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What CEOs can learn from football managersBy Chris Brady, Special to CNNSeptember 22, 2010 -- Updated 1545 GMT (2345 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Football has been neglected as a model, probably as a result of its working class roots, Brady says But even politicians no longer hide their allegiances -- they boast about them Issues that confront modern organizations are precisely the ones confronting football teams Immediacy of judgment, and the visibility of the managerial process make football an all-embracing model

Chris Brady is Dean of BPP Business School in London and Professor of Management Studies. He is also a UEFA "A" Licence Football Coach. His books include the best-selling "The 90-Minute Manager."

London, England (CNN) -- The important thing to understand about football is that it is a model for contemporary knowledge-based businesses, and not merely some clever management metaphor.Football has, for too long, been neglected as a model, probably as a result of its working class roots and consequent inaccessibility for the usual business audience.Well, football is sexy now, and in becoming so it has simultaneously become an accessible model for business.Football has, as the world game, always been accessible to the vast majority of the world's population, but never in the rarefied atmosphere inhabited by senior business people.But even politicians no longer hide their allegiances -- they boast about them. Tony Blair has spoken of taking advice from Sir Alex Ferguson, and Sir Richard Greenbury has referred to him as the best man-manager in British industry.

Video: Alex Ferguson answers your questions

Not only does football replicate business problems, it intensifies them and accelerates the process by compressing the time-scale. It is, therefore, easier to identify and analyze best (and worst) practice.We cannot easily dissect the behavior of the top CEOs in real time because so much remains secret for so long. By contrast, in football, virtually everything is on view; what is not on immediate view is soon revealed by the omnipresent media.Managing a football team at the highest level is about managing a core business on a daily basis, continually producing performance at a level which constitutes success.It also requires managers who are able to reproduce their success with other teams when they either resign or are sacked by their current employers.If that sounds familiar then it should do. It's the role played by modern CEOs.

The duality of being "the boss," and in the dressing room, provides great managerial strength.--Chris Brady

RELATED TOPICS Alex Ferguson

FootballThey too are required to manage core business teams, composed of highly skilled and highly sought-after individuals. The CEOs are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the organization. Their "players" may be management consultants, sales people, computer whizzes, financial experts or product specialists, but they need managing to ensure that the organization (the team) succeeds.The issues that confront modern organizations are precisely the issues which confront football teams.Those issues include the debate concerning the separation of duties between CEOs and chairmen, the so-called "talent war," the development of a strategic direction, the creation of tactical plans, the continuity and succession of managers, the relationships between CEOs and their chairman, their shareholders, the media and the regulatory authorities -- these are all relationships which are central to both business and football.Another important lesson football management has to offer business is that the manager does not sit, isolated, in a huge office, which removes him from close contact with all levels of his staff. He is literally on the sidelines.However seldom he visits the training ground, his presence there changes the atmosphere and reinforces a level of contact. Most CEOs never attain such rapport.On match days the manager's contact is immediate and intimate. The duality of being "the boss" and in the dressing room (workplace) provides great managerial strength.But perhaps the greatest lesson football has for business is the value of coaching. Too often, in business, coaching is mistaken for counseling or mentoring, to the detriment of the organization.While both functions are valuable, genuine coaching is only about performance.In football, coaches are judged solely on performance. Nobody watches the process, only the results. If business adopted the same appraisal system, imagine the difference.Insert into an organization's appraisal system the concept of judging departmental managers solely on the performance of their staff -- there would be no meetings between appraiser and appraisee, only observation of the performance of staff.That is what happens on a daily basis with football teams. The entire management team is judged, each week, on what happens during each 90 minutes of competitive play.It is the immediacy of such judgment, and the visibility of the managerial process that makes football the all-embracing model it is.Where else are failures in personnel selection and man-management so totally visible? That visibility provides an access to the process denied in business at least until long after the event.As a consequence, the lessons from the dugout are profound, not trivial.Whatever you think about football, an analysis of its management gives us a profound understanding of the corporate managerial task.

Running a team is becoming a ‘science’ for academia and the corporate world

BY JONATHAN GREGSON

In the U.K., these days you can take a university honors degree which is a combined course in football and business management. Meanwhile, academics in psychology departments and business schools study lessons to be learned from experience in sporting management, with football often at the top of the list.And the corporate sector is also in on the game. Management consultancies, lawyers and accountants are increasingly creating their own sporting divisions.Julie Clark is the London-based head of sport at the international accountancy and consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which last October became the first sponsor backing England’s bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. PwC has a long track record of advising football clubs, from the top of the Barclays Premier League through to those in the lower divisions, but Ms. Clark maintains that it is a two-way relationship.“At a global firm such as PwC, we learn a lot from working with football management — in fact, I often think we speak a common language, and I am not talking in the linguistic sense. Football managers need to manage high achievers as a team, but also encourage them to take individual responsibility. Similarly, in our business we have highly competitive individuals but they work as a team. There are plenty of parallels.”Nurturing starsParis-based Gérard Houllier, the technical director of the French Football Federation, the governing body of football in France, and who was manager of the Liverpool Football Club from 1998 to 2004, agrees that business can learn from football. He regularly gives motivational talks to corporate teams on how man-management is the key to a successful organization. “In the world of football we talk about strategy, finance, business partners and the competition as well as management. So there are similarities. But then again there are big differences,” he says. “For example, in a corporate team if someone is off sick someone else can generally take on their role easily. And if someone has a difficult attitude you can simply get rid of them because in business you are dealing with individuals who are not as well known in the media. In football, it is not so simple. We need to nurture our stars and keep them on board,” he adds.When it comes to the successful creation of a football team, Mr. Houllier eschews the classic business maxim that achievement is 80% effort and 20% talent and points to a 95/5 ratio — 95% being effort and the 5% talent. “The players have to be talented to get there in the first place at the highest level. But then you need to define

their roles for them, to get inside their heads to work out what makes them tick. That is the manager’s job. The captain is the relay between the players and the manager, getting the message across. Again, in business there are different dynamics.”Dr. Paul Hughes, lecturer in strategic management at Loughborough University in the U.K., has conducted an exhaustive study of management in the Barclays Premier League and other football leagues and points out that “football managers are expected to take on a vast range of roles, from recruitment and human resources through training to finance.”It is a comment which former Southampton FC manager Lawrie McMenemy, now president of the Lawrie McMenemy Centre for Football Research which opened last September at Southampton Solent University in the U.K., agrees with. He points out that a top team manager’s role has changed hugely as the Barclays Premier League grew to become a mammoth business. “Now the manager works hand in hand with the CEO who looks after all of the financial side, especially players’ contracts and transfers which are all done between the agents and the CEO,” he says, adding that “the CEO may listen to what players the manager would like [to have], but after that he does the rest.”Substantial supportThen there is the mushrooming of support staff, who need to be managed. “Whereas, there used to be just one physiotherapist, now there’s an entire team of fitness experts, dieticians, psychologists and so on,” says Mr. McMenemy. “When playing an away game you need an extra bus for all the backroom boys and girls.”Mr. McMenemy adds that delegation has always been part of the manager’s job. “Nonetheless,” he says, “the manager still has to handle five crucial things: the players, which is probably the easiest part; the press; the public which, if disappointed, ensure the manager gets the blame; the club directors; and, most recently, the agents — and he can only do so effectively if he appoints the right staff. You need a good No. 2 who can look after the dressing room while the manager is locked in the boardroom.”Many hard-pressed CEOs would agree that they need a good deputy on whom they can rely. But are there further lessons to be learned for the corporate world? Sean Hamil, lecturer in the department of management at Birkbeck College, University of London, points to differences over what should be long-term objectives between the manager and the CEO. “The manager is intent on sporting success, and to achieve that he is only too happy to spend the owner’s money. So, if you look at clubs where the manager is too powerful there are usually financial issues. You need a strong business manager to stand up against the team manager.”Dr. Hamil says that currently there are not enough executive leaders in football. He draws a comparison with other industries that rely disproportionately on top talent, such as advertising and investment banking. “Both face similar leadership issues, so it is more about learning from each other rather than football learning from business.”

Leadership qualitiesBut how to inculcate into the players, no matter if they are footballers or corporate lawyers, the instincts as to when to lead and when to delegate? Alan Bairner, professor of sport and social theory at Loughborough University and joint editor with Dr. Gyozo Molnar of “The Politics of the Olympics — a Survey” to be published next year, believes that “the playing of competitive team sports instills leadership qualities in certain individuals whereas others within the team learn to muddle along and take instructions.”

Dr. Hughes of Loughborough believes that one of the key lessons that the corporate world can learn from football in terms of delegation and leadership is to “give new management time to get to know the team and analyze the dynamics before addressing who should be the leaders and to address underlying weaknesses in the core business rather than simply looking at individual performances.”Dr. Mark de Rand, reader in strategy and organization at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, points out, however, that “there is a clear distinction between business teams and sports teams. Businesses have multiple objectives while in sports such as football the individuals generally have a quite singular objective in terms of performance. There is a transparency which is not always so clear in business.”In both cases, however, the goal is clear — success, whether it be winning the match or the competitive corporate pitch. “Ideals are easily taken from the sports field to the business environment,” says Adrian Furnham, professor of psychology at University College London. “Motivational speakers often come from the world of sport, but they need to translate their experience to what applies in business.”Patrick Manning, lead partner within the performance improvement practice at strategic consultancy Bain & Co.’s London office and a silver medal winner in rowing at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, agrees. “I do think there is a role for business to get more involved in certain sports organizations, particularly in helping them to develop long-term vision and to clarify their strategy, but also more broadly to help develop the whole commercial side of the team as a business where there is potential to do that.”Having said that, he adds that “the kind of mental preparation football players go through before a key fixture is hard to translate into the business space. Sometimes there has to be a tradeoff. Should the managing director of a professional services team put the superstar in to lead a competitive pitch on the basis that they are more likely to win the new business, even though that may limit the role of other valuable members of the team?”Successful leadership needs to retain a balance, says the Football Research Centre’s Mr. McMenemy. “It’s no good simply being a shouter, a barker, because if that is all then the players won’t turn up for late practice or give their best. Nor can you be too soft, too comfortable with them, because you need to retain their respect. You’ve got to be fair to them, and let them all think [that] you know what you’re doing.“You let them have an input,” says Mr. McMenemy, “but not too much. You listen, and then you tell them ‘this is what we’re going to do.’ Just as in business.”

What can HR learn from football management?Roisin WoolnoughFriday 01 June 2012 09:57

With football's European Championships just around the corner, organisations can gain a lot of insight from managers working in "the beautiful game".A few heads have rolled recently in the cut-throat world of Premier League football, and this is not unusual. In fact, dismissals are so commonplace that bookies provide odds on the next manager to be sacked.

Much like working in the City, success is all about achieving results, achieving them quickly and then achieving them again and again. There is little room for mistakes or off-colour performances. "It's high stakes, high reward, high demand and high expectations," says Perry Timms, head of HR, talent and organisational development at the Big Lottery Fund. "There is some similarity with the City in that people are hired on a certain degree of performance already displayed and if they don't come up to expectation, they might be unceremoniously booted out."

Fortunately for football managers, being sacked does not necessarily mean an end to their careers. Take Roy Hodgson, sacked from his position as Liverpool manager at the start of last year only to land the top job in British football - manager of the England team - 18 months later.

Management stylesWhat is your football manager style?

Autocratic - Alex Ferguson, Manchester United. Prefers a high level of power over the team.

Relationship - Ian Holloway, Blackpool. Leads people through encouragement and enthusiasm.

Cognitive - Arsene Wenger, Arsenal. Leads by a purely logical, methodical approach.

Collaborative - Roy Hodgson, England. Deliberates with team members and uses their contributions to make decisions.

Shadow - Carlo Ancelotti, Paris St Germain. Provides adequate authority to the team members to reach decisions and do the right things.

Co-achievement - Harry

Redknapp, Tottenham Hotspur. Works with all the team members to inspire them to reach decisions and do the right things.

Results-focused - Sam Allardyce, West Ham. Only interested in making sure the result happens, whatever it takes.

Transactional - Roberto Mancini, Manchester City. Rewards are measured and offered by performance.

High-flex - David Moyes, Everton. Will change their style to suit the circumstances or needs at the appropriate time.

Hodgson features in a report by talent development company Results International. The report, "Is your management style Premier League?", looked at the management styles of 10 football managers and surveyed more than 100 HR professionals for their opinions on the football managers discussed, their own management style and that of their managers. Hodgson was perceived to have a "collaborative" management style, cited in the report as someone who deliberates with his team members and uses their contributions to make decisions.

The other styles were: autocratic; relationship; cognitive; shadow; co-achievement; results-focused; transactional; high-flex; and delegator. When asked to say which football managers they would most like as their own manager, 28% of the HR professionals surveyed in the report plumped for Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp (co-achievement style) and 23% for Blackpool manager Ian Holloway (relationship style). Perhaps surprisingly, given his success, only 4% opted for Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson's autocratic style.

CollaborativeOccupational psychologist Nigel Wood is a big fan of the collaborative and co-achievement approaches to leadership. He thinks that this is increasingly what organisations and individuals want from their managers. If they don't get it, he says, many employees will move somewhere else, where their input is valued. "I think people have different expectations of managers now and most are looking for the consensual, collaborative style," he adds. "The importance of that collaborative style in engaging people cannot be underestimated as most people respond well to being asked their opinions."

This is the stuff of successful employee engagement programmes. Successful employee engagement efforts hinge on good, collaborative management - without it, these programmes don't really work and can actually disengage employees.

AutocraticWhile his preference is for collaborative management, Wood thinks that there are some sectors and organisational cultures where the autocratic style is more accepted.

"It's a stereotype, but some City firms and blue-chip companies can have that kind of management," he says. "Some employees will prefer it as they like the clarity and purpose and want to be given drive and direction."

However, Wood says it definitely doesn't work for him: "I had a manager years ago who was very autocratic. He was respected by a number of people in the business but a lot of people didn't respond well to his style at all and

the best that people could say about him was that at least you knew where you stood with him. It was very disempowering. I think this approach constrains people from doing their jobs properly."

Alex Ferguson was highlighted in the report as an autocratic leader. "Everyone knows where they stand with him," says Paul Stephenson, managing director at Results International. Ferguson makes it clear what he expects from his players, what they can expect from him and where he is in the pecking order. In a television interview last year, Ferguson said: "What you have to understand is that the most important person at Manchester United is the manager."

Being such a successful manager, Ferguson garners a lot of respect and has held his post for a long time, presiding over some of the best players in the field. Occupational psychologist Kim Stephenson agrees that this style works well for Ferguson and seems to work well for his club.

"In some situations, you don't have time for the time-consuming collaborative approach - you just have to get results," he says. "Autocratic leadership can be very useful when people need to get on with something quickly and get a decision made," he adds. "A lot of management is based on the military model of 'command and control'. In these cases, people often say it doesn't matter if the decision is right or wrong, it just needs to be made."

While Stephenson thinks the autocratic style works well in certain situations and for certain people, he thinks it doesn't usually achieve long-term success: "It doesn't build loyalty or resources, nor does it help people to realise their potential."

Ultimately, there is no single particular style of management that will suit all employees, all organisations or all football teams. The best that a manager can do is be aware of their own particular form of management, their strengths and their weaknesses, and how they affect their team.

For additional football-related content on Personnel Today, seeEuropean   Championships 2012: issues for employees.

Performance Management: What HR Should Learn from Footballby   Howard Risher on Apr 30, 2012, 10:45 AM  |  4 Comments

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Last week’s annual NFL draft   reminds us that effective performance management practices are demonstrated in live action every weekend in the fall. Football games, both pro and college, exemplify a number of lessons on how to bring the best performance from people.Selection as well as ‘promotions’ (to starting positions) focus on demonstrated capabilities associated with success. There is strong but healthy competition to be the best in each “job.” The “managers” work closely with players to help them develop their skills and play at the highest level. There is a heavy emphasis on recognizing and rewarding the best performers.

They all play football but “work” in different positions requiring distinctly different skills and abilities. Most of us as fans could identify the key competencies required for success at each position. There are no doubt a few core competencies – teamwork is obvious – but each position has distinctly different responsibilities and job success depends on developing the skills needed at the position.

Winning is a team accomplishment

Teams recognize the need for job or position specific skills and support skill development with a long list of specialized coaches. Pro teams have 15 to 18 coaches. There is always a coach for the quarterbacks, another for running backs, etc.

Coaches provide ongoing feedback throughout each game, and of course during practice sessions. Obviously, however, the players play the game. Coaches stay on the sidelines.

They also evaluate player performance, using position specific performance data. At year end those ratings are linked to tangible and intangible rewards. The media carries endless articles comparing player performance at each position; even the stars are subject to critical assessments.

Those comparisons remind me of the practice of posting operating results on a wall for everyone to see. The players low on those comparisons naturally want to improve and move up on the lists. The team comparisons are similar to those developed by the investment community.

In the end, of course, winning is a team accomplishment. The locker room scenes for both winners and losers tell us everything about the value of being successful. Despite the significant differences in individual rewards, there is a strong team esprit de corps.

Obvious in football; not so much in HR

All of that is probably obvious to football fans. It’s taken for granted and never questioned. What is not obvious is the reason why these practices are never questioned in football (or other team sports) but the subject of endless, often contentious debates in HR forums. What is also not obvious is why players accept the open, sometimes disparaging discussions of their performance while it remains an intensely sensitive subject in other sectors.

Would those same practices be effective in the typical organization? Do employees in other sectors differ in their desire to excel, in their need for feedback, or in their desire to be recognized and rewarded for their performance? OK – football players are different ; they’re bigger, stronger etc, etc. But my guess is many of us would be open and responsive to the same level of feedback and coaching in our jobs. And we would also welcome similar challenges and opportunities to excel. Business is about winning and most of us would look forward to celebrations similar to those post-game locker rooms.

The biggest hurdle it seems is the half century of ineffective performance management practices. We are all conditioned by our experience in narrowly defined jobs with little challenge and by close, over-the-shoulder supervision. The simple but difficult change to ongoing feedback and coaching would be welcomed by most employees and contribute to improved performance – as it obviously does in sports.

Now we have a new generation of workers who grew up playing video games with instantaneous feedback and rewards for good performance. It’s time to rethink the way we select, develop and manage employees.

Lessons learned from sports

This is not intended to be definitive or even defensible but is offered for debate. If you disagree, I’ll be at the bar watching my Philadelphia Flyers.

An underlying assumption behind HR practices is that employees want to be successful, to grow and develop their capabilities, and to be recognized and valued for their contribution.

Managers and supervisors should be selected and rewarded for demonstrated people management skills, not their technical knowledge. Those who are not effective should be moved back to a non-supervisory role.

Research shows expectations have a significant impact on performance in sports and in school. It pays to set the bar high for employees as well.

The focus in selection and in career management should be on placing people in positions where they are most likely to thrive.

Jobs should be analyzed to identify key competencies and training modules developed to help employees develop the skills for job success.

Training is essential but it should be reinforced with recurring feedback and coaching. The best performers in a job know what’s needed for success. Tight ends, for example, know

better than anyone what skills are needed to be a great tight end. Job incumbents should be responsible for defining performance criteria.

Rewards should be linked solidly to performance. That linkage is a key to effective incentives. Whenever it’s appropriate, team performance should be rewarded. Executives are rewarded in

part for team – i.e., company – performance but then that is ignored at lower levels. Employees like to celebrate accomplishments. Every ‘win’ warrants recognition. Whenever

appropriate, the ‘team’ should be the focus of the occasion. Having fun at work is important.Great organizations in every sector are able to maintain that success because of their people. That’s true for companies, hospitals, universities and government agencies. Every employer should have a goal of winning the Super Bowl.

Howard Risher is a private consultant who focuses on pay and performance. His career extends over 40 years and includes years managing consulting practices for two national firms. He recently became the editor of the journal Compensation and Benefits Review. He also has an MBA and Ph.D from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Contact him [email protected].

FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT AND FOOTBALL MARKETINGFootball today should be treated like any other business. You have to staff it with the right people on and off the pitch. You must have the right person from the Chief Executive up to the grounds man. If you do not to do that your club is going to suffer replicable damage at worst or you are going to stagnate at best.

When teams fail and do badly on the field of play the management looks at the technical team. They never look at the off the field management, in actual fact themselves. They point a finger at the coaching staff and they do not realize that the other three fingers are actually pointing at them. There are so many things that are controlled by the office that actually affect what goes on, on the field of play. If things go wrong in the office it affects people who are playing.

For example, many teams never ever play any home game through out the season. A home game is one which you play on the home tuff and supported by a partisan full house. Many teams do not have this and therefore do not realize that they are forever playing away games. A home game to many teams is just in name. What this means is that apart from not travelling the team is always at a disadvantage. You can not blame this permanent away games on the coaching staff. It lies squarely on the feet of the office management and marketing team. They are doing a very shabby job when it comes to marketing the team.

For a football team to do well it must have professionals at every level including the marketing department. Filling a stadium does not come through guess work it comes through a clear cut planned marketing effort and well crafted strategies implemented by people who have the knowledge to do it. Marketing football is not done in the traditional sense of the three p 's as they used to call them. Football marketing is about creating a relationships with your fans and maintaining it. Football marketing is about communicating to fans. Football marketing has a lot to do with people. A football fan is supposed to fall in love with the team. It is therefore important not to look at people trained to sell goods and traditional services, but a person who can relate to and pull people.

Football Management is at the center of all this to get the right people and also provide them with the tools to succeed. Football marketing is far reaching and sometimes expensive exercise but very profitable at the end of the day. You should have the right management that understands what has to be done to fill the stadiums and create loyal fans and therefore attract the right staff to do this.

A typical example that proves that proper management and by extension proper marketing can lead to outstanding results is the case of Sounders FC in the city of Seattle in the United States. Sounders got a Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise in 2009. They got the right marketing machine on board and went right straight into marketing the club within the Seattle community. Fast forward two years down the line they have an almost complete sell out of their home matches at Qwest Field (an average of 36,000 fans per match) with an enthusiastic fan base. This fan base sings, matches, and waves the club scarves. They have created an atmosphere only comparable to the English Premiership or the Bundesliga. All this has been done within two years. The trick has been, the right people in the right jobs and a close connection with the Seattle fans. Sounders FC is now a club and not a team as defined by Dr. Bill Sutton. Dr Sutton says that: “A team is something that you watch. A club is something that you’re a part of."

Your team can become a club, you can do it. Get the right management on and off the pitch and success will come on and off the pitch.

WHY FOOTBALL MARKETING

Football Marketing is like everything else in life. There is the right way and the wrong way to do things and Michael Jordan sums it up correctly below.

It comes down to a very simple saying: there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way.

Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.Michael Jordan

It is impossible to solve a problem without diagnosing it correctly. You have to ask yourself very pertinent questions if you are to solve the problem of bad football marketing and by extension empty stadiums.

Why are stadiums empty? Why do fans keep away from a stadium but spend even more money in say bars and restaurants while watching the same match on TV? Is it possible to fill that stadium all the time through the season? How do fans think? What should come first, playing good football or filling the stadium? Is bad football and an empty stadium related? Why do some teams that play very good football play before empty stadiums and opposite is also true?

What is the real competition to football for the fans purse?

If you do not understand human behaviour and thinking, then whatever you do your stadium will remain empty. Footballmarketing.biz gives you an opportunity to change your thinking and change the way you attract and keep your fans as revving fans. The result will be full a stadium all the time. Your team will never play before an empty stadium ever again. Getting the business of fans right is the corner stone of getting the art of football economy correct.

But are football fans that important to the game?

Why should you waste your time, energy and resources on fans? Are fans all that important to the game of football?

Making a Case for Proper Football Marketing1. Football fans are the corner stone of the game. Fans create the atmosphere and spectacle at the game. The match on the field of play may be electric, but if it is played in an empty stadium it will be a dull spectacle.2. Fans are the twelfth man on the pitch. Clubs such as Liverpool, Manchester United (England) and Al Ahly (Egypt) are almost unbeatable at their home ground, because of the intimidating factor of their fans. With an empty stadium all your home games are and will forever be, away matches. You will never have home advantage! Your team is disadvantaged before the first whistle. Isn't that very sad?3. With a full stadium, you have an assured sustainable source of resources to run the club. Fans pay to watch the game. Revving fans buy club merchandise, your team's tills ring, you are able to financially sustain the club.4. Revving fans and a full stadium attracts the media. The media depends on adverts and these adverts are sold to sponsors while broadcasting popular games as defined by the fans. The media (radio and TV), pay top dollar for this opportunity. The game as a whole benefits from this patronage. Your tills ring.5. A full stadium is your face to the business world, it attracts sponsors. They fall onto each other to partake in this spectacle. They want to attract your fans. They pay heavily for this relationship. You tills ring. You have resources to run the club.6. A successful fan policy gives you the resources and clout to attract the best players, management and the top dollar. This is what the English Premier League has got right. The fruits are there for all of us to see.

This short analysis shows you that football economy revolves around fans. The only sustainable way to run a club is to get your fan marketing correct and it is at the core of footballmarketing. The best way to convey that you have got your fan business correct and you have a huge following is to have a full stadium through out the season regardless who your team is playing. This portrays that your team has a large visible following and this will attract all successes alluded to earlier.

Poor Fan Marketing and thereby bad Football Marketing

Look at the opposite scenario. A team plays most of its games before sparsely populated stadiums. In actual fact people in the stadiums are either tourists or relatives of the players and officials. Which business or media house would in its true senses like to throw its lot with such a team? Where would be the benefit for them? For that very reason most teams globally go without a sponsor and have no media coverage. Millions are left on the table. There is a vicious circle of loss to the game as a whole. Such a team is incapable of merchandising. Such a team is incapable of attracting the best players possible, unless there is a well endowed benefactor.

1. All you need to know about attracting fans.2. Who your true competition is for fans.3. How to create revving fans.4. Attract disengaged and new fans.5. Get them actively engaged in the game.6. How to create a spectacle at games that acts as a beacon to attract more fans.7. How to offer great mileage to sponsors and get the most out of them as well.8. How attract and retain minorities in the community, plus women and children into the game of football.9. Apply technology correctly and effectively to support your fan policy.10. How to attract a full house through out the season.11. A successful, sustainable fan and football economy.12. Most of all, how to use these ideas successfully.

Remember:

Football fans are loyal but, they have different levels of loyalty to their club. The less loyal (who are the majority) hardly ever transfer this loyalty to another club, but do not utilize it positively to their own club as well. Because of this, if you do not do the correct things to rev up fan loyalty for your club, you lose and the game as a whole loses! Think about how much money the game is losing to beer, cell phones etcetera!

Do the English love football more than the rest of the football loving world? This is highly debatable. What they have done is to get the fan relationships right and have therefore created greater demand than supply for tickets. The success from this is there for all of us to see. The top dollar is falling over each other to partake in this pie. Their success is replicable, if you know how.

A renowned conservationist Dr David Attenborough put it succinctly "Anything worth doing has got moments of discomfort or even pain. And the pleasure so grossly outweighs everything else that you don't even notice."

So will football marketing be, it will have moments of pain and discomfort but a full stadium through out the season out weighs everything.

Join us on this journey as we change the face of our game and stadiums.

Robert K [email protected]+27 78 7606 441Fan Relationship Management and Football Marketing SpecialistFounder - footballmarketing.bizPretoriaSouth Africa

GREAT SALES MANAGEMENT ADVICE FROM FOOTBALL'S GREATESThttp://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3109/Great-Sales-Management-Advice-from-Footballs-Greatest.html

Whitmer says it’s the same approach he takes with his teams and players, no matter what they’ve accomplished." Tom Brady, the Patriot's equally brilliant quarterback, is quoted as saying,“He treats minicamp like it’s the week of the Super Bowl. The pressure is always on. We joke, because every day he comes into the meeting and he goes, ‘Alright guys, this is a big day,’ and we always joke that he should walk in one day and say, ‘Guys, this day’s not super important. Whatever we mess up today, don’t worry, we can get to tomorrow.’ That’s how he approaches it, every day is meaningful, and I think as a player you come in and you really respect that, and you try to do your very best to accomplish the goals that he sets out every day. When we won those 16 games in a row in 2007, people would have thought we were 0-16 by the way that we were coached. He doesn’t care what you did last year, he doesn’t care if you made the Pro Bowl, as long as you can help us win this week.’’ 

Sales Managers could learn a thing or two from Belichick! Like: 

Consistency Past Performance is not a free pass for lack of performance today You can always perform better Accomplish the goals Every day is meaningful The pressure is always on

What Management Can Learn From Football

An Abject Lesson in Management

It's no coincidence that Sir Alex Ferguson's team (The manager of Manchester United Football Club)  came from behind to win in the last few minutes of the game on Sunday. Nor is it surprising that they do that with almost frightening regularity. Sir Alex marked his 1000th game in charge of Manchester United by watching yet another team he's built snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat in overtime. When other teams would have shut-up shop as soon as they scored a late equalizer and been happy to settle for a point. Manchester United do what they always do, they went in for the kill and secured the win. Why? Because it's instilled into them that it's the Manchester United way. http://www.manutd.com/Splash-Page.aspxThe odds against it happening with such regularity tell you that there's something very different going on at Manchester United, than to be able to somehow dismiss it as being a result of them being able to field some of the world's most talented footballers. Actually, it's far from that. It's simply an abject lesson how great management techniques, and teams, can produce remarkable sustained results, and it's something that Sir Alex Ferguson has in abundance. He's quite simply the best in his field. Whilst he's no shrinking violet, and does not suffer defeat, nor fools, lightly, he's as magnanimous in defeat as he in victory, Congratulating his opponents in defeat, and deflecting any plaudits that he receives in victory to his team members, coaches and fans. It's not about him winning, it's all about Manchester United winning, and they all apart of that.

The winning mentality    His mind-games are the stuff of legend. Love him or hate him, you'd definitely go over the top of the trenches with this guy leading the fight. Whilst he would most likely would have had the same success at almost any other top club he'd have signed up to manage. The fact that Manchester United was a sleeping giant that had underachieved, and had lived in the shadow of its neighbours Liverpool FC, as well as was built in philosophy to play with flair brought about by its other successful manager, and fellow Scot, Sir Mat Busby, (who rebuilt a successful team, after his legendary Busby Babes were all but wiped out, and cut off in their prime, in a tragic air crash whilst returning home from Munich on a snow ridden evening, after playing a European cup game, a tournament they were almost certainly destined to win.) meant that this club was a match made in heaven for Sir Alex. Whilst they had by far the largest fan base in the country, Man United they hadn't won the league for some 21 years prior his arrival. Like Jack Welch and GE, the two went together like butter on toast, and both have had more than a few upheavals on their way to success. 

Indeed, listen to either man talk and you immediately get a picture of clarity to the cause of winning, and see the burning passion and drive that got them to the top of their respective professions. To reach the top and to stay there for so long shows that both men are a very different breed of manager that we can all learn from. Both wear their management heart on their sleeves, and it's easy to see why they command such fearsome loyalty from the staff, and respect from their fellow professionals. I suspect that a month spent with either of these guys would better than a year spent at any business school. 

They both have an innate drive that bonds them and there staffs together in one cause, which is to win and move on to achieve bigger and better things. Neither man minces his words nor fears ruffling a few feathers as they strive to hit the mark of excellence. What you see is what you get. Give your best, and they'll back you to the hilt. Slack at your peril. In their eyes the business/club is bigger than any one person in it, including themselves, and they expect all within the organisation to understand that. Any adversaries who underestimate the task of taking on any of these two titans of management are going to lose the fight. Between them, they've slain more foes

than a school of seasoned Gladiators. They never tire of the entering the arena. 

As Jack Welch did at GE, Sir Alex has bred this winning mentality into Manchester United Football Club as a whole. Everyone is a part of the team, from the coaches to the cooks, from the admin staff, to the board, through to its fiercely loyal global fan-base. They're all a part of the Man United team, and both Sir Alex and the club make sure that everyone is aware of  that. It's Team Man Utd not just the Man Utd team. It's become a mantra;  Win, and we win together. Lose, and we all suffer the defeat.  

Last season they suffered the harshest of defeats after they had the Premier League Championship snatched from their grasp by their newly Arab funded rivals Man City, who, with practically the last kick of the last game of the season, when Man Utd had done their job by winning on an opponents ground, had to leave the field having heard that their bitter rivals had just scored in the dying seconds of their game to take the league on goal difference alone, same points total, less goals scored. This, after United had wrestled back a 12 points deficit to get back on top of the league, whilst missing key players through injury, only for them to then throw away a 4-1 lead at home to Everton, that handed back the initiative to their bitter rivals. Something that was not lost on Sir Alex as he began recruiting for the new season. He purchased the league's most prolific striker, Robin Van Persie.

As the new season begins, Sir Alex finds himself back in the management arena, bloodied, but not defeated, having added yet another valuable lesson to his vast management lexicon, that'll now goes straight to his armory for processing, and, as if anyone needed reminding, that this old Gladiator was up for the fight, up pops his latest signing, to score twice in the dying minutes of a game they were losing, and left the arena with yet another late win under their belts. That left the onlookers in no doubt that this old Gladiators definitely not putting his sword down anytime soon, and will continue to be the formidable foe he's always been.

The time on the match clock has little bearing on how team Man Utd plays the game, as long as it's ticking there's an opportunity to score. Sir Alex demands nothing less. The fact that there was only seconds remaining on the clock when they scored yet another winning goal is no fluke. It's just the Man Utd way. It's never over until it's over for any of Sir Alex's teams. What will the 2013 season bring? I've got a sneaking feeling that Manchester United will win the premier league, driven by Sir Alex's never say die attitude. Watch this space.

Managing the team    Whilst no player is safe from his wrath, everyone is treated as an equal, but handled in very different ways. The epitome of good people management.  Sir Alex gets the best out of every team member. They lose a key player at this club, no problem, it's viewed as their loss, not the club's. The Man Utd club train still leaves the station to the same old destination; Top of the League Junction. Despite his years Sir Alex is still driven to succeed by the sight of his troops in battle. He's learned that age really is just a number. As long as he keeps fit, and stays healthy, and his good lady wife, Lady Ferguson, an unsung hero, still backs him to do what he loves doing. Then he's there for his Club. On the long journey to the watering hole, it's better to have the company and assuredness of a well travelled older elephant, that's made the journey many times before, than the speed of a young buck that hasn't. 

What is it that keeps ManU on top of their game? Can we learn from the same? Certainly! This is all about an end product, management, teams, people, resources, buyers, marketing, sales, customer service, brand management, and an awareness that what is done on the field affects what they do off it. 

Managing and developing the business and brand    It's no coincidence that the Nike tick is emblazoned across Man United's shirts, or that Chrysler have now bought the advertising rights to the same, or even that DHL features on ManUtd's training kits. (normally you'd never see those shirts outside of the training ground, however, in this age of craving instant information, it has turned out to be a master stroke by DHL. The DHL Logo appears almost daily in some tabloid or other as they report on top players at work, being signed, or on the come-back trail after injury. As players spend longer in their training garb than any other, the exposure DHL gets is very high indeed. Nice one DHL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT0QGgd7vbg

Learn from those around you

    United have been quick to exploit the sports science and facilities that being partnered with the likes of Nike offers them. Training techniques, body science, running analysis, body endurance, fitness levels, stamina thresholds, diet, nutritional study info. has helped fashion a new player care and advancement regime that's used by the players and staff alike.  Also, being partnered with such global heavyweights as Nike, Hublot, Chrysler, DHL, Singha Beers, Turkish Airlines, Smirnoff, STC Saudia Arabia, BWin, Thomas Cook, Epson, et al, opens up a whole new world of marketing, and global expansion strategies and experience that were not previously available to them without specifically buying in the same. Don't just trade with your suppliers, and sponsors, see what you can learn for the them. Benchmark your business fitness against theirs. Look at how their success, marketing and business startegies can be aligned with yours.

In David Gill, Man Utd have a Chairman, who understands that results on the field are a key factor to their achieving results off it. The two go hand in hand in helping to  forge key partnerships and alliances that opens many doors of opportunity. The club's success is in no small part down to his hard work, expertise and vision. They're a formidable team, Sir Alex and Mr Gill who is another man at the top of his game, and one to watch. United need to keep him at the tiller just as much as they need to keep Mr Ferguson fit and healthy for a good few years yet whilst they identify his successor.

The much maligned American owners, have, I suspect, brought a touch of a marketing and growth finesse to a franchise that has proved to be a very shrewd investment on their part. One has to wonder about the logic behind the likes of wealthy Arab and Russian investors who appear to be ill-advised when it comes to buying the right soccer franchise, in favour of the one's that always seem to follow the same poor formula, which is one of massive investment, that only ever serves up limited global success due to the fact that those involved in the process do not fully understand the interaction between the brand, the fan-base and it's true global appeal. Whilst for the most, Arabs are canny traders, (let's face it they were founding fathers of world trade and haven't forgotten trade lessons learned over the past millennium). When it comes to football franchises they seem to be very poorly informed by people who cannot marry up the business potential with the sport. AS such, as soon their clubs suffer poor results, off comes the head of the manager, only then for his replacement to come in, and demand yet more resources and more spending takes place that leaves a pile of poorly purchased over valued over paid assets in their wake.

Risk-aversion not risk taking, and the mapping of key skills    The Premier league, for all its faults, understands brand awareness. However, the debts being run up by many of its member clubs, will, I'm afraid, undermine a lot of the good work done unless they take steps to cap spending. If it doesn't change the whole system will fall apart. Most clubs, their managers and boards simply do not understand how to develop their clubs organically and feed off the brand in the way the likes of  Man Utd have done. More risk-aversion thinking as opposed to risk taking is required. Whilst the likes of Arsenal have followed a prudent financial model. Most other clubs are too busy striving to become instant winners, the new Facebook or a Google, and are busy putting themselves into debt when a much more synergised holistic approach is required. Man Utd has debt, the difference being, theirs is very manageable, and, they have a very firm and expending business model.

It's difficult enough to initially keep a club in the premier league once it's arrived, it's a very steep learning curve. A new style of play has to be adopted against teams that will exploit the slightest weakness they see. Sometimes you're forced to defend where you'd have taken a chance on attack in the lesser leagues. This is where a good manger earns his or her coin, knowing when to strike, and when not to. However, once established, then comes the demand to move the club onto even more success, usually at a much quicker pace than is achievable, without very heavy investment taking place, and a lot of luck.

It's no coincidence that the same clubs are around the top four of the league year in year out. The lesser clubs need to understand why, it's not totally about spend power, the league's littered with expensive failures. This is about management skills, coaching, business linkage, and facilitative management that's at the crux of any success. It is imperative that all have involved fully understand how the brand, supporters, players, managers, coaches, board, and scouts all interlink.

Many boards in this business arena become somewhat adversarial through a lack of trust borne out of an ignorance of the game, that has in the past, led them to pursue ill advised overspends. Many managers feel that their boards constrain their winning strategy through a lack of spend commitment, and do not understand why or how to overcome it.

There's a lack of understanding of just how the management is supposed to direct and control a group that leads to the proper coordination of an end goal. The likes of Manchester United have figured that out. Whilst the most important individual at the club is the manager. Sir Alex and his board are in agreement about how they are going to go about achieving their collective goals. There's a synergy that runs far deeper than simply coaching players to beat opposing teams that include; 

a) What's the competition doing? b) How do we maintain and further our standards? c) Where's the long term growth strategy? d) How do we manage the likes of; quality control, safety, increasing income, sales and marketing, staff numbers and competency, medical issues, sports medicine, the assets under our charge, discipline, diets, scouting networks, player statistics and information? e) What do we do with our human capital knowledge base? f) Can we use it to our advantage? Where do we go from here? g) What do you need to do in order to achieve your collective goals

Effective team building    It can be argued that managers are only focussed on short term results because they're under short term contracts and governance regimes. Also, that the pace of demanded success only hastens their hunger for a quick fix. Boards need to understand and demand that, within their tenure, managers work at leaving behind at least a structure for organic growth, inline with the boards goals, and show evidence of this.

One of Manchester United's key strategies under Sir Alex has been to revamp and encourage youth development that not only ensures lower cost growth, but also ensures that youngsters within the club become ingrained in the Manchester United way of winning. Youth development has to be a part of organic growth. A team that's grown together, with the addition of key players and key skills is bound to become a more effective unit. Therefore, Managers need to understand that this is as much about organic growth as a whole  it is about player purchase. Most managers will think in this way but have the added undue pressure of being terminated if results fail to materialise in the shortest possible time.

   Whilst the statistics bear out the fact that you don't have to spend the most amount of money to achieve the most success, borne out when one looks at the likes of Sir Alex, Arsene Wenger of Arsenal, David Moyes of Everton, Dario Gradi of Crewe in the lower leagues, who have built successful teams without crossing certain spend thresholds. However, these exceptions prove to be few and far between in a world where journeymen footballers go for millions more than their true values. The difference between the latter aforementioned managers and the rest is that they possess the ability to get the best out of players who are not always the best in their respective positions, but rather, they overcome this handicap through hard work forming effective units.Their teams become formidable units that are hard to break down. Good managers build effective teams.

Spend management    In any enterprise, spend management is managing how to spend money to best effect in order to build products and services. The term is intended to encompass such processes as outsourcing, procurement, e, procurement and supply chain management. Since the "spend manager" could have a significant impact on a company's results, it has been advocated that this manager have a senior voice in running the company. In football, as in the likes of IT this can prove to be an expensive exercise. Remember the Millenium Bug that was conveniently swept under the rug by some embarrassed senior staffers after it was found to be the most expensive hoax of all time. Like-wise football is littered with spends that have brought a club to its knees. Rangers FC and Portsmouth to name but two in recent times. 

Give me an open cheque book and I will give you a team that can compete at the highest level. However, keeping it there will pose a very different problem. The best managers all, at sometime, control their spend but still manage to achieve the same high results.

If they are to succeed, managers need to understand the business of spend management, as well

as possess a keen eye for players who can consistently deliver results. The likes of Manchester United do not stand still, so it's not easy to catch them up but you can learn from their ever changing model. In their eyes the club doesn't close down after it's last winning game. It's a living breathing global entity that operates 24/7 365 days per year. The sun rises somewhere all the time, and that brings potential customers to their door.

Sit at your computer anywhere in the world, and the Man Utd official website is not only telling you about the club, that it wants you to be a part of, and what's happening on a daily basis, but it's very subtly dragging in you in to a purchase. Like Kaa in Jungle book, they pull you in until you're bedazzled by the glitter and glamour of it all and subtly go for the sale. Your support is called for in a variety of ways with an array of slickly promoted high, must have, fashion products including shirts, Hublot watches, travel, VIP match day ticket packages, Tours of the stadium, cars. They let you who's just signed for your team, and what everyone's doing today at the club you're a part of. http://www.manutd.com/en.aspx it's no mean feat that United where valued back in 2000 at about £87 million pounds. Forbes estimates their worth to day at about $2.3billion and growing. They're doing something right. What price Sir Alex's worth to the club. Untold!

This is no local club that offers a few football shirts and match day tickets for sale. This is a global brand at the top of its game.  Walk into any of it's Man Utd stores worldwide, and you find an array of high fashioned well manufactured Nike shirts and other products with Man Utd's name subtlety sited on them. You can wear these shirts to the local club and be regarded as some football mad thug. These are chic expensive well designed shirts that live with the best of them. It's now chic to have a team you support. They've learned from their sponsors, Micheal Jordan and Tiger Woods wear Nike, so too does President Obama, and Cold Play. Soccer's not just a working class sport anymore. It's the biggest business on the planet, and it's getting so that if you don't know anything about it, you're out, rather than in.

Players go for more than SMEs. Top players command bigger salaries than the top Wall St execs. Their appeal is global, Ronaldo, a player Sir Alex, nutured and developed, is now regarded as one of the hottest properties on the planet, as is Brand Beckham, another of Sir Alex's ex charges, who Married Victoria, and the rest is history. Ronaldo, Messi, Beckham, Giggs, Zidane, Giggs, Van Persie, Rooney, Henry, Suarez, Tevez, Drogba, Lampard, are as easily recognisable in Bangkok as they are in Europe. All go by one name, it's enough. The soccer brand has arrived, and business has to sit-up and take notice. It's cracking China with great aplomb, and will eventually crack the USA where the MLS has now begun to take hold. Why pay hundreds of dollars kiting your kid out in expensive protective American football gear when you can spend a few dollars to buy him/her a ball, and they can play the game anywhere without the need for crash helmets. It's a no-brainer! 

What is strategic Planning?      To keep throwing money into a bottomless pit, that's never going to realise the investment made, is just plain bad business, and bordering on megalomania. This is where much of soccer has to get its act together, and be quick about it.  In order to prosper, clubs need to understand how holistic management feeds into the organic growth of their business, and how the likes of; Apple, Nike, Man Utd, Adidas, Coke, Pepsi, Lego, fashion their brands.

Soccer executives who would normally shy away from excessive spending in their day to day management of their own businesses, without firstly performing a lot of due diligence. Yet they have become seduced by the promise rather than the reality of the fortunes on offer. They need to get back to basics, and really understand the marriage that's on offer here.

Last minute forced multi-million, fingers crossed, trades have to stop in favour of proper scouting and development networks. A big signing is fine, if hedelivers, and some can often generate a great income for the club, but too many over priced assets are being purchased in the hope that they'll deliver when the statistics say otherwise.

A manager rushes out and buys a player for $50mil dollars, only for him, the manager, to then lose his job, and a new incumbent takes over, doesn't like the look of the expensive new asset and sells him for half the price the club paid for him. It's nonsense! business suicide and very poor strategic planning. Where was the due diligence on that particular player trade. What variables were considered before purchasing him? What was the long term goal? Where is the what if scenario?

The likes of SIr Alex Fergusson has made some bad buys, and sales, along the way, but that's been dwarfed by his successes. Business owners need to take cogniscance of the expertise that's available to them before they take an expensive leap of faith into un-chartered spend waters. Just has business needs to benchmark itself against the rest. It needs to understand the holistic approach that the club's taking to develop all of the business not just bring players in, that, if they don't work out, are sold on at bring and buy prices.

Scouting, coaching, youth development, sports science, discipline, brand image, marketing, sales, product distribution. It's no different to ASDA, TESCO, Wallmart, Danone, or Coca Cola. The same principles apply. Zidane, Beckham, Giggs, Henry, Tevez, Messi, Ronaldo, where all scouted at some time, and they all cost very little first time around but became huge assets. Whilst it doesn't always work out that way, the key to progress certainly lies in getting the right product at the right time and in the strategic planning of the trade. What if? What If? What if?. 

Brand Loyalty    Steve Jobs was a legendary leader who understood the power behind the team, the brand, and how to connect them all together. Under his stewardship, brand Apple, who were once dead in the water, have created a fan/customer loyalty base on a scale that was unheard of before in any business. There's a big difference between Apple brand loyalty and the likes of Microsft and Google. It could be argued that Apple where the first company outside of sports franchises to really create a global customer fan-base. People drink Coke, and to a degree they're brand loyal, but there's a big difference between a customer staying loyal at a $500 price-point, and one who shells out 50 cents when they're thirsty.

Apple product launches are eagerly awaited by Apple fans. They're not just press launches anymore, but a presentation to Apple fans of how we, Team Apple, are beating the other teams out there. Hoots and Hollers rang out as Steve Jobs flipped the next cool screen to reveal even faster smarter screens that moved this way and that. He almost mocked the competition with Apples innovative styles. He cared about his customers who are a part of Team Apple. Hey team Apple members, you're going to look pretty cool carrying this around. Everyone's going to think you're cool when you own one of these. Pull this out and those who don't own one will run into the corner like Little Jack Horner. Welcome to Apple cool functionality.

A mentality quickly took a hold that you either love Apple products or you don't. Apple has exploited it. It's us against everyone else.You're an Apple team member now, not just a customer. Are you with us? Are you Apple or PC? Rather like Man Utd, there's no in between. You're either with them or against them, and they're both pretty exclusive cool clubs to be members of because they're winners, both being the biggest companies on the planet in their respect fields. Indeed, in terms of its stock price Apple will shortly be the biggest ever company on the planet, and expect record sales and one hell of a hype when they unveil the IPhone 5, and whilst Samsung is giving them a run for their money and making Apple re-think the screen sizes, battery life and speeds. It's cool factor will carry it through a long while yet. Both entities are there their fans/customers. The marketing message is; You're welcome to join our team no matter where you are on the planet. We'll even travel to China, Africa, America to play for you or sell you our products because you are all a part of our team. They stay in contact with their fan bases. Invitations will shortly go out for the IPhone 5 launch, and the buzz will begin.

That's really what social marketing is all about. How do you benefit from it? What do you really get out of it? Is it just a tweet for tweet's sake, as 95% of them are, or are you really gaining a benefit from having an interaction with those you're tweeting. What's the real pay-back? Where's the real brand growth? How have your actions, as a team, really affected your sales and marketing strategy? Facebook sells friends, most of whom lead a normal working existence, busily tweeting about what a great time they're having the 6 nights a week they're usually staying in watching TV, and worrying about the next electricity bill that's about to land on the hall carpet. How do you engage with them? How do you interact with them? What can sell, or give them for free, in order that they stay loyal to your brand, and in better times buy from you? How do you initially tie them into your brand and keep them there? Can you really get them to buy something when most don't have a great disposable income?   

Lessons to be learned    Soccer clubs are just the same as any other busines. OK they're in the entertainment game with a somewhat loyal following, built up over many years, but if they're not beating the competition that loyal following soon dwindles. There are definitely winners and losers in this game. Getting out of the Championship League into the big time Premier League holds some of the richest rewards in football. As does then making it into the Champions league, which brings even greater rewards and recognition, but the steps along the way have to be the same that are taken in any business entity. Spend more than you're earning, and at some point you'll cease to exist. Period!

This is about managing the product in such away that it has sustainable growth, not just one-off success. To do this you need to begin at the source. Too many board rooms fail to ask enough pertinent questions of their coaches. You're not going to get far questioning Sir Alex Ferguson's team selections. Good or bad, that's his call alone. However, how he sees the club going forwards. What's his future team growth plans? What does he see in a new player he's after? What's the potential of that asset in terms of re-sale? How many are going to progress from the youth system? Has he enough scouts? Are they bearing any fruit? Who's the best of them? What does he need to further develop the skills of the players he has? How are they improving their skills? If not, why not? He'll be happy to give you this low down because he'll be asking the same questions of his coaching staff on a day to day basis. That's what he does. He's the most senior person at the club, and well knows that the buck stops with him. Other questions the Boards should ask of themselves are;

a) what do we do in order to better compete with our rivals? b) how does the opposition play the game in business terms? c) what do the successfull clubs/businesses do that we do not?d) have we got the right product? e) are we selling it in the right way? f) how can we better market our product? g) how do we maintain and increase our market share? h) what's really going on in this business? i)  where do we see ourselves in 5 yrs time, what assumptions lead us to this prognosis? j)  how good are the players we currently have?k) How can we make them perform better?l)  How do we incentivise players and the management team?m) what's the real return on this investment going to be?n) How do we improve upon our current position?o) How can we improve upon last weeks performance?p) Where are we on succession planning?q) What if, what if what if?

Get it right, and it's rich pickings. Fail, and it's just another failed  business. 

Good Hunting

James Adams__________________________________________________About the Author

James Adams is the Director of Operations for Proguide a major worldwide management consultancy and productivity software company located in the USA, Argentina, and the UK. Overseeing projects in all regions worldwide. He has (and in some cases still is) consulted for the likes Coca Cola, ASDA Walmart, British Rail, Scot Rail, LUT, First Engineering Peterhouse, B.A, Aerolineas, Metrovias Rail, CLIBA, Chrysler, The American Red Cross, Seat, HMS, Taco Bell, Rio Tinto, British Steel, Cadbury, to name but a few, which in itself is a diverse consulting platform that affords one a varied intellectual management knowledge base from which to draw upon when instigating varying methods of management strategies in order to help clients achieve their goals.   Know more about him here.