Would an Ultras Culture Benefit English Football?

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I don’t know about you but I’m finding it harder and harder to be a football fan.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s not that I’m not enjoying the standard of football - the quality of the elite game has probably never been better across the top European divisions.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s just that I feel increasingly disconnected from the whole charade.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Every year, elite football feels more oriented around the spectacular: it is a show that I am invited to view from a distance but one in which I am less and less able to take part.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I want to feel like a fan again. I want to be part of a community. I want to feel like I belong.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this episode, I tried to get to the heart of the question: does English football need a more active fan culture?</span></p> <p>Guests:</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Stevie Green (<a href= "https://twitter.com/StevieGreenXI">@StevieGreenXI</a>) is a</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">writer, editor and podcaster, and a member of Clapton Community Football Club.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mark Doidge (<a href= "https://twitter.com/markdoidge">@markdoidge</a>) is a Principal Research Fellow at the University of Brighton focuses on the sociology of European football fan cultures. He is also a fan of Whitehawk FC.<br /></span></p> <p>Support Us:</p> <p><a href="https://www.patreon.com/FootballToday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.patreon.com/FootballToday</a></p> <p>Follow Us:</p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/FT_Podcast_" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">@FT_Podcast_</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.footballtodaypodcast.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.FootballTodayPodcast.com</a></p> <p>Music:</p> <p>The music for this episode was provided under the Creative Commons license by <a href="http://www.sessions.blue/" target= "_blank"