A good line up on paper? Do English football club annual reports meet supporters' downward accountability needs?

Purpose – This paper explores the views of English football supporter representatives as to whether English clubs' annual reports meet the downward accountability requirements of supporters. We first investigate the accountability requirements of supporters, before assessing current reporting praxis against these needs. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes an inductive explorative enquiry approach, utilising focus groups to assess the views of informed supporter representatives at national and club level on the content of a sample of annual reports representing clubs from across the English Football League. Findings – We find that current reporting practice does not meet supporter representatives' expectations due to opaqueness, limited relevant information, weaknesses in report format, image management and standardisation of reports that do not align with the distinctiveness of the football industry. Practical implications – By adopting the recommendations of this paper, clubs can become more downwardly accountable to supporters, better reflecting their unique relationship with their clubs. Findings may also inform governing bodies and regulators as to the requirement for transparency and downward accountability from clubs to supporters and to the importance of embedding this in codes of practice or governance. Social implications – In adopting more holistic forms of accountability, supporters and wider society will be better informed of the role played by clubs in communities and of the challenges they face. Originality/value – This paper is the first to undertake an in-depth empirical investigation into relevance of clubs' annual reporting to one of their primary stakeholder groups: supporters.