In January 2008, an internet-based company, MyFootballClub (MyFC), completed the purchase of Ebbsfl eet United, a small English football team playing in the nonprofessional Blue Square Premier League. The company ' s plan was to attempt a revolutionary management structure where fans, paying an affordable annual membership fee, could take over ownership of the club and, through democratic online voting, make every major decision concerning the club, from team selection to choosing sponsorship deals. This paper will present a case study of MyFC and examine how the organisation was formed, how it is organised and how it is managed. It starts by outlining the project background. The following section relates the objectives, which are split between tactical and general. A description of the strategy adopted by the team running the project and the tactics will follow. In the next section, the results achieved by MyFC will be presented, followed by a conclusion. We acknowledge that the project presents an evolution and a new alternative in terms of football clubs ownership. On the other hand, although the project can be deemed fairly successful in the short term, attention needs to be given in the long term to some manifestations of the members of the community.

Acknowledgments (if applicable):N/A Biographical Details:Guilherme Guimarães is currently a partner at Ativa Esporte, a sport marketing consultancy, and Director Rio/Sports at the British Council. Following the completion of his MSc at the 2 University of Sheffield as a Chevening scholar, he moved back to Brazil. There, as a Sponsorship Manager for the bid committee and the Brazilian Olympic Committee, he helped Brazil secure the 2016 Olympics. Prior to that he contributed to different companies, such as Unilever, Nestlé, And1, among others, either as an employee or as a provider, totalling more than 15 years of experience. His research interests are around sport marketing and management, sponsorship activation and the effect of new social media in sports.Dr Chris Stride is an applied statistician based at the Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield, but publishing across a wide range of social science disciplines. He is particularly interested in the use of statistical methods to support and add rigour to research in areas where advanced quantitative analysis would traditionally be considered an anathema. Current personal research interests include cheating and ethics in football, the effects of residential and environmental design upon occupant's well-being, and commemorative cultures and nostalgic branding in sport and leisure.Dr Daragh O'Reilly is a lecturer in marketing at the Sheffield University Management School.His research interest is in the relationship between markets, culture and consumption, with a particular focus on brands and culture. Structured Abstract:Purpose 3 The primary purpose of this paper is to link the notions of brand community, loyalty and promise as a reminder to marketers of the importance to brand communities of keeping their commercial promises. Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports on a questionnaire survey (n=500) of members of a sport brand community as part of an investigation into the relationship between brand community and brand loyalty. FindingsBrand loyalty was predicted by age, frequency of attendance, motivations for joining the brand community and the degree to which expectations built by the brand promise are met. Research limitations/implicationsIn common with many inquiries in the area of brand community, this is a single case study. It is primarily a cross-sectional study, with a minor longitudinal element. Practical implicationsBranding practitioners and consultants with responsibility for brand community management issues need to balance the consumer-to-consumer dimensions of community with a careful understanding and operationalisation of the brand promise. Originality/value (mandatory):4 This is the first paper to integrate the constructs of brand community and brand loyalty with that of brand promise. Keywords:Brand management, Brand community, brand loyalty, brand promise myfootballclub.co.uk Article Classification:Research paper 5 IntroductionIn 1973, Boorstin first put forward the notion of consumption communities (Friedman et al., 199...

The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging the growth and future of businesses globally and technological innovation, via digital means, has been identified as a key factor for brands to survive the pandemic. However, whilst the majority of decision-makers in sports clubs recognise the value of innovation, less than half have a clear strategy in this area generally let alone in digital innovation. This paper examines the opportunities and barriers for sporting brands in adopting digital innovations to engage fans.Using a branded fitness smartphone app as an example of a digital innovation to stimulate discussion, we interviewed 13 decision-makers in sport primarily working in marketing, communications and managerial roles within professional sports clubs.Following thematic analysis, the themes from the interview data were, perceived benefits, barriers to adoption, and overcoming barriers. The study also presents potential solutions to enable sports clubs to overcome such adoption barriers in the future. It provides important managerial and tactical recommendations to sports clubs. The need for a clear strategy for digital innovation is identified and we conclude that digital innovation is missing from typologies of sport innovation, reflective of its overlooked importance within the sector and call for greater recognition.