Andrew Parkinson, Plymouth Argyle CEO: ‘Hiring Rooney, Beating Liverpool, and Fighting for Championship Survival’ (Ep62)
This week, we take a look inside one of the most talked about clubs this season. From hiring Wayne Rooney as manager to knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup, it’s been a crazy season for Plymouth and CEO Andrew Parkinson. Even more so when the club finds itself bottom of the championship fighting for survival. But this is a club that continually outperforms its budget, competing against teams with 6x bigger budgets, and that’s what we want to get into today. How do you build success in a football club when you can’t rely on money to win? On today's show we discuss: Economics of a Championship Team: How do Plymouth compare to their rivals when it comes to the financial resources at their disposal? What does a club in the bottom half of the table generate in revenue? How much can they afford to spend on player budgets? The importance of having multiple budgets for multiple scenarios: facing the relegation reality. How much can a Championship team earn from sponsorship? Plymouth this Season: Hiring Wayne Rooney at the start of the season attracted a lot of attention; was it more than a PR move? …and what happens when you have to sack a manager? The competitive nature of the Championship and the importance of staying in the decision for both financial and player retention reasons The value beyond emotions of beating Liverpool and pushing Manchester City in the FA Cup Improve the Business of Football: Why Plymouth are looking for investment and what they would be able to do with an additional capital injection. Developing a high performing and well supported women’s team is a priority, but should it be under the same banner as the men’s? Does the 3pm blackout help or hinder football across the pyramid? Can the club implement a media strategy to help support the profile and exposure of the club? Cracking America: capitalising on the pilgrims link with the US Orreco https://www.orreco.com/ Scan.com https://uk.scan.com/
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1:02:30
Bill Sweeney, RFU CEO: Behind the Curtain of Rugby's Most Scrutinised Organisation (Ep61)
This week, we’re delighted to welcome the CEO of the RFU, Bill Sweeney, to the show. There’s no hiding from the fact it’s been a hard few months for the organisation and Bill personally. Significant losses reported last year alongside the now infamous LTIP scheme generated an unrelenting flow of negative press and questions of the leadership. This show is about understanding the financial health of the RFU and wider sport. And it’s certainly not as bad as many would have you believe. Fueling the almost holistic negativity around Rugby, which we have talked about many times on the show, is not the aim here. We discuss the governance structure, revenue generation & the Allianz deal, LTIP scheme, England team performance, rugby’s drive to remain relevant, and more. Listen to the facts, make your own conclusions. But, hopefully having listened to this, with a better picture of where the game is at and if the RFU is achieving its primary goal of growing the game in this country and beyond. On today's show we discuss: What is the RFU?: For all the criticism and focus on the organisation over the last few months, what does the RFU actually do and is it fit for purpose to deliver on its objectives? Should the community game and the professional game be governed by the same organisation? "It's time for change". What does Bill think needs to happen to improve the governance of rugby in England? The fight is on to keep rugby relevant in an increasingly competitive attention economy; what are the RFU doing to develop the game? The Finances of Rugby: How much money does the RFU generate each year and where is that money spent? The story of the LTIP payment and why it was such a problem in the broader context of RFU finances. From a new stadium naming rights deal with Allianz to a data driven partnership with Apple, what does the partnership roster look like and how much does it generate? The financial cycle shows the governing body loses huge numbers in World Cup years. Should this be changed so countries are not financially penalised during the greatest global show of rugby? "85% of the revenue generated comes from the mens team playing at The Allianz. That has to change". The challenges of getting through Covid and back to business. Aligning Finances with Performance: "England has won four 6 Nations in the last 22 years. That is not acceptable considering the resources and our game". How can the RFU play a role in creating global icons out of England rugby players alongside Premiership Clubs? The future is bright: how the emerging England rugby teams are showing the value of investing in pathways and are on track for major success. Is the structure currently optimised to get the best out of the performance? A comparison with Ireland, France & New Zealand. A huge thank you to our amazing partners: Orreco https://www.orreco.com/ Scan.com https://uk.scan.com/
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1:07:23
Simon Leslie: Eastbourne Borough Owner, ‘Non-League Clubs Deserve Better’ (Ep60)
Welcome to the business of Non-League football. Beneath the top four tiers of the revered English football pyramid sits a whole other football world; hundreds of teams, players, coaches, owners playing week in week out to climb the ladder. Jamie Vardy, Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen, Tyrone Mings have all played non-league football. ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ recently storied the quality that exists and the difficulty in getting out of it. I’ve wanted to do a show focused on this from day one, so I’m delighted to welcome Eastbourne Borough owner Simon Leslie to the show. This is the fully unfiltered reveal on what it is like to buy, run and try to develop a club outside the core of English football. The opportunity is huge, but the challenges are significant. There’s no soft touch here, as we welcome Simon to the Business of Sport. In today’s show we discuss: Buying a Non-League Team: What was it about Eastbourne Borough that attracted you to the opportunity when you had looked at clubs in the Football League? What is unique about buying a club in Non-League and what was the financial requirement to not just purchase the asset but also to run it? Owners now have to go through a rigorous process to check they have the resources to buy a football club…or do they? Is the FA’s ‘Fit & Proper’ test fit for purpose? “There’s an element of stupidity (in football ownership)”. Why do successful business people continue to plough their hard earned money into football clubs? Can you Make Money?: What are the economics of a Non-League club, from no media rights to a brutally competitive commercial landscape? How do you stand out from the rest to drive more eyeballs and more traffic through your club? The importance of content in a modern sporting landscape; how Eastbourne have become the envy of many far bigger clubs with a cutting edge, multi platform media offering. What needs to happen to drive more revenue opportunity in football? Football Governance Fit for Purpose?: How much money do Non-League teams receive from the Premier League and EFL, and what changes could be introduced to deliver a better financial outcome? Are the right people running football in England? Owners have to do more to drive change; why the responsibility doesn’t just sit on the individuals at the top of centralised football. Do the people at the top of Women’s football believe in their own product? “I am an unofficial spokesperson for Non-League football because they’re not doing it themselves and they deserve more” Orreco https://www.orreco.com/ Scan.com https://uk.scan.com/
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1:01:06
Liam Dooley: Shrewsbury Town CEO, ‘How to Work With the Smallest Budget in League One’ (Ep59)
Another first class Football League CEO in the studio this week. Liam Dooley has been in charge of Shrewsbury town, League one’s longest serving club, since 2023. Operating on the smallest budget in the division, balancing good business with competitive performance is not easy. Shrewsbury have had 10 consecutive years at this level, but are currently bottom of the league having lost their last four games. But, with their latest accounts showing they have halved their annual losses, the business side has impressed. With a top manager like Gareth Ainsworth in charge on the pitch, the fight is on to escape relegation and attract new investment. We’re back again; how do you build great business off the pitch and win on it? In today’s show we discuss: The Business of a League One Club: Can a football club be good business? Has the profile of football club owners now changed so much that ‘local’ owners are no longer able to meet the financial needs of clubs? What is the correlation between spending the most and achieving on the pitch the lower down the leagues you go? Why did Liam focus so much attention on reducing the club’s financial losses in a short space of time and what are the wider impacts of cutting costs? Shrewsbury Town: Overachievers? Shrewsbury Town are the longest serving club in League One; how has a club with a small budget managed to achieve consistency in a financially driven market. How can you be successful when you have the lowest budget in the league? With the club currently looking for investment, what is the profile of owner that’s most attractive to the club and their fans? How has Gareth Ainsworth come into the club and created a positive environment even if results aren’t going Shrewsbury’s way? “Build a Club not a Team”: It is important to create a culture in the club that is more than just the men’s team on the pitch for 90 minutes every Saturday. How do you do this? Why the women’s team is separate from the operational running of the club, and where does women’s football sit in the future plans of Shrewsbury? Leveraging the academy to create future stars for the first team and to become an additional line of business when clubs buy your talent. What happens to the club if it gets relegated? Are there things that have to be sacrificed or put on hold? A huge thank you to our amazing partners: Orreco https://www.orreco.com/ Scan.com https://uk.scan.com/
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1:09:11
Peter Kenyon: Fmr Manchester United & Chelsea CEO, ‘Mourinho was the Best Money Chelsea Spent' (Ep58)
Today we welcome one of football’s most iconic CEOs. When Peter Kenyon moved from Manchester United to Chelsea in 2003 after Roman Abramovich bought the club, it was the first time a move in the boardroom was treated like a player transfer. Sir Alex Ferguson was said to be ‘intensely disappointed’, not least because he recognised the role Peter played in the success of United at the time. Having built Man Utd into both a performance and commercial powerhouse, Peter took on the task of executing Abramovich’s vision; to build the best club in Europe. From working with Ferguson to hiring Mourinho, from creating culture to delivering trophies, we get an answer to the question we have asked for a long time: How to build success off the pitch AND win on it? It doesn’t get much bigger than this. On today’s show we discuss: Manchester United: Building a Global Brand Sir Alex Ferguson was key to the success of Manchester United on and off the pitch; why you couldn’t detach winning from the commercial achievements of the club. “Why are some businesses successful and others not? It’s down to people”. The importance of building the best team for the job at hand. It wasn’t necessarily about signing the best players; it was about signing the personalities that fit the culture. Why United were able to capitalise on their success from a business standpoint where Liverpool didn’t. The story behind Rupert Murdoch’s failed acquisition of the club in 1998. The Move to Chelsea: Why did Peter leave the biggest club in the country to take over at newly owned Chelsea in 2003? “Abramovich was an unbelievable owner”. What made Chelsea’s owner so great for his 20 years of stewardship and what makes the best owners in football? The story (and theory) behind firing Claudio Ranieri and signing Jose Mourinho, and why it just may be the best money Chelsea spent. Conversations with Abramovich before he bought the club included a very clear set of ambitions and a definition of what success looks like; what were the targets? What was the hardest deal to get done while Peter was in charge of Chelsea? The Industry Today: “The downfall of United was the success of United”. Why it is so important to have a succession plan in sport. Are we seeing a break in the relationship of a necessity to win to drive strong commercial performance? It may pain Peter to admit it, but why does he think Liverpool have done an exceptional job in recent years where others have struggled? In a nod to his current board seat at Williams F1, why the Williams comeback will be the greatest in sporting history! A huge thank you to our amazing partners: Orreco https://www.orreco.com/ Scan.com https://uk.scan.com/
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