Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – Blackburn Rovers & The Glazers
Every week we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.
HIT - BLACKBURN ROVERS
As we said last week, football clubs are pillars of the community and need to set an example both on and off the pitch.
The beautiful game is increasingly becoming more inclusive, thankfully, and barriers are being broken down. This is long overdue and there is still a long way to go, but clubs and governing bodies alike are finally helping minority communities access and feel welcome at clubs.
Blackburn Rovers are one such club who have actively looked to include everyone from all walks of life in their community.
Their latest initiative has seen them provide access to prayer space for Muslim fans to observe Maghrib Salaah during their Carabao Cup fixture against Hartlepool.
As one of the five daily prayers in the Islamic faith, Maghrib forms a crucial part of any practicing Muslim’s life, something Blackburn recognised by providing a safe and all-encompassing space for prayer to take place at Ewood Park.
Ahead of the game, the Championship club tweeted: “Muslim supporters attending our home game against @Official_HUFC this Wednesday, we understand you will need to observe Maghrib Salaah (Sunset Prayer) at 8:55pm.
“Season Ticket Holder, Hafiz Zayd will be leading the prayer at 8:55pm. Our multi-faith room in the Blackburn End won’t be available for this match only. You'll be directed to the lounge in the Jack Walker Stand if you wish to observe your Maghrib Salaah during the second half.
“All adult Muslims have to observe 5 obligatory prayers every day. For our Muslim supporters we understand observing their prayers is a necessity and we are proud to be able to have the provisions in place to provide this during any event at Ewood Park.”
The extra detail about the significance of the prayers highlights Blackburn’s will to educate non-Muslim fans, which also helps to break down barriers.
Blackburn’s Integration and Business Development manager Yasir Sufi was appointed by the club in 2020 to develop links with the Asian community. Speaking ahead of the tie against Hartlepool, he said: "One thing that we've been very proud of is the fact that we are a diverse football town, we have a diverse supporter base, and we have to be able to reach out to all of them.
"As a Muslim, when you're attending any event, you're always looking at how it affects your day-to-day religious requirements.
"So, one of the things we introduced last season was that anyone coming to any event at Ewood Park was able to take care of their namaz and salah.”
It is not the first time the football club has been lauded for finding ways to welcome local Muslims, who form around 30% of the population.
This year, Rovers made history when they became the first British club to host Eid salah on their pitch. Hundreds of people congregated at Ewood Park to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan – the club even provided complimentary travel as well as food and refreshments.
It’s not just allowing access to pray, Blackburn have a history of paving the way for inclusivity and breaking down barriers that football once had in place against its Muslim supporters.
They were the first club to accommodate their fans with a multi-faith prayer room in 2008, which was remodelled a decade later. Before then, the fans had to make do.
Rovers were awarded the EFL’s first ever diversity award back in April this year, that celebrates and recognises excellence in equality, diversity and inclusion, in recognition of their Ewood Express initiative.
They provide a bus service for children to be collected directly from their school, mosque or community group to attend home matches, ensuring 2,700 children visited Ewood Park last season that would otherwise have been unable to attend.
On top of this initiative – just two months ago – the club welcomed 67 children, aged six to eight, of South Asian heritage to their academy in a talent ID initiative with the PFA in a bid to help representation in England.
Blackburn have a legacy of inclusivity and pioneering new ways to combat discrimination through education and a whole host of initiatives to benefit their Muslim community.
Football is a game for everyone, regardless of what faith fans belong to, and Blackburn are leading the way with their efforts to make sure a huge part of their community feels welcomed and respected.
MISS – THE GLAZERS
The importance of good communication for any organisation is vital for its success.
In sport, stakeholders include the fans or followers of your club or sport so that they understand your approach and ambitions.
The Glazer family have owned arguably the biggest football club in England, Manchester United, since 2005, but rarely communicate with the fans.
In June 2005, Joel Glazer said: “Fans are the lifeblood of the club. People want to know what’s happening. We will be communicating.” They have not kept their word.
There was a growing concern that the Glazer family would not only take control of the club but also plunge it into debt, prompting supporters to protest and Shareholders United, which was set up to oppose the BSkyB takeover six years earlier, led the way once again.
By the time patriarch Malcolm Glazer had completed his hostile takeover thanks to the expensive hedge-fund loans, the club gained £660million of debt and its average annual interest payments grew to £95million, more than a third of their annual revenues.
In protest to the new ownership, some fans set up their own club, FC United of Manchester.
Thanks to the genius of manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the squad he built before the Glazers arrived, United remained competitive, but between 2005 and 2013, United’s rivals caught up with the Red Devils having a net spend of just £164m across eight years – which works out at just over £20m per season. By comparison, Manchester City had a net spend of £466m over the same period.
Even Old Trafford had suffered, the iconic stadium now an ageing shell with a leaky roof and rodent issues among the problems fans have faced.
When Ferguson retired, the team stopped winning with managers such as Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho failing to recapture the glory days despite their credentials.
Since 2013, United have recruited again, with more than £1bn spent on transfer fees, but with no clear strategy and a regular change of manager, new recruits appear to be either panic buys, convenience or a big name to sell shirts.
Things got so bad that a fan protest led to the postponement in 2021 of arguably United’s biggest match of the season, the North West derby against Liverpool, with Old Trafford stormed and thousands more supporters blocking access to demand the Glazers sell the club.
In the aftermath of the abortive European Super League last year, executive vice-chairman Joel Glazer conceded that his family’s silence has given fans the impression that they do not care about the club.
In a two-hour meeting with the club’s Fans’ Forum – arranged following the fallout of the European Super League – he said: “We always took the approach that we should stay in the background [and] let the manager, the players, the people at Old Trafford, be the ones out in front, communicating and talking.
“In retrospect, that was not the right approach and there’s a middle ground.
“Our silence wrongly created the impression that we don’t care, that we aren’t football fans, that we only care about our commercial interests and money. I can assure you nothing could be further from the truth.”
And yet the silences have continued.
A recent report by Deloitte showed that the Glazers were the only Premier League owners to take dividends out of the club, with new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly impelled to include 'anti-Glazer clauses' to stop him taking dividends out of the Blues for a decade.
At the start of the 2022-23 season, United found themselves sitting in the Premier League relegation zone with two losses, one at home to Brighton coupled with a humiliating 4-0 defeat away to Brentford.
That Brentford defeat moved the Manchester United Supporters Trust to release a firm statement which said: “As we’ve always said, a fish rots from the head. And the ultimate responsibility for the terrible state of our football club must lie with its owners, the Glazer family.
“It is now for them and their management team to explain to United fans just why we are in this state, and what they are going to do about it. We’ve had some difficult times in the last decade, but this really does feel like rock bottom.”
“We’re being asked a lot about protests at upcoming games (including Liverpool) and as we have always said we will publicise any credible, lawful and peaceful protest so that our members have the information and can make their own decision as to whether they wish to take part.”
New manager Erik ten Hag is already under pressure to overhaul the squad, having recruited Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia for a combined £62m, with Christian Eriksen arriving as a free agent.
Having shocked the football world when they re-signed Cristiano Ronaldo at the start of last season, the Portuguese international wants to leave so he can play Champions League football.
Ronaldo has said he will soon reveal "the truth" about his future after reading so many "lies" this summer, which hardly helps the feeling of crisis surrounding the club.
United legend Gary Neville, who accrued over 600 appearances at the club, winning 23 major trophies, has not held back in an explosive rant on the sorry state of affairs of his former club.
He said: “There is a family in America that is letting its employees take the blame. They need to get on a plane to Manchester and explain what the plan is. We never will have the Glazers here.
“The only money that has been spent on players has been generated by the club. The Glazers have borrowed and used the revenue the club generates through its amazing fanbase. Us four (pundits) could buy the club tomorrow and spend the same money.
“My point is there has been a toxic culture at this club for the last 10 years since Alex Ferguson and (CEO) David Gill left. It’s a mess. And it cannot continue to go on. The embedded failure over a ten-year period has to come back to the owner
“They haven’t dealt with the football ground which is rusting. They need a billion (pounds) for the stadium and probably a few hundred million for the training facilities.
“They were cash rich a few years ago now they’re struggling. Something has to give.”
The Glazers’ failure to address fan concerns or share a vision and strategy to make the club competitive for major trophies once again compounds fans’ frustrations and unsurprisingly, only 4% of Manchester United fans back the ownership of the Glazer family, according to a recent poll.
The 1958 group plan to stage a fresh protest against the ownership before arch-rivals Liverpool’s visit to Old Trafford on August 22.
A statement on the group’s website said: “For Liverpool, we will plant The 1958 flag at the trinity [statue] for those wanting to make a stand from 7.30pm. In support of match-going and non match-going fans who have made the journey to show their discontent against this failing ownership.
“We are all on the same side and it’s crucial the momentum and pressure is maintained above all else. This is a war not a battle, dig yourselves in and be prepared for the long haul.”
The Glazers are reportedly considering selling a minority stake in the club, but leaving new coach Ten Hag to address issues that go far beyond his tenure or responsibility only serves to nurture the toxic narrative surrounding the club.
With United’s status as one of the biggest clubs in the world enduring, it will be interesting to see whether the Glazers change their approach.
Clearly, no trophy in five years and a catalogue of strategic and communications disasters are creating headlines for all the wrong reasons.