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sponsorship deals, being key players in deciding how the rules are applied and written so as to help your own club and hold back others. And even where the club owners lack those skills, they recruit people to do the dirty work for them to ensure the club achieves its potential.
Niall Quinn was, and still is, a lovely bloke. Everyone tells stories of working with him and how he’d do anything for anyone. Because Short knew nothing about football, he recruited others to run the club for him. Did Byrne and Bain fail because they were nice people? I think both were ruthlessly committed to the success, reward and profitability of one thing. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Sunderland AFC.
Donald and Methven seemed OK initially because they talked the talk. No more piss taking, cut throat professionalism to compete at the top of the game etc, etc. It sounded great.
Of course, I could explain to you in detail how I would beat Tyson Fury inside three rounds. But in reality the fight would last as long as I could outrun him. It took less time to question the Oxford twins.
If Sunderland have aspirations to compete at the top of football, the board and the behind- the-scenes aspect have to be elite, professional and cut throat. Not just in talking the talk but walking the walk.
turn it round. I am led to believe that the base level restructuring is happening with contracts being reviewed and improved across the business. Great. But day to day operations is not where we’re lacking and is, actually, one of the jobs
Immediate action was taken by the new owners regarding the pitch. This was a great example of money being used to take the club forwards. But it was a disaster. The new pitch is suitable for little more than growing potatoes. Was this a bad deal? Wrong suppliers? Poor contractual terms that didn’t allow for rectification?
Whether it’s marketing, HR function, property management, ground staff, do we have people in those positions to take the club forwards? A quick look on LinkedIn shows our head of marketing graduated in 2006 from Sunderland University in graphic design, has worked in the club in bars and events since 2009, briefly leaving to manage an Italian restaurant. Hardly Omnicom level of marketing experience (and no that isn’t a Covid variant). He might be a lovely bloke, I’ve no idea, I don’t know him. But Sunderland AFC can’t afford to fill the room with nice guys. Nice guys don’t win.
The wrong team at the club to look after it? Whatever it is, it is the latest example of the club being shown up very publicly every home game in front of the footballing world.
is great. But in the modern world of football we also need tough business people making tough business decisions throughout the club. Without them, we’ll never get where we want to be.
What progress is being made in terms of international sponsorship? We have some of the best viewing figures for our matches watched internationally outside the Premier League. And yet, when watching streams through the club site, advertising is all local. This is hardly the behaviour of elite business people looking to take this part of the club to the top.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am not (yet)! putting any blame at the feet of Steve Davison, who effectively runs the business on a day- to-day basis. He is the club’s Chief Operating Officer and step one of operating the club was to reverse it away from the cliff edge and safely
for the nice people. A job for someone liked by everyone and able to get the little things done as they crop up.
We’re lacking in top level strategy and leadership. The current board list only two executive directors. Steve and Kyril. The rest (all of whom are either advisors or members of the Louis Dreyfus family, representatives of other shareholders or the host of Monday Night Football) are non-exec. This means they’ll advise the executives but that’s all. It means Kyril is in charge of all strategy and has to be the hard-assed businessman. Now, I know he strokes his dogs through some games but
he’s hardly Ernst Stavro Blofeld. If it’s not him, he needs to recruit people to do the specific jobs, effectively delegating the tough jobs where we need to be ruthless.
If we are to move forwards off the field Kyril, Steve and Kristjaan need more pieces of the jigsaw around them. Experienced business people doing specific jobs they have developed careers in. A tough manager and a hardman in midfield
ALOVESUPREME
ISSUE257
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BY GILES MOONEY