ABSTRACT
Introduction During the latter decades of the twentieth century hundreds of football clubs in the United Kingdom were the bene ciaries of substantial charitable investment that enabled them to drastically improve the quality of the infrastructure of stadiums and ensure greater levels of spectator safety and comfort. As a consequence, and notwithstanding obvious di erences between top- ight and grass-roots spaces, or that many advancements may go unnoticed, football fans today now enjoy a standard of match-day experience considerably better than that available just a generation prior (Kelly, 1999; King, 1998; Turner, 2014). The impetus for developing club facilities and providing satisfactory spectatorship experiences was not, however, primarily or exclusively borne out of commercial imperatives or private interests. Though, admittedly, since the advent and success of the Premier League from 1992 over the last two decades or so these have come to envelope the game and commodi cation of spectator culture (Turner, 2014; Ward and Williams, 2009). Rather, calls to implement fundamental institutional changes across all levels of the football spectrum were precipitated earlier by a series of events (some of which were fatal) that heightened concern among the public, media, government and wider football fraternity about the state of the game, its patronage and its future. Foremost of which was the Ibrox stadium disaster in 1971 and subsequent Wheatley report detailed shortly (Wheatley, 1972). Although not the rst tragedy in the game, the incident and report led to pointed criticism of the football industry and its stakeholders; namely, in failing to protect the interests, safety and needs of its consumers upon which its success ultimately depended. The report also raised broader questions about the image and reputation of spectator culture (and in particular its allegedly predominant hooligan undertones). The eventual by-product of this consternation was speci c legislative change, and the formation of the Football Trust to oversee extensive rejuvenation of football’s infrastructure, but also, restoration of its public image and broader social and civic value.
