry as a chef for years, but crucially, always a fan and latterly director and chairman of Cliftonville FC. 

He has clear understanding of the needs of his member clubs both as institutions but also as businesses that need to satisfy fans both a...

This episode discusses policing, at risk fans. We look at how to change the approach of dealing with anti-social behaviour and problem fans from one of removal and banning, to education and helping them to become better citizens. 

Guests

• Owen West, former Chief Superintendent at West Yorkshire Police and now Senior Lecturer in Policing at Edge Hill University: https://research.edgehill.ac.uk/en/persons/owen-west ...

Part one

As we head towards a new season, I lay out the position we appear to be in when it comes to Fan Engagement as part of the government’s Fan Led Review. This is after all the context for every discussion about reform of Fan Engagement. I look at where The Premier League are and where The EFL are on this critical issue.

Part two

The main part of this episode is where I try to get my head around a major recommendation of the ...

It's a Fan Engagement Index 2020/2021 season special. As well as running down the table from 92 to 1, we chat with special guests including club CEOs, directors, supporters' trusts and fan groups, and experts in the field.

Find out the full results at fanengagement.net/fan-engagement-index

Please like, subscribe and share. It really does help our visibility.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/fan-engagement-pod.

This episode takes a stark look at what it's like in the middle of a crisis with Adam Keely from Oldham Athletic activist group, Push The Boundary. It was recorded in mid-December, before the owner, Abdallah Lemsagam, publicly declared his intention to sell, though given the litany of broken promises, I suspect fans are holding their breath.

Adam talks us through what it's been like organising against the club he loves, why he f...

This week we’re chatting with Geoff Wilson, expert in engagement at a strategic level across sports businesses and organisations.

He’s the owner of Geoff Wilson Consultancy, which focuses on Sports Organisations/NGO's, Businesses involved in Sport, Community and Government organisations across the world. This includes FIFA, UEFA, The Asian Football Confederation, and other sports including work in basketball with FIBA, netball, ...

This week we’re chatting about access to and diversity in football with Anwar Uddin, who heads up the Fans for Diversity project for the Football Supporters Federation.

Anwar’s one of the few people with his perspective, having played and coached before he went into the side of the business he’s in now. He was part of the Dagenham and Redbridge side that won promotion to League One in 2010, their highest ever position. He also p...

This week we’re stepping back into the sport of Rugby League, in a chat with fan activist and Bradford Bulls fan, Andrew Foster. 

Andrew is a keen student and lover of the game, and has for some time been very concerned about the near permanent state of change and crisis that things appear to be in.

Think Fan Engagement carried out an extensive survey in the summer of this year about the state of fan engagement in Rugby ...

Marco Sansoni is an expert in the role of spectators in sports events, steeped in expertise in both Fan Experience and Fan Engagement. He’s a former Senior Advisor to the World Cup in Brazil, worked in senior spectator roles in some of the biggest sports events in the World including the Summer and Winter Olympics, for FIFA advising on spectator services, and now teaches at the prestigious Luiss Business School in Rome. 

He...

Welcome to the Fan Engagement Pod. This is the Fan Engagement Chat, where we hear about someone’s approach to Fan Engagement.

This week we chat with Leigh Pomlett, Chairman and owner of Walsall FC. Leigh has a long career in business, working in freight and logistics, and remains Chairman of the Freight Transport Association. I can imagine he’s busy enough with that, but he’s also a progressive thinking Chairman of Walsall, and ...

Seb White is from Mundial. Seb is a fan and director of Hampton & Richmond Borough FC, but also still holds a candle for Yeovil Town FC, the club he was born into supporting.

Go to mundialmag.com to find out more about Mundial, the sometime magazine, full-time agency and consultancy celebrating football and fan culture. 

Go to fanengagement.net to find out more about the work of Think Fan Engagement.

Support this sho...

Surveying & Questionnaires: How to do it

Definition: a method of data collection where a sample is taken from the population and researched via a standardized questionnaire

Uses: 

• Post match Fan Experience
• Annual or mid-season Fan Engagement/Fan Experience
• Annual fan survey by a league or FA/federation 
• Done before season ticket campaigns 

Step One: Preparations

1. Decide what you want to measure. Wh...

This week it’s Labour Party General Secretary and Chester fan and activist, David Evans.

He tells us all about how he fell in love with the club off the back of a 0-0 draw at Aldershot, goes into his personal journey as a fan - including the Terry Smith era, the US owner who famously had Chester players chasing imaginary balls. David was involved in the reformation of Chester back in 2010, sat on the board, and has also been a t...

Episode 61 is with Stuart Dykes from SD Europe’s Supporter Liaison (SLO) Project. SD Europe is one part of the legacy of Supporters Direct, and works across Europe with clubs, fans, leagues and federations on how to implement the role. Go to sdeurope.eu for more.

The SLO role was first seen in German football, but can now be seen across all of UEFA’s member associations, including in men’s professional football in England in the...