Manchester United fans have to hear on a regular basis that their club has a twelfth man on the pitch in the form of the referee. Penalty awards come under special levels of scrutiny, with the accusation being that United are gifted match saving goals via soft penalties far too often. In bad news for Man U fans looking to argue back, new analysis by CIES Football Observatory has revealed that since the 2018/19 season, their team has been on the receiving end of a penalty decision with the highest frequency of all clubs in Europe’s Big-5 leagues.
As this infographic shows, United won a penalty every 299 minutes of play on average over the assessed period. For a direct Premier League comparison, local rivals Man City had to wait an average of 434 minutes between their penalties, while Liverpool won one every 574. The clubs waiting the longest in the league were Burnley (1,474), Newcastle (998 and Wolves (also 998). Burnley’s painfully long wait is also the longest of the Big-5 league teams by a long way. It could be worse though – The Championship’s Bristol City waited an average of 1,834 minutes.
Creating an online community – especially one on Follr.com! – can be so rewarding. One of the first steps is to get in the mindset of your target audience and define what it is you want he or she to gain from your community. Do you have special or unique knowledge someone can benefit from? Could you provide a new connection or idea for their business? In order to have an active and thriving group of members – or customers! – on your site, stay true to one of the reasons below.
To Entertain
How many people spend a portion of their day reading blogs or visiting other social networks? I’ll tell you: everybody and their mother. People have long used the internet to relax, zone-out or just take a short break from work so use this fact to your advantage and create a community around perking up people’s downtime! Pick a favorite team, player or product as the launchpad for your community.
To Boost Business
Giving your business a leg-up online is one of, if not THE, most popular reasons for starting an online community. Whether you choose LinkedIn, Facebook or a custom community platform like Follr, building an online presence for your business is a crucial – if not imperative – key to success.
To Connect
One HUGE reason potential members join online communities is affirmation and praise. Completing the registration process and clicking “Join” means they want to be heard, appreciated and noticed for their accomplishments and accolades. Online communities for scholars, writers or more specific groups of achievers are great reasons to start or join and online community. Remember to engage with members directly and often!
To Inspire
Another hot online community focus is self-help and improvement, especially fitness. In this current news era, happiness and mental health are more prominent than ever. Everyone wants to do what they can to better themselves. Offering a quick, easy and welcoming online group with which to do so is bound to have members flocking.
To Fix a Problem
If I had a dollar for every time I looked online for a solution to a problem or a quick fix, I could probably retire! The Internet is so accessible that most people reach for the keyboard before the user manual. Establish an online community as an expert of something you love or create a question and answer forum for specific issues/needs – a sports team, a player, a fan community or group!
