Football has changed dramatically in recent years: media coverage has exposed the highest level of unscripted competition to the world, international recruitment has expanded fanbases, with large supporter groups following superstar compatriots in foreign leagues, and commercial brands have utilized every available piece of real estate to participate in the game’s immortal moments. The sport has undergone huge commercial expansion, which has attracted a tremendous influx of capital from investors seeking to ride the wave and capture a return. Despite this level of investment across the board, fans still hold the key to on-field success. In their origin, football clubs were founded as community hubs. In England, West Ham United started as Thames Ironworks FC, for local shipbuilders, Manchester United began as Newton Heath LYR for local rail workers, and Everton and Aston Villa were founded by church members. The spirit of competition, and the desire to succeed against neighbouring communities, initiated the transformation of football clubs from community assets to private assets, starting with local businessmen who, still part of the community, had the disposable capital to attract talent, build infrastructure, and create a winning platform. The snowball has rolled ever since and, for a period, external investment and financial firepower created a meaningful competitive advantage. The clearest example of this is the stratospheric rise of Chelsea, winning their first title in 50 years in Roman Abramovich’s second season, and Manchester City, who were playing in the third tier in 1998 and are now one of the most dominant teams in Europe. To compete, other clubs sought out external investment, and today deep-pocketed, non-local ownership is the norm; 32 clubs across the ‘big five’ European leagues are American-owned and many other clubs have investment from prominent ownership groups out of the Middle East and Asia. The profile of investor is more institutional, in the form of dedicated private equity funds, multi-family offices, and alternative asset managers, who consider sport to be an attractive asset class because it has predictable and growing media and sponsorship revenues, a sticky fanbase, owned real estate for downside protection and upside potential through operational improvements and, for those venturing into the lower leagues, promotion. Despite changes to ownership models, community continues to course through the veins of football. Families are built around the club they support, season tickets rank beside shelter and food as essential needs, and many people place trophy wins as the most memorable moments in their life. Football fans live and breathe the game and pour their heart into their team. In this sense, a football club goes beyond any ordinary organization and resembles more of an energetic system, a living microculture of fans emotionally invested in their team. Fans, particularly match-going supporters, instinctively understand the symbiotic relationship between themselves and the players, and how their vociferous support can uplift their team and intimidate the opposition. The energy within a stadium, the collective feeling amongst the fans, acts as an amplifier. A positive, united stadium full of belief will uplift players, transmit confidence, and make them seem more energetic and robust. The inverse also occurs; a negative, nervous stadium that lacks belief and expects failure will transmit this feeling to the team and will make them appear sluggish, disinterested, and sloppy. Stadiums like Anfield personify this best, where the crowd creates such intense pressure and belief that it can almost suck the ball into the goal at the Kop end and leave opposition players debilitated. The spirit of Liverpool fans is a major factor in the club's longstanding success and why it commanded a $7B valuation in its recent minority sale to the consortium including Jeff Bezos. Successful owners recognize the power of fans and harness the community to drive results and create value. Football is a results business, and desire for on-field success is where fans and ownership are most aligned; fans want to be entertained but, more importantly, they want to see their team win matches and trophies. For investors, on-field success creates value; European competition entry, cup finals, and higher league places all drive revenue higher; commercial sponsors want to align with winning teams. Owners are responsible for setting the strategic direction and culture of the club and, on the whole, are more disconnected from the roots of a club than ever before with key personnel located miles away from the stadium in other countries and decisions going through investment committees and spreadsheet analysis. This is useful for ensuring financial stability and efficiency, but cannot help owners get a handle on belief amongst fans, unity throughout the club, and levels of positivity and optimism, all of which are unquantifiable but have a meaningful impact on the primary driver of value: team performance. Therefore, it is vital that owners strike a balance and incorporate the lived experience of fans. Listen to them and understand how they feel about the team and the match-day experience. Recruit a team and coaching staff they can get behind, one that exhibits tenacity, will-to-win, and operates as a cohesive unit. Improve the match-day experience for all fans by ensuring ground access is smooth, they can affordably sit with their loved ones, and the sound system is fixed. These are easy wins that instill a positive feeling in the ground. Fans that enjoy going to games will believe in their team, which drives a winning culture. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney awoke the dragon at AFC Wrexham and cultivated a feel-good factor at the Racehorse Ground through their profile, presence, and storytelling. As owners, they have created tremendous value, with Apollo’s recent minority acquisition suggesting a $500M valuation, an 18,000% return on the $2.5M they acquired the club for. West Ham United are proving the opposite. Their owners sold off their beloved Upton Park and relocated to the London Stadium on a lease, and fans are dissatisfied by the lack of atmosphere and the ‘corporate’ feel, which has created a general discontent in the club. This has translated to on-field performance where the club has now been relegated to the Championship and faces a battle to regain its Premier League status which, if they don’t regain quickly, could see dramatic value destruction and negative returns. Fans are a football club’s greatest asset, and their influence is misunderstood and underutilized. Their energy drives performance, and their belief wins trophies. Football is rooted in community and performance is a function of the collective feeling of everyone connected to the club. Owners, as stewards of the clubs, can create more value empowering fans than by milking them. Give them something to believe in, and they will carry you there.