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THE MAGAZINE OF THE LEAGUE MANAGERS ASSOCIATION

In this issue:

ST GEORGE’S PARK IS WORLD-CLASS DEVELOPING SKILLS OVERSEAS PRE-SEASON PLANNING 5 PILLARS OF MENTAL STRENGTH MANAGING THE CHANGE PROCESS FINAL DISPATCH: KENNETH CLARKE

RAY WILKINS GARY JOHNSON FRANK CLARK ON BRIAN CLOUGH MALKY MACKAY & GLENN HODDLE

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LMA Director of Business Development Adam Tarrant 07780 953689 adam.tarrant@lmasecure.com Designed & produced in partnership with the LMA by BowlesAssociates bowlesassociates.com

and top chef Olivier Limousin, the Frenchman who is currently adding to his portfolio of experience by working in a two Michelin star, fine-dining restaurant in London. One certain thing in the months ahead is that football people the world over will be flocking to Burton-on-Trent, wanting to take a close look at the FA’s new National Football Centre. We speak to key figures involved in setting up the world-class facility at St George’s Park - and to those charged with responsibility for making it work. It is always our aim with every issue of the Manager to deliver a series of thought-provoking articles that highlight the key ingredients of leadership, insight and inspiration and there’s no shortage in this issue. For example, few football people over the years could be said to have demonstrated those qualities better - nor in more entertaining manner - than Brian Clough. The man who took Nottingham Forest from the old Second Division to two European Cup triumphs becomes the latest subject for our Hall of Fame feature.

On the cover Roberto Martinez photographed by Sam Bowles exclusively for the Manager magazine

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KICKING OFF

The number of London derby matches in the Barclays Premier League this season between the six member clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Queen’s Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United.

OUT OF AFRICA Former Leeds United and Sheffield United boss Kevin Blackwell flew out to Burkina Faso this summer to deliver LMA-backed coaching sessions to disadvantaged groups. The LMA funded the latest Coaching for Hope project enabling Kevin Blackwell to join fellow coach Darren Teague and pass on his expertise to three separate projects. The duo first worked in Dori on an introductory course to football coaching run for a group of young miners in their Comic Relief-funded 'I have a Dream' project. The aim was to use football to bring the communities together and encourage families to let their children attend school rather than go down the mines. Blackwell and Teague’s next stop was at the under-resourced orphanage based in the village of Ipelce where 60 youngsters from three months upwards live and work. Together they ran a sports event for the children and were so overwhelmed by the kindness and goodwill that Blackwell has returned determined to help raise the £22,000 needed to build a flat-bed truck that will help some of the poorest people on the planet manage their crops.

A last visit saw the pair work in the capital city Ouagadougou with a group of 25 young leaders identified by CfH as having exceptional leadership skills. They benefited from a four-day master class in how to create a session plan, how to ensure that important areas such as warm ups, cool downs and strength and conditioning are included and how to grasp the correct content of a coaching structure. The attendees were left highly motivated to go away and put what they had learned into use back in their own towns and villages. “Having access to experienced coaches like Kevin is a great privilege for Coaching for Hope and is of enormous benefit to their African partners,” said Coaching for Hope director Jane Carter. “It gives them hope and inspiration and enables us to continue supporting them in their work tackling issues such as substance misuse among young people, sexual health and the inclusion of people with disabilities.”

DAN’S THE FA'S MAN

MADE IN CHELSEA

LEARN FROM EX-PM

Dan Ashworth has been appointed as the FA’s director of elite development. The 41-year-old is to stay in his current role of sporting and technical director at Barclays Premier League West Bromwich Albion, where he has worked with England boss Roy Hodgson, before taking up his post next summer. Ashworth will replace ex-England defender Gareth Southgate, who departed in July, and will work alongside director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking.

UEFA Champions League winners for 2012, Chelsea, have been rewarded by being named the European Club of the Year. The Blues clinched their first ever title win in dramatic style against Bayern Munich of Germany after a penalty shoot-out having overcome favourites Barcelona in the semi-finals.

Leadership will be top of the agenda at The London Business Forum’s courses at the end of October. Edwina Currie will talk about leadership lessons from 'The Iron Lady' - the former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - on Tuesday October 23. The following day, Ken Blanchard will lead a topic entitled One Minute Manager: Techniques to increase productivity and profits. For more details visit londonbusinessforum.com

KICKING OFF

€514m

The revenue generated (£414 million) by Real Madrid during the 2011-12 season which they claim is the first time any football club has broken the 500m euro barrier

BRIAN PENS LAWS OF THE JUNGLE

SAD PASSING OF 'FINEST' OFFICIAL

LONG-SERVING IVOR HONOURED

Former Sheffield Wednesday and Scunthorpe United manager Brian Laws has released his autobiography ‘The Laws of the Jungle.’ The book features recollections of his playing and management career, which saw him become a key component of Brian Clough’s Reds side that became a force to be reckoned with in cup competitions during the 1980s. The book is released by Vertical Editions, £16.99

Tributes have been paid to 1974 World Cup final referee Jack Taylor, who died in July at his Shropshire home, aged 82. He officiated in more than 1,000 matches during a career than lasted more than 30 years, with the highlight that 2-1 victory for West Germany over Holland in Munich, one of more than 100 internationals he took charge off. Described by the Football League as “perhaps the finest English referee of all time,” Taylor is a member of FIFA’s Hall of Fame.

The man who gave Martin O’Neill and Paul Lambert their first management jobs in the English game, Wycombe Wanderers joint-chairman Ivor Beeks MBE, has been honoured with a long-service award by the Football League. The 70-year-old, who was honoured in the Queen’s June Birthday Honours List for his services to the game was presented with an award by the Football League chairman Greg Clarke that recognised his 27 years of service to the npower League Two club.

HODGSON BACKS BURSARY SCHEME England Manager Roy Hodgson has visited the National Football Centre to offer words of support to 49 black and Asian coaches who are benefiting from an FA-led bursary scheme. Hodgson dropped in on sessions organised by former Birmingham captain Michael Johnson and Aston Villa academy coach Danny Campbell, that were being observed by attending coaches. It was the first time the group had come together since applying for the three-year programme earlier this year, having already acquired Level 2 coaching badges. They are part of the COACH bursary scheme, run by The FA in conjunction with the Barclays Premier League, the npower Football League, the LMA and the PFA with the aim

of furthering the skills and experience of black, Asian and minority ethnic coaches. The coaches will all get to experience life at a Barclays Premier League or npower Football League club, with the long-term target of getting more black, Asian and minority ethnic coaches working within football's top flight. “We know there's a lack of BME coaches in the top flight but we’ve seen both Chris Hughton and Chris Powell win silverware domestically and Terry Connor is a well-respected coach across the game. They are the inspiration," said Hodgson of the ground-breaking venture. “These coaches should benefit from the expertise of those around them as we never stop learning as coaches, regardless of the level we're working at.”

VINTAGE DISPLAYS DISCUSS HOW THE LEAGUE’S SHAPING UP OVER A GLASS OF CHARDONNAY 2009 Jordan Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, £24 Jordan Winery is based in Sonoma County, where Tom Jordan and his family have created a beautiful chateau-style estate. Winemaking is traditional - hand harvesting, barrel fermentation and limited oak aging produce a very refined Burgundian style Chardonnay. The longer, cooler growing conditions of 2009 contributed to the delightfully fresh palate of citrus and exotic fruits, nicely underpinned by creamy oak and a long mineral finish.

A WINE TO SAVOUR AFTER SINKING THE BOOKIES’ TITLE FAVOURITES Corton Bressandes Grand Cru, Domaine Jacques Prieur 2005, £77 A perfect wine from the dream 2005 vintage - a very pure, concentrated wine, worthy of a special occasion. Jacques Prieur produces gorgeously polished, aromatic wines; this is no exception - it also has the typical generous Corton character - ripe, full bodied, with deep fruit and a lush silky texture and lifted aromas of spicy new oak. It has evolved wonderfully over the last couple of years, revealing more complex earthy aromas of the forest floor and warm leather. Our wines have been selected by David Allen MW, Coe Vintners Fine Wine Manager. For offers open to LMA members, contact David on 020 8418 2823 or email davida@coevintners.com

Are you Fit to Perform? An innovative performance and lifestyle assessment utilising the world’s leading sports medicine technologies is now available to league managers at Perform at St. George’s Park. The assessment takes place in our brand new facility, Perform at St. Georges Park, which combines 25,000 square feet of cutting-edge technology with medical expertise to create the most advanced sports medicine, rehabilitation, performance science and training centre in the UK.

The facility includes a range of state-of-the-art technology and equipment such as an altitude chamber, an anti-gravity treadmill, videoing analysis equipment and a hydrotherapy suite containing an underwater treadmill. To make an appointment or for any further queries please call the Perform support team on 01283576333 or email support@spireperform.com www.spireperform.com

KICKING OFF

2026

The year Mexico hope to become the first country to hold the FIFA World Cup three times after announcing they will bid in competition to the United States.

NPOWER LEAGUE TRIO GET SEASON OFF TO A FLYER Blackpool boss Ian Holloway led the winners of August’s npower Football League Manager of the Month Awards after guiding his side to a sparkling start. He got the vote as leading boss in the npower Championship as the Seasiders began with victories in their first three league matches. A 2-0 opening day triumph at Millwall was followed by a 2-1 home win over Leeds and a 6-0 demolition of Ipswich Town, also at Bloomfield Road, that saw them win the F&C Investments Performance of the Week award. In npower Division One, Ronnie Moore got the nod after Tranmere Rovers led the way in the early-season table with two wins and a draw. Those results included an impressive 3-0 success at Carlisle United, which has laid the foundation for the Birkenhead club to make a sterling start to 2012-13. Martin Allen was rewarded for Gillingham's excellent form with the award for npower League Two. They got off to a flying start by defeating Wycombe Wanderers and Dagenham and Redbridge on their travels having opened with a 3-1 success against Bradford City. The judging panel comprised of former Charlton Athletic manager Alan Curbishley, Sky Sports’ Football League expert Don

Management in 10 Words, published by Random House Business Books

ACCORDING TO THE MAN WHO MADE TESCO THE MOST SUCCESSFUL BRAND IN UK RETAIL, THE KEY TO LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS IS KEEPING THINGS SIMPLE In his book, Management in 10 Words, Sir Terry Leahy, former CEO of Tesco and one of the world’s most admired business leaders, draws on his many years of experience at the forefront of business to describe and share 10 fundamental concepts for leading change, inspiring those you lead and developing the skills to deliver breakthrough performances. Sir Terry goes back to basics and reflects on some of the surprisingly simple lessons he learned as he led Tesco to become the third largest retailer in the world. He groups his thoughts and observations around 10 words, which form the essence of what his experiences have taught him, and delivers an inspiring and insightful message that will prove invaluable to managers around the world, showing them what makes a company great and how they can take theirs forward. He also identifies the key traits that every good manager needs, pinpoints the ways in which effective leaders inspire others and analyses how innovative and successful business strategies are forged.

HANDBALL, BY PSG

Goodman, Football League chief operating officer Andy Williamson, BBC Sport’s Mark Clemmit, the LMA’s deputy chief executive Olaf Dixon and npower’s head of sponsorship Emma Collins.

Paris Saint-Germain have signalled their intention to create a sporting empire modelled on FC Barcelona and Real Madrid in the latest demonstration of their growing ambition. The Ligue 1 giants have announced they are relaunching the city’s handball team that have existed since 1941 and been associated with the club since the 1990s in a bid to develop a multisport entity around the PSG brand. A basketball club could also follow under the ownership of Qatar Sports Investment.

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KICKING OFF

£490m

The total spent in this summer’s transfer window according to figures from Deloitte - including Joe Allen's £15m move to Liverpool up from £485m last year, but just shy of the £500m record in 2008.

PRODUCTIVE COMMUNICATION Every manager or leader knows that effective communication is an essential ingredient in their armoury. Roberto Forzoni considers the practical ways that can be of use on a daily basis, to build relationships, offer feedback or enhance that inspirational talk before a big match or an important sales pitch. Motivational Interviewing is a clientcentered, directive method for enhancing intrinsic motivation to change. It is often used by police officers and others working to try and ‘motivate’ youth offenders to change their behaviour. One of my favourite techniques from MI includes the ‘Importance Ruler’, which is used to elicit ‘change talk’ - that is, getting the person you’re communicating with to suggest ways they might change by the use of effective questions. For example, ask a person to give you a mark out of 10 for a performance and he says, perhaps, seven. Your next question can help build confidence and motivation to improve or lower confidence and reduce motivation – all by changing one word. Incredibly, one word in a well-meaning dialogue can make a drastic difference to a person’s level of confidence or motivation. If you respond with “why was it not a nine?”(a reasonable request) the responses, by definition will be negative as the player will need to focus on what was not going so well. By hearing himself talk, he reinforces the negative aspects of the performance and will become less motivated to change (SelfPerception Theory: “As I hear myself talk I learn what I believe”). If, on the other hand the same question is asked by changing one word and ‘scaling down’, the response can be quite dramatic. So now you answer by saying: “why was it not a five” the response must focus on what went well, reinforcing positive aspects of the performance. A follow up question of “what would you have to do to get it to an eight” (one increment up), would elicit what we call the change talk, and consequently the

motivation to improve. Simple really.

ACTIVE & CONSTRUCTIVE RESPONDING (ACR)

Another really useful communication skill is active constructive responding or ‘ACR’. ACR will help improve the level and quality of communication. As an example, imagine a team member or partner shares a positive event: “I was promoted to another team and given a nice pay rise”. The following offers typical responses and categorises them into four types of response...

displays of positive emotions, such as genuine smiling, touching, laughing. PASSIVE & CONSTRUCTIVE

“That’s good news. You deserved that” Nonverbal: little to no active emotional expression. ACTIVE & DESTRUCTIVE

“That sounds like a lot of responsibility to take on. Are you going to spend even less time at home now?” Nonverbal: displays of negative emotions such as furrowed brow, frowning.

ACTIVE & CONSTRUCTIVE

PASSIVE & DESTRUCTIVE

“That’s terrific news. I know how important that was for you!” [re-live the event] Tell me where were you when your boss told you? What did he say? How did you react? We should go out and celebrate” Nonverbal: maintaining eye contact,

“Did you watch the match last night?” Nonverbal: little to no eye contact, turning away, leaving the room. The differences will be clear to any leader so encourage an active and constructive response whenever you can. Rather than always looking to correct weaknesses consider building strengths in your team – so rather than simply removing disabling conditions, you could create enabling conditions for people to flourish. ROBERTO FORZONI IS A HIGHLY QUALIFIED AND EXPERIENCED PEAK PERFORMANCE CONSULTANT WORKING WITHIN THE GAME. HE CURRENTLY CONSULTS WITH A NUMBER OF FOOTBALL MANAGERS ON STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION AND PERFORMANCE ISSUES AND HAS WRITTEN THE BOOKLET ON THE LAWS OF EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK. HE ALSO MANAGES TOOTING & MITCHAM UNITED FC. ROBERTOFORZONI.COM

LEADERS: GARY JOHNSON

FITS LIKE A GLOVE There was a gap of almost six-and-a-half years between the end of Gary Johnson’s first spell with Npower League One Yeovil Town and the beginning of his second in January of this year, yet the bond between manager and club remains as strong as ever. WORDS: JON CULLEY

Gary Johnson can probably expect to be held in permanent reverence by Yeovil Town supporters after what he achieved at Huish Park during his first spell as manager between 2001 and 2005. An FA Trophy, promotion to the Football League as record-breaking Conference Champions and two years later, promotion to League One with another title established the Londoner as a hero in the Somerset market town. When he left them to take over at Bristol City, where he achieved another promotion as League One runnersup and then took the Robins to the Championship Play-off Final, he did so with their unqualified blessing. Yet try to do it all again a second time, the game's gloomier soothsayers would proclaim, and you're asking for trouble. So when, last January, Yeovil chairman John Fry asked him to take the reins for a second time to help steer them away from the relegation zone, wasn't there a part of Johnson nagging him to heed the age-old advice that you should never go back? "Not really, no," he said. "Often when you go to a new club half the supporters wanted someone else as manager and you have to lay down your philosophy in a humble sort of way or people can get the hump. You have to hit the ground running, but still be softlysoftly in your approach. "But with Yeovil I was going back to a club that hadn't really changed while I'd been away. A champagne moment for Gary Johnson in 2002-03 after winning promotion to the npower Football League during his first spell at Yeovil.

They had the same secretary, a very similar board, the same people working around the ground. It did feel like you were coming back to something you had only left weeks ago, as opposed to years ago. "Everybody knew me. The only difference was that we were at the wrong end of the table. So when the chairman - who was my chairman before - made contact and told me their plans, that it just needed a bit of freshness about the place, it wasn't difficult to go back. "The important thing for me was to make sure that Terry Skiverton, who was the manager, and Darren Way, who was the coach, were up for the new regime, if you like, that they were going to be a major part of. "The fantastic thing was that because I worked with them before - they were my captain and my midfield dynamo of a few years ago - they were happy to give it a go. We were all friends anyway and they are a fantastic pair to work with. It was a great decision to stay together. "And the good thing about going back somewhere in a situation like this is that the people you are working with already know your standards, your reputation and ›

LEADERS: GARY JOHNSON

what it is that you are looking to achieve i.e. your philosophy.” Yeovil's results since Gary went back have underlined what a good move going back has been. An impressive run of 30 points from 19 matches secured safety with two matches to spare and this season has already seen another 'first' against his record when the Glovers led the npower League One table for the first time in their history. So how did he go about turning the club around with their fortunes at a low ebb? "The club had done fantastically well to stay in League One but because they had four or five years of struggling to keep in the division, mentally people were a bit drained. "When I came in they were on a poor run and we needed to switch that round quickly and put down back-to-back wins more than back-to-back wins - to get out of trouble. That comes down to personality and character in the team. I brought in two or three loans, lads that I knew would improve us, and we just got it going. "We had to change tactics. It was Terry's first job and I knew from my first job that you get a little bit cautious sometimes when things are not going well. But as the 'white knight' that comes riding in you can afford to change the mentality of the club and that includes the tactics. "We decided that we would come up with a plan to go out and win games rather than not to lose. There is a difference between those things. We managed to do that and at the same time play football, which is the reputation I have and I'm happy to keep. We want to win playing attractive, end-product football. "There was a spell when we won eight out of 10 games and that got us out of trouble. It picked the club up, and the supporters, and it became a fortress Huish Park at that time. In the end - call it luck or call it judgment - we managed to get ourselves not just clear of trouble but to have a really good run and get people's expectations up for the following season." Then came what might be described as Phase Two of the rebuild - planning how to meet those expectations. "Terry had put together a sort of 'survival' First Division squad on a small budget and we just needed to improve on the three or four who we already had who we felt were League One or Championship players," he said. "But I wanted to hit the ground running on the first day of the season and for that I wanted to get to pre-season on

July 1st with my 18-man squad in place, I wanted to have used up my budget by then and to have the players I wanted signed up. "So they had to give me a decision. There had to be no 'I'll wait until preseason' - if they weren't going to sign by this particular date in May, that was it. I wanted to know my squad before I went on holiday in June. "We had only two players that were not out of contract and in all we signed 16 players - three or four already at the club, plus 11 or 12 that we brought in fresh and new." They were taken on only if they met Gary's well-honed criteria for what he wants in a player, meeting the requirements for quality and character that he has identified during a long and varied career in coaching. That career has seen him work with John Beck at Cambridge United, during that team's incredible run from the fourth tier to the brink of the Premier League, with Graham Taylor at Watford, where he was academy director, and as national coach to Latvia. Although he defines the football he favours as "a passing game but with an end-product" he cites the "no deviation" approach behind Beck's ultra-direct style as an influence on his own career, as well in particular as Taylor's "attention to detail and man management". "As well as developing your football philosophy, which you add to along the way, you learn that man management is massive," he said. " "It is not only that it is judging personalities as well. For every player whose personality is conducive to working with you there might be one that isn't. We don't all get on.

Strong man-management has been crucial to Gary Johnson getting the best out of his players down the years

"So I interview people quite extensively before I sign them because I need to know their personality. I need to know their character, not so much whether it is good or bad as whether it is conducive to working with mine. "I have a little list of things that I make sure players who come to me have got. I will ask people about them, I will watch their play, to see if there are any idiosyncrasies in the way they play. You can see their characters sometimes in the way they play. I'll watch people in their warm-ups, see how concentrated they are. "I want to find the people who will enjoy playing for me. There are big players I have not signed because I have not felt we would get on. It is not as though we have a fight in the interview room but you get a gut feeling sometimes and if that coincides with someone telling me 'no I don't think he is right for you' then I won't sign him. "Your relationship with players is so important. My belief is that if a player wants to be my enemy there is only one winner, and that's me. So I say to a player: 'Don't be my enemy'. But I'll say 'don't be my friend either, because I may have to leave you out, I may have to move you on.' "I like to think I'm like a player's dad - one moment you have to praise them, sometimes you have to give them a “telling off”. But as long as they know I still care for them, that I want them to do well and that they know if I tell them they've not had a very good first half, I still love them, that's the important thing."

LEADERS: GARY JOHNSON

We had only two players that were not out of contract and in all we signed 16 players - three or four already at the club, plus 11 or 12 that we brought in fresh and new"

LEADING THE CHANGE PROCESS

It’s not always easy to accept change, but sometimes it’s inevitable and necessary. Richard Heaselgrave found an organisation in the npower Football League who were ready to adapt to the commercial challenges of the 21st century and has swiftly pressed ahead in a bid to lead them there. As an institution that continues to thrive well over a century after its formation, the npower Football League has clearly been doing plenty right down the years, but that does not mean that in an ever-changing world it cannot do things even better. The game we know today is far removed from that which was familiar as recently as 10 years or 15 years ago, particularly off the field with the way the game is consumed, financed and marketed. Broadcasting has had a huge impact, and so too the internet; powerful tools of communication that have opened up a whole new world of opportunity - one that would have been foolhardy to ignore. Having recognised the need to capitalise on these new revenue streams, the League turned to a man in Richard Heaselgrave who has a wealth of experience in and out of the game and on both sides of the Atlantic, working for the likes of UEFA, Budweiser and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Taking up the role of chief commercial officer from January, Heaselgrave’s leadership style in his quest to strengthen the organisation’s financial position is simple: never, ever settle for second best. He is keen to engender a ‘can do’

philosophy, not just in his employees at their London base, but in their member clubs the length and breadth of the country too. He said: “It hasn’t been tough to persuade everyone to get on board because the League had already decided to freshen things up. I think the big thing I bring is an attitude and state of mind. “I would hope everyone is excited by the opportunity of working for an organisation that has existed for 125 years and is steeped in history. I want the Football League to be among the most impressive sports organisations in Europe and I would hope over the next few years we can achieve that. “To lead effectively, you have to question how you do everything. Are we being as effective as we can be and if not, why not? You have to ask some uncomfortable questions of yourself and your team. I want people to work in a team, but have ownership for their own areas. I want to set down a vision and get people excited. If they come in from nine to 5pm and they are just doing a series of task then they are not going to be excited.” First on the list of tasks for Heaselgrave following his arrival was to assess the previous structure and tweak it. He believes that getting key staff in place around him,

and giving them the right guidance, is crucial. He said: “Every project starts with the people and it’s like a football team you get the right personnel in place and then train them to be better. “We want to have a team in the League office who are dynamic and recognise we can’t rest on our laurels. Previously if there was a UK broadcaster and sponsorship for the League Cup then it was OK, but that’s not OK - and that sort of thinking has been widely welcomed.” Another important part of the role has been to oversee a push to improve working

LEADING THE CHANGE PROCESS

The growing number of npower Football League games being broadcast both live and in highlights packages has made it increasingly big business.

practice within clubs, which he has found varies greatly from one to the next. Heaselgrave goes along with the thinking that the customer is always right, meaning the paying spectators, the fans, are king. “There are 86 clubs in total - 66 of them Football League members - whose digital assets we look after and if you tot up the fans we have following those clubs it is huge. Some 16 million attended games last year and there were another eight million on the web,” he said. “If you are looking to make more money then you have to look at those fans. What draws them in and gives them what they haven’t had before? “It’s about engaging on the internet, for example using handheld devices, as well as in the traditional formats. If a Bury fan buys a ticket, then there needs to be the opportunity to get them on Bury Player [for watching videos] - putting all the information together and marketing it in the right way. If we get them to go to games three times rather than twice each season, it makes a massive difference in income.” To that end, a new initiative named Teamco - that’s Team Marketing and Commercial Operations - has been set up in a bid to spread best practice. It enables

Above: The npower Football League has adopted a similar business model to that successfully utilised Stateside in the NBA; Left page: Each npower Football League club website now features a video player with exclusive interviews and match action, designed to help raise revenue.

clubs to have a central point of contact, while each is encouraged to attend regular npower Football League conferences - one such gathering was held in Portugal this summer - to stay in the overall picture. Heaselgrave said: “Everyone should understand where we are coming from, from managers, chairman and chief executives right the way through each club. The more we get together and coordinate the way we do things, the better. “Five Teamco account managers have been assigned to look at different areas of the country and whether an individual club is dealing with Sky broadcasting or a local matter, they can now easily elicit help from London. From Chesterfield or Leeds United, it is their job to know what is being done commercially at these clubs and how the approaches can be unified. “I don’t know any other UK sports organisation that is being run how we are looking to do it, but it’s a model that has worked well in the NBA. We have also met with senior bodies in football, including UEFA, and other sports to formulate our approach.”

To lead effectively, you have to question how you do everything. Are we being as effective as we can be and if not, why not?”

In the next 12 months, Heaselgrave is determined the plans put in place will begin to come to fruition and increase revenue, assisted by the growing interest in and accessibility to English football overseas. He said: “We hope to eventually widen Teamco out so that it is fully operational and develop the partnership with Capital One, which is currently in the first of a four-year deal. “There is also a tremendous opportunity opened up by foreign ownership, of which half the clubs in the npower Championship now are. For example, there are broadcast opportunities in Thailand, where following Leicester City is de rigeur, and the same is true of Millwall in the US. There’s a big market to tap into.”

FACTFILE

Name Richard Heaselgrave Born Birmingham Position Chief commercial officer of the Football League Career highlights Bringing the basketball superstars from the US Dream Team to play in England during his stint at the NBA.

LEADING THE CHANGE PROCESS

Great Britain’s boxing team were one of our stand-out successes of the London 2012 Olympics. But how did the sport manage to deliver so emphatically on the world stage and how does it aim to capitalise on an anticipated upsurge in popularity? Mark Abberley, chief executive of the Amateur Boxing Association of England, explains his role in trying to steer the organisation through that process. Luke Campbell, the first bantamweight to win gold for GB in a century epitomises the strength of amateur boxing in this country.

WORDS MATT HALFPENNY

Famed for its manufacture of steel, Sheffield’s industrial quarter has, almost unnoticed, become the heart of an alternative production line specialising in a commodity that is just as desirable and equally tough – Olympic boxing champions. London 2012 catapulted the likes of Nicola Adams, Anthony Joshua and Luke Campbell firmly into the public spotlight as their gold medal-winning performances transfixed a nation. Their journey to stardom started on their home patches at local clubs in Leeds, London and Hull, but their subsequent elevation to the elite GB squad, and qualification for the greatest show on earth, brought them to South Yorkshire’s capital to fine-tune their skills at the city’s Institute of Sport. However, the £24 million venue opened in 2003 is not just about the cream of the crop. It’s equally as important in serving the other end of the sport, acting as the headquarters for the Amateur Boxing Association of England since 2006. Without those grass roots, or ‘urban roots’ as those in the game like to call it, there would be no infrastructure to produce the knock-out performances that graced our television screens this summer. Like so many other sports leaders postLondon, the man at the helm of the ABAE, Mark Abberley, has paused fleetingly to reflect on what has been achieved in Stratford where boxing shone like a beacon, producing 10,000 capacity crowds for every session at the ExCeL Arena and three British Olympic champions among five medallists in all.

Yet while amateur boxing in this country has seemingly never looked in such a strong position from top to bottom – with kids flooding into local clubs wanting to be among the next stars – he insists the sport is still only part way through a transitional phase begun when he was entrusted with its future security in May 2011. It’s been a test of his leadership skills, but Olympic success has reaffirmed his belief that reforming a system that has

around to as many of the 850 boxing clubs up and down the country as he could and garner opinion face to face. “One of the most important things in a multi-stakeholder organisation is communication,” he said. “You can’t get away from the fact that boxing is a clubbased sport and it follows that the people who are in the best position to inform me are the people running the clubs. “We live in a world of email and social media so it’s very easy and tempting to

been in place for decades is necessary and worthwhile. “We’re talking about a process of modernisation, but my personal view is that it is probably the wrong terminology because it makes it sound like everything that has gone before has been wrong and only doing things in a significantly different way is going to make them better,” Abberley said. “We have started the process and what you must remember is who you are running the sport for - the athletes – because it’s very easy to forget that. Rather than being autocratic about setting the sense of direction and motivation, the process has been one of listening, which I think has worked well.” Abberley’s starting point was to get

gauge opinion through arms-length means, but face-to-face communication has a lot more meaning. If you invest time to have a cup of tea with people and say ‘this is what I think, what do you think,’ that’s a far better approach than saying one size fits all. The decisions you then make may not always be popular, but the key thing is that they can be justified by information and knowledge.” The next step is to convince a whole army of people around him to implement a restructure at local level. That’s no easy task given clubs have different set-ups, sizes, venues and histories. Some are in the back of pubs, some in leisure centres, some have been there for more than 100 years. “I don’t think it’s for me in isolation to make decisions and tell people what to do. ›

LEADING THE CHANGE PROCESS

FACTFILE

Name Mark Abberley Born Hereford Position Chief Executive, Amateur Boxing Association of England Career highlights Graduated from Loughborough University in Sports Science and Physical Education; Consultant to Olympic Park Legacy Plan; Senior Executve at David Lloyd Leisure; Non-executive Director GB Handball; Chairman of Performance Group for GB Archery

LEADING THE CHANGE PROCESS

You don’t always have to be at the front to be a good leader,” said Abberley. “I am trying to unite people towards a common goal and getting them to genuinely buy into what the sport needs is key. If that doesn’t happen you aren’t going to get anywhere. Historically there has, at times, been more fighting outside the ring than there has been in it. The true test over time is to see the

sport move forward and not self-destruct to put agendas aside for the good of those taking part.” That team approach has certainly worked well for the GB elite squad, who moved to Sheffield’s state-of-the art facilities en-masse to prepare for London 2012. The site features accommodation where athletes can stay and live together with the entire support network - psychologists, nutritionists, physios and analysts - all under one roof. Abberley said: “In terms of organisation and leadership there is an environment that has been consistent and supportive. We have been blessed with hugely talented, driven athletes in the last Olympic cycle, but we’ve also been able to provide the setup that enables boxers and their support to effectively get on with their jobs. “Tom Stalker’s story is recognition of the spirit that existed in the London 2012 group. While it was unbelievably disappointing for him to miss out on a medal as the captain of the GB programme, he stayed in the village, went to every bout and was hugely supportive. In terms of inspiration and leadership, that was almost as inspirational as a boxer winning a gold medal.” Of course, the aim post-London is to ‘inspire a generation’, the 2012 Games’ motto. The legacy of what happened in Stratford will be closely scrutinised, but Abberley is determined the ABAE can make the most of their best Olympic boxing result since 1908. “The challenge is how do our

performances on an elite stage affect the participation on a Wednesday night at a club?” he said. “The one thing I would hope is that the relationship between the ABAE and the clubs becomes much more symbiotic. “Not all clubs want to be seen as performance-based. Some see themselves as community clubs and work with disadvantaged youngsters, others will see themselves as extremely women friendly. Certainly the coverage of Nicola’s win of the first-ever gold medal in women’s boxing will create more interest in women’s boxing than we’ve ever seen, not just competitively, but for young girls as a fitness tool. What we have to do is provide resource and support which, for me, is where the long-term sustainable legacy is going to come from.” Next year will come one of the biggest changes in the modern history of boxing that will significantly alter the landscape. The AIBA will introduce a professional circuit from 2013, meaning a boxer can compete for money while remaining under the AIBA umbrella, thus retaining status to box in the Olympic Games. It may prevent future stars being lost to the Olympics forever - just as Amir Khan was when he turned professional soon after winning silver at Athens in 2004 - and that could provide significant opportunities. “It is wholeheartedly disappointing that a boxer will go through an Olympic Games and then leave the sport to earn a living and never go back. Boxing is now one of the only sports in the Olympic movement where that still happens. In all other sports, one of the commercial values is seeing people multi-medal and come back for another Games – your Phelps, your Bolts coming back to defend titles and Sir Steve Redgrave – and now Ben Ainslie going for five golds. “From the sport’s perspective to try to keep stars in boxing to ‘multi-game’, and possibly multi-medal, is an understandable ambition. If we can keep our successful Olympians as mentors it will make a huge difference.” Punching above its weight, the future of amateur boxing looks in good shape.

GO-OOOOOOOOLD!

The stars who put GB boxing on the map with their performances at London 2012...

ANTHONY JOSHUA

The 21-year-old from Finchley Boxing Club claimed gold in the super-heavyweight division by the narrowest of margins that saw him overcome reigning Olympic champion, Italy’s Roberto Cammarelle. Didn’t take up the sport until he was 18, but immediately showed potential and turned down the chance to become a professional because he insisted he wanted medals not big pay days. Also won a silver medal in the World Championships last year.

LUKE CAMPBELL

The 24-year-old from Hull became the first bantamweight to win a boxing gold medal for Great Britain since Henry Thomas in 1908 when he beat Ireland’s John Joe Nevin. His mum, Jill, launched an appeal after the Games ended to those from the city to send pictures of his fight after losing her own camera while cheering on her son.

ANTHONY OGOGO

The 23-year-old from Lowestoft was a promising teenage footballer and had a trial with Norwich City before taking to the ring. He reached the semi-finals of the Olympic tournament where he lost to Brazilian Esquiva Falcão Florentino, but still won a bronze medal. Out of the ring, Ogogo finished fourth on Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack on Channel 4.

FRED EVANS

After coming through the Welsh boxing system, the 21-year-old powered his way to the final in the welterweight division, only to lose to Kazakhstan boxer Serik Sapiyev at the final hurdle, giving him a silver medal. It was Wales’ first in boxing since 1972.

NICOLA ADAMS

After taking up boxing at the age of 13, the 29-year-old flyweight with the irresistible smile became the first-ever Olympic women’s boxing gold medallist when outclassing world number one Ren Cancan in the final. A product of the Haringey Police Community Club, she had previously blazed a trail for British winners in the sport by becoming the first to medal at a major Championships with silver at the 2007 Europeans, having once worked as an extra on Coronation Street and Eastenders.

STAY WELL; PERFORM BETTER

HEALTH & WELLBEING Dr Dorian Dugmore, founder of the LMA’s Fit to Manage Programme, highlights the fact that businesses are increasingly recognising the importance of ensuring that members of their work-force are fit and well - and the cost savings that concept can bring.

Looking after your people has never been more important than in today’s tough and demanding results-orientated climate. The ‘corporate athlete’ is rapidly emerging as the individual who can stay the distance and constantly perform to a high level in a business sense, over a number of years. Corporate performance is therefore an endurance event and not a sprint. Consequently, good health and wellbeing are essential to support the long-term demands of a 30 to 40-year professional career in the corporate setting. There is a growing field of evidence that reinforces the benefits of improving employee wellbeing and its positive impact on the bottom line. Several government reports have highlighted the cost-saving benefits of corporate wellness programmes on reducing absenteeism, retaining key staff and improving company morale. The 2009 Boorman Report identified the cost of absenteeism through sickness to the National Health Service at 10.3 million lost working days annually, at a cost of £1.7 billion. Reducing these figures by one-third would result in an annual direct cost saving of £555 million. In contrast corporate adidas, the international sport brand, reduced its average annual absenteeism rates from nearly seven days per individual to less than three days, which coincided with the growth of corporate wellness programmes within the company. International research on corporate wellness from companies like Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, and many others have demonstrated that successful corporate wellness programmes result in

approximately a £5 saving for every £1 invested in corporate wellness. The Black report in 2009 highlighted the value of wellness interventions in the workplace together with a previous government White Paper on ‘Healthy Lives, Healthy People’, the latter emphasising the need for “individual responsibility and behaviour change management for those wishing to make lifestyle changes that improve health”.

FOOTBALL SHOWS THE WAY

In recent years, Everton FC have paved the way for corporate wellness initiatives in football clubs by testing the key cardiovascular risk and lifestyle numbers in all their staff throughout the club. It makes perfect sense to know your wellness numbers alongside your club’s performance numbers to optimize the potential for success. Equally the League Managers Association have developed their successful ‘Fit To Manage’ programme, focusing on the cardiovascular health and lifestyles of the League managers. From the first 54 managers initially tested, more than 40 per cent had key risk factors they needed to address. That programme has subsequently been very successful where many key health issues have been dealt with before they could have become more serious, even life threatening in some instances.

LEADING FROM THE TOP

Corporate wellness has to be led from the top and the CEO of a company must be engaged for wellness programmes to succeed. That was powerfully illustrated by our ‘Project Life Study on CEO’s’,

We’ve given wellness the same priority that we’ve given sales, research and development and every other function in our business operating plan because our people simply cannot achieve their full potential if they don’t practice the basics of healthy living. We see it as a double payback, optimising our employee quality of life while enhancing their ability to contribute to Causeway’s mission. It’s a ‘no brainer.’” PHIL BROWN, CEO OF CAUSEWAY TECHNOLOGIES

STAY WELL; PERFORM BETTER

Engage the CEO of a company to lead wellness initiatives from the top

Give quick feedback to everyone in the company when any corporate wellness intervention has been delivered

Create a Corporate Wellness Plan to go alongside the business plan

Instill within the company the need to know your wellness numbers, alongside your business performance numbers

conducted in Toronto, Canada during the Nineties where 70 top leaders underwent a cardiovascular and lifestyle risk management programme. Over a twoyear period, heart disease risk was reduced by 30-40 per cent and nearly 60 per cent of the CEO’s on the programme started some form of wellness initiative in their companies. In addition, it is also important to survey companies in terms of their current lifestyle behaviour before embarking on a corporate wellness programme. That approach is called the ‘Precede Proceed Model’ and reflects the need to engage everyone in the corporate setting, find out

Use the ‘Precede Proceed Model’ to find out what the company needs before embarking on a corporate wellness programme

their needs and assess their readiness to change, before embarking upon a wellness programme. The ever-increasing need for companies to engage in improved corporate and social responsibility is paving the way to move upstream and prevent potential ill health through corporate wellness programmes. Compare that with the traditional model of “down stream medicine”, where we wait for people to show signs and symptoms of illness and disease before intervening. There are several companies that are leading the way through vigorously engaging in corporate wellness programmes - adidas, the world renown

sport brand, Unilever, the League Managers Association and Causeway, a company specialising in software for the built environment, are key leaders in that field, truly reflecting that the time has come for the Corporate Wellness Concept.

DR DORIAN DUGMORE FOUNDED THE LMA’S ‘FIT TO MANAGE’ PROGRAMME, WHICH IS RUN IN ASSOCIATION WITH WELLNESS INTERNATIONAL AT THE ADIDAS WELLNESS CENTRE IN STOCKPORT, AND FUNDED BY THE BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE.

THE FUTURE IS HERE

SGP The National Football Centre blossomed this summer and is a truly fitting home for all of England's 24 teams. With cutting-edge technology and facilities, The FA have created something very special. We spent time at St George's Park with five of the key figures charged with responsibility to make the place tick. WORDS TERRY BOWLES

THE FUTURE IS HERE

he words were very much ‘off pat’ - almost as if David Sheepshanks had been rehearsing them. It wasn’t surprising because it was hardly the first time he’d been asked to give his version of the whys and wherefores of St George’s Park. But although he began our chat by saying he “hadn’t got long” - he was off to watch England Under-17s, one of the teams that now call The FA National Football Centre 'home' - some 25 minutes later he was still anxious to make sure that every valid point was coming across loud and clear. His sheer enthusiasm for the project was unmistakable. He is immensely proud of the way people have grabbed hold of a “difficult situation” and run with it - and his part within that huge undertaking is certainly not to be underestimated. It’s vast. That’s the thing that hits you

straight away when you arrive at SGP, spread over 330 acres deep in the heart of leafy Staffordshire. No matter which way you look as you ease your way up the long drive, there are playing surfaces in the sort of condition that would get the average groundsman flushed with excitement and it is immediately apparent that this is a major statement of intent for English football. That’s before you even get to The FA Centre building, or Hilton’s new two-inone venture. It’s a place built to inspire somewhere that football people will want to visit regularly because they know it will bring the best out in them. And whether they be players, coaches, managers, physios or whatever, they are guaranteed to leave St George’s Park better equipped to meet the challenge in front of them. Sheepshanks, the former Ipswich Town chairman, describes his role as “chief evangelist”. For the past four years, he has pretty much dedicated his life to convincing people it was right to revive the project that had to be moth-balled when the cost of rebuilding Wembley Stadium spiralled out of control. He was appointed chairman of The FA National Football Centre, a subsidiary of The FA that runs as a separate business and said: “It was imperative to have a home for English football and although we didn’t have the money to revive the project, we decided we had to bite the bullet and make it happen. “We formed the new board and with help from investors, we were able to create a new business plan with a measure of confidence. Things began to fall into place and although it was incredibly hard work, persuading people to back a project that had never been done before, we got some key building blocks in place. “We chose Hilton to run the hotel because they convinced us that they would make it a flagship of their activities. The ›

THE FUTURE IS HERE

commitment of Umbro to become our main sponsors was absolutely crucial, as was the support of the Government, Sport England, the PFA and Burton & South Derbyshire College. “It all added up to what we needed. It meant that we had a business plan for an entirely new model that had been drawn up in a way that was financially sustainable and after The FA scrutinised it with great diligence, we got the green light almost three years ago.” Sheepshanks is in full flow by now, and he’s anxious to make five key points before dashing off to see if England Under-17s can be inspired by the magnificent new facilities. No.1: “It’s called the National Football Centre but it’s much more than that. It’s a world-class facility that will attract people from various sports - and not just from this country.” No.2: “It will be the headquarters for FA Learning and that doesn’t just mean elite coaching courses. It will be the education hub for English football in all forms. For example, we have already created an affiliation with Liverpool and Birmingham universities and are actively exploring other relationships." No.3: “We have identified over the years that the world of sports medicine is extremely fragmented and there’s an opportunity at SGP to create a totally integrated centre. Spire Healthcare, who are running the medical & sports science centre, have really bought into our vision." No.4: “We need to embrace other sports. It will be predominantly for football but we really believe it will be of great benefit to everyone if we ‘cross-pollinate’ with other sports." No.5: “It’s most important that we create a meeting place for the game. SGP has the capability to act as a binding agent for football - responsible for forming closer working relationships between the various agencies.” Added the chairman: “Some people were definitely not in favour of creating the Centre but Richard Bevan, the LMA’s chief executive, gave us his total support. He committed at an early stage to moving their head office to St George’s Park - the first to do so - and that was really important to us. I’ll be forever grateful for that.” Perhaps not against all the odds but certainly quite a few, a pristine new facility now stands in all it’s glory, just waiting to be used, and right at the sharp end of making sure that it is sits JULIE HARRINGTON, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ST GEORGE’S PARK.

Appointed in December, Julie has been

in place since March and although it is clearly a magnificent opportunity for her, she’s acutely aware that the sporting fraternity are watching very carefully - and plenty of them still need to be convinced it can work. She said: “In terms of acres and buildings, St George’s Park is only as big as any one of the 10 race courses I was previously responsible for running but the difference is that football is so high profile. I could go 10 months in my previous life without a visit from a TV camera crew, but not here... and easily the most common question I’m asked is: ‘Will England win the next World Cup?’ “I understand that it goes with the territory and to some extent, we will stand and fall by how the 24 England teams perform, now that they have a permanent home. In other roles, you have a more tangible measurement of success. In horse racing, for example, we didn’t own the horses so how they performed was never an issue. You can run an efficient and successful venue and you won’t be judged by what happens on the turf. Somehow, I don’t think we will get away with that here! “What we have to do is make sure that we foster the ‘home’ mentality for the 24 teams. They have to know that when they come to SGP it will be a fantastic experience - whether they are working or relaxing. I need to keep reminding people that we are playing the long-game and having a strategy based around coach education will lead to the emergence of more and better players for the national teams. It’s about being bold enough to say that it will take time because people will expect to see an immediate difference.” Harrington heads up a team of 280 employees across the full spectrum at St George’s Park and she said: “There’s a big diversity in the jobs that they do and one of the challenges for any leader is knowing that we have specialists in every area who understand their role better than we do, “For example, in the clinical department, they have people who are regarded as some of the best in their field. There’s a large element in having trust in the specialists in the team. My role is one of enablement. With some it’s about giving them freedom, others it will be giving them support but ultimately, it’s about communication. “Communication is ‘king’. We are such a diverse team that we have to keep talking otherwise it simply cannot function properly. It may sound cheesy but we are actively developing a policy of ‘one-teamone-culture’. We stress all the time that it’s so important to making this work.”

The recruitment operation for Harrington and her team was massively important. She explained: “You can do a huge amount of training but what really matters is that you choose the right people in the first place. As this is primarily a service industry, it was essential to choose people with the right attitude who genuinely want to help others. “There is no ‘blueprint’ to work with because there’s never been a National Football Centre before. Consequently, we are still flushing out areas where things are not quite right but I’m very happy with where we are at the moment. “We are getting progressively more busy and that’s the way it has to be. Inevitably there was lots of enthusiasm surrounding the launch but when the novelty dies down, we have to remember this is a 365-days per year operation.” JAMIE HOUCHEN, FA HEAD OF LEARNING, started out as an aspiring footballer with Norwich City, and he certainly wouldn’t be the first who couldn’t quite make the grade as a player but had a huge impact on the game as a coach or manager. After serving his time as a coach with Norwich and then working with The FA, he was promoted to FA head of learning this year and it’s no exaggeration to say that the way he handles his new role is crucial to the success of St George’s Park. “Passion” is a word he uses regularly and it’s very evident in him as we sit beside the spectacular new indoor pitch and discuss how The FA are going to re-establish a method for delivering the best-possible coach education. “My dream job has always been to work with all the senior coaches, have an impact on quality, and control what we teach and how we teach,” he said. “This is a wonderful facility and we have to make sure it doesn’t become just that. We have to establish content within our coaching programme that fits the facility." The passion surfaces again as he emphasises his point, explaining how it’s only a matter of time before someone on a coaching course will have their session recorded and be able to retire to their hotel bedroom and review it on screen. “To have that type of technology is fabulous,” said Houchen. “Having to worry about whether sessions would be lost to the weather because indoor facilities were not available is suddenly a thing of the past. “It’s incredibly exciting for those of us who have coaching in our blood and to be honest, I don’t see how we can fail to have an

THE FUTURE IS HERE

impact in terms of raising standards. “We’re ready to ‘go’ because we were determined not to wait until the doors to St George’s Park opened and then think about what we would do. We’ve spent the past two years planning it out - working on ways to modernise our content in order to maximise the impact. “We are striving to get licensed and qualified coaches with every team. Increasing the number of grassroots coaches who move from FA Level 1 and Level 2 courses across to The FA Youth Awards in order to establish better and age-appropriate coaches. “FA Learning is also tasked with providing qualifications and CPD for the elite game. With this responsibility comes the excitement of putting St George’s Park at the hub of delivery to meet new expectations to service the whole game. “I guess the real challenge for The FA Licensed Coaches Club is how we can engage with the whole of the coaching fraternity - not just the elite. The content of the programme will emanate from here but we must come up with a range of ›

Clockwise: Julie Harrington, SGP managing director heads up a team of 280 staff; developing coaches is an integral part of the plan; Jamie Houchen, FA head of learning, has his 'dream job; the 330acre site from the air

THE FUTURE IS HERE

Clockwise: England Women's coach Hope Powell leads training; the state-of-the-art facility is packed with cutting-edge sports science equipment; Ruth Paulin, business director at Spire Healthcare

opportunities that encourage people to just drop in and use the facilities. “FA Learning is a not for profit business. It’s not about making money it’s about supporting coaches and coach educators with the highest possible quality of resources. “I think this place over-exceeds people’s expectations. It’s much bigger and better than anyone imagined and I haven’t met a single person within the game who has come here and not been wowed. I think most thought it would be another Lilleshall. That was good in its time... but it’s not world class like the National Football Centre. “I was privileged a few weeks ago to give Sir Bobby Charlton a conducted tour. He’s been round the world, looking at all the best facilities, and at the end of two and a half hours he said it was genuinely the finest centre he had ever seen. That was a marvellous accolade and as he said, it makes you feel proud to be English.’ Houchen believes SGP has created a “no excuses culture”. But although everything is at their finger-tips, he says it is still about people making it work. He added: “As I see it, my job is about inspiring people, giving them a sense of direction so that they understand where they are in the coaching pathway. We have constantly got to be thinking: ‘What next?’

The days are over when people would get a coaching qualification and then not hear from us for five years until they thought they might take another one.” The common theme with all aspects of St George’s Park is that it provides a glorious opportunity to break new ground and there’s no doubt that people across the world will be watching with interest to how the UK’s first fully-integrated sports medicine, rehabilitation and performance facility rises to the challenge. Spire Healthcare, who have vast experience in running hospitals and clinics around the country, launched a new brand - called Perform - when they won the right to move into the plush new FA building and as RUTH PAULIN, BUSINESS DIRECTOR FOR SPIRE at St George’s Park explained, the concept has been well thought through. “We’ve provided high-quality healthcare for many years and this flagship centre in an inspiring environment is taking it a step further,” she said. “We’re working to a strapline of ‘EveryBody Can Perform’. Whether it’s in the sports world or life in general, everyone can achieve their own personal best. We are going to take some of the lessons already well-established in elite sport and make them available to a wider audience. “We will have cutting-edge technology

THE FUTURE IS HERE

Greg Crawford, general manager of St George's Park's two Hilton brand hotels

combined with highly-regarded specialists in their field. But it’s not just about putting the best and most expensive equipment with high-quality people, it’s about delivering and measuring outcomes.” Perform will have a core team of about 12 people on site but as Ruth explained, key to the success of their operation will be to have a range of specialist clinicians that will work with them on a sessional basis to best meet the needs of the client. “Quite simply,” she said, “the requirements of an elite footballer with a knee injury will be different to the recreational tennis player with a sore elbow. But we will have the flexibility to offer the best-possible service to both and I’m very confident that this brand new concept will work well. “The whole thing, of course, is totally new and it will evolve so it’s impossible to say at this stage exactly what percentage of our business will come from The FA but it’s encouraging that we’ve had a huge amount of interest from other organisations. “We’re working very closely with The FA medical team, who have set out what they want to see at St George’s Park. We’ll be working in partnership with them to meet the needs of the football family. Our work certainly won’t be confined to treating injuries. Research will be a significant part of what we do and we’ll

be striving to make sure that people can reach their optimum performance.” Just across the road from the main Centre building you’ll find two hotels under one roof - the Hilton and Hampton by Hilton - which is an innovative concept that provides accommodation options to suit any budget. The hotels will cater for individual, team or group bookings, along with major business conferences and banquets, and for those attending residential courses run by FA Learning. There are 142 rooms in the up-scale Hilton and 86 in the Hampton by Hilton Hotel and according to HILTON HOTELS GENERAL MANAGER, GREG CRAWFORD, the man responsible for Hilton's first dualbranded hotel operation in the UK, it’s a concept that will work. He said: “It’s a landmark development from our perspective and I’m thoroughly enjoying the challenge. I head up both but each hotel has its own operations manager and separate team. Both hotels have different price points.” Crawford and his team are up for the challenge of making both the hotels successful and he said: “There’s an obvious need for us to attract the corporate market and we’re working hard with that in mind. We want them to bring conferences and events to St George’s Park and have to play

to the strengths of the facilities. For example, instead of a company organising a golf day, they can bring their clients here for a football experience or team-building session and we’ve already had enquiries from people interested in doing that. “We’re working with The FA to design packages around the corporate aspect in order to raise awareness and the key message is that the facilities are open to all. We signed up 150 health club members within a month of opening and we’ve been very pleasantly surprised at the number of local people coming to use the restaurant. We have introduced local produce in our menus and the feedback to that has been very good.” The tools are in place for lifting English football to a new level - not necessarily tomorrow although you do get the strong feeling that the wave of enthusiasm surrounding the project will have an immediate impact. Let chairman David Sheepshanks have the last word. Not wanting to be negative but what is his biggest fear? “It’s that people come to the National Football Centre and don’t want to come back. At all costs, we have to avoid that happening. We have to walk our talk, make the place accessible and aspirational - and the whole experience must be an inspiration to those who come here.”

THE LMA LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME

TECHNICAL AREA POWERED BY

LMA chairman Howard Wilkinson announces the launch of a new Leadership Programme that will assist members in meeting the ever-increasing demands of being a football manager.

Time after time, the game’s top managers have underlined the critical importance of leadership skills and the need to constantly develop them. Consequently, I’m delighted to announce that the new LMA Leadership Programme will be launched in October at a leadership conference and then run with a first group of aspiring football managers. Both events will be at St George's Park and will be part of the LMA contribution to SGP being ‘the Oxford and Cambridge of football learning’. Over the past few years, the LMA has conducted extensive research within the game - and on the outside of it - to produce our leadership model, “Survive, Win, Succeed”, which forms the basis of all our leadership, training and development programmes. Methods used have included comprehensive questionnaires, regional meetings and video interviews. The body of knowledge developed has been augmented by a series of seminars involving accomplished and well-respected leaders from sport, business and the armed forces. In addition, since 2010, more than 1,000 football managers and coaches from over 40 countries have enrolled on and contributed to the LMA’s online Leadership Development course.

Also, in 2011 we were extremely fortunate to secure the services of top leadership consultant and author, Steve Radcliffe, who has added his considerable experience and been able to assist the LMA in shaping the accumulated body of knowledge, leading to the launch of our Programme this autumn. One massive benefit of Steve’s input has been his ability to recognise the remarkable similarities between the qualities required to succeed in the business world and the world of football management. That is why we will offer the LMA Leadership Programme to the corporate market in 2013. One of the reasons I’m particularly pleased that we now have this Programme is because I have long held the very firm belief that leadership development needs to be introduced much earlier and with greater emphasis into coach education programmes for would-be managers. The demands of the job are increasingly pressurised with alarming consequences for many of the hopefuls. Almost half of first-time managers lose their jobs in their first year and almost half of these never get a manager’s job again. Arsene Wenger said of any wannabe manager: “You ask me should I become a manager? If you are prepared to commit the

rest of your life to it and know that at any moment you may sacked, I would say yes, do it.” The job is all-consuming and epitomised in the old story of the manager’s daughter who came home from school one day with friends to see her track-suited father sleeping on the sofa. Training had been cancelled that day due to extreme weather. The little girl turns to her friends and says: “Look, I told you, I really do have a father.” I think there are more crucial questions like the one posed by Arsene Wenger. I’ve identified 11, which I believe need to be posed at the very start of a leader’s journey. You may think there are more. It is also my very strong belief that a ‘yes’ response to some of these questions is an absolute must if a person is to have a hope of survival. Thereafter, a lifetime of learning, through practice and experience, can and generally will produce positive answers to the rest. Steve Radcliffe confirms that these fundamental questions are equally relevant to the aspiring leader in any organisation. The 11 questions are set out below in a structure developed by Steve and myself that we believe will form the bedrock of the journey of any leader and in football, management can be a journey from unknown, inexperienced and unproven to established, trusted and iconic - and hopefully lucky. So you think you want to be a manager?

The foundations of your leadership Almost half of first-time These are the rocks on which your managers lose their jobs in their leadership is based. Leadership is not about tips and techniques, and it’s not something first year and almost half of these you can dip into now and again. It’s deeper than that. Your leadership is based on what never get a manager’s job again.” you are like as a person, what matters to ›

THE LMA LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME

THE LMA LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME PAGE NAME

Arsene Wenger understands that to be a manager takes total commitment

7. Do you enjoy developing people so they perform better and deliver more? Your emotional resilience Perhaps more than in any other job, you have to have the resilience to bounce back after setbacks. Problems and disappointments will arrive often. You have to develop an inner strength to lead yourself and others through them. 8. Do you handle problems effectively and move on quickly from setbacks? Accelerating your development Some leaders grow faster than others. You can choose the rate at which you grow your ‘Leadership Muscles’. Here is some of what you might ask yourself. 9. Are you open-minded, eager to learn and do you seek feedback? 10. Are you willing to change? 11. Are you willing to commit 10,000 hours of serious study and practice to learning? you and how you come across to others. And you need to be aware of all of this. As someone once said: “If you cannot manage yourself, how can you expect to manage and lead others?” 1. Are you obsessed by the subject? Are you ready to commit the rest of your life to it? 2. Do you know what you really value and believe in? 3. Do you know who you are, your strengths and weaknesses, and can you live with that person? Leadership and management One of the most common ways people limit themselves as leaders is by focusing more on tasks and not attending to the people. Put simply, managing is about handling the practicalities of a situation (e.g. plans, schedules, the budget) and is essential for any organisation. But by itself it cannot get you to greatness. Leadership can. Leadership has a people focus. It’s about getting the best from the people to achieve something special, while the tasks get done. This can call for a shift in mindset for many of us.

4. Are you task or people-oriented? Your ‘future’ leadership muscles Leading always starts in the future. You must not be bogged down or limited by what you can see in the present or what has happened in the past. You have to be alive with ideas of how you want the future to be. 5. Are you able to visualise an idea of where you may wish to go and how to get there? Your ‘engage’ leadership muscles Once you’re alive with a sense of the future, you must then engage people in you and your ideas of the future so that they want to build it with you. This involves interacting with many different audiences to shift what they see is possible and so how they behave. 6. Can you change how people think, what they believe, and therefore how they behave? Your ‘deliver’ leadership muscles When you’ve engaged people, you then want them to deliver. Ideally you will have a passion for helping people grow and so achieve more. And you’ll have a range of ways of doing this, recognising that your approach with one person may not work with another.

In summary, mere survival is a great achievement: can you cope with that scenario? When people ask you what you did, you will be proud to say: “I was a manager for 25 years!”

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To many, a report on ‘treasure’ does not sound intrinsically financial, conjuring as it may images of pirates, shipwrecks and chests stuffed with gold doubloons. However, owning possessions that are financially valuable, emotionally pleasing and culturally significant is a timeless tradition and one that shows no sign of abating. ‘Treasure’ assets, for example items such as precious jewellery, fine art, wine, antique furniture, classic automobiles and precious metals are a recognised category of investment and form quantifiable portions of many investors’ portfolios. Earlier this year, a version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream sold for a record USD$120 million at Sotheby’s in New York, after an auction lasting just 12 minutes. 2011 was the biggest year ever for sales at art auctions. A painting by Roy Lichtenstein sold for almost $40 million, after its owner had purchased it 13 years previously for just $2 million. Clearly, the current market for treasure assets can be a lucrative environment in which to operate. But the complex rationale behind owning art, jewellery, wine, or indeed any such commodity, is worthy of further scrutiny. In the latest Wealth Insights report, Barclays has explored the financial and emotional motivations for holding treasure assets. A survey of over 2,000 wealthy individuals worldwide, coupled with the knowledge of a number of industry experts, suggests that despite the appeal of tangible assets at a time of widespread financial uncertainty, treasure assets should primarily be held for the pleasure it brings,

rather than any potential financial benefits. The report reveals that currently, wealthy individuals hold an average of 9.6 per cent of their total net worth in treasure assets, although in some countries, this share is as high as 18 per cent. Precious jewellery, fine art and antiques are the most popular types of treasure held. But is this commitment to the practice of investing in collectibles driven more by emotional than financial motivations? The report reveals that only 18 per cent of treasure assets are held purely for the financial benefits they bring, and just 21 per cent are believed by their owners to provide security in the event of the failure of more conventional investments. Emotional ties to the assets themselves are thus shown to be significant in driving

individuals to build collectibles into their portfolios. But these emotional ties that benefit collectors come in many forms; over 60 per cent of treasure owners said that they choose to build portfolios of such assets purely because they enjoy owning them. Over a third (37 per cent) collect treasure assets to be enjoyed by future generations, and 35 per cent say that they are motivated by collecting artefacts that are part of their heritage or culture. Other emotional factors motivating the purchase of treasure assets include an enjoyment of sharing them with friends and a desire to show off. In London, the motivations behind owning treasure are particularly strongly based on emotion. Treasure holders here say 72 per cent of their treasure is held purely for enjoyment, with the highest percentage of any UK region 31 per cent citing a desire to share treasure with friends as a motivating factor. 39 per cent of treasure is held for cultural reasons in the capital, with just 13 per cent of treasure asset holdings motivated by purely financial considerations. A large part of what we do at Barclays is helping investors understand the emotions and risks behind decisions. When significant emotional motivations exist for holding treasure assets, the utility derived from owning the piece may outweigh any financial perils. However, for individuals who invest in collectibles for primarily financial reasons, the reasoning rarely stacks up. Investing in treasure is generally risky, with assets often

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laborious and expensive to sell. Transaction costs at auction houses tend to be high, especially when buying. Insurance and storage of assets can also be expensive, and authenticity must be constantly and vigilantly considered. Because of such dangers, it is crucial that investors are able to separate the collectibles that they purchase for primarily emotional reasons from those that they regard as solid financial investments. Cognitive biases can cloud decision-making in all investment situations, and this risk is heightened in the case of treasure, due to the emotional allure of the assets. Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in personal banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and

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along with a specific team of individuals who work in the Sports, Media and Entertainment space, puts us in a prime position to be able to give well-researched and thought out advice both while players are in the UK and to be able to continue to give advice should they move overseas.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT PAUL DE LA SALLE, HEAD OF FOOTBALL BARCLAYS WEALTH AND INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT ON +44(0)203 134 3136 OR PAUL.DELASALLE@BARCLAYS.COM

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RAISING THE STANDARD Howard Webb, one of the Select Group’s most experienced referees, has taken charge of over 200 Barclays Premier League games and every domestic final. The FIFA Elite Referee has refereed the UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup Finals and was one of 12 referees involved in UEFA Euro 2012. He is on the ‘Open List of Prospective Referees’ for FIFA World Cup 2014. For Professional Game Match Officials, he is in charge of a group of four referees and eight assistant referees. Here, he highlights the current strength of refereeing in this country.

There is no doubt that the standard of officiating by the Select Group is particularly strong at present, both domestically and internationally. It’s not just the fact that we are one of just three countries in Europe with three FIFA Elite referees, what's good as well is that we have several other guys who are just below that level and another seven, eight, or nine lads who can do any game in the Barclays Premier League. That’s healthy because it doesn't put pressure on a small group of people - it gives others the opportunity to do games and means that you see different ‘faces’ on important matches, which is good for the game as well. We’ve had to increase our standards in line with the football. Every season the bar gets set higher,

Referee Howard Webb makes it clear who is in control during the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final, Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg.

both in terms of the playing standards and the speed of the play, so we need to be able to perform at this higher level each and every season. The good thing is we have now got a team of match officials who understand the requirements placed upon them both physically and mentally. There are a few reasons for that. I think the professional approach to our training and development has continued to improve under Mike Riley and his team of coaches. There's more structure to what we do with our in-service training, and the way we review our performances again has never been better. Also, the introduction of the Barclays Premier League Match Delegate scheme, which started eight seasons ago, is showing some real benefits now. Again, it is something we have grown with. When it was first introduced there were those who resisted it, but now those on the Select Group work with it. There’s great value in speaking to former players and managers about how best to control a match. We embrace what they say because that will produce better performances, something borne out in our highest-ever Match Delegate marks this season. As a Select Group we work closer than ever before. Across the 16 of us we are split into groups of four referees and eight assistants who officiate together throughout the season. I’m a big believer in the team and working with people on a regular basis so you can understand the way that people work and the way they think. That way you get the best out of each other as individuals, and as a group. And people seeing us operating at the highest level encourages grassroots officials to get involved, and gives aspirations as well to what is achievable. It also emphasises that the way we are doing things on the domestic, European and world stage is right and will lead to better officiating in the Barclays Premier League.

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COVER STORY

¡OLÉ! ROBERTO MARTINEZ TALKS OUR LANGUAGE WORDS SUE McKELLAR PHOTOGRAPHY PORTRAITCOLLECTIVE.COM/SAM BOWLES

At the heart of great man-management is the ability to understand individuals and be able to inspire them - qualities exemplified by Roberto Martinez as he has steered Wigan Athletic clear of Barclays Premier League relegation for two consecutive seasons. Respected and admired throughout the game, Sue McKellar meets the eloquent Catalan king of Lancashire...

COVER STORY

n May 2011 Wigan Athletic pulled off a last day great escape away to Stoke City. A year later, despite a daunting end of season fixture list, seven wins in nine matches ensured Wigan’s Barclays Premier League survival. With the pressure on and the stakes high, Roberto Martinez’s team demonstrated a cohesive mental toughness and stepped up the fight to keep each other in the top flight. Martinez’ successful relationship with his squad mirrors his much coveted partnership with chairman Dave Whelan. With a relationship spanning 17 years, it’s a partnership based on trust, with a clear club business plan agreed from the outset. With the first three years of their joint project complete and the foundations of the next phase in place, Martinez now aspires to take Wigan to the next level.

You’ve now lived almost 50 per cent of your life in the UK and 50 per cent in Spain. How has that shaped you culturally in your leadership style – how much of a multifaceted approach do you have? “To understand individuals it is important to understand their background and any cultural barriers that might hinder their understanding of what you want them to do. When I arrived in Wigan from Spain in 1995 I really got a cultural shock. You tend to assume that the way you have been raised and what you know is the only way that exists in the rest of the world. When you leave your own country you realise there are other cultures and other ways to understand things. You quickly realise there are a variety of options of how you see life. So it’s very, very important to be open-minded and respectful of every way of working. Understanding cultures means understanding individuals, so my approach has certainly been influenced by my time spent in both Spain and the UK.”

What was it like growing up in Balaguer, Catalonia and how did that upbringing shape you? “Balaguer is a very family orientated place with a population of only 15,000 people. You get to trust everyone straight away because when you walk down the street you feel like everyone knows you and which family you are from. Leaving my family home at 16 to play football and go to university in Zaragoza did almost feel like being thrown into the Wild West and I was forced to mature very quickly. However, moving to Wigan in 1995 when I was 21 really was the catalyst that broadened my thinking. I learned to live in a different culture and realised there were different ways to play football outside of what we had been taught in Spain. In many ways you are shaped by your own experiences. When I look back now, I realise how fortunate I was growing up to have such a strong and protective family environment before arriving in England to face the fantastic challenge of a new life and football culture within the British game.” Your father had a very positive influence on you. Tell us about his football career and how he influenced your values and the way you manage. “My dad was a big, big influence on the way I have subsequently done things. He always set standards in whatever he did. He was born in Zaragoza and was a footballer who moved around during his career before settling in Balaguer. When he stopped playing he enjoyed being very committed to spending time with our family. He opened a shoe shop while managing amateur clubs. In everything he did, he was so, so professional. He taught me to have real standards in whatever you do - it wouldn’t have mattered if he’d been managing a local side or managing Barcelona, he’d have approached it in the same manner. I always have his strong values in my mind. He had a real commitment to the game and never viewed it as a job, a chore or an activity. It was his passion. I’m thankful for his influence on me because you must have a passion for football to survive its intensity.” At what stage did you decide you wanted to be a manager? “I never had early leanings towards management probably because I always felt it could only be a great substitute to playing. I always told my friends that they should go on playing for as long as they could. In 2007,

I ended up going completely against my own advice because Huw Jenkins asked me to take over as Swansea City manager. It was the right opportunity and the right dressing room to start expressing my ideas about the game but I really felt that I had to give up my playing career much earlier than I wanted to. I kidded myself by remaining registered as a player. However, I knew I would never accept being player-manager because I don’t believe you can do both jobs.” You are committed to your style of playing free flowing, offensive football. How did your philosophy evolve? “Being raised in Spain, I was a technical player and my philosophy of how I like to see the game played evolved from there. When I told people in Spain that I’d decided to play for Wigan Athletic in the old Third Division they told me I’d only last six months because the British game and lower leagues wouldn’t suit me. In a way I saw it as a big challenge just to be able to be useful to my manager at Wigan. To be able to affect the game from a technical perspective enabled me to develop my tactical knowledge greatly. I couldn’t compete with the opposition in a physical way so I had to think tactically and hurt them by keeping the ball, being more patient and by finding the chance to score rather than chasing it. Effectively, I am a product of my playing experiences in Spain, what type of football I love to watch and how I had to play in the lower English leagues in order to have a career.” How would you describe your style of management – is it a conscious style of leadership or an extension of your personality? “I like to lead through aspiration. In a way this is an extension of my own personality. I always had great aspirations as a player and as a person and that always enabled me to give myself direction. I feel your own aspirations can be fitted into a team dynamic very easily. I’ve never believed in forcing people to do things. Even when you are the manager, at the forefront and setting the direction, you are still part of a team, a dream and an aspiration. I only want to manage players that want to achieve. I don’t see any longterm benefit of being in a position where you have to force or punish players to reach certain standards. I like to build football clubs and put things in place so that the club is going to continually develop, and get their rewards. I fully believe you can only achieve such rewards through aspiration.” ›

COVER STORY

I like to lead through aspiration. In a way this is an extension of my own personality. I always had great aspirations as a player and as a person and that always enabled me to give myself direction. I feel that your own aspirations can be fitted into a team dynamic very easily”

COVER STORY

Inevitably during a football campaign players can lose form or become demoralised by certain results. How, as the manager, do you mend a player’s fractured confidence? “When that happens you have to try to understand both the player and the human being. In football you need to appreciate that from Monday to Friday you are dealing with human beings and then you are dealing with footballers on a match day. Understanding the human being during the week allows you to understand the player. Sometimes people can get too focused on perfection and only highlight mistakes and weaknesses in the players and that doesn’t enable you to understand the individual. When you have a player who has got the right ambition and the right aspiration sometimes they need to be understood in order to help them with any confidence issues. In such a long, exposed football environment where everything is detailed, players can suffer confidence issues so you do need to understand them as human beings.” At the end of last season you went on an incredible run - winning seven out of nine games to retain Wigan’s top flight status. How did you prevent any fear creeping into your players during such a crucial period? “The approach we took was to stop playing the opposition, which is very easy to say but difficult to achieve. We became intensely focused on what we as a team were doing. We as a team do click and as a group we have developed such a strong mental fitness to push each other in a healthy way to be as good as we can be. We had a real desire to collect points for the same cause and reached a very good level of consistent mental fitness during the season’s run in. During the last nine games we actually finished top of the Barclays Premier League form table, which was really pleasing.”

May 2012: Already a cult hero at Wigan, Roberto Martinez's place in DW Stadium history is assured after keeping his side in the English top flight.

The nature of your relationship with Dave Whelan will be coveted by many and he’s committed to the plan you both drew up for Wigan as well as incredibly loyal. Why do you work so well together? “From my point of view our strong relationship started on the first day that I’d signed to be manager of Wigan Athletic. We went for a meal and he said to me: ‘For three years you are going to be the manager of Wigan Athletic. If we get relegated twice you are going to be the manager of Wigan Athletic in League One’. From that moment on I knew I could trust him, I knew I could make decisions for the long-term and that I could build a football club with his support. When, as a young Spaniard, I arrived in Wigan in 1995 with Jesus Seba and Isidro Diaz we were coming into the unknown. Dave Whelan was great with us. He gave us guidance and understood us. The chairman played at a high level and he understands the game. I’m well aware of how privileged I am to have such a good relationship with him. I have a great deal of clarity with him. I feel he can trust me and I hope that he feels the same way. It’s rare to have that relationship where the chairman says: ‘I need to back my judgement. I think you are the best manager for this football club. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong with you’. I think that is a quite unique way of dealing with football and that’s why he has been unique in achieving his dream for a family football club like Wigan Athletic.” I imagine he also deserves great credit in your eyes for being so open-minded and

supportive when other clubs expressed an interest in you... “We’ve always spoken about having an initial three-year project. We wanted to achieve certain things during that period both on and off the pitch and financially we’ve had targets that we wanted to reach. During that initial period I wasn’t interested in speaking to anyone and during the same period he has given me security in the job. After the three years I felt there needed to be a period where the chairman could think about what he wanted to do next with the club. I needed to know whether he wanted to take Wigan Athletic to the next level and what the next challenge was going to be. I spoke with three different football clubs in different leagues and that was done in the open with the chairman always aware of who I was speaking with. Everything was conducted with real respect between us and at the right time. He can be a very persuasive man and when he decided what he wanted to do next with Wigan he explained it to me, and we now have the next chapter in place." You have a Post Graduate Degree in Business Management. In what ways has studying Business Management been of benefit to you in your football career? “As a manager you need to have as much information as you can to help you make decisions. I’ve found that my Post Graduate Degree has been very beneficial in helping to put club strategy into place and draw up plans so that the clubs I’ve managed are not just working game by game or season by season. You can really set-out your football ideology and not only decide how you are going to win this weekend but how you are aiming to win your football club’s games three years down the line. Having that qualification has helped to challenge me and open my mind."

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PRE-SEASON PLANNING

MANAGING FOR ALL SEASONS Football people invariably tell you that preseason is the most important period of the year. The slate has been wiped clean, new blood introduced, and you have a month to perfect your pattern of play and plan for the campaign ahead. In this issue of the Manager, we look at how other businesses also face up to seasonal challenges, knowing that if they get it wrong, the consequences will be serious. WORDS: ALICE HOEY

Businesses that experience predictable cycles in demand for their products or services have the benefit of being able to do some strategic 'pre-season' planning. But does that make success any easier or can having distinct seasons be a poisoned chalice? Most managers would give their right arm for a chance to step off the treadmill for a while. What could be more advantageous than a quiet period in which to stand back, assess performance and direction, hire and fire, and plan improvements? It's something many seasonal businesses or those with notable peaks and troughs in demand probably take for granted. But, having a cyclical nature to your business also comes with its share of challenges. Just like at football and other sports clubs, managers of seasonal firms need to optimise their quieter 'pre-season' periods to meticulously and strategically plan for what lies ahead. Fail to do so and the results can be catastrophic. It's probably no coincidence that a number of UK businesses that have gone into administration or suffered heavy losses in

recent years have a seasonal element to their offerings. Clinton Cards, Thorntons, Thomas Cook and, to some extent Woolworths, all rely or relied heavily on trade during certain periods of the year. Careful cashflow management is an essential pillar of any business, but for seasonal firms it's crucial yet tricky to get right. Patterns of income are more likely to be irregular, with long periods when the tills are not ringing and invoices are not being paid. Planning ahead is, therefore, essential to ensure sufficient funds are available to cover any quiet periods. For managers, that means keeping a tight rein on spending and thinking carefully before taking money out of the business. Managing levels of stock and staff must also figure highly in the planning process. David Thompson, owner of The Christmas Shop on London's Southbank, is unsurprisingly well versed in the art of pre-season planning. While the store trades year-round, around 50 per cent of annual sales occurs in the final quarter.

“The main challenge with such a seasonal peak is that you only have one chance to get it right,” said Thompson. “Insufficient stock means reduced profits, while overstocks are kept for 12 months, impacting cashflow. There are similar considerations with fixed overheads and staffing levels.” The firm's approach in recent years has been cautious optimism. “Steady growth or even a slight downturn can be manageable, but rapid growth, while welcome, does bring its own problems.” He says careful planning is absolutely essential to minimise the impact of these challenges. “We examine and analyse trends over the past 20 years with the emphasis on the last five. In recent years, we have also invested heavily in technology to assist with this planning, producing detailed information to identify the success of products and styles, and sales patterns.” He added that, as with any business, the employees are the most important resource. “But they can be the most difficult ›

PRE-SEASON PLANNING

FORMER ENGLAND BOSS GLENN HODDLE OFFERS THE MANAGER’SEYE VIEW ON PRE-SEASON PLANNING How, as a manager, do you approach pre-season – do you break it into sections? “You try to get a lot of your pre-season fixtures and preparations planned and sorted way in advance - as far back as Christmas. Sometimes it can run a bit close to the wire but certainly, by the end of a season, you must have everything you want fixture-wise in your mind. For me, as both player and manager, pre-season results always caused me to scratch my head a bit. I’ve had poor results that have worried me but then we’ve started the new football season by winning three matches in a row. Conversely I remember sailing through pre-season and then being third from bottom after three matches. Results are never the key thing during pre-season build up, it’s about ensuring your team’s fitness, attitude and stamina levels are at their peak.” Is pre-season the only time that a manager can make any fundamental changes or can that happen at any time? “Fundamental changes aren’t limited to pre-season, they can happen at any

time. If you have a batch of new players and you are a new manager at the club then pre-season is essential and the perfect time to go in and get all of your ideals across. You can achieve real clarity with the players of how you want them to play and get to know each other. However, you don’t always have that luxury as a manager if for example you are appointed 10 games into the season. So a manager needs the capacity to make fundamental changes or set his ideals down at any given time and in a variety of circumstances.“ How much of an advantage is it that at the end of a football season you can almost wipe the slate clean and make a fresh start the next season? “That is the big difference between many sports and businesses in that there is an end to your competitive period and then you re-assess. A business might find it very difficult to keep re-assessing if they do it more regularly on a monthly or quarterly level. Certainly as a football manager you assess your goals, your dreams, whether you have had a successful year, what your results were and where you ended up in the League. You can then identify what you need to improve your situation in football. Perhaps it’s not as clear-cut for businesses as they don’t have that defined break in performances in the form of the football close season.” What’s the key desired outcome of pre-season? Is it a case that ideally you have a plan mapped out for the next nine months or does football have too many variables to enable you to do that? “You are dealing with human beings, their minds and their confidence plus any injuries that they get. In business

you may have a company whose output relies solely on a certain type of computerised system and it goes down and they lose it for a sustained period – their business is going to be affected isn’t it? In football, key players can get injured and so your philosophy and approach might have to change and you aren’t allowed to replace them until the next transfer window. So you have to have a flexibility to constantly adjust as required throughout the season so you can’t really map out a nine-month period.“

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Season tickets available – no joining fee. Golf lessons available by Carl Roberts.

Set in secluded rural countryside surrounded by woodland and farmland.



Beginners classes and junior lessons available. 

Clubs and groups welcome. 

Email: belmontpro@belmontgolf.co.uk 16 bay floodlit driving range 

Coffee lounge / snack bar 

Pro Shop 

Regular competitions / events

Belmont Road, Needwood, DE13 9PH 01283 814381 www.belmontgolf.co.uk 5 minutes away from St George’s Park BelmontGolf_HP.indd 1

OPENING TIMES Mon – Fri 9.30 until late Sat – Sun 9.30 until 5pm Early tees available on request. Discounted rates for 18 holes 9/5/2012 5:20:40 PM

PRE-SEASON PLANNING

CHART YOUR SUCCESS April

Cup Final

May

June

July

Aug 1s t le ag ue fi xt ur e (t bc )

Sept

Like a football club, a business has to plan around some key components: its people, facilities, logistics, support functions and customers” RICHARD GOMERSALL

to find,” said Thompson. “We try to maintain a base level of permanent staff, with increased demands in the final quarter met by overtime and supplemented by temporary staff.” Alastair Kight, Managing Director of GRITIT, the UK’s leading gritting and snow clearing company, also has first-hand experience of the necessity, and indeed benefits, of pre-season planning. “We take full advantage of the efficiencies of being able to solely focus on delivering our service in the winter and then working on the essential work of business development during the summer,” said Kight. “We use this time to get feedback from our customers, develop new ideas, review business strategy, focus on sales for the next winter, train and recruit staff and equipment maintenance.” According to Bruno Negoita, chairman at SC Ceramica SA, who has developed and launched a series of business tools, all businesses should look to have a set period for planning, to take into account a wide range of data and a set of assumptions. “General macroeconomics and trends specific to your business, such as market size evolution and average price evolution, changes in your main costs (raw materials, external services, HR, etc) and any important moves by your competitors must all enter the equation.” Business transformation expert Richard Gomersall added: “Just like a football club, a business has to plan around some key components: its people, facilities, logistics, support functions and customers.” He said that while having predictable peaks and troughs does make planning easier, the skill is to think through the unpredictable possibilities and have alternatives available if things start to change. “It's good for businesses to have a cycle of setting plans, which fit in with their trading patterns, but it's just as important to have a vision of what they’re looking to achieve – as many football clubs do. The key then is keep revisiting the plans – change things when they're not working and do more of whatever is.” To be a manager of all seasons, it seems it takes vision, flexibility and, most of all, skilled planning.

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ANGLIAN HOME IMPROVEMENTS

THE COMPETITIVE EDGE Established in 1966, it's fitting that Anglian Home Improvements should have football in its blood. Marketing director Martin Troughton explains the company's parallels with the game and why being an LMA partner is helping get more from its managers. Since it started trading over 45 years ago, Anglian Home Improvements has steadily built up an enviable reputation and a loyal customer base. But it didn't get to become one of the UK's leading supplier of home improvements on positive word of mouth alone. According to marketing director Martin Troughton, Anglian is built around internal rivalries and a competitive spirit. “Part of the company's success over the years is down to our culture of healthy rivalry” he says. “The company is broken down into two divisions, 18 regions, showrooms and representatives across the country, with people in each tier competing against one another.” Each week, the company publishes a weekly newsletter with extensive league tables of performance across the business, including a Champions League of regional groups. Anglian has had a partnership with the LMA for several years, resulting in a number of insightful events involving its managers and guest managers from the football leagues. Harry Redknapp, David Moyes, Roy Hodgson and Alex McLeish have all met with the company's leading managers to draw parallels with their roles in football and share their leadership experience. “Anglian is built around a sense of rivalry in much the same way that football teams are,” says Troughton. “Everyone knows that you're only as good as your last result and if your team has had a bad week, it's up to the manager to keep them motivated and ensure they're focused for the next week. This is one of the areas in which we've really benefited from the football managers' insight.” Understanding the importance of motivation, Anglian invests heavily in incentives for winning teams and individuals, with rewards such as holidays up for grabs for the highest achievers. “It can be an unsociable business, as our sales representatives tend to work unsociable

Alex McLeish and Harry Redknapp meet Anglian Home Improvements' Martin Rutter (sales director) and Martin Troughton (marketing director).

hours at weekends and in the evening for the convenience of our customers,” says Troughton. “It's important, therefore, that we reward both them and their families or partners.” The company also uses its sponsorship of Norwich City to motivate its workforce, over a thousand of whom live in the local area as, although a national company, the manufacturing all happens in Norwich. Getting a group of individuals to work effectively as a team is another skill that is essential to both Anglian's business and to football clubs. “In each of our teams, there will be a real blend of people,” says Troughton. “in any salesteam, for example, they could have superstar performers, those approaching retirement and others new to the job and in need of some training and experience. We've learned from the football managers that you can't let the superstars or

novices upset the balance. You need a good blend of people and, as a leader, they must understand how to manage them as a team.”

If your team has had a bad week, it's up to the manager to keep them motivated” MARTIN TROUGHTON, MARKETING DIRECTOR OF ANGLIAN HOME IMPROVEMENTS

LEADERSHIP THEORY

GETTING TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE

TRULY TRANSFORMATIONAL

Leadership consultant and author Steve Radcliffe is best known for creating the Future - Engage - Deliver approach. In the first of three articles exploring this game-changing theory, he concentrates on 'Future' and explains how anyone can become a stronger... leader.

Most organisations I've walked into in 20 years of coaching leaders have a serious leadership challenge - they need more people to step forward as effective leaders. That is why I created the Future - Engage - Deliver leadership development approach to help anyone, regardless of position, know how to be a leader and then to become an even better one. I’ve written briefly in the Manager previously about FED and I’m delighted that it’s part of the thinking that will be used in the LMA’s Leadership Programme. The first in a series of three articles for the Manager that will take you more deeply into the FED approach, this one is about the Future aspect of leading and I have three big questions to ask. When I came to write the book about the FED approach, ‘Leadership Plain and Simple’, there was something I realised about every one of the hundreds of leaders I’d coached. It’s that all of them are ‘up to something’. That is, they are alive with an ambition, a dream, vision or goal that matters to them. There’s something in the future they want and they’re going for it. That gives them an energy and vitality. It has them striving to be the best and get the best from others around them. And crucially, that has nothing to do with position or title. Whatever role you’re in, you can be ‘up to something’. The importance of the Future in leading is not new. Writer Charles Handy is to the point when he says: ‘No vision, no leader’. And Newcastle manager, Alan Pardew, writes: ‘If there’s any advice that I would give a young manager it would be to get the

clarity of their vision across from the start.’ So how do you get in touch with the Future you want to create? My reply is to answer the three questions that I ask whoever I’m working with, whether it be a civil servant, a salesman, a chief executive or a doctor. The first is What do you Care About? I start with that because if you’re trying to create something different in the Future, you are guaranteed to have setbacks, upsets and disappointments along the way. And unless the Future you want is connected to what you care about, sooner or later you’ll give up. So first get in touch with what you care about, what matters to you - you might think about family, work, values, relationships, the planet, quality of life, security, ambitions, health, wealth, etc etc. The second question then links ‘what you care about’ to a real, tangible future that you want to make happen. The question is ‘What do you want to lead for?’ That is, what do you want to take action on, make happen, help create or build in the Future? Do not write anything down you feel you ‘should’ lead for. Only write down what you ‘want’ to lead for. And thirdly, a crucial part of your Future is ‘What Sort of Person and Leader do you Want to be?’ You can gain enormous strength in difficult times by having a picture in your head of you at your best, being the person you want to be. Spend a few minutes writing that down. It’ll be something to inspire you and return to when times are tough. The aim of answering these questions is to help you be clearer than ever about what you want to be ‘up to’ as a leader in your life.

A few years ago, when John Harper became UK Managing Director of Hasbro, one of the two global toy companies, things were in pretty bad shape. The four UK businesses were losing money, morale and confidence. They were at an all time low, and customer service was non-existent. John had become a big fan of Future Engage - Deliver earlier in his career and he knew that this was the time to be bold in his leadership and speak loudly about a new Future. To get started, John closed the companies for a day and brought everyone together. His brief to me was clear. He wanted his teams to explore two big questions:

1 WHAT IS THE FUTURE WE WANT, AND HOW GREAT CAN WE BE? 2 HOW DO WE BUILD OUR RELATIONSHIPS, INTERNALLY AND WITH CUSTOMERS, SO WE CAN DELIVER THE FUTURE TOGETHER AS A TEAM? We had a truly transformational day. People spoke the truth about how things had been and how they felt, and then went on to coinvent the future they wanted. From that day on, it was John’s leadership and the leadership he sparked in others that turned the company around. He’s now running a great Hasbro business across Europe and said: “Re-energising the UK business was such a rewarding time. We transformed customer service levels, profitability and morale. It’s simple really. Imagine and communicate a great Future as the first step towards liberating the people.”

46 Years of Life improvements How BritisH life’s got Better since 1966 – and How we’ve done our Bit. In austere times, we sometimes forget to celebrate how far we’ve come. How much living standards have been raised in Britain since our parents used to push the old beige Allegro to Clacton for the annual rain, sea and sand-in-your-sandwiches holiday. We’ve got so used to luxuries like warm, draughtfree houses and shopping in our pyjamas that we don’t realise what a great nation we still are. And life will still get better from here, if we at Anglian have anything to do with it. You see, we’ve always had a rather British thing for constantly working to raise standards. when we started helping people improve their homes in 1966, the country was recovering from 1950s rationing – a far tougher breed of austerity than the current one. it was the year that action Man was launched – until then, boys were more than happy to play with bits that fell off trees once a year.

the average wage was £14.10, and the average desktop computer cost about £67,000. But in a few years, as life became more colourful, more homes got a colour tv, and even a car. the kind of car you could fix with a pair of tights when it broke down. What? no CurrY? By 1971 – about the same time we launched our patio doors – 64% of homes owned washing machines and 69% had a fridge, but you still had to record the top 40 on a cassette, which chewed up next time you played it. and although the only takeaway you could get was fish and chips, teatime was revolutionised by microwave ovens at about the same time that we launched garage doors and white-finish window frames. of course, Britain still had a long way to go. shops still closed on sundays. and wednesday afternoons. and at lunchtimes. and any other time they fancied. You wonder how we ever managed to buy anything before tim Berners-lee invented the internet and brought the shops to us? a briCk in Your poCket come the 1980s, more of us started getting mobile phones – until then, your mum sent you off to school with pockets full of 2p pieces. and almost

everyone had that poster of a tennis player showing her bum. Meanwhile, at anglian, we quietly started making our own frames, so that we could control the quality right the way through the process, whilst making the very highest standards more affordable to all. By the time iPods, broadband and digital tv had killed any remaining desire or need for families to talk to each other, we’d also started making homes more roomy by building extra rooms in the form of conservatories, designed a spacer bar whose every last part could be recycled – and even introduced a revolutionary scrappage scheme to encourage everyone to be more responsible and upgrade to energy-efficient homes. a JubiLee CeLebration and last year, as the cost of heating became even more important to British homes, we invented a-rated windows made with glass that – instead of letting heat out – actually uses the sun’s energy to help heat your home. so now that we’ve raised the standard of glass to a new level, we’d like to raise a glass to all of you, who have helped to shape this great nation of ours, and especially to Her Majesty in one of her most special years yet. britons everywhere – we raise our standard in your honour.

BritisH Built windows, doors, conservatories, or angeries, ver andaHs, drivewaYs, rooftriM and gar age conversions.

If you’d like to know more about how Anglian can improve life for you, call 0800 500 600

www.anglianhome.co.uk

BUSINESS PROFILE

NATURAL BORN LEADER When Rob Cotton joined global information assurance firm NCC Group, he threw away the rulebook and binned the red tape. We find out how his radical leadership style has paid dividends. WORDS: ALICE HOEY

BUSINESS PROFILE

Under the watchful eye of CEO Rob Cotton, NCC Group - which provides information security, escrow and other services to 15,000 organisations worldwide - has seen its turnover jump from £11.8m in 2003 to £88m today. Soon after taking the post of chief executive in 2003, he led the Group through a management buy-out and four years later, steered it through a move to the London Stock Exchange's main market. The company now provides information security services for over 90 per cent of the FTSE 100. But it isn't his big business decisions – at least, not alone – that should be credited with NCC's impressive rise. Cotton's leadership style and commitment to creating a culture of creativity has seen radical change within the firm. He got his first breaks as a manager as a chartered accountant in various large organisations before moving into business. There, he soon discovered his talent for taking small things and making them grow, and his dislike of “starched, conformist organisational structures.” He recalled: “A number of years ago, I was involved in commercialising a government organisation and it was fascinating how regimented the processes and procedures in place were. On one of my first days in the job, I was given the task of arranging for teas and coffees to be delivered to a meeting room I had booked. It took something like seven signatures to get it done. “I don't think business should be locked down. It should be free-flowing, with leaders encouraging team-players to show creativity rather than being wrapped up in red tape.”

PLOTTING A NEW COURSE When Cotton joined NCC group, he was keen to implement the kind of nonconformist model in which he had always thrived. In fact, it was one of the main draws of the job. “When I came to NCC, everything was locked down and nobody was

empowered to do anything,” he says. “Perish the thought that someone might come up with a creative thought of their own. What really appealed to me was the idea that I could strip away all of that and create something new.” He joined as the Group's finance director, which enabled him to control and restrict inappropriate decisions during what was a difficult time for the company. But he was also made managing director of one of the key business areas. There, he relished the challenge of taking it in a radical new direction. “We pretty much flew the flag of independence, because I decided that we'd look at things a very different way,” said Cotton. “I brought everyone on board to a common philosophy and a can-do attitude and got everyone motivated. I wanted people to have an entrepreneurial spirit, to get on and do things, have ideas and use their creativity.” Understandably, the changes met with some resistance. In fact, Cotton had to replace most of the management team. “It was the people coming up beneath me that were most receptive,” he said. “They could see that I was prepared to act on my words and that their ideas and opinions would be given a chance.” The impact was marked. “It was like a genie coming out of a bottle,” he added.

When I came to NCC, everything was locked down and nobody was empowered to do anything - perish the thought that someone might come up with a creative thought of their own. What really appealed to me was the idea OVER TO YOU that I could strip Part of the challenge for the new chief executive was creating a culture of change away all of that and and fluidity, where people are not afraid to make mistakes. “Mistakes are the best way create something to learn,” he said. “Go to any big corporate that's been around for years and people are new” rigid with the fear of making a mistake. They sit tight in the hope that when they have worked there for a number of years they'll be promoted. And they hope that if they make a mistake, they can move on before they get the blame. Blame shouldn't come into it; the focus should just be why that set of events didn't work out.” Cotton believes it's also important to ›

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BUSINESS PROFILE

empower people and encourage them to become leaders themselves, however resistant they might be to the idea. “You may have to force some people to do it and be a little dictatorial,” he said. “You have to show them how to do it, then say 'now it's your turn'.” Of course, while most people can train to be a good manager, not everyone is destined to be a great leader. “Managing and leading are completely different things,” he added. “You can read books and go on a course to manage well, but you can't train someone to be a leader, just like you can't train them to be an entrepreneur.” While some people will have a latent talent that you can harness, others will never be very good at it. But, adds Cotton, you should never stop people from trying. “It's important to give them a safe environment in which to either develop or discover that it's not for them.” It's something Cotton tries to do at NCC. “It starts early, because we believe if you're good enough, you're old enough. For example, we have a 22-year-old sales manager who is responsible for running a large chunk of the organisation. He makes mistakes, of course, but in terms of driving the team and making decisions, it's clear he is a natural leader.” Looking back at his only leadership journey, Cotton says an important step was becoming comfortable with his own style and personality. “Many people make the same mistake when they are starting out in a new role. They try to copy the style or approach of someone they admire.” It doesn't work, he says. “You have to be yourself and be open with the people you work with. Then they know what they're dealing with.”

Managing and leading are completely different things - you can read books and go on a course to manage well, but you can't train someone to be a leader, just like you can't train them to be an entrepreneur” ROB COTTON, CEO OF NCC GROUP

THE MOST COVETED ADDRESS IN GOLF

hamilton grand With an unparalleled location set by the 18th Green and fairway of the world’s most famous Golf Course, Hamilton Grand is being sensitively restored with an “Art Deco” interior. Offering a truly exhilarating and uniquely Scottish experience. This is a unique real estate opportunity for those who want to own a home in the birthplace of golf and in a premier destination that is rich in history. To discuss the opportunity to buy an apartment at Hamilton Grand, please contact – Helen Parker: Helen.parker@oldcoursehotel.co.uk +44 (0) 7825746988 HamiltonGrand.co.uk

This is not an offer directed to residents of any state in which registration is required, but in which registration and/or licensing requirements have not yet been met. California residents please refer to the Hamilton Grand website (HamiltonGrand.co.uk/legal) for further disclaimer. This advertising material is being used for the purpose of soliciting sales of vacation membership timeshare interests.

BUSINESS

All roads lead to... St George's Park With the paint barely dry on the fabulous facilities at the new National Football Centre, we’ve put together an essential guide for your trip to Staffordshire. From where to stay and where to eat, to what to do if you have a few spare hours, we’ve got it all covered…

DOUBLE COMFORT Hilton Hotel & Hampton by Hilton Hotel, St George’s Park

You needn’t be envious of Steven Gerrard and the rest of the England team – now you can emulate them. With twin Hilton Hotels operating from the same prestigious site, an array of amenities satisfies the every need of an overnight visitor to St George’s Park. But for businesses looking to hold a corporate gathering with a difference, it’s also worth noting that the venue has developed two unique ‘football experiences’. The idea is to combine business with pleasure, first utilising the complex’s firstclass business facilities that feature a 90-seat lecture theatre, 19 flexible meeting rooms

and connectivity centre then lacing up your boots for a kick-about in the adjoining National Football Centre, giving you the chance to show off your Cruyff turn in stunning surroundings. Both the England Experience and the St George’s Park Football Experience packages include use of England’s elite changing rooms and a two-hour football activity session with a licensed FA coach. There is also the chance to bask in the limelight while sitting for your team photographs before taking a full tour of St George’s Park. With the England Experience participants will feel even more patriotic

when they receive a full, personalised England kit. “It’s essentially transforming a golf day into a football one, adding that extra ‘wow’ factor,” said Greg Crawford, General Manager of Hilton and Hampton by Hilton Hotels. The stunning hotel complex features a health club and spa with indoor swimming pool and a stylish restaurant with a menu that features local produce. Newborough Road, Needwood, Burton on Trent DE13 9PD. stgeorgespark.events@hilton.com. Hilton: 01283 240444 Hampton by Hilton: 01283 244888

SHOWING SOME RESPECT National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas It’s tough in the management game, but this tribute to those who have fallen serving their country offers a place to pause for reflection. The arboretum was created in 1997 and already contains 50,000 trees across 150 acres. Admission is free, although parking charges apply. Opening: Every day (9am to 5pm). Croxall Road, Alrewas, Staffordshire, DE13 7AR. info@thenma.org.uk. 01283 792 333.

GROUND SPOTTING

From St George’s Park, there are five Barclays Premier League and npower Football League clubs within an easy drive:

Burton Albion Derby County Stoke City Walsall Port Vale

6 miles 21 miles 26 miles 26 miles 32 miles

BUSINESS

All roads lead to... St George's Park

A CHANGE OF PACE The Middle Bell, Barton under Needwood Just five miles from St George’s Park can be found this rustic, traditional village pub that is warm and comfortable, yet busy and vibrant, for diners and drinkers alike. Two contrasting restaurants offer a wide selection of food that is fresh, cooked to order and of the highest quality. The Middle Bell restaurant serves up à la carte cuisine with everything from the bread to the cheese and biscuits made on-site. The dining in the Di Mezzo Italian Pizzeria Restaurant is slightly less formal, yet the food still of the highest order with a wide selection of pasta, as well as pizzas cooked in an authentic stone-based oven. The bar, complete with cosy log fire, generates a friendly atmosphere where there is an excellent choice of quality cask ales, premium lagers, fine wines and champagnes. “Our team will go that extra distance to make your visit a special one,” said manager Adam Cottrill. “The pub has been furbished to the highest ‘spec’, we source our produce locally and we don’t cut any corners in striving for excellence.” Opening: Every day (12 noon to 11.30pm). 33 Main Street, Barton under Needwood, near Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, DE13 8AA. themiddlebell@btconnect.com. 01283 716979

IN THE DRIVING SEAT

WALSALL'S MODERN MASTERPIECE The New Art Gallery, Walsall Where else could you find a lift that features the voice of Slade’s Noddy Holder? This haven of historic, modern and contemporary art attempts to innovative and challenge, welcoming visitors from all over the globe. The gallery building itself, with 100ft tower, is a talking point, being designed by architects Peter St John and Adam Caruso

following an open international competition. Inside, the exhibitions are ever-changing, including a programme of contemporary visual arts. The diversity strives to reflect the multicultural communities in which we live. Opening: Tues to Sat (10am to 5pm). Gallery Square, Walsall WS2 8LG. info@ thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk. 01922 654400.

CRAIG HOLMES/THE NEW ART GALLERY WALSALL

The Belmont Driving Range & Needwood Golf Club Iron out any problems with the swing and take some time to relax, whether it’s a round or just practice you’re seeking. The Belmont Driving range has celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, offering 16 under-cover floodlit bays, while the neighbouring Needwood Golf Club was established in 2004 offers a testing par 34 course which boasts holes of par three, four and five. Both range and course are open seven days a week from 9am, but an earlier start can be arranged by calling beforehand. Handily, there is no need to book a spot at either facility, meaning it’s ideal for those who can’t make plans until the last minute. The nine-hole format of the course is perfect for those short on time, though players can happily play 18 holes if they wish. “I think the biggest pull of the course and driving range is accessibility in terms of location, opening hours and the fact it is welcoming to all,” said club secretary Helen Ellerton. A golf pro is on site for those requiring lessons and on-site parking is free. Opening: Every day (9.30am to late). Belmont Road, Needwood, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, DE13 9PH. belmontpro@belmontgolf.co.uk. 01283 814381.

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PSYCHOLOGY

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WHERE'S YOUR HEAD AT? If you want to be at the top of the game in any walk of life, being mentally strong is essential. The Manager seeks some expert advice to glean five key points that can help make those demanding situations that much easier to deal with. In sport and business, careers are defined by how people handle the high-pressure moments. The strange thing is, no matter how much you learn in the cool, rational world of books and lectures, the real test comes in the heat of battle, often when you are least expecting it. Pressure brings the ultimate test of character, not just skill. With throw away lines like ‘Mentally Tough’ and ‘Choker’, commentators labels suggest a final verdict, but if we can’t clearly define these terms then we remain vulnerable to the sinking sand of stress or the instant snap of emotion. During Jeremy

Snape’s 19-year career as a professional and England ODI cricketer, he had firsthand experience of each extreme, calmly hitting the winning runs in a T20 final and choking in front of a 120,000-strong crowd in Calcutta. The mental game is the hardest of all to master and his second career is focussed on helping sports and business leaders to deliver better results under pressure. “The fact is that even though we may think we are pretty modern with our shiny new iPads and technological innovations, our brains still use the jungle operating systems,” explained Snape. “Our distant ancestors prized the preservation of their energy in order to survive random life threatening attacks from sabre toothed tigers. Rather than life or death, the modern workplace threatens our self-esteem with expectation and transparency activating our primitive fight and flight response.” “The threats of the modern workplace don’t go away so we constantly have adrenalin and cortisol coursing through our body. Not only can this lead to burnout if prolonged but means that we are using the wrong part of our brain - the primitive amygdala.” In learning the practical skills for mental toughness, Snape has moved beyond the research papers to delve into the minds of the people who consistently deliver their best game under pressure. After a golden summer of sport, his Sporting Edge team interviewed our Olympic stars and their coaches to see what they do to stay mentally tough.

1 TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN PERFORMANCE

You can’t be mentally tough if, internally you are making excuses and are not accepting accountability for what you do. Mental toughness is doing the right thing at the right time in the right way. Forecast potential speed bumps as ‘what if ’ scenarios to ensure you are ready to respond calmly, not just react. Britain’s Olympic 10,000 and 5,000m champion Mo Farah stated that only when he chose to “live like a Kenyan” did he really begin to deliver his best performances.

2 GET IN CONTROL

When under pressure, we get emotional and worry about what other people think, the consequences of performing badly and catastrophise. Mentally tough people set a goal, break it down into daily chunks and focus on the simple building blocks, without constantly worrying about what happens. Staying rational in our thinking and communication is a key element of mental toughness. British cycling director Dave Brailsford, whose team won eight gold medals this summer says; “One of the key things the riders work on is understanding when they are prone to getting emotionally hijacked and making poor decisions.”

3 HAVE CONFIDENCE

This is the holy grail of performance and at times of high stress it can often feel like it has vanished. Look back at all the deposits of past success in your confidence bank account

PSYCHOLOGY

and realise that your current challenge is just the latest step in finding out how good you can be. By focussing on flawless execution of our preparation you can feel confident to give your best shot. Learning is the key. Everyone started as a novice, so embrace failure and fast-track your learning.

MALKY MACKAY, CARDIFF CITY’S HIGHLY-RATED BOSS, MEASURES HIMSELF AGAINST OUR FIVE ‘KEY PILLARS’

COMMITMENT IS KEY

Former Olympic gold medallist and chairman of LOCOG 2012, Lord Sebastian Coe, said that the special athletes who ultimately achieve are those who are able to: “unremittingly grind out the daily process.” Their passion for the longterm dream outshines the short-term temptation to take shortcuts. Motivation fluctuates daily, but those who put in the work get the results in the end.

5 SWITCH ON & CONCENTRATE

We are constantly being distracted by information, opinions, tweets, news and emails. Champions ensure that their precious time is focussed around their highest priority. Four-time Olympic rowing champion Matthew Pinsent states: “We asked ourselves three times a day, if it’s not making the boat go faster why are we wasting our time on it?” Work out your key performance drivers and insulate yourself from distractions. Turning off your email notification can work wonders, go to your inbox when you want to rather than being intrigued by the Pavlovian ping of mail. When we worry about negative things in our past or future, we lose control of the task in hand. “Ultimately, mental toughness is about trusting what you are capable of and giving your best,” added Snape. “We can’t always win, but we can deserve to win by the way we prepare.” In a world which craves celebrity, wealth and winning – it’s those who calmly and methodically tick off their gold medal days who end up standing on the podium.

FORMER ENGLAND SPINNER JEREMY SNAPE IS MANAGING DIRECTOR OF SPORTING EDGE, WHO DELIVER THE WINNING MINDSET, FROM SPORT TO BUSINESS. SPORTING EDGE'S CLIENTS IN SPORT AND BUSINESS HAVE INCLUDED: WORLD NO.1 CRICKET TEAM SOUTH AFRICA, AUSTRALIAN BOWLER SHANE WARNE, SEVERAL BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE CLUBS, BT, BMW AND THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND. THEY ALSO PROVIDE CONFIDENTIAL PERFORMANCE SUPPORT FOR LMA MANAGERS EMAIL JEREMY@THESPORTINGEDGE.CO.UK OR FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER @THESPORTINGEDGE

Taking responsibility for your own performance: It’s something you always have to look at in your dealings with both your staff and players. I always do my own de-brief on how I’ve performed on a Saturday before, during and after the game. Did I say the right things at half-time and get my points across clearly? Was I right to settle for making two or three succinct comments after the game or should I have had a full-scale debate? It’s crucial to keep analysing your own performance and I’ve worked with a sports psychologist in Scotland for 15 years as a player and for the past three years as a manager to help me improve mine. Always being in control: You are subjected to a lot of pressures on matchday - the crowd, refereeing decisions and how you react to the opposition bench - so a level of calmness is essential. I try to never go too high, nor too low, especially when I’m dealing with the media. I like to collect my thoughts before going to the press conference and decide what two or three points I really want to make. It’s so easy to get carried away in the heat of the moment. Making decisions with confidence: I think if you are the leader, you have to stick to your beliefs. You are responsible for the welfare of the group and if you duck out of making decisions - especially the big ones - it can only lead to mediocrity. Of course you have to upset people at times but you have to believe what you are doing is right.

Commitment is key: Without a doubt. You have to be passionate about your job if you want to succeed. We have a sign on our dressing room wall at Cardiff that contains a number of key words and determination and commitment are right at the top. Commitment in our business means working seven days a week - including Christmas Day and New Year’s Day - and giving it your ‘all’ at all times. If you are not prepared to do that, you’re in the wrong job. Switching on and maintaining concentration: It’s paramount - not just through every second of the game but throughout the whole season. You need to do it with consistency. It’s important to keep looking at the goals you have set for yourself and constantly question whether you are matching up to them. It’s about giving yourself the best chance possible to be successful.

DEVELOPING SKILLS OVERSEAS

A TALE OF TWO CITIES Testing your skills overseas can be both challenging, and rewarding. From Italy's stylecapital to Europe's most dynamic city - via the world's culinary epicentre - the Manager learns from two people who have defined their careers following bold moves abroad... WORDS: JON CULLEY

Apart perhaps from a taste for fine dining or an appreciation of a good quality Bordeaux, today's football manager might not think he has much in common with the chef at his favourite swanky restaurant, particularly if the culinary artist creating masterpieces on a plate happens also to be French. He might, then, be surprised to learn that many of the skills acquired by award-winning chef Olivier Limousin since he moved from Paris to London in 2006 have parallels with the career benefits a football manager can gain by taking his talents overseas. Limousin, who heads a team of diverse and vibrant talents at the two Michelinstarred L'Atelier de Joël Rubuchon in London's Covent Garden, ventured to these shores "initially to improve my English and experience the different culture." "But after six years," he says, "I am still discovering. I was a true traditionalist in my working and management style. Working in a city as multi-cultural as London feeds my curiosity, challenges me to be a better leader and to be more rounded in how to deal with different situations." And, according to recruitment expert Dean Ball, the UK regional managing director for Michael Page International, a taste of working overseas, whether it involves trying to get the best out of a souschef or a central midfielder, brings benefits that transcend all professions. "Whether you are in a business

environment or on a sports field, leadership is all about getting the best out of people, through understanding what motivates them, what challenges them," he said. "By working in a different culture, you open your mind to doing things differently. You learn that people in different cultures have different expectations and what drives and motivates them is not necessarily the same. "From my own experience, moving overseas made me significantly more aware of how different factors influence different people. Before that I had a one-dimensional view based on what would get the best from British employees in the UK. "But when you have a Spanish guy whose Latin culture is totally different to the German alongside him, who again is different to his colleague who is French, and you have to pull them all together, that is where understanding the cultural factors that affect different individuals is really important." Olivier Limousin, his love of food inspired by his grandmother's cooking, left home at 18 and worked his way to the top of the Paris culinary scene, eventually becoming assistant to the renowned Rubuchon, who handpicked Limousin to open his London outpost. "I was young and very excited with the opportunity," he said. "The prospect of heading and nurturing a team of my own was like a dream.

Carlo Ancelotti and Ray Wilkins assess team matters in the Chelsea dugout - but in which language? Hgihly-rated French chef Olivier Limousin at work in the kitchen

"But we are human and coming out of our comfort zone is a huge challenge. Starting life in London was a sharp learning curve to say the least, having to adapt to the preferences of the clientele in London and building the team to support me. "London is unique with so many different influences in cuisine that you can almost taste the world in one city. In Paris, French cuisine remains the main stream so you are not exposed to the diversity of different nationalities and their cuisine like you are in London." There are echoes of what Limousin encountered in how former England international Ray Wilkins remembers his experience of leaving Manchester United to join AC Milan as a player in 1984. "My wife Jackie and I already loved Italian food and Italian clothes but it is not the same as living and working there so you do go with a certain amount of trepidation," he said. "We tried to live as the local people did - and I think that's important for players coming to England too. Even things like shopping for food were difficult at the start ›

DEVELOPING SKILLS OVERSEAS

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DEVELOPING SKILLS OVERSEAS

but we wanted to be as Italian as we could be and stand on our own two feet. If you can do that it helps you develop as a person. "The language is a problem, of course. I had a few lessons from a lady who tried to teach me properly but I needed to converse with the other players in football-speak. Other words I learned from watching cartoons on television, which always use the most simple language. I did my first interview on TV after about six months." According to Dean Ball, Wilkins was quite right to identify 'football-speak' as key to communicating effectively, and says the same applies for managers. "It is not just about learning the language but learning the nuances of the language," Ball said. "Motivational speaking is often about inflection and use of the right vocabulary to elicit the right response. Language is one thing but use of the language is very important. "A lot of people in sport speak English but a lot of the phrases we use to motivate people are colloquial ones that don't resonate with other nationalities. You can learn a language from a textbook but what really helps is to learn the words that carry sentiment and feeling." As Chelsea's coach and assistant manager over a number of years, working with managers of different nationalities in multicultural dressing rooms, Ray Wilkins has seen the benefits managers such as Gianluca Vialli, Luis Felipe Scolari and Carlo Ancelotti drew from working at Stamford Bridge. He can also appreciate how Roy Hodgson, the England manager, has become a considerably more rounded leader during a career that has seen him manage in eight countries. "I think working abroad must have helped Roy immensely and I'm sure he would say

that himself," Wilkins said. "He embraced Scandinavia and had two stints at Inter-Milan and you don't get that if you are not a very good coach. "The Swedes are different to the Brits, the Finns are different to the Brits, the Italians are different to the Brits. He will have known what our lads are all about but he knows too what players from other parts of the world are about. "When you are preparing to face an Italian side, for example, and you know the way they think about their football and the culture they come from, it can only assist you in doing a successful job."

TAKING THE PLUNGE Key factors to making the most of an opportunity abroad... • Learning the language is obviously critical, but it is not just about knowing the words - learning how to use the language is just as important when it comes to the work place. • Understanding the culture: the cultural

nuances from one country to another should not be underestimated. Once you understand their culture, it is much easier to communicate with people accurately. • Keep an open mind: by listening to and watching differing approaches to solving problems you cannot fail to enhance your leadership skills.

The Italian Job: Gianlucca Vialli and Ray Wilkins made a good team at Watford; AC Milan's English imports Ray Wilkins and Mark Hateley in Serie A action.

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

THE

WINDOW OF UNCERTAINTY The Castrol EDGE Rankings are a 12-month rolling rankings system, objectively analysing and ranking player performance across Europe's top five leagues. Here, Danny Finkelstein looks at player and team data to assess the impact of summer spending on football clubs.

The transfer window is lucrative and great fun for football agents, great fun for journalists and perhaps less fun for clubs and managers. But the question is... does it all make any difference? The place to start, oddly enough, is with injuries. It is possible, using computer modelling, to forecast the Football League, or at least, to provide probabilities of different outcomes. And when you do that you need to know about goals and shots on goal and the best way of weighting different outcomes. If you know the size of the wage bill, you will also find that pretty eloquent. But injuries? Not so much. Let’s say a key player fails to be fit for the FA Cup Final. Using the sort of data work that makes the Castrol EDGE Rankings possible, you can assess how important that player is. Often the fan’s view and the story told by the data is different. But even when the supporters get it right, what the fans have almost certainly failed to take proper account of is that the player will be replaced. And over a single game the difference between the injured player and their replacement is often negligible. Season after season we look for the impact of players departing for the African championship and find it to be very small, even when the players are very impressive ones. It is not to argue that individuals are not important, just to argue that in most cases, at least, it is easy to overstate their importance, particularly over small numbers of matches. The point of starting with injuries is that the same principle applies to transfers. Of course, across a season individuals can make a difference but not one that we find

Making an impact: Chelsea's summer signing Eden Hazard and Manchester United's Robin van Persie, who made an explosive start to his Old Trafford career

worth integrating in the model. In other words, if you try to use the player ranking work we do to help make predictions about match outcomes you end up making the predictions worse, or certainly no better. The difference made, then, by swapping a few players going out with some roughly

similar players going in is not very great. But, obviously, more goes on in the transfer window than that. It is hard for outsiders to be sure what is really happening in the market for players because there is little transparency. But it is obvious that some clubs are spending a lot of money and increasing their wage bills and others are doing the opposite. Do these big movements make a difference? The short - and I’m afraid obvious – answer is yes. The relationship between the wage bill and points is strong and clear. And pretty much immediate. A common footballing theory is that both new players and restructured teams take time to gel. And foreign players moving leagues take time to adjust, coming good - if they’re going to - only after a long period of resettling. It is relatively easy to test such theories. For instance, look at a player’s performances in the three months before their transfer and in the three months after it. Is there a significant difference? What about over a season? And is there a difference between foreign players settling in and ones moving from one English club to another? The results of such tests are robust and repeatable - there isn’t a settling in period. Players may vary a little from one period to the next but the change is not statistically significant.

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

There have been seasons when the incoming players performed worse than before their transfers and seasons when the opposite was the case, but any student of stats would expect such minor ups and downs as the results of random variation. No one should build a theory upon them. But if this is right, why do clubs who suddenly have a significant injection of cash take time to achieve success once the money comes in? Shouldn’t it be instant? Two points are worth making in response to that. The first is that although there is a strong and positive relationship between the wage bill and points it isn’t consistent in strength. At the bottom of the table money buys points not only instantly but in abundance. At the top, things are different. As all the clubs are already fielding brilliant and

expensive players, it is hard to improve on them much. It takes huge amounts of money to add relatively few points. Our modelling work showed that it would take big-spenders some time to get to the top because once they had reached the top four, the amount required to boost them further was so large. That links to the second point. Clubs may wish to spend money yet not be able to do so. Some find at the very last minute that they cannot bring in the players they wanted and others find that their targets won’t come. So does the transfer window make a difference? Yes, but only if there is big new money around and you can actually spend it. A lot of the time fans and managers are spending a great deal of time analysing facts that haven’t changed much.

The difference made by swapping a few players going out with some roughly similar players going in is not very great”

I WANT NO EPITAPHS OF PROFOUND HISTORY AND ALL THAT TYPE OF THING.

I CONTRIBUTED - I WOULD HOPE THEY WOULD SAY THAT No football managers hall of fame would be complete without Brian Clough. Undoubtedly one of the game’s most colourful characters, his fearless approach to management often brought him into conflict with his bosses and authority. But even those on the receiving end of one of his cutting blasts will tell you it was impossible not to admire the man - and his achievements. HALL OF FAME IN ASSOCIATION WITH WORDS TERRY BOWLES

To say that Brian Clough was different doesn’t tell the half of it. Unconventional should have been his middle name but he is right up there with the all-time greats - one of only three managers to win the League Championship with two different clubs. Herbert Chapman did it with Huddersfield Town and Arsenal, Kenny Dalglish with Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers. As for Clough, he earned enormous respect from his peers by achieving it on limited budgets with two ‘small-time’ Midlands clubs with no previous history of success in Derby County and Nottingham Forest, who he also led to two European Cup triumphs. Clough, who died in 2004, was a complex character in many respects. A

master at ‘working’ the media, he was brash and outspoken, sometimes even cruel with those he felt deserved it. But he never lost touch with his working class roots and was always ready to support the downtrodden. Astonishingly eloquent and aware - he never missed a trick - you never quite knew what would come next. Stories about Clough and his antics are legendary and the majority have been told many times over. But when you look beyond the bravado - and the charm - what was it that made him tick? What gave him that extra edge that enabled him to do what so many other managers have tried, and failed, to achieve? At Derby, Clough signed Dave Mackay from Tottenham when he was 34 to be his

Clough and Peter Taylor celebrate the 1979 European Cup win in Munich; as popular as ever when he returned to the City Ground

experienced leader, converting him from a midfielder into a defender, and getting three highly-successful years out of him. At Forest, he signed the 32-year-old Frank Clark when many thought he was approaching the twilight of his career - and turned him into a European champion. “It’s a bit ‘strong’ to compare me with Dave Mackay because he was a great player,” said Clark. “But Brian needed a left-back and felt I was capable of doing a job for him - and I had four wonderful

years as a player with Forest. “It came as a total shock to me when I was suddenly given a free transfer by Newcastle United and although everyone said I’d have no problems getting another club, the only offers I had were from Hartlepool and Doncaster. But then Brian rang me. I met him in a hotel at Scotch Corner, and I was on my way. “I’d been the club captain at Newcastle, where there were all sorts of issues, and without realising it at the time I’d probably

become a nuisance to them. Brian said that although he wasn’t going to make me captain because John McGovern did that job, he wanted me to use my experience on and off the pitch. That suited me fine because I was keen to do well and it meant that I only had to worry about myself. ” Forest were in the old Second Division at that time and although they had plenty of raw material with the likes of Viv Anderson, Martin O’Neill, John Robertson, Ian Bowyer and Tony Woodcock already at ›

HALL OF FAME

the club, success seemed a long way off. But after winning promotion, they stormed to the League Championship the following year, then won and retained the European Cup and also appeared in three consecutive League Cup Finals along the way. Added Clark: “Possibly the key thing that happened was when Brian brought Peter Taylor in to work with him again. Although Brian was very much the boss, there’s no doubt in my mind that he was a better manager with Peter alongside him. There was no big secret to their partnership. Peter’s strength was as a talent spotter and we made some terrific signings. “The two of them never used to get involved in training. When I first went there, Brian was still fit enough to figure in the occasional five-a-side but they spent most of their time sitting together in the office scheming. They never stopped working and were always plotting and planning how to get one over the opposition and how to strengthen the team. “You never knew what to expect from them in team meetings. They worked the ‘Good Cop, Bad Cop’ routine brilliantly and I’m convinced that they had it all sorted out in advance before they went to work on one of the players. “People don’t believe it but we very rarely talked about football in team meetings. Just as he did at Derby, Brian had a way of playing that he was comfortable with and got people to fit into that system. It wasn’t particularly sophisticated but everyone was expected to have a thorough understanding of their role - and woe betide you if you didn’t do your job on the Saturday afternoon. “We’d never change our style. The only time I can ever remember that happening was when we went to Liverpool in the second leg of the European Cup and Brian decided to use Archie Gemmill wide on the right, to deal with the runs of Ray Kennedy. Other than that, we just kept doing what we knew best and if things were not going well, he would expect you to work harder to make it happen. “It was wonderful for me, especially coming in the twilight of my career, and I count myself so fortunate to have been able to see Cloughie at work at close quarters. His man-management was a different class. It was about bringing together a group of players and getting the absolute best out of them - and he was brilliant at doing that. “People often ask me about his weaknesses but in his prime, I just don’t

think he had any. He had an unshakeable belief that he was right about everything and although there may have been times when he was actually wrong, I cannot think of a single example of that.” Clarke was destined to succeed Clough as Forest manager in 1993 - on the recommendation of his former boss - and led them to promotion during a successful three-year spell before moving to take charge of Manchester City. He added: “It was a daunting task to step into Brian's shoes. The players still had the good habits and the strong discipline that you always associated with Cloughie’s players but there was an air of depression around the City Ground. They’d just been relegated and people were understandably saying: ‘The legend has gone - what’s going to happen now?’ “What Brian did, though, that really helped me was to leave behind a culture of respect for the manager’s position within the club. I sensed very early on that that the people all around the place had respect for the position. That had to be a legacy of him. He created a wonderful football club, from top to bottom.”

A European champion once again; and the one that got away... alongside Terry Venables' Tottenham Hotspur before the 1991 FA Cup Final defeat Right: Cloughie immortalised in bronze in Nottingham city centre; with Peter Taylor outside Derby County's Pride Park stadium

HALL OF FAME

People often ask me about Brian Clough’s weaknesses but in his prime, I just don’t think he had any”

FRANK CLARK

DNC

MASS APPEAL The flock of fans and corporate guests to Wembley Stadium for big-name events is unrelenting and year-round. Delaware North Companies have the mammoth task of satisfying the appetite and quenching the thirst of those visitors. Here’s how...

Few sports stadia can match Wembley Stadium for being world-renowned and when the brand new venue opened its doors in 2007, the management turned to a company with their own significant global standing to deliver high-quality catering. Delaware North Companies has built up a strong portfolio that includes first-class service to more than 25 major-league sports teams in the United States, as well as tennis major The Australian Open, and they are now established as a leading player on these shores, working with the likes of Arsenal and Derby County to keep everyone from VIP guests to fans well fed and watered. It is a passion for excellence that has resonated through the business since their journey began nearly 100 years ago in 1915 when three brothers – Marvin, Charles and Louis Jacobs – established a modest popcorn and peanuts vending business in Buffalo, New York. Through hard work, dedication and innovative thinking, what started as a small venture has grown into one of the

world’s largest family-owned international corporations, with more than $2.6 billion in annual revenue. Under the leadership of chairman and chief executive officer Jeremy Jacobs, Delaware North has branched out to become a leading player in food service and catering, sports concessions, hospitality management, retail, sports facility ownership and management, and gaming venue and racetrack ownership and operation. The company’s 55,000 associates serve half a billion customers at 200 venues in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and here in the UK. Wembley Stadium, of course, is bestknown as a fabulous football venue, but it also hosts a spectacular number of other top-drawer events every year, ranging from major concerts to rugby league matches and Delaware North plays a key role in keeping a cross-section of visitors happy. “Our culinary offer changes with the demographics of the audience,” said Delaware North’s UK managing director, Simon

DNC

NEW YORK CITY

THE TASTES OF THE BIG APPLE

Dobson. “It is imperative that we offer diversity - the typical Take That fan looks at things pretty differently from your average football fan.” Last July, pop act Take That played under the world-famous arch for eight consecutive days, setting attendance records for a concert series at the venue – and keeping the Delaware North hospitality staff energised. The five-piece vocal pop group drew more than 600,000 people to the stadium during the concert series, surpassing attendance at Michael Jackson’s seven date tour in 1988. The company’s culinary team set up pink champagne bars specifically for the series of gigs, along with a specially created Champagne Terrace Bar. Pimms, not normally sold for football events, saw sales of over 150,000, highlighting the worth of a forward-thinking and flexible approach. Having the right team in place at Wembley has been paramount to ensuring a successful operation. Delaware North’s ›

Clockwise: Wembley Stadium in all its glory; inside Arsenal's Emirates Stadium; the culinary skills shown by DNC's chefs are a far cry from 'traditional' football fare

In the shadows of the New York City skyline sits MetLife Stadium, one of the world’s glitziest and most dynamic sporting venues. One day it’s illuminated with New York Jets green lighting, the next it glows with shades of royal blue for the New York Giants. Indeed, MetLife Stadium is the only National Football League venue that is home to two franchises. Regardless of colour scheme, this 82,000-seat, hustle-andbustle stadium bursts with modern amenities and leading the way on the food, beverage and retail front is Delaware North Companies’ Sportservice. The main themed stands – Brooklyn Burger, New York Delicatessen and Boardwalk Fryer – feature NYC specialties such as knishes, pepper-and-egg sandwiches, deli carved meats, Nathan’s famous hot dogs and crinkle fries. Other favorites include cheese steaks, BBQ sandwiches, Papa John’s pizza and last, but certainly not least, Nonna Fusco’s Italian Kitchen, a brand inspired by the recipe book of executive chef Eric Borgia’s grandmother. “We’ve expanded it to more pizzas, obviously some pasta

dishes and Italian-roast pork with hot peppers and provolone cheese,” said Borgia, whose offering has grown from last year’s predominantly meatball-oriented theme. “We have our meatball Parmesan, our sausage scallopini and other specialty pizzas. We have our pear and gorgonzola pie with candied walnuts and balsamic glaze on it. We have our Italian hot-dog pizza, which is a local favourite. Then we also have our spinach, artichoke and Alfredo sauce pie. There’s certainly plenty of choice. “This stadium is a monster, to say the least,” said Borgia, who has noted preparation is already under way for the stadium to host the Super Bowl in 2014 – the first ever to be played in the Big Apple. “I mean, we have a very talented crew and they work hard every day. The place is still growing, but we fight our way through it and we try to put out the best product we can. “We keep changing concepts for the fans and there’s always something new. We’ve got another burger-bar concept in the pipeline. We just try to give fans that New York, East Coast food they’re looking for.” Mission accomplished, chef.

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DNC

Top: the Commissioners Club at the MetLife Stadium in New York City has re-written the rule book for matchday hospitality

It is imperative that we offer diversity - the typical Take That fan looks at things pretty differently from your average football fan” SIMON DOBSON, UK MANAGING DIRECTOR

career development programme, CareerPath, focuses on giving people the right rewards while actively developing them within their roles and succession planning their future career. The development of these teams is fundamental to the quality of service delivery. Consistent, knowledgeable and friendly front-line staff are equally vital and is achieved through the implementation and on-going management of Delaware North’s proprietary programme, GuestPath. Integral to growing the family of businesses and synonymous with the organisation, each member of the team is trained to deliver the Guestpath promise of ‘creating special experiences one guest at a time.’ Another challenge for those staff came last October when the NFL International Series hit the capital and Delaware North client Chicago Bears took on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. More than 77,000 fans were treated to hot dogs, popcorn, burgers and beer. Suite guests were treated to Apple Jack cocktails made from apple juice and Jack Daniels. The long-term relationship at the home of England’s national football team has also allowed Delaware North to introduce a number of new concepts to members who enjoy the hospitality of ‘Club Wembley.’ A cosmopolitan range of other foods are now available, including Wok bars, El Mexicana, Tides, Taste of the Sea and Cuccina – an outlet serving fresh Italian pizzas. The onus is always there to evolve, but it’s all part of the service when the ambition is to be top of the league in catering.

STARTING A MICRO-BUSINESS

GOING IT ALONE Scarlet Ablett, daughter of former Liverpool and Everton player Gary Ablett is in the process of launching her new online microbusiness ‘So Ablett.’

"Prior to falling ill with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, out of the blue my dad came up with the idea to open an online fashion agency where the wives or girlfriends of football players and managers could donate unwanted good quality clothing and accessories to help raise money for charity. Since losing my dad, my family have thought long and hard about his online fashion business concept and have decided to make dad’s dream become a reality and keep his legacy alive. "Having studied Fashion and Design at college it was always his intention for me to run this business. I realise the importance of setting up a micro-business correctly and with the help and support of the LMA I have been taking essential micro-business advice from accountants Dyke Yaxley. I’ve had an amazing response to the business plan and have now expanded the concept to include donated items from a wider audience than the football world alone."

SETTING UP ON YOUR OWN CAN SEEM DAUNTING AT FIRST GLANCE. MARK BRAMALL, DIRECTOR OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS DYKE YAXLEY OUTLINES THREE KEY THINGS TO BEAR IN MIND WHEN GETTING A SMALL BUSINESS UP AND RUNNING... Choosing the legal entity of your business You can set up your business in different ways depending on your circumstances and need to make sure you have the right one for you. ‘Sole trader’ status typically sees one person running the business as the proprietor who then may also have employees. Potentially they are exposed to creditors as they have no protection from creditors. However, it’s a simple, costeffective way to start a business and is the simplest in terms of reporting to HMRC. A ‘partnership’ is similar but with two or more people running the business and sharing any profits. Both a partnership and sole trader are taxed on a self-employed basis. In both cases, however, you are not protected from the creditors and they potentially can ‘come after’ your personal assets if things go wrong. A ‘limited company’ does offer you protection from liability however you have to show your accounts publicly. The additional visibility can also be more reassuring to potential clients. There is, though, more regulation involved. The Company is taxed in its own right and separately to the individuals. A fourth option is a ‘limited liability partnership’ (LLP) that offers some protection from creditors, but is taxed on a self employed basis. Occasionally a combination of these structures are used to set up a suitable structure for business. The key is to understand your objectives and work from there. Notifying HMRC for tax purposes Whichever structure you choose you will need to register the business with H M Revenue & Customs. This is absolutely critical and if you don’t do this then your business can be subject to significant fines running into hundreds or thousands of pounds. A self employed individual must

inform HMRC and they will need to make Class II National Insurance contributions. For those employing others there will be the need to register for a PAYE scheme. Businesses that are going to make taxable supplies over £77,000 (currently) in a 12-month period will need to register for VAT. Establishing financial control It’s very important to know how to keep sound financial records – or enlist the help of someone who does. In the first instance at the very least, get a professional to show you how to keep day-to-day records. Choose the right bookkeeping system for you – whether that’s computerised or keeping them manually. HMRC often run free courses on how to keep your records, so get in touch with them to check when they are on in your area. Along with that, it’s essential before you start out you have a financial plan. It is important to understand how the business will be funded as well as monitoring your progress against your budget. Many businesses will need to prepare regular management accounts to monitor performance and manage the finances, essentially keeping track of cash flow. All businesses rely on cash flow and most new businesses fail in the early stages due to difficulties with cash flow rather than lack of business. Having a plan in place can ensure your business is adequately funded from the start. If you are starting in business it is always worth taking advice from professionals who will be able to point you in the right direction and usually save you money in the long run. • Dyke Yaxley offer expertise in a wide spectrum of accountancy and business services using a team of more than 70 staff who are specialists in their field. www.dykeyaxley.co.uk

• For further details on donating items to ‘So Ablett’ please email sue.mckellar@lmasecure.com

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POST MATCH INTERVIEW

OUR FINAL DESPATCH Kenneth Clarke PC, QC, MP has held three of the highest profile and most pressurised positions in Government. The former Secretary of State for Health, Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, takes our call... managers are fired far too readily in my opinion. Managers get the blame for bad luck and all sorts of things beyond their control and I actually think they are treated even more roughly than politicians.

Can you tell us where we find you right now? I'm in my office in the House of Commons, just settling in after a recent change of role. You’ve always been renowned as a lover of sport. I’ve always followed it - especially football and cricket and in more recent years I’ve also become a big fan of Formula One. For many years, when I’m available, I’ve watched Nottingham Forest and Notts County on alternate Saturdays and Trent Bridge has been a big part of my life. It was a delight for me to spend two years as Nottinghamshire’s President. Sport has been on the agenda like never before this summer. When I was a small boy sport was enormous because there was so little alternative entertainment. Every male, it seemed, spent their Saturday afternoons at a football match but over the years it’s become less important. The Olympics and Paralympics certainly raised the profile again. They attracted an enormous amount of media attention, which in a way took sport to a slightly more serious place, but it has been a fantastic summer. So did you get to attend any of the London 2012 events? No, I didn’t because I had the slightly more onerous task of representing the British Government in Jamaica where they were celebrating 50 years of independence. I spent time in Kingston, which was very pleasant, but I think the biggest celebrations were to do with the achievements of their sprinters back in London.

Have you ever talked to a football manager about their role? I’ve passed the time of day with several but the only time I can remember having a conversation on this subject was many years ago with a manager of Southampton, who had some interesting views about agents getting in the way of him having a proper relationship with his players. Can you teach yourself to be a decision-maker or is it instinctive? I don’t think you can teach yourself but you can get better at it with experience. The challenge is to get the right balance between jumping to instant conclusions and total indecision. The ability to make decisions can improve with experience but some never get to that point.

Have you ever thought: ‘I could be a football manager’? I would love to have been and there are times when we all think we could do the job better. But being a football manager is even more high-risk than when you are a leading politician. Even a pause in success can be fatal. How do you think the pressures compare between managing a football club and running a Government department? They are remarkably similar because you never have any security of tenure. Football

Do you still get a buzz from being at the sharp-end? Oh yes - definitely. During the Cabinet re-shuffle I thought I would be leaving because I had a deal with David Cameron that I would only carry on for two years. I was surprised to be given a new role but when I found myself back in the same Cabinet seat that I’d occupied two years earlier, it still gave me a buzz. What does the future hold for you? At some stage I will have to think about retirement but it doesn’t cross my mind too often. I’ll carry on all the while people think I can make a contribution... then I’ll watch even more sport.

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