Following Liverpool Football Club’s (LFC) announcement yesterday about their ‘new supporter liaison and engagement process’ – the result of an independent study undertaken by research company, Populus, Spirit of Shankly is releasing its own, separately commissioned report in order to help to inform the process.

We are pleased that the club has been openly prepared to examine practices and culture in this area, particularly using external expertise. That should be acknowledged and commended. We also believe that more clubs should consider similar exercises.

Spirit Of Shankly was made aware of the Populus review and our Chair was interviewed as part of this process. We felt it would however be helpful to our members, and the wider LFC fanbase, to receive a copy of their own, separately commissioned report on the issue.

Our report, undertaken by Kevin Rye, a consultant and expert in the field of supporter engagement & communications, establishes SOS’s own specific position as a supporters’ trust on the issues concerned.

We hope that the report, which has been sent to both LFC and Populus is seen as a constructive move by all concerned, and we look forward to discussing it further, both with members, supporters and LFC.

To download a copy of the report, click here.

To read more about the work of Kevin Rye, go to his website