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The Best-Run Clubs In The UK 2024

08 Sep, 2024
The Best-Run Clubs In The UK 2024

In recent years, it has become abundantly clear that by investing in the right areas and running day-to-day operations with an intelligent long-term plan in mind, professional football clubs can punch well above their weight. The success of teams like Brentford and Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League — with these two sides repeatedly competing against wealthy teams using squads assembled with a fraction of the budget  — has highlighted why it's so important to be a 'well-run club'.

But what exactly is a well-run football club? A wide range of different factors come into play when we analyse this issue, including recruitment strategy, Academy structures and youth player policy, finances and governance, commercial dealings and ethical concerns like player and staff welfare. In response to growing concern about the way the English football pyramid is structured, the inequalities between rich and poor clubs, and ongoing debates about the best way to run a football club, the Fair Game Index was set up to rank the best-run clubs in the UK. Recently, the organisation published its findings for 2024, and in this article we'll be breaking them down and detailing which is the best-run team in the UK, according to this report.

What Is The Fair Game Index?

Fair Game UK is an organisation that represents a group of football clubs dedicated to fairer governance and greater openness and transparency across the English football pyramid. Fair Game are "led by clubs, supported by experts and backed by politicians", their principle goal being to facilitate "constructive engagement with football clubs and authorities" that can help bring about position change to the way football is structured in this country. 

Representing progressive clubs such as Luton Town, Cambridge United, AFC Wimbledon, and Lincoln City, Fair Game attempt to incentivise clubs to embrace efficient and sustainable practices rather than spending irresponsibly to chase success. One of the key ways they have aimed to do this is by developing the Fair Game Index, an annual report on the best-run clubs in the country that ranks clubs on a range of key performance indicators.

How Does The Fair Game Index Rank Clubs?

A huge amount of research goes into Fair Game's annual Index; the organisation conducts its own surveys and also utilises information published on subjects like the Owners and Directors Test, Good Governance, Environmental Sustainability, Gender Inequality, and football’s failed financial flow. Experts like UCFB lecturer Adam Davis and director of Goal Assist Joshua Price are brought in to help with data collection and a wide range of clubs, supporters groups, academics, and industry professionals are consulted about the 226 'touchpoints' that each club is ranked on. Those touchpoints are:

  • Financial Sustainability: worth 40% of the total points available, this category takes into account issues like accounting, debt, sponsorship and ticket pricing.

  • Good Governance: here, 55 metrics including board structure, accountability and transparency are considered, with each club's rating representing 30% of their total score.

  • Fan and Community Engagement: fan representation and community are a key part of how each club is judged, and there are 30 touchpoints here which represent 20% of the total club score.

  • Equality and Ethical Standards: there are more touchpoints in this category than any other, with issues like ethics, sexism, racism and the environment all taken into account to determine a club's equality and ethical standards rating.

The Top 12 Best-Run Clubs In The UK 2024

"This year, several overall themes have emerged," said Fair Game UK CEO Niall Couper on the new 2024 report. "Financial sustainability goes hand in hand with good governance and fan engagement; football's financial flow is undermining sustainability; and equality and ethical standards are on average treated as lip service."

However, certain clubs appear to be bucking the trend and attempting to do things right, according to the study. Below, you'll find a list of the top 12 best-ranked teams in the Fair Game Index 2024.

#12. Norwich City (59.4)

With an overall score of 59.4, the EFL Championship's highest-performing club was Norwich City, who performed particularly well on the Good Governance metrics. The report describes the Norfolk club as "a shining light in the Championship with the league's highest score in good governance, fan engagement, equality standards and overall." England's second tier is known to encourage dangerous financial gambles, but in recent years the Canaries have resisted the temptation to spend beyond their means in attempts to establish themselves in the Premier League, and Fair Game has recognised that sustainable long-term vision.

#11. Brentford (60.2)

West London side Brentford are widely recognised as a club that does things the right way. From their innovative use of set pieces to their broader data-led approach to match preparation, their recent investment into new training ground facilities to their outside-the-box player recruitment, the Bees have consistently been ahead of the curve. And in the 2024 Fair Game Index, those efforts have been rewarded; they're the third-best-performing Premier League team in the report, with a total score of 60.2.

#10. Cambridge United (60.3)

In recent seasons Cambridge United have flirted with relegation from League One to England's fourth tier, but in terms of sustainable and sensible practices they're right up there with the best in the country. On fan and community engagement, Cambridge are especially strong, with a score of 6.7 out of 10 on this front.

#9. Kilmarnock (61.7)

Back in 2022, part-time club Arbroath were beaten to promotion to the Scottish top flight by Kilmarnock, due in part to the clever strategising and general good governance of the latter club. The 2024 Fair Game Index has recognised Kilmarnock's sustainable operations, rewarding it with an overall score of 61.7 and a financial sustainability score of 32.8 out of 40.

#8. Motherwell (62.2)

Scottish Premiership side Motherwell transferred into a fan ownership model back in 2016, in a seismic move that saw the Fir Park club become the first top-flight club in Scotland to be owned by the fans. This model, focused on community engagement and democracy, has played a key role in their rise up the Fair Game Index, with the North Lanarkshire outfit coming in 6th place in 2024 due to their fan engagement credentials and sensible financial model.

#7. St. Mirren (62.7)

Another fan-owned club with a strong reputation in the local community is St Mirren, who have competed in the top flight consistently since 2018/19, and have been owned by the supporters since 2021. They made the top five by performing well on fan engagement and finance, although a better score on equality and ethics (5.8) would be desirable.

#6. Aberdeen (63.0)

Despite performing better than English clubs in general, Scottish clubs generally did worse when it came to Equality and Ethical Standards tests taken by the Fair Game Index. Aberdeen were an outlier here, with a solid (but certainly improvable) EDI score of 8.5/20 (in Scotland, only Celtic outperformed them on this metric).

#5. Hibernian (63.1)

Scottish clubs dominate the Top 10 list, with Niall Couper explaining how the lesser financial development of the game in Scotland means "the authorities have the chance to learn from England, not repeat their mistakes, and build a stronger future for the game north of the border." In seventh place is the Edinburgh-based club Hibernian, a long-time Scottish Premiership side who performed particularly well when it came to fan and community engagement.

#4. Manchester United (65.4)

Given the seemingly chaotic nature of Manchester United's off-pitch operations in recent seasons — with serious under-investment on infrastructure and obscene over-spending on players in the transfer market — many people will be surprised to see the club so high on the Fair Game Index 2024. This can ultimately be explained by the study's heavy weighting of financial sustainability, which represents 40% of a club's total score. With United the Premier League's best-performing club on this metric, and the best-performing English side for good governance too, they have been able to surpass many people's expectations and claim fourth spot in the UK.

#3. Heart of Midlothian (66.9)

In August 2021, Heart of Midlothian became the largest fan-owned club in the UK after chair Ann Budge (who saved the club from administration in 2014) transferred her shares to supporters. This recent history means it's no surprise to see Hearts claiming a strong score of 7.7 for fan and community engagement, as well as a very solid 31/40 for financial sustainability. Ever since transferring to fan ownership, the club has been thriving, with Europa Conference League qualification, huge annual turnover, electric atmospheres at Tynecastle Park and now a top three Fair Game Index position.

#2. Tottenham Hotspur (68.2)

Tottenham Hotspur is the best-run club in England, according to the Fair Game Index. The North Londoners' score of 68.2 relied heavily on their outstanding equality and ethical standards score of 14.9 — in the entire survey, only Brighton & Hove Albion beat them on this metric. Spurs responded positively to the results of the Fair Game Index, with chairman Daniel Levy saying "As a Club that prides itself on good governance - with a key focus on sustainability and engagement with stakeholders and communities - we are delighted to have been recognised as England's best-run club by the Fair Game Index. This ranking further demonstrates the huge strides that are being made off the pitch, with our world-class stadium and innovative partnerships."

#1. Celtic (80.6)

At the top of the list, the best-ranked club in the Fair Game Index 2024 is the 54-time Scottish league champions Celtic. And it's worth stating just how far ahead of the competition the Glasgow giants were; their overall score of 80.6 is miles ahead of runners-up Tottenham Hotspur, thanks largely to their outstanding score of 36.5 for financial sustainability (the best in the full study).

They also excelled in terms of good governance with a score of 25.1/30; while many Celtic fans are frustrated by the board's refusal to splash the cash on transfers, this cautious strategy has earned the club plenty of credit from those examining sustainable practices in the business of football. The one key area that Celtic need to improve on (much like many other clubs across the UK) is equality and ethical standards. Their score of 13.0/20 was respectable, but can certainly be improved. We'll see if they can keep hold of top spot next year.

If you'd like to find out more about how this study works, check out our in-depth guide to the Fair Game Index.