
On VAR, opinion seems to be softening, although over half our respondents (54%) still expressed little or no confidence in the system. A price cap on European away games (97%) and opposition to the proposed new European Super League (81%) were newer positions backed strongly.
The takeaway here is that fan opinion on issues such as moving kick-off times for broadcast, safe standing, FA Cup ticket pricing and allocation and football governance have stayed pretty much the same throughout the six years of our survey. These views cannot be dismissed as those of a vocal minority, nor can their importance be brushed aside.
Closer to home, we found satisfaction levels with the playing side were very high (92%), perhaps unsurprisingly. Although fewer than half our respondents (44%) were happy with the approach to the domestic cups. Overall though, fans thought the Club prioritised competitions in the right order. Given our Champions league run, we had wondered if this would now be seen as the priority competition, but the Premier League remains the prize most crave (81%).
And nearly 80% think winning a trophy is very or extremely important – meaning that debate is not going to go away.
Satisfaction with ENIC’s stewardship of the Club remained consistent with 61% seeing an improvement over the last season, although satisfaction with the transfer policy was very low (19%). This was before the signings of the last few weeks. There was, however, a marked fall, from 57% to 46%, in confidence about ENIC’s long-term strategy for the Club.
On communication, just under half are happy with how the Club communicates with fans, with 1 in 4 not happy. Given the number of questions we get from people thinking we are a part of the Club, we wonder how much our efforts have contributed to the satisfaction rating! Almost all respondents said they would like to see Club-run social media accounts for ticketing and customer service (89%).
All the findings from our survey are used to inform the work we do during the year. That work can be done more effectively if more people join. If you’re not a member, joining is one click away. If you are, please pass the link on to at least one non-member.
You can read the full survey below.
THST Board
2 August 2019

thst_annual_fans_survey_2019.pdf |