The struggle for grassroots involvement in football club governance: experiences of a supporter-activist

This study highlights the struggle of fans of English Premier League club, Everton FC, to influence the governance of their football club. The author is Secretary of Keeping Everton in Our City (KEIOC), a group that was instrumental in opposing their board of directors’ plans to remove the club out of the City of Liverpool in order to set up a stadium in the neighbouring Merseyside borough of Knowsley. This work affords us a first-hand experience and understanding of the football club fan-owner struggle. As well as offering an insight into the group’s ability to mobilize opposition to unpopular, commercially driven stratagems devised by and for the benefit of the club owners, the author also highlights the part played by KEIOC in the launch of a major community project to regenerate run-down districts of inner-city Liverpool. This study acknowledges the efforts of fans in recognizing that the cultural capital of football is not only something that can be commodified for the benefit of football club owners...