This post is inspired by a piece from Mark Bradley in an issue of the FC Business magazine (p 46 - 47). 

The title of the piece: ‘The modern fan: is there such a thing?’, a very good question if you ask me. Nowadays, we’re ‘bombarded’ with the concept of the ‘modern fan’ or the ‘fan 2.0’ or whatever you would like to call it.

I took ‘The Modern Football fan 2.0’ from Copa90; in the introduction of their latest report you read this: “This is our second deep dive into the fast-paced, eclectic world of young football fans.” So modern fans are young fans?

You can read the report here: https://copa90.media/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ModernFanReport19.pdf some interesting points for sure.

In an article on CityAM called ‘Anatomy of a modern football fan: The evolving trends and tastes of the Premier League’s global following’ we read ‘Younger fans no longer see football as an isolated hobby but something that merges with lifestyle, fashion, music, film and gaming.’ Hence the partnership announcements you saw from the likes of Manchester United in the last years, for instance back in 2016 with 20th Century Fox: https://www.ft.com/content/4dee5100-cc2d-11e5-a8ef-ea66e967dd44 

As pointed out in the article from Mark and also on CityAM, there’s a blurring line as young fans now make little distinction between different forms of football – even including gaming. 

An important aspect to point out is - and it’s also indicated in the Copa90 report - that you have quite some cultural differences, looking at China, USA or the UK, they all have their preferences and of course also when just looking at one country, it will never be a clear picture.

The 2.0 seems like a reference to technology and all the second screens and digital aspects surrounding a game. So if you use apps and new technology, you’re a modern fan? And if not, what are you then, a traditional fan? Or is there another word, just a fan? And if I use one platform and my friend three platforms, he’s a ‘more modern’ fan than me?

When you search on articles or content for the modern football fan you go back 3-4-5 years, so it’s not a new concept and which terms will you use in the future? A modern football fan 5 years ago was described differently than how we describe them now. The world is changing, football is changing, technology is changing, people are changing, it all seems like a logical never ending cyclus, something we're used to.

If you dig deeper and deeper you will see that you will find another new layer giving just another aspect to that general definition.

So should you ignore the small examples given here? Of course not, I'm just questioning general descriptions like ‘modern fans’ or ‘traditional fans’ or even ‘young fans’. Basically, they’re saying nothing, because if you dig deeper and deeper you will see that you will find another new layer giving just another aspect to that general definition. The most important lesson is that you should know and understand your fans. Fan x is interested in consuming your content in that way (meaning that you need to find this), can you offer that as a club and can you define others you can put in a group with fan x? 

Trends are important to follow, but don’t just do it because a report is saying that 45% of the respondents on a survey from one medium concludes that modern fans want to get funny memes. It’s about what you should do to serve your fans (read: the different segments) in the best possible way with content and initiatives - both online and offline - they want and are looking for.

So how do you look at this?