Watford fans want involvement, transparency, less toxicity

A White Paper has been issued now concerning the Independent Football Regulator. In advance of that the majority of the Premier League clubs and a number of the Championship clubs are setting up Fan Advisory Boards or sort of secondary boards to bring the fans much more into the development and running of the clubs. What plans do you have to follow these other clubs given the regulation is almost certainly going to come into place given the will behind it now?

SD: “What we have to do is meaningful and I tried to do was something similar 12 months ago with the first Supporters’ Committee meeting. Kind of like a board meeting, confidentially, so we can discuss things freely and openly. That wasn’t perceived well, understandably, because it created a feeling that there were those that were in the circle, and those that were out of the circle.

“So in my discussions with my colleagues, most of these are shadow boards that are just paying lip service to the regulations. Nothing is discussed, nothing is meaningful and they’re ticking a box. I would much sooner have events like this, have At Your Place. The problem with the shadow board is who is going to represent the supporters? As we saw with the first Supporters’ Committee meeting that we did.

“I am more than happy to explore but how do you get the correct representation? How do you make it meaningful?”

It isn’t a difficult subject if you look at what Liverpool have done. They’ve strengthened the influence of the fans. If you look at Aston Villa, in fact both of those clubs have got 14 or 15 groups with a representative on the shadow board. Aston Villa have gone one further and they have two representatives that are voted on from each meeting. Both of those clubs including Liverpool have a code of conduct which those members that are on that board have to sign because they understand there are certain areas where private information should not be distributed from that meeting. It’s no different from a district council meeting where you have district councillors talking about private salaries or rates, and the public are not involved in that. You can, if you get the trust between those people and the groups they represent, make it work very effectively and I think you should look at some of the alternatives and examples that are now coming into operation.

SD: “I don’t disagree but what I do disagree with is how do you get correct, adequate representation from such a small shadow board. I think there may be other ways to ensure fans are represented and there is communication, and their requirements are adhered to. I absolutely will look into it. I’m sceptical it gives the correct representation.

“This event has taken some time to try and get that representation. Narrowing it to a small shadow board I’m still sceptical it would give the correct representation that supporters need, but of course I will look into it.”

Part of the learnings of this, including the learnings of organising it, is that what we tried to do – and we haven’t succeeded totally – is to try and engage as wide an amount of the supporter base as possible. I think there would be absolute agreement to try to do that and have elections. I think it’s Stoke or Wolves, one of the two, where you’re elected on a two-year basis, and they rotate half the board every year so you get a continual kind of refreshment. Is there anybody here that would have an objection to voting in fans on a democratically elected basis, to go and represent us for a period of time and on rotation at times you might get called?

Well I do. I was at the QPR game and a very well-known, very outspoken character – the whole environment is toxic at the moment, it’s ridiculous with social media – but there was a fan there that incited violence amongst our own fans. I don’t believe those people represent most of us. I was there with my five-year-old son and I’ve got someone who says they represent our club fighting, jumping three rows over, seriously fighting. And I’m telling you now that person will absolutely be nominated because he’s got a big mouth and a big social media presence. That’s not what this club is about. When I first started supporting this club we used to do open days up here and the kids used to come. We used to have fun days, and players like Troy, players like Etienne were up here and making themselves known. You don’t get any of that anymore. I can’t bring my kids to away games because I don’t know what I’m going into. I’m embarrassed. It’s a disgrace. This is not a family club anymore. At all. It’s toxic. Gino says he’s not on social media. You don’t need an account, you don’t need to make a comment but you perhaps need to read some of it, because some of it is vile. The way we tear each other down is a disgrace. We’re not the biggest fan group in the world but we’re so divisive at the moment. We can’t even agree on basic things. And that’s not nice. So many people are saying that they have season tickets for 20 years but they’re not renewing them. Because we’ve had three or four bad seasons you’re going to disappear? See you later. Don’t renew. Let someone else who is coming through, the next generation, have it. We can get back to what we had 10 years ago, but this club is horrible at the moment. [Applause]

Is that a reason to stop trying to find some way of formalised representation? I don’t know the person you’re talking in reference to. But I can’t believe we haven’t got enough well-meaning people.

It only takes one bad egg though.

The good eggs should outweigh the bad eggs. That’s the problem you’ve got. I was at the QPR game and no-one said a word. I got totally and utterly abused. Our own fans being vile to me. I don’t have to justify why I go to a game.

It doesn’t matter that I’m a female, I’m a football fan the same as you. My football family should not be treating me the way I’ve been treated. And I’m not the only person here. It is toxic. It’s horrible. I want to love my club. I don’t love my club and I know I’m not the only one here that feels like that, and I’m really glad you’ve spoken out. We have got a problem. I’ve tried to report it to the club, other people have tried to report it to the club. Nothing has been done. We don’t have a strong enough supporter liaison officer, I feel really strongly about that. I run a regional supporters club, I’m sorry but I do. We have a brilliant family there of groups already set up. We are really active. We communicate with our members. We need you to communicate with us and we’ll communicate with the members. Use us, we want the club to be good. That’s what you have to see here, everybody wants to love the club. We want to love you, but it’s really hard when you keep us at arms length. Sorry, I feel quite emotional.

I’ve got a lot of sympathy for that as I’m a Women of Watford representative and I have noticed that the hatred among the fanbase has got worse over the last few years. I go to every away game. QPR was the only game I’ve missed this season. Here’s an issue you do need to deal with. But my question actually was another financial one. In the June 22 accounts, there was a large short-term net debt where the creditors had to paid within the year that was £122.7m. That was only partially offset by the debtors which was £40.3m. So from what you’re saying that’s all been satisfied now?

SD: “Emiliano?”

[Microphone taken to Finance Director, Emiliano Russo]

ER: “As Scott said the club is in a really strong financial position, and it’s getting better and better. It’s a very stable club and I wouldn’t be concerned about a snapshot taken at a point in time a year ago, because it’s an outdated picture and we are proving that we are doing well and meeting all our challenges.”

The mention of the family club – I want to say how well we do, in my opinion. We’ve had family days down at Reading where we’ve had bouncy castles, and we’ve been down to the trampoline park. So it is still there, we are still a family club. But having said that I haven’t seen any mention of the family day this year, which we’ve had for a number of years in the dome. I just wondered if we’ll be doing that again this year?

[Family day date confirmed as August 1]

I think what this shows is it doesn’t have to be only but also. Anything we can do to make people feel part of the club. If you are part of the club, the whole club is benefitting. Every single one of these things we do hopefully brings us closer.