Given we’re in a world of increased activism and a petition on every issue, it’s little surprise certain football fans are changing the way they interact with their clubs, often with a sense of entitlement.
At one time, owners were rarely part of an average supporter’s thinking. But the mentality has shifted to the point where it feels those who run clubs exist simply to be castigated and criticised – or to empty the entire contents of their wallet until the next fool comes along and does the same thing.
There have been campaigns against the Glazers at Manchester United and an anti-Daniel Levy manifesto from Tottenham followers, at times not without merit.
Now there are marches protesting Todd Boehly at Chelsea, who has put billions into his club and is therefore accused of spending too much! I think I’ve seen it all now.
I view the role of fandom with interest because I am a fan myself. Just because I made a lot of money once upon a time, doesn’t negate a humble upbringing in which football was a dominant presence.
My father was on Crystal Palace’s books in the 1950s. I grew up a hundred yards from Selhurst Park and went with my dad, being shuffled from the back of the Holmesdale terracing to the front if there was a crowd surge.
Chelsea fans protested last month against owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake
Boehly has poured in more than £1billion to sign players for the club
I sense an unwanted tilt has developed in the balance between what fans expect and would like of their clubs and what they now perceive as their entitlement
Fans are undoubtedly the energy and lifeblood of football. Their emotion fuels the industry by driving the engagement and interest which brings broadcasters to the table.
However, I sense an unwanted tilt has developed in the balance between what fans expect and would like of their clubs and what they now perceive as their entitlement.
Dialogue and consultation with supporters is important – I used to involve Palace fans in voting for which kit we’d wear each season and also tried to keep prices to a fair level – but those supporters should also recognise that owners make decisions about their club using all the facts at their disposal.
The fans’ view is not made through the prism of full information, despite the sleuths among them who scrutinise every financial transaction or accounts.
It was usually based predominantly on their team’s latest results and has now been extended to an opinion on everything; the style of the team, likeability of owners, price of a match ticket – while also demanding to watch the best players money can buy in the greatest comfort.
Somewhere along the line, the expectation has become that the only people who should pay for that are owners and broadcasters.
Before a recent Chelsea game against Southampton, there was a march by supporters against co-owner Todd Boehly for an apparent litany of grievances, to the chorus of ‘we want our Chelsea back’.
The irony that the same fans a few weeks previously were singing ‘we’ve got our Chelsea back’ shouldn’t be missed. The list of accusations extend from financial mismanagement and tearing out the heart of the club to Boehly being the third gunman on the grassy knoll. But really it’s because they aren’t winning games.
The irony that the same fans a few weeks previously were singing ‘we’ve got our Chelsea back’ shouldn’t be missed
Boehly can be accused of many things but failing to invest in Chelsea’s playing squad isn’t one of them
Boehly can be accused of many things but failing to invest in Chelsea’s playing squad isn’t one of them. That’s no longer enough, it feels.
Fans will loudly let their feelings known on a whole diversity of issues extending to what owners do in their business life outside football. It seems that everything is on the table to have a go at.
Supporters’ protests aren’t new. I was once in the boardroom at Wolves when people outside were screaming abuse and hurling things because they didn’t like how things were under owner Sir Jack Hayward and chief executive Jez Moxey, and nobody was more committed to his club than Jack.
But, by and large, these rare outbursts of unrest were spontaneous, caused by fans fed up with losing on the pitch and looking to blame someone.
It’s different now. Rather than have individual dissenting voices, this is the era of the organised Protests with a capital P; organised, structured and robust.
I don’t see why anyone else should care if Boehly decides to pay £106million for Enzo Fernandez – he’s doing it with his investment money – but for some reason Chelsea supporters think his profligacy is a sign he’s not delivering the same unbridled commitment that a former Russian oligarch/robber baron did for the club.
Fans will argue they end up paying for the expensive recruitment through ticket prices, merchandise and subscriptions. There maybe something in that but my view is if you buy a shirt, you wear it. And if you consider the shirt poor value, you don’t buy it and market forces ultimately determine prices.
The balance between the needs of a football club and the expectation of its market makes for a curious dilemma now. We’re in a society where everyone has a view.
Rather than have individual dissenting voices, this is the era of the organised Protests with a capital P
Ultimately, Boehly will ignore the noise, and fans have influence rather than power
I’ve heard people suggest Chelsea’s £140m debt is a massive problem. I find it absurd to even begin a conversation about that. If your house is worth £2.5billion and you have a £140m mortgage, nobody would be concerned.
Ultimately, Boehly will ignore the noise. Fans have influence rather than power. It’s a myth that the football directors sack managers as a reaction to what they hear in the stadium. Very rarely do the fans shout for a manager to be fired when someone upstairs isn’t already thinking about it themselves.
I also hate the idea of a fan-led review leading to a Government-appointed regulator for our national sport. The Premier League is an unprecedented global sporting success which needs a bit of finesse and the pyramid a little bit of a fairer distribution.
To call for root-and-branch reform because of a report based on what fans want rather than what the game needs is beyond ridiculous, and mark my words will be an act of self-harm if Government-appointed regulators are allowed to shovel their bureaucratic ineffective nonsense onto our national sport, as these sorts of people have done in other industries.
How are your regulated gas and water services, and bills, looking these days?
Football has evolved from being a pure working man’s game. Clubs are now in the business of sports entertainment. Owners need to make them commercially viable in a world of high cost. It’s changed the dynamic inch by inch, yard by yard.
We are also in a digital age where fans have their own media platforms which are usually at their most successful when they spout dissatisfaction – as previously witnessed by AFTV (run by Arsenal supporters) and someone like Mark Goldbridge who has indexed himself to the biggest club in the world, Manchester United.
Sometimes this content has an interesting perspective, at other times it is barking at the moon.
When I was an owner, I used to involve Crystal Palace fans in voting for which kit we’d wear each season and also tried to keep prices to a fair level
Fans are happy to accept the conventional wisdom that players and managers need time, hence their relative patience with Ruben Amorim at Manchester United. But not with owners
Boehly said recently he thought the NFL had better growth potential than Netflix because it created its own infinite programming.
He won’t be distracted from trying to pursue his grander vision for Chelsea but I do fear a generation of perennial and slightly deluded protestors is here to stay.
Fans are happy to accept the conventional wisdom that players and managers need time, hence their relative patience with Ruben Amorim at United.
But owners are considered differently. They are expected to get it instantaneously right with no excuses for mistakes. In the end it could be said you get the owners you deserve.
