Crystal Palace ‘reviewing’ fan engagement index that ‘reflected badly’ on club, says Supporters’ Trust
BY SAM SMITH
Crystal Palace are reviewing a fan engagement survey that ranked the club 75th out of the 91 Football League clubs from the 2019/20 season, the Crystal Palace Supporters’ Trust has revealed.
Calls for supporters to take a seat on the boards of football clubs have increased since six Premier League teams were involved in a breakaway European Super League. Plans for the exclusive 12-team league were quickly scrapped following vociferous opposition.
Eagles chairman Steve Parish was vocal in his views against the Super League, saying it will create a “gilded elite who will not be challenged”.
But Palace have been ranked 75th out of the 91 teams in a fan engagement survey, released this week, which scores clubs on it dialogue with supporters, its governance and its transparency.
“The first Fan Engagement Index was published for 2018/2019 season, and scores clubs in the top four divisions of English Football using publicly available data on their Dialogue, Governance and Transparency in fan engagement,” Think Fan Engagement, who produce the survey, say.
“For 2019/2020 season, clubs were asked for their comment on the data collected, and 42 provided new information.”
There have been calls for English clubs to follow the so-called ‘50+1’ model used in Germany, which gives supporters a majority of a club’s voting rights.
South Londoners Chelsea were one of the clubs involved in the proposed breakaway and were ranked three placed below Palace in the index. The Blues this week announced that three supporters would be elected to their board from the start of next season.
Palace told their Supporters’ Trust that they would be reviewing the results of the Fan Engagement Index during Wednesday’s Trust meeting.
“The Trust highlighted the recent Chelsea announcement that three ‘supporter advisers’ would be allowed on their Board subject to certain confidentiality requirements. The Trust hoped that Palace would follow this example, or a similar proposal, as soon as possible,” the Trust writes in its summary of the meeting.
“The Trust highlighted how the Club’s 75th position in the recently announced 2019/20 ‘Fan Engagement Index’ reflected badly on the Club.
“In particular, as the Club were below the likes of Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United. The Club indicated it was reviewing the findings.”
The meeting summary also confirms that club shirt sponsor, W88, is to remain for next season, while a new sustainability policy is awaiting board approval.
There are also no current plans to open academy, U23 and women’s matches for supporters.
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