(Celtic FC) An assessment of stakeholder engagement
The recent European football governance crisis prompted the UK government to undertake an independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance in 2021. One of the main reasons for the crisis is due to the disinterest of large football clubs, which can include Celtic FC (also known as Celtic PLC), in facilitating meaningful shareholder and fan (stakeholder) engagement. For instance, one major outcome from the UK Fan Led Review was the call for an independent fan advisory board to bolster stakeholder engagement. In order to establish the demand for such a body, Jeanette Findlay and Marco Guidi, academics at the University of Glasgow, conducted an independent Celtic stakeholder survey, the results of which are shown here.
This is an open call for Celtic supporters/shareholders to comment on the interim results. Please email any comments to Celtic.Survey@glasgow.ac.uk.
The survey
The purpose of the survey is to obtain and consult with a representative sample of Celtic PLC’s (also known as Celtic FC's) worldwide fan (stakeholder) base including 28,000 small shareholders in relation to important stakeholder engagement issues. It is important to investigate the views of Celtic’s stakeholders on Celtic’s engagement and governance arrangements including the concept of a Fans Forum and a Fan Advisory Board. For instance, Celtic FC similar to other big football clubs face major fan/stakeholder engagement issues and may benefit from an elected fan advisory board (FAB) in line with UK fan led review of football governance (Crouch, 2021).
The two-phase online survey used Facebook ads campaign. Phase 1 commenced around the end of the SPFL (Scottish Premier Football League) end of season 22/23 and phase 2 commenced around start of new SPFL season 23/24 in conjunction with the commencement of UEFA Champions’ League group stage games. The Facebook advertising focus was to encourage Celtic FC’s stakeholders to participate in the survey in each of the three distinct geographical areas (UK/Ireland/Europe, USA, and Canada) where there is a high concentration of Celtic FC's stakeholders including small shareholders, fan organisations and season ticket holders.
The survey analysis sample is based on 7,791 respondents that identified as Celtic F.C. supporters, season ticket holders, shareholders, and/or members of fan organisations.
This exercise is the largest independent survey of the views of Celtic stakeholders which has taken place in recent times. It is also the only survey which has examined in detail the attitudes of stakeholders to forms of governance and provides an insight into the kinds of issues about which fans would like to be consulted. Very clear preferences are revealed in the results and, while there is a variation between categories of supports in relation to some questions, there is remarkable consistency in terms of the rankings which all categories of stakeholders give to issues in terms of their importance or the level of support for them being discussed with Celtic PLC.
Summary
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- Higher than Expected (HExp)
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Findings
- The quality of fan engagement of Celtic FC:
- the largest response for all categories (i.e. Combination of supporters, STHs, shareholders and Members of Fan Organisation(MFO) is ‘average’
- of Supporters - 45% rate it Very Good(VG)/Good(G) & 26% rate it Poor(P)/Very Poor(VP).
- of STHs - 37% rate it Very Good(VG)/Good(G) & 24% rate it Poor(P)/Very Poor(VP).
- of Shareholders - 36% rate it Very Good(VG)/Good(G) & 24% rate it Poor(P)/Very Poor(VP).
- The effectiveness of Fans Forum (FF):
- those actively engage in the FF - 76% rate it effective
- STHs - 56% / 44% rate it effective/not effective
- shareholders - 54% / 46% rate it effective/not effective
- Is there a need for a Fan Advisory Board (FAB):
- of supporters - 66% Yes, 26% Don't know, 8% No
- of STHs - 69% Yes, 23% Don't know, 8% No
- of Shareholders - 67% Yes, 24% Don't know, 9% No
- of MFO - 76% Yes, 19 % Don't know, 5% No