Fan engagement
Lincoln City’s board have a vision to be a club fans can be proud of with a mission to retain and grow the fanbase by forging a strong emotional connection through our values, quality of communication and by delivering positive experiences.
Fan engagement is a key element of the football club and we are always looking to maintain and improve two-way dialogue between supporters and the club, working together to drive the club forward and be as transparent and open with communication as we can be.
Fan engagement from the boardroom
In the summer of 2023 the club’s board approved the role of a Fan Engagement Director (FED), with David Lowes taking on the role.
The key responsibilities of the FED are...
- Steering the Fan-Led Review working group from recommendation through to implementation.
- Liaising with the Red Imps Community Trust to align strategy and plans as holders of the golden share.
- Membership of the Fan Advisory Board (FAB) with a focus on effectiveness.
- Encouraging a culture of fan engagement throughout the club
- Ensuring true representation of our fanbase in engagement
- Annual Fan Engagement Plan (FEP) presented to board*
- Preparation, presentation, and communication of an annual board Fan Engagement Report, outlining the engagement activities undertaken and key issues / concerns raised from fans in that season.
- Summary statement on fan engagement for annual report
- Support a communication approach that is transparent, informative, accurate and timely.
- To learn and to develop our approach to fan engagement.
Lincoln City have two supporter representatives on the board to represent the wider supporter base in the boardroom who are Phil Scrafton and Amanda-Jane Slater.
Customer charter:
Click HERE to view our customer charter.
Fan engagement plan 2024/25:
The club is proud to publish our Fan Engagement Plan 2024/25 which can be viewed HERE.
Club board meetings:
Over recent years we have made a concerted effort to keep supporters up to date with the current developments at the club from those in power. This includes the publication of a summary of the club board meetings, as seen below.
Fan-Led Review
Fan engagement is a long-term focus of the club and concerted efforts have led to good progress being made with our recent achievement of the EFL Gold award for Family Excellence as an example. This commitment to run the club with a strong consideration for fan interests is why Lincoln City saw the Fan-Led Review as an opportunity and sought to engage with our fans proactively back in September 2022 through an FLR Working Group.
Further information on who is involved in this process and the stages it has been through can be found on the links below.
FLR updates:
Through this process, the club’s board have committed to supporting and facilitating the re-launch of the shadow supporters board into the Fan Advisory Board and the issuing of a Golden Share, to be known as the Fans Share. These are part of the seven commitments made by the Lincoln City board of directors.
Fan Advisory Board
Since being created in 2018 the Fan Advisory Board (formerly the Supporters Board) has deservedly provided the fans of Lincoln City Football Club with a voice on key non-football matters including finance and strategy which is listened to by the club's hierarchy who regularly use our input and views to steer their decision making on matters which have included seasonal membership pricing, heritage items, club branding, stadium developments, potential new investment and playing kit designs.
The formation of Fan Advisory or Shadow Boards was one of the key recommendations of the Tracey Crouch Fan Led Review in 2022. We were already in a strong position at our club with an established Supporters Board in place as part of the excellent fan and community engagement which our club board value highly and we all continue to enjoy.
Fans of all sporting clubs deserve to have input into the running of their club together with an opportunity to question and challenge decisions when necessary. Our Fan Advisory Board provides an effective means of achieving this at Lincoln City Football Club whilst further strengthening fan engagement at our club.
Our Fan Advisory Board consists of a diverse group of twelve independent supporters representing our club's fanbase who regularly meet with the club's decision makers. We changed our name to the Fan Advisory Board in September 2023 to reflect our implementation of the recommendations (and more) of the government's 2023 White Paper (on reforming football governance to ensure the financial sustainability for all clubs in the football pyramid) following which we took the opportunity to review and strengthen our own structure, constitution, Memorandum Of Understanding with our club and democratic election process all of which together with profiles of our members and agendas and minutes from our previous meetings can be found below.
Please get in touch with us by emailing fabchair@theredimps.com if you would like us to discuss any off-field matter with the club.
Fan engagement has never been stronger in the long history of Lincoln City Football Club than it is now and long may it continue.
Tony Smith - Chair of the Fan Advisory Board.
To view information on the Fan Advisory Board, their member bios and constitution click HERE.
Red Imps Community Trust
As a community benefit society the Red Imps Community Trust (RICT) have the relevant governance and representation and governance in place for the club board to issue the Fans Share through a memorandum of understanding which was finalised in February 2024 and can be seen HERE.
Lincoln City Foundation and the Lincoln City Former Players Association are represented on the RICT Board with members and bios available HERE.
Senior representatives of the club including the CEO, FED and head of supporter services meet regularly with the RICT, Foundation and FPA with the latest meeting minutes listed below.
Dialogue with wider groups of representatives
We regularly meet with external supporters groups to hear their views and update on relevant club matters. We have also supported and facilitated supporter-led projects to create new supporters groups such as a new disabled supporters association event as reported on.
Links to a number of various Lincoln City Supporters Groups and websites from across the world can be found HERE and we would always welcome supporters to get in touch to help facilitate new independent supporter groups by completing our feedback form HERE.
Fans forum
The club are committed to hosting a minimum of two fans forum every season with representatives from the board of directors, first-team and senior staff available to answer questions from the floor as well as those submitted in advance of the evening via email or social media.
Video’s from the latest fans forums can be found below:
General dialogue with supporters
Supporters can contact the different parts of the club with details HERE and we would encourage all supporters to fill in the feedback form HERE to voice their thoughts on any aspect of the club which is then used to help aid fan-led and informed decisions on a range of relevant topics.
We also send out post-match surveys after each fixture to a selection of supporters with several fixtures a season where it is sent to all attendees.
In addition to the match-by-match survey, we send out an annual survey to our database to collect a variety of information and feedback on the club. This feedback contributes to changes the club make year-on-year,
Fan Guides
Lincoln City are one of the leading clubs in the country for family excellence and are extremely proud to be one of the few that hold a gold standard for this.
From football sessions on the 3G AstroTurf, to inflatable challenges ran by Lincoln City Foundation, games in Poacher’s Den and the vibrant University of Lincoln Fan Village with local produce and premium drinks there is something for everyone to enjoy on our matchdays.
We welcome you to watch our games in a way which suits you by choosing between our dedicated family stands, a safe standing block, or in our accessible areas for disabled supporters.
Supporter liaison officer (SLO)
Our SLO lead is Alan Long and he is supported by a matchday SLO team at both home and away fixtures. Alan can be contacted via email on slo@theredimps.com.
The SLO team are on hand to elevate the matchday experience for supporters with some examples of what they do, providing moments of magic.
Disability liaison officer (DLO)
Heidi Langham is our Disability Liaison Officer and is available to help anyone with access needs or questions. She can be found at the SLO desk on a matchday from 12.30pm onwards while she can be contacted in advance via email on dlo@theredimps.com.
E-communications
Email newsletters and important information form the main part of regular outgoing communications, sent via the club, which includes a weekly newsletter round up every Thursday. Supporters have the option to opt in or out of different areas of the club and Foundation at any point.
The official website is the main platform for sharing information while the communications team also post regular updates on our various social media channels.