Now in its 25th year, the independent survey is commissioned by the Premier League and analyses the views of fans from all top-flight clubs to assess and benchmark off-field performance.

Evertonians gave the Club unprecedented backing in all five areas evaluated by the national survey – sentiment, custodianship, communication, community and COVID-19 response – with Everton achieving the Club’s best ever results in the 25 years of the survey and performing between 11 and 19 percentage points above the Premier League average across the categories.

Questions focused on Everton’s COVID-19 response received incredibly high scores from supporters, with 91 of every 100 fans surveyed hailing the Club’s actions – 19 percentage points above the league standard. In addition to supporting nearly 30,000 people as part of the Blue Family outreach campaign, the Club also pledged to pay all 2019/20 matchday and non-matchday casual workers impacted by the outbreak while players, the manager, coaching staff and senior executives accepted a wage deferral.

The results of the survey showed 94 per cent of fans were impressed by the Club’s conduct in response to the outbreak (21 points above average), 92 per cent were impressed by the conduct of the players (13 points above average), 90 per cent of respondents said the Club had “supported its fans” throughout the pandemic (26 points above average) and 92 per cent (24 points above average) saying the Club had “supported its local community” during the same period.

The leadership and custodianship of the Club continues to be strongly backed by supporters. Everton’s rating of 84 per cent compared favourably against the Premier League average of 71 per cent, with 95 per cent of fans feeling the Club’s leadership “maintains the ethos and traditions” of the football club, while 93 per cent felt positively about Everton’s fan engagement.

Other highlights within an overwhelmingly positive set of results for Everton included 92 per cent of fans having a “positive attitude” towards the Club, 91 per cent of respondents believing the Club has “a long-term vision”, 99 per cent stating the Club makes a “significant contribution to the local community” and 84 per cent – a massive 30 points more than the league average – declaring Everton is a club that listens to its supporters.

Chief Executive Officer, Professor Denise Barrett-Baxendale, said: “We are immensely proud of the results of the Premier League Fan Survey. From the Owner and the Board to the Executive Team and right the way through the Club, everybody is very much aware of our roles as custodians of Everton. It is the fans that are the lifeblood of the Club. It is the fans that make ours such a special club. And so, to have received such incredible backing for the work we are doing on their behalf is very humbling.

“It has been an unprecedented year. Being told by our fans that they are so pleased with what we have done – and the efforts we have made in order to be there for our community – is such a vitally important endorsement to receive. We will always be a Club that not only has an ambition to be the best on the pitch, but that listens and cares.

“These results show our fans are proud of their Club. I would like to thank every Evertonian for the support and backing they have shown in the last year. We will never take that support for granted or forget our position as custodians of their Club.”

The results also show that fans applauded the Club’s communication with them, with Everton exceeding the Premier League average score in every question in this category including support for how the Club responds to contact from the fans and backing for Everton’s relaunched Club app, website and communication through social media channels.

The Club’s commitment to the community continues to be ranked as outstanding following a 93 per cent positivity rating in the survey (18 points above the league average). The importance of community to the Club’s culture and philosophy (97 per cent), successfully informing fans about and raising awareness of community initiatives (both 98 per cent) and making it easy for supporters to help the local community (87 per cent, 33 points above average) were all areas of the survey where Everton scored highly.