A CROSS-CASE ANALYSIS ON MODELS OF FOOTBALL GOVERNANCE AND THE INFLUENCE OF SUPPORTER GROUPS Name: Mr Ian Gibson PhD University of Salford Salford Business School 2020 TABLE OF CONTENT TABLE OF CONTENT ......................................................................................................................................... I LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................ V LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................ VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................... VII DECLARATION .............................................................................................................................................. VIII ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................................... IX CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 1 1.0 RESEARCH BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE ............................................................................................ 1 1.1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS .......................................................................................................................... 11 1.2. RESEARCH AIM ..................................................................................................................................... 11 1.3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ......................................................................................................................... 11 1.4. OVERVIEW OF THE CHAPTERS ............................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER TWO - LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................. 13 2.0 CHAPTER INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 13 2.1 THE PRINCIPLES OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE.................................................................................... 13 2.2 THEORIES OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE.............................................................................................. 14 2.3 STAKEHOLDER THEORY OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE ....................................................................... 16 2.4 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND THE IDENTIFICATION OF STAKEHOLDERS........................................... 17 2.5 DO MODELS OF FOOTBALL GOVERNANCE DICTATE THE RELATIONSHIP SUPPORTERS HOLD WITH THEIR CLUBS? 18 2.6 DO SUPPORTERS REALLY MATTER TO THE WAY A FOOTBALL CLUBS GOVERN ITS BUSINESS? ........... 28 2.7 HOW DO MANAGERS IN FOOTBALL CLUBS CLASSIFY SUPPORTER GROUPS THAT REALLY COUNT? .... 30 2.8 A CRITIQUE ON STAKEHOLDER TYPOLOGIES IN FOOTBALL: THE CLASSIFICATION OR DECLASSIFICATION OF SUPPORTER GROUPS ...................................................................................................... 35 2.9 SUPPORTER PRESSURE AND EMBEDDEDNESS WITHIN FOOTBALL CLUBS .............................................. 36 2.10 CAN FOOTBALL CLUBS REALLY IGNORE GROUPS OF NON-STAKEHOLDER SUPPORTERS? ................... 37 2.11 CAN FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS INFLUENCE THEIR OWN STAKEHOLDER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE RISE OF SUPPORTER TRUSTS, ASSOCIATIONS AND GROUPS?........................................................................................... 38 2.12 CRITIQUING MODELS OF FOOTBALL GOVERNANCE AND THE ROLE OF SUPPORTER GROUPS ............... 39 2.13 FUTURE RESEARCH AGENDA ................................................................................................................ 41 CHAPTER THREE - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................................................. 42 3.0 CHAPTER INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 42 3.1 QUANTITATIVE V QUALITATIVE RESEARCH .......................................................................................... 42 3.2 ONTOLOGY CONSIDERATIONS ............................................................................................................... 44 3.3 EPISTEMOLOGY CONSIDERATIONS ........................................................................................................ 45 3.4 THEORETICAL DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH............................................................................................. 46 3.5 CASE STUDY APPROACH ....................................................................................................................... 46 3.6 MULTIPLE CASE STUDY APPROACH ...................................................................................................... 47 3.7 MULTIPLE CASES AS EVIDENCE ............................................................................................................ 48 3.8 CRITERIA FOR CASE SELECTION ............................................................................................................ 49 3.8.1 Club Selection from England’s Premier League ............................................................................. 50 3.8.2 Club Selection from Spain’s La Liga ............................................................................................... 52 3.8.3 Club Selection from Germany’s Bundesliga .................................................................................... 53 3.9 BUILDING THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .......................................................................................... 54 3.10 RECAP OF THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS .................................................................................................. 55 3.11 BUILDING AND PILOTING THE CASE STUDY PROTOCOL ........................................................................ 55 3.12 THE COLLECTION OF CASE EVIDENCE .................................................................................................. 57 3.12.1 Semi-Structured Interviews .......................................................................................................... 59 3.12.2 Documentation as Evidence ........................................................................................................ 61 i 3.12.3 Direct Observations ..................................................................................................................... 62 3.12.4 Secondary Sources of Evidence ................................................................................................... 63 3.12.5 Entering the Field ........................................................................................................................ 63 3.13 THEMATIC ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................ 64 3.13.1 Familiarising with the Data......................................................................................................... 65 3.13.2 Generating Initial Codes ............................................................................................................. 67 3.13.3 Searching for Themes .................................................................................................................. 69 3.13.4 Reviewing Themes ....................................................................................................................... 71 3.13.5 Defining and Naming Themes ..................................................................................................... 72 3.13.6 Writing of the Final Report.......................................................................................................... 74 3.14 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF CASE PROTOCOL ................................................................................. 74 3.14.1 Validity of the Research ............................................................................................................... 75 3.14.2 Reliability of the Research ........................................................................................................... 76 3.15 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ................................................................................................................... 76 CHAPTER FOUR - A CASE STUDY OF EVERTON FOOTBALL CLUB ................................................. 78 4.0 OVERVIEW OF THE CASE STUDY ........................................................................................................... 78 4.1 CASE PROTOCOL ................................................................................................................................... 78 4.2 THE HISTORY AND OWNERSHIP AT EVERTON FC ................................................................................. 79 4.3 THE PRINCIPLES OF EVERTON FC GOVERNANCE .................................................................................. 85 4.3.1 Constructing Governance at Everton FC ........................................................................................ 86 3.4.2 The Influence of Governance at Everton FC ................................................................................... 90 3.4.3 Future Challenges to the Governance