In his final pod about the Fan Engagement Index 2026, Kevin Rye tells you five things you should do to get your fan engagement right. Go to fanengagement.net for more.

Full results at https://fanengagement.net/fan-engagement-index-english-football

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Following the publication of the Fan Engagement Index 2026, Kev talks about the need for English National League Premier clubs to prioritise Fan Engagement.

Full results at https://fanengagement.net/fan-engagement-index-english-football

There are also concerns that as football moves towards full regulation by the IFR, many National League Premier clubs are clearly struggling to adapt, even though this is masked by several of their clubs winning bronze & merit awards, including playoff winners Rochdale & Southend. Boston United and Hartlepool both won merit awards for increases of 50 points or more compared to the previous season.

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Following the publication of the Fan Engagement Index 2026, Kev talks about the trends in Fan Engagement in English football.

Full results at https://fanengagement.net/fan-engagement-index-english-football

The key trends in brief:

1. Across the top five divisions of English football covered by the index over the 2025/2026 season, it is obvious that fan engagement has become a significant focus of every football club in the top four divisions and many in the National League Premier.

2. Certain clubs have now established themselves as consistent practitioners. Even after all their struggles on and off the pitch last season, Exeter City still won again, and it is credit to their commitment to the culture of fan engagement. Likewise, Lincoln City, Swansea City, Bradford City, Brighton, Brentford and others.

3. We're seeing a lot of clubs adopt fan advisory boards or shadow boards and overall, I think these are net positive. However, as important and valuable as they are, they are not independent, and are internal mechanisms and need to be treated as very different from independent organisations. I have discussed this recently in another video and you'll find that on our YouTube channel and website.

4. That connects to trend number four, the trend away from independent organisations of supporters, particularly supporters’ trusts.

This is a particular concern because these are proven repeatedly, and over a period of decades, as an excellent external check and balance that I think every club that has them benefits from. Again, I've recorded another video that is on our YouTube channel about this issue, so check our website or You Tube channel for that.

5. To what extent are we seeing long term changes in the actual culture of decision making in football? The trend is still largely negative: ticket prices keep increasing, kick-offs keep changing, significant alterations to stadia are still forced through without proper consultation – all of this often even without proper involvement of key fan engagement staff.

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