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Date: 11th September 2025
Fans or supporters but never customers – Steve McGregor
If you have taken the time to read this week blog then I will be assuming that you are a supporter of the game that we collectively love. There are some who occupy the padded seats that see you as a customer, maybe part of a dataset of a club CRM programme ( customer relationship marketing) . There are others who might just regard you as an income stream and even some “blazers” who see you as pond life*
*A comment overhead in a Championship Boardroom several years ago by a colleague of mine when directors of two clubs were discussing fans.
It is a sad reflection that in football the feelings towards football supporters has been changing as the days of ordinary supporters who have been successful in business moving into Local Club FC boardrooms is something now that rarely happens at the top of the game. Football Club are businesses and always have been, but they are unique businesses, that are embedded in to the heart and soul of the community they come from. Sadly there are few Roy MacGregor’s ( no relation I should point out ) who can marry that financial burden with the ability to maintain a real supporter connection.
You just need to look at the sweeping changes that have come about across the border and see how club ownership has changed the dynamic with fans now nothing more than customers. Of course with so many other areas to exploit the reliance in revenue generated from the gate in England has declined. Not so in Scotland where supporter revenue is not a luxury but an absolute essential with up to 50% of the money generated in the SPFL coming directly from the fans pocket. Let us not forget that the money that comes in from hospitality, sponsorship and indeed TV is because those sectors see those fans as important influencers / customers.
If you look at the dictionary definition of supporter it tells us what we need to know.
a person who actively helps someone: a person who gives encouragement and approval to someone or something:
It is significantly different from the definition of a customer :
a person who buys goods or services from a shop or business:, a person of a specified kind with whom one has to deal:
So the message to all our clubs is loud and clear, don’t call us customers and don’t treat us like customers. You are privileged to be running our club, on our behalf and we are its supporters who have a loyalty that no customer of any business can ever emulate.
There is an irony that there is a fans revolt at Celtic Park where the late great Jock Stein once stood where Brendan Rodgers now loiters. Stein of course who passed 40 years ago this week, left fans with many magical memories but also a quote that has gone down in history as one of the most important in football. “ You can have the best players, playing in the best stadium, but without fans it means nothing”, is the core of the quote that has been adapted and even borrowed by others.
It is a quote that should be displayed in every boardroom in every club in the land just as a wee reminder of the significance of fans.
Posted in: Fan's Blog, Latest News
Tags: fans, SFA, SFSA, SPFL, Supporters