Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney said: “More than 43,000 supporters have taken this opportunity to tell us what they think about The Football League and the game generally. By using modern, on-line survey methods we have increased by three times the number of fans taking part since the last League survey in 2001."
“It is encouraging to note that The League is in-step with the way fans think about many of football’s most important issues. In particular they share our belief that clubs need to be community focused and financially sustainable in the long term. It is also pleasing that supporters are reacting positively to our re-branding which sought to enhance The League’s profile.
“I take particular interest in their views on the role of agents, the possible trialling of sin-bins and on restricting smoking at matches. All are issues about which we feel strongly and they have been discussed with clubs recently. Supporters’ views will add to the debate.”
Out of a total of 43,590 respondents, 50 per cent support clubs playing in the Coca-Cola Championship with clubs from Leagues 1 and 2 providing 28 per cent and 22 per cent of respondents respectively.
The survey, which was conducted on The League’s behalf by SportsWise, reveals that fans are supportive of the work conducted by The League in recent seasons. It shows that one in two fans believe that The League’s image has improved in the two years since its re-branding - a view held particularly strongly in the under 16 age group (75 per cent).
There was also strong backing for The League’s ‘Good Governance’ agenda, including the use of ‘Sporting Sanctions’ for clubs that go into administration (66 per cent), the publication of clubs’ spending on agents fees (88 per cent) and a protocol limiting League 1 and 2 clubs’ spending on players’ wages to 60 per cent of turnover (69 per cent). Supporters also gave overwhelming backing to the importance of club’s work in their local communities (97 per cent) and in youth development (99 per cent).
There is widespread support for The League’s assertion that it provides ‘Real Football for Real Fans’ (79 per cent) and there is also agreement that League games are unpredictable and competitive (89 per cent) and are played in safe surroundings (82 per cent). However, supporter opinion is equally divided on whether League matches offer good value for money.
Respondents with children give overwhelming backing to The Football League’s ‘Fans of the Future’ initiative that aims to encourage more young supporters into League grounds. A resounding 95 per cent indicate that this initiative would make them more likely to take their children to games.
On the whole supporters are open-minded towards sponsorship with established methods such as front of shirt (90 per cent), stand names (84 per cent) and stadium names (50 per cent) all gaining acceptance.
The survey also reveals that the average respondent is 36-years-old and is four times more likely to be male than female. He/she earns on average £38,000 a year and attends 16 home and 5 away matches per season.
Overwhelmingly he/she is still likely to be classified as ‘white British’. Though the survey has revealed a small amount of progress in broadening the ethnicity of the fanbase, more progress is needed in this area.
The summary of results can be viewed on The Football League’s website: www.football-league.co.uk
