As football fans, when not revelling in the highs and lows of supporting our local and national teams, we are almost inevitably drawn in by the glamour of Europe’s top leagues and clubs. Who, as a neutral, does not get excited by a meeting of Real Madrid and Barcelona or the champions of France, PSG, tussling against Germany’s top dog, Bayern Munich in the Champions League. The promise of seeing the world’s best players going head to head for the most coveted trophies in modern sporting history is an irresistible prospect.

However, despite the undeniable appeal of the teams and players on show during these fixtures, it is worth remarking that, more or less, the same teams have been competing for European football’s top competition for at least the last twenty years or so. While there have been notable exceptions, such as Leicester City’s magically improbable run to the Premier League title in 2015-2016 season.

In fact, the only teams to have broken through from relative mediocrity to consistently compete at Europe’s top table in recent years have been PSG & Manchester City, both of whom owe their newfound success to the deliriously deep coffers of Saudi & Qatari oil barons.

Indeed, the increasingly common belief that Europe’s top leagues have become largely predictable, was proven in the most unexpected of fashions while writing this very article - following on from the shocking announcement (and subsequent withdrawal) of a potential new European ‘Super league’, completely undermining the traditional meritocratic ebb and flow of the relegation/promotion model, and bestowing the 12 rebelling clubs with an undisputed place in Europe’s new premier competition.

Although the correlation between financial might and footballing success is most pronounced towards the upper echelons of European football - a wider correlation tends to exist between the traditional footballing powers (normally based out of each country’s largest respective cities) and domestic prestige.

If we take England, for an example, the Premier League is primarily composed of clubs based out of the nation’s most populous cities - London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, et cetera. Naturally, clubs based out of larger urban areas can benefit from greater fanbases, which in turn leads to more revenue for these clubs in the form of merchandise and (pandemic permitting) match tickets. This natural discrepancy in purchasing power between clubs emanating from the most populous areas has created a difference in resources that has made it very improbable for clubs with humbler beginnings to successfully scale the ladder of English football without the intervention of generous independent donors.

The ultimate goal for any football club has always been to rise as far as you can in the footballing pyramid, but in this era of financial resource-driven success - what is the role of a lower-level club? Is it realistic for them to aspire to one day grace the hallowed turf of their country’s top division - hopeful that an independent investor might one day grant them the fiscal firepower to achieve their lofty ambition? Or, alternatively, should clubs based in lower divisions turn this traditional meritocratic model on its head, choosing instead to focus instead on the success of the local community, or another primary ideal?

In the case of Forest Green Rovers, (currently competing in England’s fourth-tier) they have firmly chosen the latter option as their answer to this philosophical footballing quandary - with the club choosing to focus in on arguably the loftiest goal of any club in England - combatting the onset of climate change.

When renewable energy multi-millionaire, Dale Vince, was appointed as the new chairman of Forest Green Rovers, a club based out of the the small English town of Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, fans could have been forgiven for assuming that their new, monied chairman would lead them with the singular goal of running the gauntlet of football divisions England as quickly as possible.

While Vince has indeed used some of his capital to upgrade Forest Green’s squad, helping the club to rise to the dizzying heights of League Two (an unprecedented feat for a club that had spent the previous decades moving between the Southern League & the conference), few fans could have anticipated the radical shift that Vince would help to bring around the philosophy of the club, fundamentally altering the identity of the club in the process.

While modern players are used to restrictive diets, as professional clubs seek to gain incremental advantage over their rivals, the Forest Green Rovers first team squad must have been slightly taken aback by Vince’s insistence that red meat should be removed from their diets, one of the very first indications that Forest Green were soon to be rebranded as a club that places environmental sustainability all over all else, a rebranding that would ultimately be confirmed to be a success by FIFA in 2018, when Forest Green Rovers were acclaimed by footballing association to the ‘Greenest club in the World’.

Vince’s outlawing of red meat was just one of the climate-friendly initiatives that Forest Green have undertaken over recent years, with an exclusively plant-based menu now offered at the club’s home stadium, ‘The Lawn Ground’.

However, the menu is just one of the ways that the stadium and matchday experience has been amended with the environment in mind. The roof of the stadium has been fitted with solar panels in order to help generate clean energy, with rainwater from the very same roof also used to irrigate the stadium. When allowed back to view their team in person,  fans can also look forward to charging their electric vehicle at the Lawn Ground.

Many of you, upon seeing the title of this article, might justifiably think, “Here we go, another footballing hipster intent on singing the praises of Forest Green Rovers”. However, the point of the this article is not to offer yet another fawning indictment of all the commendable changes that have been made by Forest Green Rovers over the last number of years, but instead to highlight how the club’s cultivation of a distinct identity provides a prototype on how to be a successful lower-division or local club. 

Forest Green’s stance on climate change has won them new fans from all over the world, a feat that only historically influential clubs could traditionally ever aspire to accomplish. Forest Green’s authenticity, and a fervent desire to tie their love of the game to higher purpose that just generating profit, has resulted in over 100 Forest Green fanclubs sprouting up across over 20 countries, helping to expand the appeal of the club far beyond the 6,000 inhabitants of Nailsworth. This expanded fanbase, as they raise further awareness of the club, and support the club financially, will help to ensure the commercial viability of Forest Green Rovers. 

There have been, of course, some murmurs of discontent from within the club’s fanbase, as some fans were naturally shocked by Forest Green’s sudden shift in values. However, as the dust settled, and many supporters realised that some plant-based meat substitutes were actually not half-bad, and the club’s supporters have largely rowed in behind the transformation of the club, proud to support a club that still believes in something larger than their balance sheet.

For many smaller clubs, the overall health of the club is often thought to be intrinsically linked to the club’s ability to scale the footballing ladder - but with the glass ceiling that has largely been imposed due to the need for deep pockets to fund boom bust cycles of success for most middling clubs, it is now time for clubs to take a look at the Forest Green model, to start by building a club identity & community that will ultimately lead to a more authentic connection between the club and its fans, as well as a more sustainable business model, in all meanings of the word.