Everton have given the latest on the club's international strategy and particularly discussed the Blues' continued expansion in the United States.
The club provided an extensive update earlier in the week regarding multiple aspects, including season ticket prices and looking ahead to increased commercial opportunities at Bramley-Moore Dock.
But also covered was the very latest in terms of Everton's international strategy.
Richard Kenyon - Director of Communications, Revenue and International Growth for the Blues - revealed the importance of the club's offices in the US in helping them have a presence overseas.
He said: "We spent a lot of time devising our international strategy and we wanted that to be something that was sustainable and long-term.
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"You can build a lot of engagement, a lot of connections, with supporters and brands using technology and doing that virtually, but we thought having a presence in those territories would be important for us.
"We have a presence out in Miami, where we have a US based team, and that’s worked very well for us so far. Again, that’s about having a presence there that can drive growth and engagement around supporters’ clubs, around our affiliate programme, and our Soccer Schools programme, and also help us in terms of prospecting potential partners and servicing existing partners.
"Having people in those locations where we’re working very hard to grow, we thought was really important and, so far, in the first year or so of operation it’s definitely been justified."
With more focus on the US, Kenyon also revealed the latest on the Soccer Schools launched by the club just before the beginning of the pandemic.
The Blues chief admitted there had been really good progress on that front in getting young players engaged in the game and having an early affiliation with Everton.
"We had this as one of the pillars within our international strategy, to grow and develop our young supporters in the US, and Soccer camps was a way to do that. We started that in earnest last year," Kenyon added.
"It was really a pilot year and we were really, really pleased with the result. We had thousands of children playing recreational soccer across 15 or so States of the US, and it was a really good first year.
"These were recreational programmes - so young players coming along to have a good time playing soccer and learning a little bit about Everton and engaging with Everton at the same time.
"It was a good way to get to people who are interested in football, in soccer, in the Premier League, at a very early age and try to take the awareness of Everton and build it into affinity to Everton and support of Everton.
"We were really pleased about that and, again, it’s a really good engagement tactic for us, but it’s also growing revenues that we can reinvest into the programme and build it out and grow even further."
Everton's affiliate programme has also been an integral part of the club's international strategy in recent months and years.
Numerous clubs have already signed up and Kenyon highlighted the importance of building a network and meaningful relationships between the sides, while not being primarily set up to identify potential talent for the Blues.
He added: "The affiliate programme is generally for older players and more at the elite end and, again, that’s worked really well for us. We’ve had several affiliates based in the US, we’ve also got them in Ireland, in South America and Australia.
"We’ve signed another one this week in Florida, which came directly from our Florida Cup visit last year. Again, it’s about building engagement with the young players in those teams, it’s a revenue source for us as well, and it’s a really good way of linking up coaches from across the world.
"So it’s really building meaningful relationships with the football club that we hope will last for a long time. It’s not set up from a talent identification point of view but, you never know, that’s a benefit that might come to Everton and our affiliate clubs around the world.
"But, really, it’s about building a network, building that engagement with Everton on the ground, and it’s worked really well for us in the last 12 or 18 months.
"As restrictions start to lift and travel’s going to become easier, we’re really excited that we’ll be able to do more of it this year and, certainly on the soccer camps programme in the US, we’re already seeing a lot more interest in that and it’s going to be a very exciting summer for Everton in the US, I’m sure."
