The Fan Engagement Pod

Welcome to Episode 35 of the Fan Engagement Pod, a chat with the person responsible at The FA for relationships with The Football Supporters Association, as well as clubs and others, Director of Professional Game Relations, Andy Ambler.Andy used to run Millwall and before that, Fulham, under quite different owners, John Berylson and Muhammed Fayed. At Millwall they had a fan on the board (and still do). He has a fantastic level of insight when it comes to how clubs and their owners think, and how Fan Engagement is done well.He’s a big advocate of listening and working proactively with fans and their representatives, and applies those principles to what he now does for The FA.Alongside plenty of great insights on Fan Engagement, we also touch on some areas of regulation, particularly the misunderstandings that some fans have about who is and isn’t responsible and why.As a listener to the Fan Engagement Pod, we'd like you to take just a couple of minutes of your day to fill in a quick survey about it. Go to https://tinyurl.com/fanengagementpodDon’t forget we’ve got loads of other episodes, including the new Bas Chat, where we take a particular look at activations, sponsorships and partnerships between brands and rights holders with a Fan Engagement flavour, with a real expert in the field, Bas Schnater. Due to circumstances beyond my control, the next episode will be out on the 4th March.We’ll return to the regular date of the last Thursday of every month for the scheduled March episode. Listen via the usual channels. Search Fan Engagement Pod.You can join the Fan Engagement Network at faninsights.co.uk/network/join

Episode 34 of the Fan Engagement Pod is a wide ranging conversation with Brighton & Hove Albion Chief Executive & Vice Chair, Paul Barber.Paul is someone liked and respected throughout the industry, and we cover plenty of ground, ranging from the way in which leadership and values shape the way the club is run at all levels, involving all staff, and how that impacts on engagement with fans, to how important intention has been in rebuilding Brighton from a club that nearly disappeared, to one that is now in the top flight for their fourth season in a row.We also touch on the Covid pandemic and his views on the return of fans and the challenge of engaging them throughout, as well as looking at esports and how it can be used to attract and retain a new generation of fans.Don’t forget we’ve got loads of other episodes, including the new Bas Chat, where we take a particular look at activations, sponsorships and partnerships between brands and rights holders with a Fan Engagement flavour, with a real expert in the field, Bas Schnater. Due to circumstances beyond my control, the episode due out this week (25th Feb) will now be coming on on the 4th March. We’ll return to the regular date of the last Thursday of every month for the scheduled March episode. Listen via the usual channels. Search Fan Engagement Pod.You can join the Fan Engagement Network at faninsights.co.uk/network/join

Welcome to Episode 33 of the Fan Engagement Pod, a chat with another Mark, this time Mark Catlin the Chief Executive of Portsmouth FC. Mark is someone I don’t need to persuade of the merits of open and transparent communication, and good Fan Engagement, as they finished 9th in the inaugural Fan Engagement Index.We chat about the prospects for football whenever it is we emerge from the pandemic, and what his concerns are in terms of numbers - and whether he’s concerned about a potential drop-off in fans attending.We also focus on his views favouring openness and transparency across a whole range of issues that football clubs and football more widely doesn’t often agree with, touching on the recent arbitration over the salary cap and the unplayed EFL Trophy final between his own Portsmouth and Salford City.Don’t forget we’ve got loads of other episodes, including the new Bas Chat, where we take a particular look at activations, sponsorships and partnerships between brands and rights holders with a Fan Engagement flavour, with a real expert in the field, Bas Schnater. A new episode is currently out, with new ones every last Thursday of every month. Listen via the usual channels. Search Fan Engagement Pod.You can join the Fan Engagement Network at faninsights.co.uk/network/join

This episode is a chat with Mark Bradley from the Fan Experience Company. Mark doesn’t need much introduction to people in English football, or increasingly, European football, given his UEFA funded grow work across the continent.We chat extensively about the roots of his work from starting off at the Halifax Building Society, progressive customer service, and developing the fan journey with the Premier League and then EFL.One of the issues we do cover is one that I’ve been talking increasingly about with colleagues in the industry: have matchgoing habits been broken permanently, and will this lead to a drop-off in attendances? Has the behaviour of clubs towards fans throughout the pandemic made this more likely?Don’t forget we’ve got loads of other episodes, including the new Bas Chat, where we take a particular look at activations, sponsorships and partnerships with a Fan Engagement flavour with a real expert in the field. A new episode is out now, and every last Thursday of every month. Listen via the usual channels.You can join the Fan Engagement Network at faninsights.co.uk/network/join

This episode is one of the most fascinating I’ve done, because I learned such a huge amount about a subject I knew very little about: esports. It centres around a chat with Trev Keane, a Dublin-based consultant with Took Media and a founding board member of Ireland Esports.There’s a lot of talk about whether football - and other sports - should see esports as a threat to their business model, and I think we expose that as a fallacy. Not that clubs shouldn’t be aware of competing leisure pursuits, of course.It's clear there's huge potential for clubs to understand and utilise esports to enhance the reach they have. It’s not just Man United who can harness its power, but all clubs. They are at the very least, tools to communicate with people your club needs a relationship with, in the same way as any other tool.Don’t forget we’ve got 30 other episodes, including the new Bas Chat, where we take a particular look at activations, sponsorships and partnerships between brands and rights holders with a real expert in the field. A new episode is currently out, with new ones every last Thursday of every month. Listen via the usual channels.You can join the Fan Engagement Network at faninsights.co.uk/network/join

In this episode, we chat about how to ensure that insight from the fans is part of how you work with your commercial partners. Not as some kind of necessary evil, or a brake on something, but as a positive way of ensuring that you get the most out of your sponsorship and activation. We take a particular look at Borussia Dortmund, and Bas also muses about loyalty and the attempted coup by Donald Trump's supporters.Don’t forget we’ve got loads more episodes of the Fan Engagement Pod, including this week, Fiona Green from Winners. The next episode is out next Tuesday, and every Tuesday Listen via the usual channels.You can join the Fan Engagement Network at faninsights.co.uk/network/join