It’s something that shouldn’t need to be commented on. At one level, perhaps the level of corporate away days, the level certainly of much of the broadcast media who are “partners” in our wonderful game, and for sure, across virtually all the football club boardrooms across England, the role of fans as custodians of our great local, community yet also global institutions is given little more than lip service.
A policy, to a degree, at least, echoed in the club co-ordinated, Premier League endorsed (they would claim enforced) fan engagement activities and structures.
The fans matter they say, our opinions are important and help shape the game.
Yet at Goodison on Thursday (yes, Thursday!) evening, almost 39,000 fans including a large contingent from Peterborough were forced to travel through the worst of the winter’s weather to attend what in years ahead will appear to be a very forgetful, insignificant Third Round FA Cup tie.
The reality though is far from the truth.
Peterborough United were formed in 1934, joining the Midland League, finally being elected to the Football League in 1960 (at the expense of Gateshead). They went on to win the 4th Division in their first season as full members of the Football League.
Thursday was their first, and only, visit to Goodison Park in their history.
It might, subject to the FA Cup draw and Everton’s progress in the competition be Everton’s final FA Cup game at Goodison – a fixture going back to 16 January 1892 (Everton lost 3-1 to Burnley).
There’s unlikely, should their opinion have been sought, to be many fans who would have welcomed the fixture on a Thursday evening. It was a fixture arranged purely for the convenience of the broadcasters – in this case, the BBC who deemed the game so important as to be only available on the BBC i-player, to a UK-wide audience only.
So much for the fans……..
Yet, despite the above, this is an article to champion genuine fan activism. Everton have one of the largest, most passionate supporter base in the country, almost always selling out home and away.
Thursday, if for any reason, will be remembered for the day Sean Dyche was removed from his post as Everton manager only hours before kick off. A day when the new owners of Everton, the Friedkin Group, flexed their muscles and determined that Everton’s future was best served by appointing a new manager.
Days after refinancing and restructuring Everton’s finances, the Friedkin Group addressed their own concerns re Dyche’s record, suitability and viability as a Premier League manager and specifically as Everton’s manager.
So what’s that to do with fan activism?
I’d argue a great deal. It’s a decision which is one of a long line of decisions, influenced in part – I’d say a great part, by the opinions and activism of fans, especially those independent of the institutions established to represent fan engagement.
Football is notorious for its treatment of the most loyal customers any business, in any sector, could wish for. Football fans are customers for life, and in business parlance the most discerning of all customer bases. There’s not another business anywhere that has a customer base so knowledgeable of its product, the product provider and of its competitors.
The collective knowledge of any established football club’s fanbase far outweighs the knowledge of any owner, board of directors, executives or fancy marketing people.
In a data driven world, where many businesses are only just waking to the real value of data, particularly customer data, in a world where artifical intelligence based on the learned experience of other contributors and knowledge bases, football has the most valuable, data-rich, knowledge-rich and most importantly, insightful consumer and knowledge base to tap into, should it choose to do so. Should it wish to run itself intelligently and provide itself with a competitive advantage.
Fan activism
Fan activism, historically and generally only comes to the fore in difficult times.
In Everton’s case those times have become increasingly regular, a reflection of the way the club has been run, but also a reflection of the Everton fan base. A reflection of our knowledge of our club, our ambitions and the standards we set for those privileged to have the legal and commercial ownership of our club.
For much of the last four decades, Evertonians have fought for what we believe to be right for our club, often diametrically opposed to the wishes of the then ownership.
The roles of KEIOC (Keep Everton in our City), the Blue Union, the often criticised 27 Campaign, the more recent information driven campaigns regarding potential owners chosen and endorsed by Moshiri have fundamentally shaped the direction of the club, and more often than not, protected the club from the worst impacts of poorly executed or thought out decisions and desires of previous owners.
I’m sure I will have missed out others, for which I apologise, but the point is made and proven – fans do influence decisions positively – strategically at times (ownership and stadia for example) but also for demanding standards on the pitch.
NSNO, nil satis nisi optimum, means something. Without it, and without the fans’ desire to reach for those standards, where would the club be?
Campaigning about poor managers, bad managerial appointments has its detractors. Some including the club, occasionally the media, will claim it is disruptive and counter-productive. Some, so-called stakeholders speak on behalf of the clubs themselves – often to serve their own purposes, not that of the club themselves.
I’d argue the opposite. Fan activism is the necessary, preventative action that reduces the prospect of greater damage, deterioration or uncompetitiveness of our club.
As it proved with Mike Walker, Martinez (possibly), Benitez (certainly) and now Dyche, fan activism, fan support for higher standards whilst always providing support for those on the pitch during match time works.
Strength not weakness
It was sometimes viewed as weakness for owners to be influenced by fans. Often viewed as such by media, perhaps incentivised by their relationships with the clubs media teams and hierarchy to denigrate, devalue this most informed, most insightful of opinions.
And so it proved with Dyche. There will be forms of revisionism, forms of support, that he did his best work in unenviable circumstances. Some friends in the media and football may view he has been treated harshly. Not so though even if to be fair times could hardly have been more difficult than the last years at Everton.
Dyche’s time will be viewed with a degree of thanks, qualified though with the knowledge his coaching is limited, has passed its sell by date and that his management techniques and communication style lives in another age, an age gone for any progressive organisation.
His ability to get the best out of players now rightly questioned – to the degree that Dyche himself told the Friedkins he had taken the team as far as he could.
Lessons for the Friedkins
As an organisation they are recognised as not communicating a great deal – as private business owners I recognise that point. However, football is not a private business. It may be in a strict, technical, legal definition, but as I’ve tried to express here, it’s far from that.
What is more, from a business perspective, it’s a better business for communicating but also for listening – it has the most knowledgeable customer-base in the world. A customer-base with only one agenda – a better football club – a club that wins trophies.
The Friedkins have, in my opinion, made an excellent start to their tenure as legal custodians of Everton Football Club.
As in the case presented in this article, that start and the future will be enhanced by recognising the value (not the challenge) of fan activism, communications, listening and acting in our aligned interests.
For us fans, we should be encouraged to be more active, more questioning of the club, its owners and associated parties including when necessary the media.
Our interests are simple and we offer a willing resource to achieving that:
A successful Everton