Supporter Directors

Any director of a football club is likely to be a fan of that club. However, when we talk about a ‘supporter director’, we are referring to an individual who is democratically elected by a supporters’ trust or similar fans’ organisation to represent the interests of a wider group of supporters.  The normal way of becoming a director of a football club that is a Private Limited Company is to invest in a shareholding, but many companies have people on the board for other expertise they have or particular skills they possess. At a football club, one such ‘skill’ is representing supporters’ views, the key stakeholders of any club.

Having a supporter director who is representative of supporters’ views is critical to ensuring a well functioning board is properly governed and can come with numerous benefits for both clubs and supporters.

These benefits include:

• The relationship between club and supporters changes from “us and them” to “we’re all in this together
• It makes fans less likely to blame the board for adversities, because of the element of partnership
• Communication both ways is improved, and greater understanding among supporters of the constraints under which the board operates leads to fewer demands for increased expenditure to “buy” success
• Issues of sustainability move up the agenda
• A reservoir of talent, goodwill and effort on a voluntary basis becomes available to the club, which can augment the limited professional resources the club may be able to afford
• Issues such as anti-racism, equal opportunities and access for the disabled can be highlighted more easily
• Gates tend to increase where Trusts are involved at boardroom level, and with them sales of merchandise increase proportionately
• The Trust also brings an additional revenue stream through voluntary fundraising, which is incentivised and stimulated when shares are made available for purchase by the Trust