The Clubhouse
How Chester FC More Than Doubled Membership Income
Chester FC did not set out simply to replace one ticketing platform with another. The club wanted to make it easier for supporters to buy, renew and contribute, while building a stronger commercial foundation for a fan-owned football club.
Since moving to Fanbase, Chester have grown membership from approximately 1,100 to more than 1,400. More significantly, membership income has more than doubled over the past two years. It is one part of a wider period of progress that has seen average attendances rise from 1,688 in 2021/22 to 2,319 last season, while season-ticket sales have reached levels the club would once have considered exceptional.
For General Manager Albert Davies, the partnership also carries personal significance. Selecting Fanbase was one of the first major decisions he made after taking on the role.
"This partnership is something I'll always take a lot of pride in because it was one of the first things I did in this role," he says. "The way it has evolved for us, and what we've been able to do and keep doing, meant it was a really simple decision to continue working together. Where we could be in three or four years' time is really exciting."
Albert's own journey reflects the kind of pathway Chester wants to create for the next generation of supporters. He first became involved with the club 16 years ago as a school student, volunteering by writing match reports. After studying sports journalism at the University of Chester, he secured an internship with the club, followed by part-time and full-time roles. He gradually took on additional responsibilities, including player contracts and registrations, before being appointed interim General Manager in February 2024.
"One of the first things was the ticketing tender process," Albert says. "It was one of the first weeks where I looked at my calendar and it was completely full. I realised there was a lot to the job."
Within weeks, however, he knew it was a position he wanted to make his own.
"I really enjoy the variety and the fact that two days are never the same. I enjoy the leadership element, but also being able to make a difference and actually see the difference you are making."
The reality of working within a supporter-owned football club means that variety can be taken to extremes. The day before speaking to Fanbase, Albert had hired a van, driven the playing kit to Fleetwood Town's training ground and returned to wash it himself after Chester's kit manager was required to take time away. The following morning involved drying the kit while discussing a stand sponsorship and preparing for a council inspection.
It is a useful illustration of life behind the scenes in non-league football. Resources are finite, roles frequently overlap and improvements that save staff and volunteers time can have a significant effect.
Chester's previous platform had been introduced when the pandemic forced clubs to adopt remote, contactless ticketing. It served an immediate purpose, but when the agreement approached its end, Chester saw an opportunity to reconsider what it needed from a new partner.
The tender naturally involved discussions about fees and pricing. For Albert, however, the decision came down to more than the percentage charged on each transaction.
"There's not a great deal of difference between a lot of ticketing platforms when you look purely at the costs," he says. "It's about those extra margins and gains that aren't just about the price. That's what really sold me on Fanbase."
Chester wanted a platform that looked and felt like a step forward for the club, but the distinction was also philosophical.
"It wasn't just about having people who sell our tickets. It was about how we sell tickets, the customer journey and how we engage supporters."
That matters particularly at Chester, where the club is owned by its supporters and every additional source of sustainable income can contribute directly to its ambitions.
"For a club like ours, the more supporters can contribute, alongside the work the club does to develop other revenue streams, the better the club will do. It is a simple formula."
Moving ticketing platforms is rarely straightforward. Chester's transition also arrived as the club were battling for a play-off spot in the National League North.
There were season tickets to prepare, supporter records to transfer and unfamiliar operational challenges to overcome, all while the football calendar continued around them.
"There were some hurdles and some sleepless nights," Albert says. "There were a lot of moving parts, but we got there."
The response from supporters gave the club confidence that the change had been worthwhile.
"I remember one of our directors pulling me to one side and saying, 'I've just bought my season ticket. That was really good. That was really quick.'
"There's a lot of satisfaction in that because it is one of the people at the top of the club saying it, but they are also a supporter."
Membership is at the centre of Chester's model. Members are not simply customers. They are owners, directors, volunteers and supporters who collectively provide the club with its stability and identity.
Before the move to Fanbase, renewing that membership involved a significant amount of manual administration. Each year, supporters had to renew again, visit the club office or establish a new Direct Debit.
"The first of May would come around and people would have to manually renew their membership for another 12 months," Albert explains.
After more than a decade of using the same process, the behaviour had become ingrained. Albert says some supporters still occasionally purchase a second membership because they remain accustomed to renewing manually each year, even though their original membership now continues automatically.
The move to Fanbase allowed Chester to simplify the process and create a more reliable recurring income stream. Membership has subsequently increased from approximately 1,100 to more than 1,400, and the club has been able to sustain that level rather than rebuilding its membership base from the beginning of each annual cycle.
The commercial result has been even more substantial.
"Through our pricing and through how easy we've made it, our membership income has more than doubled over the past two years," Albert says.
The growth in income cannot be attributed to membership numbers alone. Chester's annual membership had remained at £12 for approximately 14 years, and as the club reviewed its offer, it recognised that the price no longer reflected the value of membership or the rising costs facing the organisation.
"Is anything a pound anymore?" Albert asks. "Genuinely, in the world, is anything one pound?"
As a fan-owned club, Chester could not introduce traditional membership tiers that gave wealthier supporters additional voting rights or influence. Every member must retain the same constitutional rights.
Instead, the club created several payment options. Each provides exactly the same membership, but supporters who are able and willing to contribute more can choose to do so.
"It is all the same," Albert explains. "There are no extra benefits to paying more. But if you can and you want to pay more, you will help the club further, and this is how."
Fanbase gave Chester the flexibility to put that model into practice, combining a more appropriate pricing structure with a simpler recurring renewal process. The result has been a larger membership base and more than double the membership income, without compromising the equality at the heart of supporter ownership.
Membership growth sits within a wider strategy to make Chester FC accessible to the local community.
The club offers under-12 season tickets for £23, equivalent to approximately £1 per league match. It is a commitment Chester have deliberately maintained because Albert believes the value extends far beyond short-term attendance.
"We want to make football affordable for those children because ultimately they are not just the future supporters," he says. "They are future directors, future volunteers and future staff. Somebody like myself was a young supporter and volunteer who got involved and came into a position like this. This football club has a pathway."
That approach has helped change the profile of Chester's crowds, with Albert observing that more young supporters are now attending matches. It has also contributed to a substantial rise in season-ticket numbers. Around a decade ago, selling 1,000 season tickets was regarded as a major achievement, even when Chester were competing a division higher.
The club sold approximately 1,700 season tickets last season before including its schools initiative. With season tickets distributed through participating schools added, the overall total reached around 2,000. Approximately 1,600 season tickets had been sold for the current season at the time of the conversation.
"About a decade ago, we would really celebrate selling 1,000 season tickets," Albert says. "For us now, 1,500 or 1,600 feels like where we should be. That is really significant."
Chester have also made progress in their matchday attendances.
The club averaged approximately 1,750 supporters during the 2021/22 season. Last season, that figure reached around 2,300, an increase of more than 30 per cent.
Albert is careful not to attribute that growth to any single factor. Performances on the pitch, the opposition in the division, away followings and the club's wider community activity all affect attendances. Technology has played a supporting role by making it easier for people to purchase, access and manage tickets, but the broader achievement belongs to the club's staff, volunteers and supporters.
"It's very easy for us to say our average attendance five years ago was 1,700 and now it is 2,300," Albert says. "That in itself is something we're really proud of, but it is also about the profile of supporter. There are a lot more younger fans who attend now."
The financial impact of larger crowds is particularly important for a supporter-owned club without an individual owner underwriting its costs.
Chester attracted around 3,500 supporters for the final home match of last season against King's Lynn Town.
"If you could communicate to supporters what 3,500 people every week would do to the budget, what we would be able to spend on the pitch and how much further we could go, you've almost accomplished half the battle," Albert says. "The more people get involved, the more revenue you generate and the more successful a club like this can be."
Chester are now exploring how the platform can help the club become more visible and accessible beyond the stadium, and have held discussions with an organisation within the city about enabling staff to sell match tickets during the week. Chester have purchased an additional Teya payment terminal and intend to provide necessary administrative access.
The idea initially sounded as though it could create additional complexity around payments and reconciliation. In practice, Albert believes the existing connection between the payment terminals and the Fanbase platform makes the project relatively simple.
"We're very self-aware that we could evolve our presence within the city centre," he says. "It sounds complicated, but it isn't. It is a pretty straightforward win. There will be a little bit of training for staff on completing an order and how to contact us if there are any issues, but it should all be really straightforward."
The initiative remains part of the club's plans rather than an established sales channel, but it demonstrates the broader ambition behind the partnership: making it easier for more people across Chester to engage with their football club.
For Albert, one of the most valuable parts of the relationship has been Fanbase's willingness to respond to feedback from the people using the platform. Suggestions can come from the accounts team, staff processing orders, volunteers working with supporters or members of the board.
"There will always be a little tweak that somebody mentions and says, 'Have they ever thought about this?' or, 'This would make life easier,'" Albert says. "Nine times out of ten, it is achievable and it gets done."
That responsiveness has changed how Albert answers questions when colleagues propose a new ticketing or membership idea.
"My response is never no. My answer is always either yes, or I can ask. That is how the platform works. There are always things being developed, in the works and evolving."
Chester's next priority is to make better use of the supporter data it is already collecting.
The foundations are in place. The club understands its identity, has developed accessible products and has grown the number of people engaging with them. The opportunity now is to communicate with those supporters in a more relevant and effective way.
"You get all this data and information in front of you, but how do you use it effectively?" Albert says. "It is probably something we have not done well enough yet, but we are really self-aware that it is something we need to do to progress to the next level, not just to be more engaging but to generate more income."
Chester have started investing in the people and platforms required to address that opportunity, including adding marketing responsibilities to existing roles and bringing new marketing experience onto the board.
"The foundations are definitely there," Albert says. "Telling the story will always come naturally to everyone here. It is organic and community driven. The next level for us is the data capture and how we use it most effectively."
On the pitch, Chester's immediate ambition is promotion to the National League after a series of painful play-off defeats. Beyond that, the club wants to establish itself at the higher level and continue building towards an eventual return to the EFL.
The financial landscape of non-league football makes that challenge increasingly difficult. Chester regularly compete against clubs supported by wealthy owners and playing budgets the fan-owned club cannot easily match. Its alternative is to create sustainable growth through attendances, memberships, commercial partnerships and deeper relationships with supporters.
That is why Albert viewed the decision to extend the Fanbase partnership as a long-term one.
"There are things that we're really proud of, but there is still more that we want to do," he says. "That was a big part of being secure for the next four years. It was about asking where we could be in four years' time. That is something that is really, really exciting."
For Chester, the results are already visible. Membership has grown, membership income has more than doubled, average attendances have increased and season-ticket sales have reached a new level. More importantly, the club now has stronger foundations from which to continue growing without losing sight of what makes it different.
At a fan-owned football club, every member matters. By making membership easier to join, easier to renew and more flexible for those able to contribute, Chester have turned that principle into a more sustainable source of income for the future.
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