LIVERPOOL Football Club announced on Wednesday the establishment of a supporters board, which aims to increase supporter involvement in “key strategic decisions,” including issues such as match-day experience and ticketing.

Clubs at the top level of the sport, including Liverpool, have been heavily criticised in recent years for their lack of consultation with fans on the non-sporting side of the game.

It’s a sign that Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), have learned from past mistakes, many, probably all of which could have been avoided with prior consultation with the key stakeholder at a football club: the supporters.

In April 2021, following the Super League fiasco involving numerous clubs across Europe, Spion Kop 1906, who organise many of the flags, banners and displays seen on the Kop end at Anfield, called for FSG to speak to fans in order to prevent similar blunders from occurring in the future.

“We urge you to get around the table with fan groups,” Spion Kop 1906 said at the time.

“We urge you to listen, and we are calling for fan representation on the board to prevent further mistakes.”

And it seems the club and FSG have listened. It remains to be seen how fruitful this partnership will be and how much say the supporters board will have, but the fact it is a legally binding commitment is encouraging and suggests it will last even beyond the current ownership.

This isn’t about transfer policy, team tactics or team selection. It’s about fans having a say in how a club is run, its culture and its identity, and being able to influence or even initiate important off-field decisions.

Supporter consultation and dialogue have been attempted with varying degrees of success in the past with initiatives such as the fans’ forum and supporters’ committee, but this new supporters board will build on that and will be enshrined in the club’s articles of association.

“It is a legally binding commitment from Liverpool FC to structure strategic engagement with supporters, strengthen dialogue and increase fan involvement in decision-making processes, all of which is integral [to] future-proofing the club,” read a club statement on Wednesday.

“Liverpool FC has committed to consult and engage with fans on key strategic issues such as match-day experience, ticketing arrangements and to give fans consent over two heritage items.

“The supporters board representatives are obliged to represent everyone within the club’s diverse fanbase in this engagement process and have been elected from organised Liverpool FC fan groups.”

Liverpool FC, like many clubs, can benefit from the experience and knowledge of an already organised fan base, should they choose to use it.

For example, there is already a supporters’ union for Liverpool fans — Spirit of Shankly (SOS) — formed in 2008.

It is difficult to reshape the huge clubs at the top level of the game from private ownership to the collective fan ownership seen at some clubs lower down the football pyramid or elsewhere in Europe.

So in order to have their say or their vote, fans have had to look for other ways to get involved.

The political nous of a group such as SOS in a politically active city such as Liverpool means they are ideally positioned to guide the club in this manner.

They can hold the club’s owners to account and represent the supporters in the same way traditional trade unions represent workers.

“Being a ‘union’ was a deliberate decision when SOS was founded,” tweeted former SOS chair Jay McKenna following Wednesday’s announcement.

“This agreement is the closest to a recognition agreement you will get, really, and something that should be celebrated.

“A voice for supporters to help keep the club pointing in the right direction.”

The supporters board contains representatives from various groups and backgrounds in an attempt to represent a diverse, global fanbase.

One of these groups is the Liverpool LGBT+ fans group, Kop Outs, who welcomed the move.

“Kop Outs are really pleased that the next iteration of fan engagement with Liverpool FC is building on the progress achieved through the supporters committee, the fans forum,” they said.

“To have this embedded in the constitution of the club is an absolute game changer.”

It’s a bold move from a club and ownership that has always seemed at least willing to listen to fans and go back on the poor decisions made previously, not least during the Super League saga.

This new set-up should mean fewer of those poor decisions are made in the first place. In many ways, and if they really want it to, it will assist the owners themselves with the running of the club, and is another step towards fans having a meaningful say.

It should work towards retaining the club’s identity, ensuring the local fanbase and city that gives it that identity, and the global fanbase that greatly contributes to it, have representation at a decision-making level.