The media and football supporters: a changing relationship

The research presented in this article The development of ‘new’ media at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s has radically the relationship between the media and football supporters. Firstly, a growth in sources created a very competitive media environment and, secondly, led to greater between the media and its audience. Drawing on forty seven semi-structured with media personnel and eight hundred and twenty seven questionnaires by supporters at four football clubs, this article assesses how fans consume the media sources that now exist and the level of involvement for supporters in the media. results indicated a balance of consumption between ‘old’ and ‘new’ media as well as the contrasting strategies each media source had put in place to involve. The article concludes by suggesting that there remains a place for those media which involve their target audience.