Homepage Article The Fans

[blulouie]

Its interesting the assumption and definition of fans.

For most its the assumption of local lids with flares carrying a dog up and down Goodison Road - it is, but its beyond that now.

The PL sold it parochial community based football clubs to the world - to be successful now you need fans all over the world. We need a world wide fan base in a global game.

If you are the commercial dept here, you aren't worrying about the local fan, they are captured fish, with a season ticket waiting list stretchihg into 10s of thousands - you are targeting Asia, America and Africa and emerging markets, multiple commercial points and multiple platforms to cultivate, market to and sell to - before you talk about streaming/tv rights etc of the actual game.

Football is and will be increasingly consumed and commercialised over multiple paid for platforms rather then just the 50k who will go the game. You make money of 100k's instead of just your attendance in the ground and local community - why wouldn't you. The mindset will be and has to be global instead of local.

The big clubs aren't national anymore they are global - we need to be that to. Its part of the reason we've brought the likes of Grealish here.

The club needs to be better and pursuing every revenue means available, home or abroad both markets dictate to each other.
I doubt the match going home based fans would like to be referred to as " captured fish " as you put it.
They are the backbone of the club and the club doesn't function without it.
For all intent and purpose they are The Club.

This is where there is a very firm line drawn between Our Clubs , Our league , Our fanbases and Global franchises wishing to capitalise on this product.

When the Snake 6 held clandestine meetings pissing on the rest of the league to form a Super league.
It was the fans of these clubs most notably Chelsea that started the ball rolling by marching on Stamford Bridge and demand it stopped , followed by Man Utd and the rest of the Snakes .
The last being a grovelling come down from John Henry and Captain Unfantastic Jordan Henderson, did we expect anything less from them lot ?
Never underestimate the power , the pull and the passion of the normal mainly local match going fans.

That well and truly drew the line of what this "Product to the Global brands" means.
No one other than the fans stopped this and we should never forget it.

Both aspects can and do live side by side , abroad the huge TV deals hence merchandising and exoposure is a massive part of our game now.
But without the clubs and most importantly their fans there is no
" Global Product "
They need reminding about this every so often.

 

[chicoazul]

The club needs to be better and pursuing every revenue means available, home or abroad both markets dictate to each other.
I doubt the match going home based fans would like to be referred to as " captured fish " as you put it.
They are the backbone of the club and the club doesn't function without it.
For all intent and purpose they are The Club.

This is where there is a very firm line drawn between Our Clubs , Our league , Our fanbases and Global franchises wishing to capitalise on this product.

When the Snake 6 held clandestine meetings pissing on the rest of the league to form a Super league.
It was the fans of these clubs most notably Chelsea that started the ball rolling by marching on Stamford Bridge and demand it stopped , followed by Man Utd and the rest of the Snakes .
The last being a grovelling come down from John Henry and Captain Unfantastic Jordan Henderson, did we expect anything less from them lot ?
Never underestimate the power , the pull and the passion of the normal mainly local match going fans.

That well and truly drew the line of what this "Product to the Global brands" means.
No one other than the fans stopped this and we should never forget it.

Both aspects can and do live side by side , abroad the huge TV deals hence merchandising and exoposure is a massive part of our game now.
But without the clubs and most importantly their fans there is no
" Global Product "
They need reminding about this every so often.

Excellent post. I use the Super League protest and rapid climb down often as an example of what can be achieved when we loosely mobilise together.

 

[blulouie]

Excellent post. I use the Super League protest and rapid climb down often as an example of what can be achieved when we loosely mobilise together.

It was magic simplicity watching it unfold.
Like a juggernaut hitting the buffers and crawling away into the night.
Yep
All down to "FANZ LAD"

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

What. The. Hell. A thread with THAT title and it isn't a Chico antagonising thread????

 

[BlueBarrow]

Football may well have changed and continue to change .

But let's have no doubt about @Bryan+ s content.
These past 4 or 5 years without the fans fighting every corner to keep this club in the Premier league.
The protests , the marches , the ruckus over the points deductions ,the Blue smoke choked Coach welcomes .
Goodison becoming a snarling cauldron.

These weren't victory parades , this was a fanbase that actually stood up to authority and wrong doing .
This should never ever be allowed to be forgotten by whoever owns the club at any time in the future and most of all we as fans should never forget.

Every season we see teams relegated with nothing more than a whimper from their fans .
Sorry , but this fanbase won't accept it no matter how the game changes.
Without these fans we would have been relegated long ago.

This is one of the best posts that I have ever read mate

 

[originalgreaserbob]

Whether the media has highlighted the fans enough I don't know, but certainly Everton fans have gotten a good reputation from American premiere league coverage. For example, a lot of people who know I'm a fan sent me the video below (despite their bemusement at the fact that I follow the team).

 

[BackRow PE6]

Good words B-man if I disagree with the wider point. The days of fans are gone, the days of customers are here. We’re a client database to be exploited with some low key engagement for the sake of tokenism.

I’d also like to open up the wider debate of if Everton fans are good for the Everton players please?

( shoutout).

More of you need to write by the way.

My bank statement today, specifically the deductions from Everton Fc, confirm I am now a fully fledged customer. Christ, I’ve spent more in the ground in 3 games than I did at Goodison in 10 year

 

[Bryan+]

Football may well have changed and continue to change .

But let's have no doubt about @Bryan+ s content.
These past 4 or 5 years without the fans fighting every corner to keep this club in the Premier league.
The protests , the marches , the ruckus over the points deductions ,the Blue smoke choked Coach welcomes .
Goodison becoming a snarling cauldron.

These weren't victory parades , this was a fanbase that actually stood up to authority and wrong doing .
This should never ever be allowed to be forgotten by whoever owns the club at any time in the future and most of all we as fans should never forget.

Every season we see teams relegated with nothing more than a whimper from their fans .
Sorry , but this fanbase won't accept it no matter how the game changes.
Without these fans we would have been relegated long ago.

What an absolutely fantastic post.

 

[blulouie]

What an absolutely fantastic post.

Why thank you Bry

Equally with yours

 

[Super Kevin sheedy]

Difficult question moonhead, look back at Stoke v Everton fa cup 3rd round when Mr Kendall opened the dressing room window, look at the support home and away the last few seasons when we should have been dead and buried, the flip side is there are fans who just can't wait for the slightest thing to pick apart and rush to post it on every available channel, players with less than 2 hours of game time are called useless and a waste of money

Were you at that Stoke game, the fans were amazing

 

[BlueBarrow]

Thanks to @Bryan+ for the words for the front page;

The Fans

If you’ve been watching Everton, or even following with passing interest, you’ll know we’ve been through the wringer over the last couple of seasons. A well-meaning set of owners, who once saw themselves as custodians of the club, managed to drive us to the brink of extinction, with some saying...

www.grandoldteam.com

Well done Bryan , top man !

 

[Rob17896]

I'm not sure I 100% agree with Bryan on this. I think the local and match going fans are becoming less and less relevant to clubs and owners. So much income comes from TV deals, and an increasing proportion of those come from overseas rights, and international marketing and merchandising. Look at how many tickets are now marketed at tourist fans through Seat Unique and Sportsbreaks while more local fans with expensive membership subscriptions miss out on tickets. Look at the introduction and implementation of VAR, does anyone know a match going fans who thinks it's worked well? That it enhances their match day experience? Of course not but it's not for them, it's for the gigantic TV audience globally. Yes, they'll try and sell us as many £6 doughnuts as they can but it's not the local fan that'll drive growth and pay for big player contracts and the club knows that all too well. The football we all grew up with us dead, or at least dying, the PL is a global game now. Local fans just provide a backdrop to a global audience. Sadly.

Yes, I have said this really since early PL. We are just the sound effects to a TV show. The game has improved in many ways and really declined in others. Eventually it will be an AI show and all profit to the tech bros.

 

[blulouie]

Yes, I have said this really since early PL. We are just the sound effects to a TV show.

Think you are not "reading the room" pal.

 

[Rob17896]

Think you are not "reading the room" pal.

Correct. I was commenting on a post....pal

 

[PKwalnuts]

Great read @Bryan+ thanks for this.