Supporters have just hours left to elect new members on the Everton Fans’ Forum and Tony Sampson, the group’s first overseas-based chair is looking forward to another year of exciting initiatives. Exiled Scouser Sampson now lives in Chicago but remains at the heart of Blues supporter issues and is eager to further develop networks plus strengthen engagement and communication with the fanbase.
Sampson managed to get back to the UK for a couple of months last season, attending both home and away fixtures and getting the chance to take his father from Garston – who turns 90 next month and is looking forward to his free season ticket – to some games but his regular matchday experience these days revolves around getting up early taking his two sons to a sports bar called A.J. Hudson’s – owned by a fellow Blue – for “a bit of brekkie” while gathering with other Evertonians from around the Windy City.
Being almost 4,000 miles away doesn’t stop Sampson from being in the thick of things though and he points out that modern technology ensured that the Forum continued to meet throughout the pandemic on a regular basis thanks to Zoom. Explaining how his involvement in the group first came about, he told the ECHO: “When I first moved to the USA, I quickly became aware of the really strong foundations and many supporters clubs that were out here. There’s been some great work done over the years to help build that but I realised maybe there was an opportunity to maybe strengthen the connections between some of the supporters clubs and also I knew that the experiences of being a Blue overseas was very different to if you live in the city or even the UK.
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“I was also conscious that there wasn’t a direct link or way in which those experiences and insights were being fed back into the club in a co-ordinated way. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and since I’ve moved away, I’ve found myself searching for even more opportunities to strengthen that link back to Everton.
“Two years ago the Forum were recruiting and I thought maybe this is a chance an international voice on the forum and myself and Joe O’Reilly from the Irish Toffees, got on at the same time. Since then we did a survey of international supporters to try and understand the things that mattered most to them and issues like retail and engagement were top of the list so we’ve been trying to build networks with supporter group leads, not just in North America but in Europe and across the Asia Pacific region too so there is a hub now for providing feedback and suggestions back to the club.”
The Forum liaised with other Everton supporter groups to organise the coach welcomes that helped roar the Blues to safety last season and with voting on new members closing at midnight on Thursday, Sampson is looking forward to welcoming more fresh voices. He said: “We’re currently recruiting for three members of the Forum and I can tell you that the quality of applications again has been outstanding so I’m really confident that whoever gets through will add value and these exercises give us new ideas and perspectives, keeping the Forum fresh and forward-thinking plus feedback over areas where we can improve.
“What’s really important about the Forum and the role that it plays is that we’ve got 11 members that have got very different experiences, views and links into the fanbase and I think that’s one of the Forum’s real strengths. Over the next year we’ll be looking to expand the networks of supporters that can feed into specific issues.
“If you look at the work that the Forum was involved in last season in generating an atmosphere such as the coach welcomes, that was done within a broader network of supporter groups and we’ve done the same with HerGameToo with a group who are championing that issue and feeding us ideas that we’re able to take on board with the club.
“We’ve got our Everton For Change working group which is focused on sustainability and what contributions we can make on that agenda as Evertonians. We asked for volunteers recently to feed into that and had a great response so we’ll be looking to expand that further.
“There’s also our role on the FAB (Fan Advisory Board) at Everton. Ever since there was the European Super League proposals and the feedback Evertonians gave to that it was clear they want involvement and a strong voice when it comes to representation and I think the FAB provides that opportunity.”
Everton returning to the USA for the second consecutive next month also provides Sampson and his fellow Blues across the Atlantic with a golden opportunity to strengthen ties. He said: “Everyone is really excited. It was great last year when the team came out to Orlando even though there were still some restrictions at the time in terms of the amount of engagement that could be done.
“To have them again in a couple of cities is fantastic and there’s a lot of furious work going on behind the scenes with various supporters’ groups and hopefully we’ll be able to start about confirming some things related to this soon. It will also be great to get the UK-based Blues over too after they missed out last year so hopefully we can work on the back of what we saw at Goodison last season and put a bit of a US twist on it.
“I think it’s an opportunity for the club to position itself, to strengthen the well-established supporters groups and engage with them clearly given that the World Cup in North America is only around the corner really in 2026, showing what it means to be an Evertonian. There was a lot of attention over here with the big broadcasters over what was done to generate an atmosphere in Everton’s games in the run-in last season and what Everton meant to their supporters, it was as big a talking point as what was actually going on in the matches.
“These are things that I know the club will be keen to build on and the supporters groups will be eager to play their part as well. Hopefully we can build a stronger commercial presence too as that will be critical to any growth strategy.”
- Anyone with an Everton supporter number is eligible to vote in the Everton Fans’ Forum elections and can choose the three candidates they would like to see join the Forum from a shortlist of nine. The voting period runs until 11.59pm BST on Thursday June 23, with an announcement of the three successful candidates to be made on evertonfc.com in the following days. To read the profiles of each of the candidates and cast your vote, click here.
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