Stoke City reveal First Fan Engagement Plan
Following a period of wide-ranging consultation with supporters, Stoke City Football Club has today published the Club’s inaugural Fan Engagement Plan.
The plan covers the 24/25 season whilst also committing to being the next step in a long journey.
The Potters opted for decisive action on fan engagement following feedback from supporters during the summer of 2023 that change was required.
Thousands of City supporters were consulted via a combination of open events, online surveys and group meetings.
It was by applying the key and recurring themes from that consultation that the new plan has been created.
Chief Operating Officer, Simon King, said: “Our fan engagement plan has been months in the making with a great deal of dialogue having taken place to get us to this point.
“A massive thank you goes to all the supporters that took part in the wide-ranging consultation for their valuable contributions.
“We believe this new model will increase transparency, allow us to hear more views from across our diverse fanbase and will lead to supporters being more involved than ever in important club matters.
“We hope our passion for bringing Stoke City fans closer to their club comes across strongly in this plan, albeit we know our commitment will be best demonstrated, not on paper, but by our actions and how we deliver over a concerted period of time. The plan now needs bringing to life and we can’t wait to get started.”
The Fan Engagement Plan is available to download here.
David Harper, Former Supporters Council Chair, said:
“As the last Chair of the old Supporters Council and working with other past council members, it has been a privilege to provide input into the formation of the new wave of fan engagement that our great club is now putting forward.
“The plan has freshness, clarity, balance, and diversity that will allow all our supporters to both embrace with and be embraced by our life passion that is Stoke City. I have no doubt that the hard graft already put in, with more to follow, will in time provide an engagement structure we can all be proud of.”
Malcolm Clarke, national Chair of the Football Supporters’ Association and a home and away supporter of Stoke City, added:
“Myself and the FSA welcome the open approach Stoke City has taken to developing its new Fan Engagement Plan and the involvement of fans within it and congratulate the Club on its contents.
“It covers a wide range of activities from the more formal ‘Stoke City Connect’ through to various types of less formal activities for various parts of the fanbase. Fans have been involved from the start which is good to see.
“As the plan itself says, this is a learning curve for all of us, and no doubt tweaks can be made if necessary based on experience both at Stoke City and other clubs.
“The important thing is that the Club is committed to the principle of involving fans in everything it does, improving the matchday experience whilst also being a Stoke City fan, something which doesn’t just happen on match days.
“I hope that fans will help the Club in this exciting journey by participating as much as they can in whatever parts of the plan take their fancy.”
