Liverpool announce new Supporters’ Board to ‘strengthen dialogue’ with fans after ESL fiasco
Liverpool have announced they will set up a new Supporters’ Board, to give fans a greater voice in how the club is run.
A landslide 99 per cent voted in favour of the new structure, which is intended to ‘strengthen dialogue’ between the Reds and their supporters after the European Super League fiasco worsened relations.
And, as announced on the club website, the Premier League side are set to finalise the make-up of the board ‘in the coming weeks’ so it can start working as soon as possible.
Liverpool have announced a new Supporters’ Board meant to ‘strengthen dialogue’ with fans
A landslide of 99 per cent voted in favour of the new structure, set to be introduced shortly
Liverpool chief executive Billy Hogan said: ‘The idea came from an understanding and recognition there was a lack of engagement with supporters on some important fan-facing issues and that was something we wanted to address.
‘There has been a tremendous amount of engagement with our fans across the last several years, particularly the work that went into Kiev and Madrid, a lot of engagement around the Club World Cup, and issues such as equality, diversity and inclusion, ticketing issues and our sanctions process. But it was clear we needed to address our levels of dialogue and put a process in place that was more formal.
‘This has been a healthy process with a lot of engagement, and ultimately we’re really proud of where we’ve ended up. We think the Supporters Board concept is a really good one and it allows us to engage in a really meaningful way. I want to say a huge thank you to all the different groups we’ve engaged with to get to this point.’
There will be 10 Spirit of Shankly committee members, plus six others from other fan organisations, including Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association, Kop Outs, Spion Kop 1906, Official Liverpool Supporters Clubs, Liverpool Women’s Supporters Committee, and faith and ethnic groups.
The chair and vice-chair will be elected from and by the members of the Supporters Board.
Relations with fans were straiend due to the Reds’ involvement in the European Super League
Spirit of Shankly chair Joe Blott added: ‘We’ve been working really hard as a union to work alongside the club, to hold the club to account but at the same time to work in harmony to try to get the best for supporters.
‘The Supporters Board will be led by democracy, with an invitation to affiliate groups, not individuals, so when you work on the Supporters Board, you’re speaking on behalf of supporters, not just yourself.
‘The key differences now will firstly be strategy, because we as a fan organisation can now take issues to the club, the opportunity to be strategic. Here we also have a broader aspect of fan representation, anybody can have a voice and be part of one of these affiliate groups.
‘Another feature of the agreement is that it will be formally written into the club’s Articles of Association, which future-proofs the relationship between supporters as it would form part of any transfer of undertaking to new owners.
‘We’ve come such a long way from the challenges of the past, and it was critically important to make sure the supporter voice is heard. We know fan representation is critically important to maintaining football. What we have now is a real synergy and organisational approach that ensures stronger representation.’
