Carlisle United are delighted to be ranked among England’s best-run clubs, according to the Fair Game Index.
United are listed as the 3rd highest club in League One and the 6th highest in the entire EFL.
The Fair Game Index is a comprehensive independent survey of football governance that assessment rates and benchmarks each club for financial sustainability, good governance, equality standards and fan engagement.
It looks to highlight well run clubs and reviewed 92 clubs, the top four men’s divisions in England plus all the clubs in the National League, National League North and National League South and all the clubs in the top four divisions in Scotland - a total of 206 clubs.
Carlisle achieved an overall score of 57.0 and scored well across the board but ranked particularly high when it comes to financial sustainability, where we scored 31.5, ranking us 3rd in the EFL and in the top 5 of the entire report.
It’s the latest good news for United from independent bodies who scrutinise and monitor clubs’ operations off-the-field. It comes after :
- We were recently ranked 2nd place in English football when it comes to fan engagement, in the latest independent rankings by Think Fan Engagement https://www.carlisleunited.co.uk/news/united-score-top-marks-fan-engagement-again-and-win-gold-award
- The club achieved the EFL Family Excellence Silver Award for the 2023/24 campaign as we ranked 14th out of the 72 in the EFL for the quality of our match experience across a range of touchpoints including ticket purchase, matchday entertainment, accessibility, facilities and communications https://www.carlisleunited.co.uk/news/2024/may/efl-family-excellence-award2
Chief Executive Nigel Clibbens said: “We pride ourselves on good governance, with a key focus on sustainability, strong fan engagement and working hard for our community - we are delighted to have been recognised and to score highly.
“This makes a hat-trick of great assessments about the work the club does off-the-field coming after our best ever result with the EFL Silver Award and the 2nd place finish in the Fan Engagement Index.
“All three are independent reviews of what we and other clubs do. It shows the continuing improvements and hard work that goes on behind-the-scenes, week in and week out. It once again brings huge credit to all the staff. It’s great for all their work to be recognised again.
“We are still continually seeking to improve, and this independent benchmarking and unbiased feedback is very valuable in giving recommendations and ideas. It also allows us to see how we compare from year-to-year and with other clubs.
“We welcome Fair Game’s work in highlighting the issues faced by football and also the important role all clubs can play in operating sustainably to ensure they remain at the heart of communities, making a difference, so fans can enjoy for many generations to come.”
About Fair Game
Fairs Game support the view that the financial gap between the divisions has been growing wider and wider over the last 20 years. The temptation at all levels is to overspend to compete. That culture needs to change.
Fair Game has been campaigning for better governance in football and has been supporting legislation for a new independent regulator.
Fair Game believes that football's financial flow needs to reward well-run clubs.
The Fair Game Index
The data for the index comes from publicly available sources and 226 specific points are assessed.
Each club is scored out of 100 (with 40 marks coming from financial sustainability, 30 from good governance, 20 from equality and ethical standards and 10 from fan and community engagement):
• Financial Sustainability includes 38 touchpoints and includes measures such as accounting, debt, ticket pricing and sponsorship.
• Good Governance draws on 55 different metrics and covers areas such as board structure, accountability and transparency.
• Equality and Ethical Standards has the most touchpoints - 106 - and covers a very broad range of topics from ethics to sexism, and from environmental impact to racism.
• Fan and Community Engagement has 30 touchpoints, including fan representation and community investment
Click here to see the full results https://www.fairgameuk.org/fair-game-index-2024
United has supported Fair Game since its launch in 2021. https://www.carlisleunited.co.uk/news/2021/september/fair-game-new-path-for-future-set-at-prestigious-launch-event
