Understanding organisation public relations through Twitter communication for the European super league

Research questionTwitter (X) is often praised as a means for mutual beneficial relationships and dialogue to be built between a sport organisation and its fans, thus encouraging the implementation of Organisational Public Relations (OPR). We examine this proposition by focusing on the use of Twitter by football clubs and their fans to explore the role and nature of OPR and how this evolves when key business decisions are communicated via social media and when fans actively react to such strategic communication.Research methodsContent analysis was conducted in six UK football clubs' tweets when joining and then withdrawing from the European Super League, and in fans' responses to them, in order to identify how OPR manifests on social media.Results and FindingsThe findings reveal that fans were displeased with the way in which clubs communicated their decisions while requesting a dialogue with the clubs which is currently missing, and demanding a substantial, respectful and beneficial re...