Watford have finished below halfway in Fair Game’s 2024 Index of Championship clubs, having been fourth a year ago.

The organisation’s report, which covers the top seven divisions of the football pyramid in England and the top four in Scotland, uses 226 different touchpoints to score clubs across four different categories: Financial Sustainability, Good Governance, Equality and Ethical Standards, and Fan & Community Engagement.

The Hornets scored 41.4 out of a possible 100 – top of the clubs that were in the Championship for the 2023/24 season were Norwich City (59.8) while Coventry City were bottom (26.0).

Watford scored 17 out of a possible 30 for Financial Stability, which was just below the division average of 20.3. Plymouth (31) scored highest in that category with Coventry, Huddersfield and Middlesbrough all lowest on 13.

In Good Governance, Watford received 11.5 out of 30, a category topped by Norwich City (21.8) with Coventry (3.8) way adrift at the bottom with the Championship teams averaging 10.4 overall.

Watford’s best performance came in Equality Standards where they scored 8.9 out of 20 to be fifth in the division.

Norwich and Southampton topped that list with 11.7 each, while Birmingham City were lowest ranked at 4.3. The division’s average score was 7.7.

However, the Hornets’ worst category was Fan and Community Engagement, where their score of 4/10 put them in the bottom six.

Norwich City and Swansea topped the pile with 6.3 each, Sunderland were bottom on 3.0 and the average for the Championship was 4.5.

To give some context to each category, this is how Fair Game explain their methodology:

Financial Sustainability (40 points)

The most heavily weighted strand of the Fair Game Index is Financial Sustainability, which is worth 40% of the overall points available. There are 38 touchpoints included in this category, with measures on issues such as accounting, debt, ticket pricing and sponsorship.

Good Governance (30 points)

Good Governance takes into account more metrics than Financial Sustainability, 55 to be exact. The key concerns here are board structure, accountability and transparency.

Fan and Community Engagement (20 points) 

Fan and Community Engagement covers 30 touchpoints focusing on topics such as fan representation and community investment (many of the 34 Fair Game-affiliated clubs are fan-owned).

Equality and Ethical Standards (10 points)

The category with the greatest number of touchpoints is Equality and Ethical Standards; evidently there is a lot to take into consideration here. In total, the 106 touchpoints cover a range of issues including ethics, sexism, racism, homophobia and the environment impact of clubs.

Since being formed in early 2021, Fair Game "has been laser-focused on developing solutions to the problems football faces" according to CEO Niall Couper, who believes that football's financial flow should be designed to reward well-run clubs.

According to Couper: "The culture within the game is broken. Football's financial imbalance has created a gambling culture that puts the very existence of clubs at risk.”

The purpose of the annual Index is to monitor the sustainability of football clubs, and Fair Game say their Index is "the starting point for the proposed State of Game Survey for the new independent regulator to assess the health of football”.

The Fair Game Index is put together using extensive research, with Fair Game UK conducting their own surveys while also collating information published on a range of subjects including the Owners and Directors test, Environmental Sustainability, Good Governance and Gender Equality.

The organisation enlists knowledgeable professionals like UCFB lecturer Adam Davis, director of Goal Assist Joshua Price to help coordinate data collection, and Rob Harrison from Ethical Consumer, who has extensive experience of auditing and creating business ratings.

They work with clubs, supporters’ groups, academics and industry experts to analyse the issues and identify what they refer to as the 'touchpoints' to rate each club on. 

“This year, several overall themes have emerged: financial sustainability goes hand in hand with good governance and fan engagement; football’s financial flow is undermining sustainability; equality and ethical standards are on average treated as lip service; and Scotland scores better than England,” said Coupar.

Watford’s overall score of 41 made them 58th in England, above the likes of Leeds United and Middlesbrough, but below all Premier League clubs and also 11 League One clubs, seven from League Two, a couple from both the National League and National League North, and one from National League South.

In the Championship, the report described Norwich as “the shining light” as the Canaries top-scored in good governance, fan and community engagement, and equality and ethical standards.

Tottenham came top in England with an overall score of 68.2, closely followed by Manchester United with 65.4. Cambridge United, of League One, came third with 60.3.

In 2023, Watford were ranked fourth in the Championship with a score of 47.39, so they have dropped by six points and 11 places over the last 12 months.

The full report, background and history of Fair Game and its index can be found at https://www.fairgameuk.org/, though it is worth pointing out that to access to full scores of all clubs you will need to create a free account.