This episode is the first of what I hope will be several with the UK’s expert on consultation, Rhion Jones. Known professionally as the Consultation Guru, we’ve been collaborating for some months now as the Football Governance Bill makes its way through parliament, paying specific interest to the provisions on consultation and engagement. You can read the letter we wrote to the minister in charge of the bill in the Lords, Baroness Twycross, and the reply she sent, on https://fanengagement.net

The Gunning Principles

1. Proposals are still at a formative stage: A final decision has not yet been made, or predetermined, by the decision makers

2. There is sufficient information to give ‘intelligent consideration’: The information provided must relate to the consultation and must be available, accessible, and easily interpretable for consultees to provide an informed response

3. There is adequate time for consideration and response: There must be sufficient opportunity for consultees to participate in the consultation. There is no set timeframe

for consultation, despite the widely accepted twelve-week consultation period, as the length of time given for consultee to respond can vary depending on the subject and extent of impact of the consultation

4. ‘Conscientious consideration’ must be given to the consultation responses before a decision is made: Decision-makers should be able to provide evidence that they took consultation responses into account

Read more at consultationguru.co.uk

We discuss how consultation works, why it’s different to engagement, and why its impact on football could be very positive.

If you want to get in touch, ask a question or suggest a topic or guest, or register your interest in the event myself and Rhion will be hosting in late Feb/early March 2025, drop me a line at hello@fanengagement.net

Episode links available in the podcast description. Subscribe to the View on Fan Engagement via https://fanengagement.net/join

Please like, subscribe and share. It really does help our visibility.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/fan-engagement-pod.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Fan Engagement Pod.

Don’t forget the first event of the Fan Engagement Network is on the 26th July at Bristol Rovers. It’s a joint event with Rovers and CEO Tom Gorringe will be speaking.

If you work or volunteer in a fan engagement role at a club, a CEO, MD, director or owner and want to attend, drop us a line at hello@fanengagement.net and we’ll reserve you a place.

This episode is with the aforementioned Tom, Liam Scully, CEO of Lincoln City, and Ryan Sparks, CEO of League Two Bradford City.

The three of them have done impressive jobs with each of the clubs they run, placing structured and strategic Fan Engagement at the heart of what they do, ensuring it feeds into decision making and key commercial decisions.

They tell us their lessons from their time in charge, including the learning curve, how each club is unique, but how to apply experiences from elsewhere - including other sports, and how winning only papers over the cracks of a creaking structure.

As Liam himself says, this is an exciting time to be in charge of a football club. We’re seeing genuine changes in how clubs are run, with good Fan Engagement now being seen as a positive opportunity. All three are clear that reform - financial and administrative - through the new Independent Regulator will make that opportunity even greater, especially when it comes to staffing in key Fan Engagement roles.

If you want to get in touch, ask a question or suggest a topic or guest, drop me a line at hello@fanengagement.net

Episode links

• Independent Regulator White Paper: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-sustainable-future-reforming-club-football-governance/a-sustainable-future-reforming-club-football-governance
• Bristol Rovers Fan Engagement section: https://www.bristolrovers.co.uk/club/fan-engagement
• Bradford City Supporter Services website: https://support.bradfordcityafc.com
• Lincoln City Supporters Board & new 'Four Party' group: https://www.weareimps.com/club/policies

Keep an eye out on https://fanengagement.net and find our socials on https://linktr.ee/thinkfanengagement

Please like, subscribe and share. It really does help our visibility.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/fan-engagement-pod.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is with Aaryaman Banerji, author of the Civitas report, Governing the Beautiful Game, The Future of Football in Civil Society.

Aaryaman produced the report as Lead Football Analyst at Civitas, a political think tank based out of Westminster. Civitas is an independent think tank which conducts forensic research and analysis into critical topics within the British political ecosystem, in order to instruct government policy and shape public debate.

He has a widely respected FIFA Masters and a Master's Degree in History from Durham University, where his research focused on the socio-political and economic history of football.

He has experience working as a journalist for the Football Association and the Black Collective of Media in Sport, whilst helping in the administration and management of an amateur football club in London.

We discuss why the Tories as a largely non-interventionist party have decided to intervene, how the fan led review addressed the impact of years of poor club-fan relations and fan engagement regulation, the nature of the business model of clubs, and how the soon-to-be independent regulator will impact the quality of administration and ownership, and ultimately, fan engagement in the game.

Episode Links

Civitas Report: https://www.civitas.org.uk/publications/governing-the-beautiful-game

Fan Led Review: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fan-led-review-of-football-governance-securing-the-games-future/fan-led-review-of-football-governance-securing-the-games-future

Black Collective of Media in Sport (BCOMS): https://bcoms.co

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/fan-engagement-pod.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.