Talking a good game
The language used to describe the relationship between fans and the football business is soothing, but there needs to be more substance
We’re all fans. That’s a line you get to hear a lot when you’re a fan rep. You go to a meeting with Club executives or senior figures in the game, and you put the fan perspective. And they smile, and they say, “but we’re all fans”.
Not so long ago the idea of senior figures even meeting with fans unless in extreme circumstances was little short of fanciful. But we live in the modern world now. And so we talk of engagement, of structured dialogue, of engaging all relevant stakeholders. But as is the case in so many areas, it is easy to adopt the language of inclusion and consultation, harder to adopt the practices that mean that’s what is really happening.
There’s scarcely a senior figure in football now who isn’t eager to tell you how keen they are to talk to the fans. How they are doing it all the time. It’s a veritable fully engaged structured stakeholder consultation engagement scenario. And almost certainly implemented in an agile manner going forward.
Here’s what actually happens in most cases. The meetings are almost exclusively called by the fans. There is an exchange of views. And then the football executives say why they are going to do what they had originally decided to do. But hey – they’ve listened to the fans. They heard what they are saying. Sometimes there are going to be disagreements. But, and here’s where The Line is deployed – we’re all fans. And that’s when you know They Don’t Get It. Because there’s one word that is rarely used or considered in the vast acreage of talk about talk. And that word is power.
No one can reasonably deny that many of the people who own football clubs, who occupy positions of influence within the game, are football fans. But they have the power to take decisions. And most fans don’t.
This matters because of the unique nature of the football business. (I am conscious, by the way, that the phrase “unique nature of the football business” is in danger of becoming overused in this newsletter. But there’s a reason for that.) Fans are not just customers, consumers. Their loyalty, their identification with the brand, is what makes football businesses so valuable. And this is why the discontent with the way the conversation is going is more than just fan discontent with not getting their own way. Which is what many of football’s great listeners – fans too, remember – imply is being said when there are any complaints.
So let’s set it out clearly. Most fans can’t do the following;
• Sell the club for a tidy sum when they’ve had enough.
• Decide to change the club’s name, stadium or kit.
• Decide what competition the club plays in.
• Set the ticket prices.
• Select sponsors and commercial deals.
• Decide what food and drink is sold in the ground.
• Employ or sack club staff.
• Decide the kick-off times…
There is a big difference between a fan who has the power to do all that and a fan who has to live with the consequences of every one of those decisions. And because football is what it is, there’s also a big difference between customer dissatisfaction at the consequences of these decisions and the consequences of, say, Tesco deciding not to stock a particular brand of doughnut.
What lurks below the surface of much of the response to fans wanting more influence is an objection to fans being able to tell people how to run their business. But, in the main, fans don’t want to have that degree of influence. They just want some influence, because they make the business what it is. Special pleading? Yes, because this is a special relationship.
The influence fans want must amount to more than just being listened to when other people decide they can make the effort to listen. Real influence means having access to real power. Which means being able to block measures that are in the short-term interests of temporary club owners – whether they are fans or not – but not the long-term interests of the club. And being able to instigate things without depending on getting permission to do so. It means securing real gains, not just getting their views heard.
For most, a proper balance would see a mixture of executive and partisan approaches to running clubs and the wider game, with one side balancing the potential excesses of the other. So just as the fan reps would stop the club owners from changing the team’s name, so the business executives would be able to prevent a financially catastrophic splurging of money on wages and transfers. And yes, it is funny how the assumption is so often that, left to their own devices, the stupid fans would overspend for success. Because the business people who know better have never done that, have they?
For the game to get the change it needs in order to have a sustainable future, fans with power need to cede some of that power to fans without. Balance for sustainable business, if you like. If you’re a fan, you know why that’s important.
Now, you may say I’m a dreamer. But I’m here to tell you that I’m not the only one. Because across the world, business is changing the rules of engagement. Notions of growth, progress, profitability and sustainability are being redrawn. Making a buck as fast as possible and then getting out before the consequences kick in is no longer the only game in town. It’s the stuff of vintage movies, like mobile phones the size of housebricks.
And it’s not just so-called alternative currents such as the B Corporation movement, with 3,821 companies in 150 industries across 74 countries. It’s the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, encompassing 200 global businesses with a combined revenue of $8.5 trillion. It’s the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals that include commitments to “build resilient infrastructure… ensure sustainable production patterns… reduce inequality… build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions”.
The definition of what constitutes good business is being reshaped. Sure, there’s going to be a lot of lip service. Some businesses are going to think talking the talk is a substitute for walking the walk. But more and more are beginning to understand that a new approach is needed, not just to do the right thing, but to do business at all.
But football carries on as if things had never changed, fighting yesterday’s battles and sticking stubbornly to the old presumptions. And that’s why the fans need some real power and influence. I’m not going to pretend there aren’t those fan reps who are also fighting yesterday’s battles. But there are plenty more, shaped by years of experience, who are working on good, practical initiatives that could benefit the game as a whole and take it into a brighter future.
This matters even more now because one of the stranger products of these strange times is that a UK government not naturally well-disposed towards intervention seems to have seen that its pledge to institute a fan-led review of the game’s governance might be worth firming up. I’m not convinced any such review should be led by fans, but fans should certainly have as much influence as any other, er, stakeholder. And there’s a chance they might get it this time.
The sticking point will come, as it always does, when those with power have to give some of it up. It will take government to make it clear that has to happen. And smart leadership to embrace the fact that it has to happen. Which is something we can all be fans of.
Journalist Michael Calvin has written some of the most insightful books on the game of football published in recent years. There’s a depth and thoughtfulness to his work that stands out, and that provides a vivid picture of what our game is all about. His film for BT Sport, Ours, takes a look at fan ownership and the idea for it, he says, was born out of a growing disaffection with a game that, particularly at the top end, is in danger of losing its soul and becoming just another product. It’s a feeling The Football Fan knows well.
Ours is a hugely recommended watch. Calvin eschews the hyperbole so often associated with coverage of the game’s troubles, and provides a balanced picture of the challenges, the successes and the failures of new ownership models. There are some inspiring, funny and genuinely moving moments in the 75-minute film. And much food for thought.
Here are two things I took away – not the only ones, but points I think are worth making. The film understands what clubs mean to people – the opening sequence alone is one of the finest expositions of that I have seen. And it shows how, at the lower levels of English football, fans have reconnected and made their clubs mean something more than just a product.
But – and as a supporter of one of the so-called Big Six I would say this wouldn’t I? – that connection is not just something that matters lower down the pyramid. It matters to fans of Tottenham Hotspur as much as it does to AFC Rushden and Diamonds. The valued rituals, the deeper connections, the invested meaning – they are all still there. As I keep saying, they contribute to making the business of football what it is at every level.
If there is a criticism of the film it is that it could be taken to be saying that football at the top level has gone in terms of being that thing of ours, created and nurtured for so long. But for all that us fans of the clubs at the top can identify with the problems and feel the disconnect, we are still fans. Our passion is for our club. FC Hotspur of Tottenham? My club’s Spurs. I think there’s a growing tendency to concede the top end of the game too easily. And it matters too much for that to go unchallenged.
The second thing I took away is the irony of the subject matter being covered by BT Sport. For some years, the company has steadfastly refused to – here’s one of those words again – engage with fans on the subject of kick-off times, a real bugbear for match-going supporters. Sky has at least sat down and discussed the issues. As has the Premier League. But apart from one uncomfortable meeting at which the senior BT executive present could barely disguise his disdain for the very idea of talking to the fans, there’s been nothing. Although, in a spectacular overstretch of their jurisdiction, the company’s executives did instruct police to confiscate a protest banner displayed at an FA Cup game at Tranmere Rovers.
It’s great that the company enabled Michael to make his film. And journalists are certainly not responsible for all the actions of the people who broadcast and publish their work. But for BT Sport, it seems there’s also a gap between words and actions.
Post header photo by by Nathan Rogers on Unsplash