Supporters’ attitudes towards European football governance: structural dimensions and sociodemographic patterns

ABSTRACT

The role of fans in football governance is a topic of increasing academic and political interest. This article offers a quantitative approach to investigate supporters’ opinions of governance structures in European football. It asks whether fans trust governing bodies, clubs, leagues and other stakeholders currently in charge of football governance. It also investigates the extent to which fans consider they should have a direct say on how football clubs are governed. Drawing on concepts from sports governance literature, an online survey collects opinions of football fans in six European countries (United Kingdom, Spain, Turkey, Poland, France, and Germany). The results indicate a high level of mistrust from the fans on national governing bodies and presidents and owners of football clubs. Supporters have a positive view of fan involvement in governance structures, but are pessimist about the actual efficacy of supporters’ activism.

Acknowledgments

This article presents research part of the FREE Project (Football Research in an Enlarged Europe, www.free-project.eu). We would like to thank all researchers involved in the FREE project who helped with questionnaire and project design, especially Prof. Albrecht Sonntag, Prof. Özgehan Şenyuva, and Dr. David Ranc. We would like to acknowledge the cooperation of Supporters Direct Europe and other supporters' organisations in the distribution of our survey. We also would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Liverpool FC, ‘FSG’s Message to Liverpool Supporters.’

2. European Commission, ‘White Paper on Sport’; UK Parliament and Office, ‘Football Governance – 7th Report.’

3. García and Llopis-Goig, ‘Club-Militants, Institutionalists, Critics, Moderns and Globalists.’

4. García and Llopis-Goig, see especially pp. 2–4.

5. García and Llopis-Goig, see especially p. 7.

6. García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance, from Customers to Stakeholders,’ 525.

7. Cleland et al., Collective Action and Football Fandom.

8. Football Task Force, Investing in the Community.

9. See for example Morrow, The New Business of Football; King, ‘New Directors, Customers and Fans’; and Perryman, Football United.

10. King, ‘New Directors, Customers and Fans,’ 164–65.

11. Morrow, The New Business of Football.

12. Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies.

13. Hamil et al., ‘Recent Developments in Football Ownership’; Lomax, ‘Democracy and Fandom’; Nash, ‘Contestation in Modern English’; and Watkins, ‘Cherries in the Black.’

14. Kennedy, ‘Football Stadium Relocation and the Commodification of Football’; Kennedy and Kennedy, ‘Supporter Trusts and Third Way Politics’; Kennedy, ‘Supporters Direct and Supporters’ Governance of Football’; Kennedy and Kennedy, ‘“It’s the Little Details That Make up Our Identity”.’

15. Hamil et al., ‘The Corporate Governance of Professional.’

16. O’Brien, ‘C. A. Osasuna.’

17. Ziesche, ‘Well Governed?’

18. Brown, ‘”Our Club, Our Rules”’; and Cleland, ‘From Passive to Active.’

19. Millward, ‘Reclaiming the Kop?’

20. Bale, ‘The Changing Face of Football’; Duke, ‘The Drive to Modernisation and the Supermarket Imperative’; and Duke, ‘Local Tradition versus Globalisation.’

21. Hudson, ‘Critically Examining the Commercialisation of English Football’; and Watkins, ‘Cherries in the Black.’

22. Brown, ‘Not for Sale?’, Coombs and Osborne, ‘A Case Study of Aston Villa Football Club’; and Nauright and Ramfjord, ‘Who Owns England’s Game?.’

23. see note 7 above

24. García and Llopis-Goig, ‘Club-Militants, Institutionalists, Critics, Moderns and Globalists,’ 4–5.

25. Henry and Lee, ‘Governance and Ethics in Sport.’

26. Ibid

27. Ibid.

28. Geeraert, Scheerder, and Bruyninckx, ‘The Governance Network of European Football.’

29. García, Niemann, and Grant, ‘Conclusion’

30. Chappelet and Kübler-Mabbot, The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic System.

31. for a discussion of different interpretations of trust in governance see O’Boyle and Shilbury, ‘Exploring Issues of Trust in Collaborative Sport Governance.’

32. European Union Expert Group in Good Governance, ‘Deliverable 2: Principles of Good Governance in Sport,’ 5.

33. Geeraert, Alm, and Groll, ‘Good Governance in International Sport Organizations: An Analysis of the 35 Olympic Sport Governing Bodies.’

34. See note 30 above.

35. Chappelet and Mrkonjic, ‘Basic Indicators for Better Governance in International Sport (BIBGIS).’

36. Bovens, ‘Analysing and Assessing Accountability,’ 450.

37. Henry and Lee, ‘Governance and Ethics in Sport.’

38. March and Olsen, Democratic Governance.

39. Chappelet and Mrkonjic, ‘Basic Indicators for Better Governance in International Sport (BIBGIS),’ 8.

40. See note 34 above.

41. Chappelet and Mrkonjic, ‘Basic Indicators for Better Governance in International Sport (BIBGIS),’ 14; see also European Union Expert Group in Good Governance, ‘Deliverable 2.’

42. See note 35 above.

43. See note 3 above.

44. Manfreda and Vehovar, ‘Internet Surveys.’

45. Cashmore and Cleland, ‘Fans, Homophobia and Masculinities in Association Football,’ 376.

46. Hair et al., Multivariate Data Analysis, 16.

47. García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance, from Customers to Stakeholders.’

48. Niemann, García, and Grant, The Transformation of European Football.

49. Jennings, ‘Investigating Corruption in Corporate Sport’; and Youd, ‘The Winter’s Tale of Corruption.’

50. Geeraert and Drieskens, ‘The EU Controls FIFA and UEFA.’

51. García and Meier, ‘Global Sport Power Europe?.’

52. See note 43 above.

53. Cea D’Ancona, Análisis Multivariable, 490.

54. Hair et al., Multivariate Data Analysis, 107.

55. Foster, ‘Can Sport Be Regulated by Europe?’; and Geeraert and Drieskens, ‘The EU Controls FIFA and UEFA.’

56. Kennedy and Kennedy, ‘Supporter Trusts and Third Way Politics’; Lomax, ‘Democracy and Fandom’; and UK Parliament and Office, ‘Football Governance – 7th Report.’

57. Cleland, ‘From Passive to Active’; Kennedy, ‘Supporters Direct and Supporters’ Governance of Football’; Martin, ‘Football, Community and Cooperation’; and Webber, ‘‘Playing on the Break’’

58. Croci, ‘Italy’

59. See note 50 above.

60. Meier and García, ‘Protecting Private Transnational Authority against Public Intervention.’

61. García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance, from Customers to Stakeholders’; and Welford, García, and Smith, ‘A “Healthy” Future?.’

Additional information

Funding

This article presents research part of the FREE Project (Football Research in an Enlarged Europe, www.free-project.eu), funded by the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) of the European Commission, under Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities [Grant number 290805].