The Football League has launched the results of the widest supporter consultation ever conducted by one of football's governing bodies. In thanking fans for their contribution Football League Chairman Lord Mawhinney said:

'More than 43,000 supporters have taken this opportunity to tell us what they think about The Football League and the game generally. By using modern, on-line survey methods we have increased by three times the number of fans taking part since the last League survey in 2001.

'I am grateful to them for their input. Their views are a very important endorsement of what we have been doing and will help to influence the future direction of The Football League.

'It is encouraging to note that The League is in-step with the way fans think about many of football's most important issues. In particular they share our belief that clubs need to be community focussed and financially sustainable in the long term. It is also pleasing that supporters are reacting positively to our re-branding which sought to enhance The League's profile.

'I take particular interest in their views on the role of agents, the possible trialling of sin-bins and on restricting smoking at matches. All are issues about which we feel strongly and they have been discussed with clubs recently. Supporters' views will add to the debate.'

Out of a total of 43,590 respondents 50% support clubs playing in the Coca-Cola Championship with clubs from Leagues 1 and 2 providing 28% and 22% of respondents respectively.

Leeds United supplied the most respondents with 3,187 fans completing the survey. Nottingham Forest, Reading, Sheffield Wednesday, Watford and Wolverhampton Wanderers all provided more than 1,000 respondents.

The survey, which was conducted on The League's behalf by SportsWise, reveals that fans are supportive of the work conducted by The League in recent seasons. It shows that one in two fans believe that The League's image has improved in the two years since its re-branding - a view held particularly strongly in the under 16 age group (75%).

There was also strong backing for The League's 'Good Governance' agenda, including the use of 'Sporting Sanctions' for clubs that go into administration (66%), the publication of clubs' spending on agents fees (88%) and a protocol limiting League 1 and 2 clubs' spending on players' wages to 60% of turnover (69%). Supporters also gave overwhelming backing to the importance of club's work in their local communities (97%) and in youth development (99%).

There is widespread support for The League's assertion that it provides 'Real Football for Real Fans' (79%) and there is also agreement that League games are unpredictable and competitive (89%) and are played in safe surroundings (82%). However, supporter opinion is equally divided on whether League matches offer good value for money.

Football fans identify match atmosphere, safety and a good view as being particularly important to their enjoyment of the match. And on the whole they are content with the performance of their clubs in these areas. Respondents with children give overwhelming backing to The Football League's 'Fans of the Future' initiative which aims to encourage more young supporters into League grounds. A resounding 95% indicate that this initiative would make them more likely to take their children to games.

On the whole supporters are open-minded towards sponsorship with established methods such as front of shirt (90%), stand names (84%) and stadium names (50%) all gaining acceptance.

Looking forward, fans have indicated that they would like to see The League considering the use of sin-bins (56%) and technical assistance for referees (88%) were a suitable system to become available, as well as some form of ban on smoking at games (79%).

The survey also reveals that the average respondent is 36 years old and is four times more likely to be male than female. He/She earns on average £38,000 a year and attends 16 home and 5 away matches per season.

Overwhelmingly he/she is still likely to be classified as 'white British'. Though the survey has revealed a small amount of progress in broadening the ethnicity of the fanbase, there is still more progress needed in this area.

In addition to making the survey's results available on-line and in the interests of developing a dialogue with supporters, The League will be e-mailing the results to the 43,590 supporters that submitted their views.

The summary of results can be downloaded here.