‘Football, Fans and the Future’
Professor David Hassan, Ulster University, UK
Introduction
By way of context, I should explain that I am both a passionate football fan and someone with a keen interest in how the game is managed, or governed to use a more sector-specific term. I’ve published quite a bit of academic research and analysis on the governance of football, including a book called ‘Who Owns Football?’ In it, and again today, I pay tribute to the wonderful football that defines the English Premier League and its remarkable international success story. One cannot but admire the way the league has developed, grown and commanded a global following that is fairly much unprecedented. But amid this wonderful expansion I also reflect on the importance of people like me, simply fans of the game and its clubs, and wonder how our contribution to the game will evolve, change and be represented in the time ahead.
So, in part this paper profiles the extraordinary financial success of the English Premier League (EPL) but, against this reality, also considers what the future role of football supporters will be within the English game.My argument is that it has been the important role played by fans that has been a contributing factor to the commercial success of the club game in England but there are signs that this recognition is not always adequately reflected in how the game is governed. It is the management of a delicate equilibrium therefore, between the incremental, of course sometimes exponential, growth of the sport in a commercial sense, with football’s undoubted wider contribution to the social and cultural balance sheet of life, thatI wish to speak about today.
Thus there can be little doubt that the EPL is a remarkable global phenomenon, attracting followers from all over the world. Arguably its most famous club, Manchester United, is estimated to have over 100 million fans in China alone. But in England, the early part of this year witnessed unease at a number of EPL clubs concerning the mounting ticket prices that fans were being charged in order to attend games. A mass walk-out at the Liverpool v Sunderland match was quickly followed by similar protests at clubs such as Manchester City. As I’ve indicated, there is a view that whilst the professional game in England has rarely been better positioned, proper regard for the place of fans in the shaping of this success story needs to be maintained.
As such, the future prosperity of the EPL and other domestic leagues in Europe is likely to require further consideration of the contribution of fans, as either directly or indirectly it is their influence that is very often the defining feature of football, including in safeguarding the game as a key aspect of British cultural heritage for generations to come. Football fandom is a visible expression of a people’s identity, of a region and, in the case of the international game, a nation. Thus it is the growing juxtaposition of the commercial phenomenon surroundingthe EPL with the role of the clubs as expressions of a collective identity thatI believe warrants further discussion. Specifically, it is the capacity of club owners, for EPL clubs are now overwhelmingly the private property of wealthy individuals, to negotiate a mutually acceptable place for fans that will, in turn and perhaps at times ironically, safeguard the future commercial potential of their investments.
Financial Success
Since the foundation of the Premier League in 1992, English football has embarked upon a remarkable financial expansion. Between the ‘92/’93 and the 2014/2015 seasons the combined financial turnover of the clubs in the Premier League increased from £170m to £3.4 billion. This is an extraordinary achievement by any standards, spanning a period of slightly more than two decades. By way of context, Tottenham Hotspur FC, to date still languishingoutside the League’s so-called and established ‘Big Five’ (Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea Football Clubs), had amassed a greater single turnover (£196m) in 2014/15 than the entire League put together achieved in 1992/93.Tellingly however, by way of an insight into the direction of travel for the game at this level, over £2 billion (of the £3.4 billion) was spent on players’ wages during the 14/15 season, elevating this single item of expenditure to, on average, 60% of turnover for the entire league.
However, it is an astonishing fact that it was only at the end of the 2014 season, and for the first time since its foundation, that the combined Premier League clubs made a collective pre-tax profit, which at £190 million still remained modest and, based on their recent transfer fees, would just about cover the cost of Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale. Moreover, it could be argued that this profit was only secured following the introduction of tighter cost-controls on the part of European football’s governing body, UEFA, and broadcasting and commercial revenues that continued to grow at a rate never before seen. The story is a similar one for the Championship and Divisions 1 and 2 of the Football Leagues in England. The clubs have only been able to survive either through the receipt of new investment from owners or investors, or through shedding debt through the financial administration process.
This raises a fundamental question. Is it possible for any industry to sustain losses on the consistent annual basis that has characterised within English football and not eventually be faced with a catastrophic industry transforming crisis? It could be argued that UEFA’s recent moves to secure sustainable spending in the European game has had a desired effect, however, certainly in the case of the English game, just as likely has been the ever expanding commercial, specifically broadcasting, income that leading clubs have secured. This season alone, on account of a growingtv rights rivalry between the broadcasters BT Sport and Sky Sports, EPL clubs will share a total of more than £5 billion in revenue, again placing a question mark over the relevancy and significance of real fans whose contribution in the form of season ticket purchases or match-day admissions remains peripheral in contrast. Football without fans, and specifically without any meaningful connection to the communities from which these clubs emerged, would be, at least for now, unthinkable, so too would be the evolution of a sporting product that paid little regard for their needs or wishes.
This financial success story, as I’ve suggested, is not confined only to the Premier League. All levels of the English professional game have increased financial turnover, if not as spectacularly as the Premiership. By way of example, between the 1997/1998 season and the 2006/2007 season, barely one decade, the combined financial turnover of the clubs in the second tier of English professional football, the Championship increased from £186m to £646.4 million. The most significant issue here however, and this is why the voice of fans needs to be heard, is that by the end of the 2014/15 season in England, Championship clubs had amassed over £1.1 billion worth of debt, more than double its revenue for the same season. Where these forms of economic practices persist, the views and desires of football supporters – the vast majority of whom want simply to ensure the club stays in business – requires an adequate platform on which to be heard. Expressed succinctly, amid the evident financial ‘rollercoaster’ of professional football in England, the mediating influence of fans has seemingly never been more necessary, as it is they, perhaps more than any other stakeholder, who have the best long-term interests of their club at heart.
The stock answer to the lack of profitability by English football insiders is that owners of English clubs have always recognised that few clubs make money; they are in fact primarily motivated by non-financial considerations; for example by the desire to pursue sporting success on the field of play at the expense of profit because they themselves are fans, for the public relations benefits to their wider business interests, or for the celebrity and vanity assuaging benefits that club ownership brings. By this logic there will always be a sufficient pool of willing investors prepared to sacrifice some investment in order to, to echo the well-worn phrase, “live the dream”, if only for a short period. The point however is that this approach is neither sustainable nor indeed responsible, certainly as it places the relationship between the fans and their club in question or, more to the point, places in a perilous position the very viability of the club going forward. Fans are acutely aware of the history of individual clubs and their relationship to a sense of ‘place’.
Thus, English professional football is widely held up as the definitive success story of European football over the last decade; and by extension the role model for other European leagues to follow. Across a range of key indicators therefore it is clear that English football does deserve the accolade of being described as Europe’s most successful league. However, on the most critical financial indicator of all English football’s performance remains problematic. For the top flight of English football – that is the Premier League, and the three divisions of the Football League below it: The Championship, League 1 and League 2 - remainschronically unprofitable and, as such, places some doubt over the long term viability of clubs and their roles within communities. This is a position that needs to be adequately planned for and protected and I argue that necessitates proper regard for the unique contribution made by fans.
The question therefore is what to do with a game that, viewed from one perspective, is hugely successful, hosting many of the world’s best players– but from another standpoint is chronically unprofitable, carrying huge debt, and, particularly at those tiers below the EPL, sees clubs routinely entering administration and, in some instances, liquidation despite their fundamental importance to the legions of fans who have supported these clubs for generations. It is here that the interdependency of fans with the cultural standing of the clubs in question must be underscored, offering fan bodies or their representatives access to the Board of Directors or at least engaging in regular consultation with the clubs’ supporters would be a minimal starting point.
Context
It may remain something of a romantic notion, but its my view that football is best appreciated as a ‘live’ experience, one that draws people of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities and outlooks together in the pursuit of a common cause and is optimally consumed in a stadium full of similarly minded, if typically partisan, followers of the game. Few, if any, sports command a global reach on the scale of football or serve to draw together thousands of people in support of a team of 11 individuals, which in turn carries the dreams of millions of others who will never know one another, far less meet in person, but are seemingly unified in an ineffable, intangible pursuit of a common goal – victory on the field of play. It is why, in turn, that football is one of the most obvious expressions of collective identity in many nations around the world – it is public, vibrant and emotive, and ultimately embodies a sense of unity unparalleled within modern society.
And as a consequence therefore, it is why the question of how the sport represents the wishes of its fans that remains so central because, through proper management and governance, the unique qualities of the game, as we know them, can be preserved and passed down to generations of fans yet to realise the extent to football willcapture their emotions. Any challenge to the place and importance of fans to the future of the game should therefore be resisted, as without proper provision for such views, the way in which the game permeates the consciousness of people the world over will gradually erode and die.
This is an argument accepted by those who govern European football at the highest levels. Although his motives may have been many, it was UEFA President Michel Platini who, back in 2008 in an address to the Council of Europe, issued “an impassioned plea for the safeguarding of the essential values and specificity of football.” He continued in expressing “his concern that football’s fundamental social and cultural values were coming under pressure.” His comments, albeit some time ago now, were considered by many to represent a fundamental critique of the American sports ‘entertainment’ model, as exemplified by American football’s NFL, a closed league with few solidarity arrangements and one that may be understood as having more in common with the US entertainment industry than any comparable sports leagues operating in Europe. It is also one in which fans are understood more as consumers or customers and whose loyalty may rank second to the commercial imperative of a franchise club ownership model, which defines North American sport.
In the eight years that have passed since Platini made his comments, it is arguable that the concerns the UEFA President expressed then have been realised. Nowadays English football, from the perspective of the fans, is defined by a series of developments that make their contribution to the piece somewhat less secure. A simple, if effective, indicator is irregular and unpredictable fixtures timings. By way of illustration, during the current season (from a total of 38 games) Liverpool will only kick off at 3 pm on a Saturday, understood to be both a culturally significant time and one that is family-friendly, on five occasions, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur only on 7 times whilst precisely half the league will begin their games this season at a time other than 3 pm on a Saturday on more than 50% of instances. Another example, is the price of season tickets. Although a small number of EPL clubs did reduce their season ticket prices this season, the majority either raised their cost or kept them at the same level as last season. The average price is now over £500 whilst a season ticket at one of the successful London clubs will cost anything from £750 in the case of Chelsea to £1,014 at the Emirates Stadium, the home of Arsenal FC. There is a sense in which the place of fans, in this hyper commercialised world of English football, is being squeezed to breaking point, yet to datelittle meaningfully has been done about it.
Football and Identity
As I’ve already suggested therefore, football and forms of collective identity expression on the part of fans remains one of its most enduring qualities.Too readily collective forms of identity expressed through sport, including football, are dismissed as if they have no meaning, are peripheral and essentially futile. Very often – although I wonder to what extent such claims still remain valid – we are told that ‘its only sport’ or ‘its only football’. But for an increasing number of people, sport and football form a critical part of their lives – it is either the most important or almost the most important thing they have in their lives. As such, the reality is that football, as an often-key aspect of a developed nation’s cultural identity, is far from unimportant and certainly not something that can be easily dismissed.
Football facilitates the promotion of a sense of collective identity, of widespread unity, that whilst essentially benign, nevertheless allows large groups of fans the opportunity to express allegiance to unique interpretations of their own sense of togetherness. Good examples of this phenomenon can be found in Spain, through the guiding ethos of clubs like FC Barcelona and Athletico Bilbao, or in other culturally and political divided nations, including Ireland, all of which gives rise to a keen sense of rivalry and competition and, somewhat ironically, contributes to an even greater extent to the special ingredients of football that makes it so attractive to fans around the world.
The wider benefits of football to a new generation of fans, not to mention governments, around the world, including here in China, are therefore apparent. The game allows the world to see the vibrancy and intense emotion of a nation’s people, to witness its sporting prowess and technical expertise, whichserves to draw a global audience closer to the social and cultural life of a population. Indeed the universal simplicity of the sport manages to transcendany pre-existing cultural and linguistic barriers and presents a platform for mutual understanding and engagement.
In the case of some nation-states, for example South Africa, Russia and even Qatar, it promotes economic opportunities, including inward tourism, for such countries where previously it may have been only partially developed and it casts a spotlight upon all aspects of life in these settings. In allcases sport succeeds where similar ventures cannot because it captures the emotion of a people, it emboldens existing fans and creates new ones in a way that cannot be easily understood or, for that matter, replicated.
As such it is the place of fans, their unquestioning allegiance to clubs and nations, and specifically their willingness to support their teams through good times and bad, that is critical to the appeal and success of football. Even in an era where the commercialization of the sport has seemingly never been greater, and there are of course very many benefits too from this widespread investment in the game, it appears the importance of understanding and appreciating the role of fans has rarely been more pressing.