Everton rewarded the loyalty of four of their most active and engaged supporters on their Chinese language social media channels by inviting them to Goodison Park as guests of the club for the Premier League match against Fulham.
All have interesting back stories over how they became Evertonians and one of the quartet, Ziling Liang, 22, revealed she was inspired to study to become a physiotherapist because of Andre Gomes' swift recovery after suffering an ankle injury when Son Heung-min’s challenge resulted in him colliding with Serge Aurier of Tottenham Hotspur. Now three months into a two-year course, Ziling told the ECHO: “It was 2020 and a really tough time with Covid and my grandmother had just passed away.
“Andre Gomes had suffered a serious injury against Tottenham Hotspur and a lot of people were fearing he could be out for a very long time and it might even threaten his career but he was back on the pitch in just over 100 days and it was incredible. I watched a video of the whole rehabilitation process and before that I’d not heard much about a physio’s job but it all came together to make me feel I need to care more about the health and well-being of people.
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“I feel that being a physio is the right job for me and I’d love to get the chance to work in a sports club as I’ve supported Everton for years and if I could work at somewhere like this then it would be an incredible dream.”
The fans chosen for the VIP experience regularly like, comment and share content posted across the Everton’s Chinese language channels, interacting with fellow Chinese-speaking supporters based both in Asia and here in the UK. Sam Yingxue, 24, who like Ziling originally hails from the city of Shenzhen and is also studying in the UK, reading Sociology in Sheffield, told the ECHO: “It was my dream that I can come to our home stadium and see our players play.
“I am very passionate about Everton. Even though they have not been near the top of the table in recent years with star players, we still fight for our spirit and the supporters and to have such an approach is important in our lives, our work, everything.”
Everton are expecting to surpass a million followers on Weibo by the end of the season (the figure was 945,000 at the end of March). This has grown steadily since the Blues relaunched its presence on the platform in 2019 and average monthly impressions on Weibo are currently up 45% on the 2021/22 season so as such, they expect their following on the channel to continue to grow.
Guanzhou Jiang said: “I began supporting Everton in 2019 when I came to the city to study for university. At the time, a lot of my friends supported the red side but I felt there was a magic from Everton fans, from their passion. That really impressed me and I am proud to now share that with them.
“Last year, I met two Evertonians on a train on the way to a game. We struck up a friendship and are still in contact every week, talking about Everton and the upcoming matches.
“Everton’s Chinese social media platform is really good for us and it's the same - it's a community, like a family.”
Everton are also active on Toutiao and Douyin and working to build their audiences on those channels. These efforts are part of the club's international strategy. North America remains the primary focus of Everton's international strategy but the Blues say they will always assess and look to maximise opportunities in other key markets.
Zige Zheng said: “I actually became an Everton fan because of a friend who took me to a game against Aston Villa. I loved that the fans were cheering right through the game, that they never gave up. That moved me and is why I became an Evertonian.
“In China, the games here are at midnight or later so all the people who are active [on the social channels] are like super fans. It's a great environment for discussions, to follow the game and for people to connect with each other.”
The fans’ Goodison experience was documented for the club’s Chinese language channels to highlight how their passion for Everton had been rewarded.
The group were invited pitchside for photographs pre-match and to watch the warm-up at close quarters from the sidelines. They also met players including James Garner and Nathan Patterson, watched both manager post-match press conferences, and were gifted 2022/23 home shirts while pre-match, the group attended the laying of flowers at Goodison's Hillsborough memorial plaque on what was the 34th anniversary of the disaster.
Yolanda Zhao, who handles Everton’s Chinese social media channels, told the ECHO: “We really appreciate our fans in China.
“Many of them have never been abroad before and some of them don’t even know where Goodison Park is without looking online but they still support the club and fall in love with Everton. It’s amazing that Everton can inspire them and they still feel really connected and it’s growing all the time.
“We have had a couple of rough seasons but we’ve still got a bunch of really loyal fans. If Everton were to ever win a trophy again it would be massive, we saw that with the Leicester effect as their numbers shot up in just a matter of months.”
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