season-review-2013-14

ehind the scenesEngaging fans locallyIt was a hugely encouraging season for supporter numbers: more seats sold than ever with95.9% utilisation; a 3% increase in season ticket sales to 491,263; and a 2.8% rise in averageaway attendance.Premier League clubs worked harderthan ever to make fans welcome,from individual club schemes to theintroduction of the Away SupportersInitiative – that saw all Premier Leagueclubs commit to spending £200,000each per annum for three years onmaking the matchday experiencebetter for travelling fans. Here are sixof the best:Everton , s employeeengagementEverton truly engaged with theirsupporters – all 202 of their staffmembers attended at least two fanevents during the season.Stoke City drivingfree travelThe Potters introduced free coachtravel to all of their away matches– 10,731 supporters travelled fornothing over the season.Arsenal first fordisabled facilitiesArsenal became the first PremierLeague club to install a ChangingPlaces Toilet, which benefits moreseverely disabled supporters as theyare a much larger spaced facility.Swansea Cityrewarding fanloyaltySwansea was the king of offers –reciprocal ticket deals, free hats,scarves and programmes for fans attheir home matches, and free mealdeals for their away supporters.Cardiff City , sinformationmanagementCardiff City distributed over 27,000‘Away Fan Packs’ so that fans had allthe information they needed whenthey visited Wales. They also setup an official Twitter account foraway fans.Fulham , s Legendaryaway-dayFor their opening day trip toSunderland, Fulham’s sponsortreated 200 fans to free travel, anaway shirt, a pub lunch with Fulhamlegend Luis Boa Morte and a 1-0 win.24