SKQ SPORTS Issue 13

SPORTS ISSUE

Welcome to issue 13

THE POW ER O F SPORT

This month marks the start of our new look SKQ magazine – we hope you like it! Each edition will now have a theme that will help bring the articles together and give them a collective focus. This also marks the end of my time as editor as I have now passed the baton to Jenny Ellery at Grove Park Design, who pulled this issue together.

For our first specialised SKQ, we’re taking a look at sport, but not in the way that you might expect…

We’ve got a fantastic interview with former professional footballer, Paul Hart, who shares some great stories from his career and we catch up with Richard Gould, the new Head of the English and Wales Cricket Board, about the business side of the sporting world.

Laura Cordingley, CEO of the charity Chance to Shine that teaches cricket to help children grow and develop, gave up some of her time to tell us more about her role. We also speak to the creators of The Twel h Man photography project, that celebrates the diverse communities embracing grassroots sports in the capital. One of the images features on this issue’s cover.

Finally, we take a deep dive into the issue of bankruptcy amongst footballers and consider what we can learn from the problems that arise.

We hope you enjoy this new direction for SKQ and I wish you all well.

As always, the SK Team is here for you. Chloe

Outgoing Editor

chloe@skfinancial.net

We encourage you to share our magazine with those you think may find it useful.

If you have any feedback or would like to contribute to our next issue of SKQ, send Jenny an email at jenny@groveparkdesign.co.uk

Photography contributed by Dylan Collard: cover, contents & pages 6-9

OUTLOOK Fr Kun

We’re now starting our fourth year of SKQ…

So much has happened in those four years, a pandemic, rising interest rates, rising in ation, 2022 being the worst year for investment markets since 2008, the Ukraine invasion, political turbulence. We have all endured some real life challenges.

I do believe that good health is the greatest wealth. I also believe that time is a precious commodity. You don’t get time back.

With that in mind, what’s your plan to do the things that really matter to you with the people that really matter to you, with the time that you have?

OUTLOOK

This year, I have dedicated one day a month to spend time with a leader, be it one of the principals in a Haberdasher school, a CEO of a charity that the Haberdashers support, my mentors or my peers that run businesses to listen to their challenges and support them where I can. Why? It can be lonely at the top and acting as a con dant to these individuals is my way of just helping them. I am learning a lot too.

One story that I heard, which I was inspired by is the song "Happy Birthday" written and sung by Stevie Wonder. Written because it's about celebrating birthdays? Surprisingly, no it wasn’t.

Stevie wanted the then U.S President, Ronald Reagan, to recognise Dr Martin Luther King's achievements by granting a public holiday in memory of his birthday. Stevie couldn’t understand how a man who had died for good causes didn’t have a day that recognised his achievements. Martin Luther King Jr Day is now marked on the third Monday of January as a public holiday in the US in recognition of his birthday.

It's simply amazing what can be done when you put your mind to it.

So here's a suggestion. Write down the things that you really want to do that will make you feel happier, things that will help you to create precious memories and then do them. You cannot control life events, so try not to let them control you.

As Walt Whitman famously said:

My question to you is “what will your verse be”?

I wish you well with your planning for a happy you.

“What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here—that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”

THE TWELFTH MAN

Celebrating the power and diversity of grassroots sport

The Twelfth Man photography project focuses on regular Londoners, and how the stark contrast of the capital’s landscape provides unique and sometimes unexpected follies for their chosen sport.

Brainchild of designer, Matt Cottis at IYA Studio and created in collaboration with photographer, Dylan Collard, The Twelfth Man captures the wonderfully diverse communities of London, from cricketers in Kennington to swimmers in the Serpentine, in a fresh and captivating way.

You can’t help but be drawn into the lives of these ordinary people committed to doing the sport they love and acknowledge the enduring appeal of grassroots sports in the city. But how did the project come about?

“Cycling around Kennington, seeing the cricket team playing in their full whites surrounded by the hi-res, urban environment felt like such a strong contrast, it sparked the idea to explore sport in the city,” explains Matt.

But like so many great creative lightbulb moments, it was then a chance encounter that got the project off the ground.

“I used to have an office space in a studio in Long Lane,” Dylan recalls. “Matt and his partner Fleur lived in the building behind and I used to see him when we both popped outside for a fag. Matt came to me with the idea for the shoot around the same time I was trying to do more ‘real’ work, rather than the very staged advertising and production heavy projects I’d been doing before. Matt had the interest in sport and I liked the idea of sport being a focus for a project about different communities.”

While the project’s objective was to highlight all the diverse communities in London and show how they bring this vibrant, multi-cultural city to life, there was also a real desire to inspire people to get involved with local communities and sport.

And both Matt and Dylan were inspired themselves, in particular by the Sport for Social Change Network they met as part of the project, a social enterprise working with young people in Lambeth. They were impressed by the work they were doing and the difference they were making to these young people’s lives. The Kennington Cricket Club shoot was another that really captured their imagination.

“We went on a day they were playing quite a high brow team from Kent, who were an all-white, very wealthy and bordering on pro team. They were a huge contrast to the Kennington team of local lads I’d been photographing for a few weeks, who trained in sketchy nets, with the bare minimum of gear but loads of enthusiasm,” explains Dylan. No surprise then, that it was one of these shots that made it into the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait awards and was exhibited at London’s National Portrait Gallery.

To achieve what they wanted with the project, it was important that the shots were natural and genuine, that they had integrity and honesty. As such, the approach to getting the shots also had to be natural, fluid and unplanned.

“It was a very different way of working for me,” says Dylan. “I was used to very well prepped shoots with everything decided and agreed days before the shoot happened. Twelfth Man was much more about going to an area for a walk or to a club to see who we could find. It was about approaching strangers, persuading them to get involved and then seeing what would happen.”

This in itself presented challenges of course, not just in terms of who they would find to photograph and where, but also the practicalities of actually getting the shot. Both recall the difficulties of using the large 1920s Gandolfi camera at the Serpentine.

“It's a huge camera that shoots single 10x8 sheets of film and it’s slow and cumbersome to use, but gets results that are totally unique,” says Dylan. “It means you have to work in a particular way and you have to be sure about what you're doing. Balancing it over the Serpentine with the tripod buried in the water was interesting but it got us some great shots.”

The Twelfth Man captures the commitment and determination that everyday people from all walks of life have for doing the sport they love, despite their surroundings. It undoubtedly has the power to inspire us all to follow our passions, to celebrate the diversity in our capital city and to acknowledge the importance of grassroot sports. It does what it set out to do and does it in a really beautiful way.

www.iyastudio.co.uk /portfolio/twelfth-man

Matt Cottis

www.iyastudio.co.uk

@iyastudio

Dylan Collard

www.dylancollard.com

@dylantcollard

THE ART OF WINNI NG: AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL HART

Paul has over three decades of coaching under his belt, so he knows a thing of two about winning. He has helped a lot of talented young players, including Jonathan Woodgate, Harry Kewell and Jermaine Jenas go on to win games and fulfil their true potential. The key to this kind of success is, in his opinion, to have a plan and commit to it, working hard and enjoying the way you play. Something that was borne out during his time coaching at Leeds United and Nottingham Forest, back in the 1990s.

“At Leeds, we had a 10 year plan and I focussed on values, we wanted to create a culture of winning. We were also ruthless. A er winning the FA Youth Cup, when we beat Man Utd in 1993, featuring the Neville brothers, Beckham, Scholes and Butt, we won it again in 1997.”

“We also took some risks. In the 1997 final, we played a diamond formation –this was unheard of back then. We put Harry Kewell at le back to give him defensive qualities - he scored 17 goals that season, so it took attitude as well as talent. Ian Harte was originally a centre forward, we put him at le back and it transformed him.”

But the commitment to winning went way beyond just the skills needed to succeed on the pitch, it was just as important to develop the right kind of skills off the pitch

and this has clearly had a lasting influence on the players’ careers.

“I am delighted that the likes of Michael Dawson and Jermaine Jenas have gone on to build successful media careers. I think that what helped these players and others was that we focussed on character. At Forest, when the Duke of Edinburgh opened our education facility, we made sure he spoke to the players, we encouraged players to have a voice.”

It's no surprise then that when asked about his top tips for aspiring young footballers, Paul encourages them to have good manners, say good morning, say please and thank you, as well as not to pull players’ shirts and not to feign injuries. It’s

about being a decent human being, not just a decent player.

And what about finances? As a coach, working with young, impressionable players, Paul was mindful to bring in experts to offer up some much needed financial guidance. But the reality is that back in the day, things were very different to how they are now.

“In those days, I checked the players’ bank accounts every month to check there were no payments for Armani or Boss clothes. Some players were buying cars where the insurance cost more than the cars!” he recalls. “I heard a podcast with Michael Dawson, Andy Reid and Jermaine Jenas on it and they still laugh about it now. You just couldn’t do that now!”

“We cannot be afraid of talking about winning. Why? Because people develop better when they’re happy and when they win they’re happier, so they listen more and learn more,” explains ex-professional footballer and former Head of the Football Academy at Luton, Paul Hart.

Paul found his way into coaching following a career ending injury, while playing centre half for Birmingham City. Interestingly, it was only when his father, a former player himself, became a coach at Manchester City (they lived round the corner from Sir Matt Busby) that Paul really fell in love with the game. As a player, Paul had his debut at Stockport County in 1970, despite his father saying that he was not tough enough to be a footballer and a er a double compound fracture at Birmingham (the worst he’s ever had), it was Brian Clough and Howard Wilkinson who paved the way for his coaching career. Once he had completed all the necessary training, Brian Clough called and said “Centre half (that’s what he called me), if you’re half as good as I keep telling people, you better work for me.” And the rest, as they say, is history.

QUICK FIRE QUESTIONS:

What puts a smile on your face? People.

What’s your favourite quote?

Never trust a person that smiles too much.

How do you deal with disappointment?

If you’re in professional sport, you walk hand in hand with disappointment. If we win, I don’t take it too seriously, if we lose I have to get over it – I have to go through a process of what I have done, what could I do better.

What are your three favourite red wines? Crozes-Hermitage, Meursault and Amarone.

Who do you most admire and why?

Andy Murray (he’s got values) and he’s probably not as good as the other three (Federer, Nadal and Djokovic) but he’s

made himself a truly respected competitor and it’s amazing what he’s done for British tennis.

Best player you’ve played against?

In my first season at Nottingham, we played Liverpool at Anfield in the second game of the season. We lost the game 1-0. A er the game, in the players’ lounge I approached Kenny Dalglish and asked whether it would be possible to introduce my eight year old son, Jamie, to him when we played the return game at the City Ground on New Years’ Eve as it was Jamie’s birthday and he was Kenny’s number one fan.

When the return game came around five months later, not only was Kenny waiting to meet Jamie, he had a card and a signed copy of his latest book for his birthday. What a pleasant surprise. He hadn’t forgotten. It just goes to show the greatest players tend to be the most humble.

The bank of £0: What can we learn from bankrupt footballers?

As a business, we’ve been investigating the problem of bankruptcy amongst footballers and the statistics are truly shocking. Industry figures show that two in every five footballers file for bankruptcy in the UK – yes, 40% of them go bankrupt. That certainly raised a few eyebrows, so we spent some time looking into how this was possible and speaking to SK Financial CEO and keen football fan, Kunle Olafare about the findings, why they matter and what we can learn.

It didn’t take us long to find statistics that start to paint a clearer picture of what’s going on financially in the world of football. Of those entering the academies aged nine, less than 0.5% will ever make a living from the game, according to Sky News and the Business Insider magazine states that only 180 of the 1.5million players in organised football at any one time will make it to the Premier League, where the big money is. That’s just 0.012% - not great odds by anyone’s reckoning.

As a result, most professional footballers end up earning a few thousand a month, not a few hundred thousand – but still dream of the luxury lifestyle dangled in front of them by the likes of Mbappe, who has a fleet of cars worth half a million pounds on his drive. His Ferrari supercar alone is worth £300,000 and he’s not even 25 years old yet.

Add this to the fact that even if they do make it pro, they may only be able to play until they’re around 35 and then only if they stay injury free – a big if. It’s easy to see then why you have a recipe for financial ruin.

“Lured in by the dream of becoming the next Ronaldo, Messi, Mbappe or Benezema, playing for the best teams and earning more money than you could ever spend, footballers find the reality is very different and the figures just don’t add up,” explains Kunle. “Even if they do earn a decent wage, their careers are very short and it’s easy to see how you can very quickly run out of money – especially if they have enjoyed a few luxuries in life,” he adds.

Editor SKQ

Why should those of us not in the footballing world care about all this?

The answer is simple...while the financial circumstances of many footballers are extreme, they shine a light on the dangers of not managing your money effectively. They demonstrate, that even if you do earn a decent wage, there is no guarantee that this will set you up for life – you have to make your money work for you in the long term.

“We see this as a conversation starter for us all to encourage those just starting out in their careers to sit up and take note,” says Kunle. “To show that a decent pay packet is not always enough and that good financial planning and budgeting (yes, we can hear the collective groan from the younger generation too) is actually more financially rewarding than splashing the cash and believing the money will continue to roll in.”

What’s more, footballing isn’t the only profession where you can be sucked into a high paid job at a young age, only to be spat out a decade or two later either burnt out or no longer needed, with no plan for what to do next. Investment banking springs to mind, but also acting, the start-up world – know anyone who’s dreaming of coming up with the next Unicorn business?

Compound interest and me

So how do you pay for your future? How do you make the most of the money you earn in what could be a short-lived career?

“Ideally, you set up a Player Trust Plan that you cannot touch until you are at least 35 years old and you put half your earnings into it each month. If you manage your money sensibly in this way, you could still leave football or whichever job it is, in around 15 years with a six or even seven figure in your bank, setting you up for the rest of your life. And it’s all thanks to a little talked about financial model called compound interest,” explains Kunle.

Assuming a net annual return of 4% inclusive of fees, let’s take a look at how the figures stack up:

• Assuming an average weekly salary for a Premier League footballer is, £50,000 or £2.6million per annum

• In the Championship, an average salary is c£8,000 per week or £416k pa

• An average salary in League One is c£2,000 per week or £104k pa

• An average salary in League Two is c£1,400 per week or £72,800 pa (Onaverage.UK)

Based on the above salaries and by committing to put 50% of earnings into a trust every year for 15 years, a player could earn the following amounts:

• For a Premier League player, this could be worth £35million

• For a Championship player, £5million

• For a League One player, £1.5million

• For a League Two player, £1million

“If we take a League Two player as an example, their average annual salary is approximately £75k – it’s not unreasonable to

expect some more fortunate twenty-somethings to earn this, despite not being a footballer. Being able to show them how they could have over a million pounds in the bank in just fi een years, is surely a pretty enticing option,” hopes Kunle.

“And yes, persuading someone to put aside half their salary is not going to be a walk in the park, but I remember a time when players on a Youth Training Scheme contract earned about forty quid a week and a player that I knew used to save half of what he earned. So it is possible, it’s just a choice thing.”

Taking a closer look at the finances of footballers has proven a real eye opener and we will be spending more time looking at the lessons learned, as well as the ways money in these situations can be better managed. As a business, SK wants to work with those in the footballing industry to help better educate footballers coming up through the ranks about money management to help them avoid making the same mistakes of so many footballers before them. We’re sure we will be working with other industries too, where employees follow a similar path. Watch this space.

Appointing a Trusted Team to run your Trust

Choose professional advisers carefully. Remember the three Cs:

Chemistry

• Are you going to get on with this adviser?

• Do you feel confident that this adviser can represent your best interests?

• Have you checked this adviser out?

Concept

• Does this adviser understand your vision?

• Have you discussed a strategy?

• Agree a timeline (like a contract) for the length of the relationship (three years, five years)

• Hold annual meetings.

• Make sure minutes are taken of each meeting and are agreed before filing

Commercials

• What’s in it for you?

• How do you get paid?

• What’s in it for the advisor?

• How does the advisor get paid?

“Why should those of us not in the footballing world care about all this?

The answer is simple… while the financial circumstances of many footballers are extreme, they shine a light on the dangers of not managing your money effectively. ”

BECAUSE EVERY CHILD DESERVES A CHANCE IN LIFE

Chance to Shine is a national charity that aims to give all children the chance develop and grow through playing cricket. In their own words, they use cricket to teach children important key life skills that will help them beyond the playground. Through the values of cricket, they teach children about respect and fair play and see cricket as an effective way to develop skills like communication, leadership and perseverance that will benefit them throughout their life.

Here we catch up with their CEO, Laura Cordingley about the work Chance to Shine do, her own journey into the world of sport and how she copes with some of the more daunting elements of her role.

SKQ: Tell us more about what you do.

Laura Cordingley (LC): I’m CEO at Chance to Shine, a national cricket charity. Our mission is to help children and young people play, learn and develop their wider wellbeing through cricket. We very much focus on ensuring they have fun, develop a positive association with sport and in doing so develop their personal and physical wellbeing in areas such as confidence, resilience, teamwork and leadership skills –all of which we know will help them well beyond cricket! We work with around 500,000 children a year in 5,000 state schools and 200 disadvantaged communities. Our programmes focus on removing barriers such as cost (everything is free), transport (we’re on people’s doorsteps) and apprehension (we create very welcoming and inclusive

environments). As a medium-sized charity my work is very varied, no two days are ever the same and a lot of my time is spent meeting with stakeholders, partners and government to help us achieve our aims and those of the people we work with.

SKQ: What was your first job?

LC: I had a part-time job in McDonald’s when I was at school! It taught me a lot about customer service as I hated speaking to people I didn’t know before then. It also helped me to understand budgeting at a young age as I was able to save up to go on holiday with friends, while I was in sixth form, which felt like such an adult thing to do at the time.

SKQ: How did you get into the world of sports?

LC: I got involved by chance, which I am grateful for, but part of the reason I’m so passionate about helping children access sport is exactly that – so many miss out on the positive benefits just because they haven’t been given an accessible opportunity to take part. My primary school secretary was a netball coach and her daughter played at a junior club. I was very tall as a child (still am!) and I think I was a logical spot for someone with a netball mind. I was also fortunate that my parents had a car so my Mum could drive me to training as it was about half an hour from where we lived.

SKQ: You work with and pitch to an array of large companies. What do you enjoy about pitching and how do you prepare for pitches?

LC: I really love talking to people about what we do, because I know it has a positive impact on young people’s lives. So, in that regard I enjoy informing others and hope to bring them on the journey with us. I want to convey our passion, our proven impact and ensure that we are clear about where the alignment sits with a company’s ESG or CSR focus. I prepare for pitching by understanding what that specific company’s focus and purpose is and by being clear about what our key messages are, which should therefore resonate. I then consider how I can speak about why we feel a relationship would work well and help to deliver a meaningful partnership.

SKQ: Do you get nervous when you pitch or are you relaxed?

LC: It depends, I realised when I was younger that I was always more nervous, if I was less prepared and inevitably I’d come away disappointed in myself. Now I do a fair amount of public speaking, so if I have an important speech to deliver or a pitch, I’ll make sure I take the time to prepare. If it’s something I am delivering, where it’ll just be me speaking for a while rather than a conversation style pitch, I write my full speech out at least three days before and highlight keys words in paragraphs to help provide an anchor point for me. I never remember anything verbatim but if I can remember key words, I know I’ve got my messages across. I then read and learn the speech a few nights before hand, just before going to bed – a bit random I know but again over time, I have learned that the last thing I read before bed, I always remember in the morning!

SKQ: What are the qualities and skills that you have needed to work on to help you with your career?

LC: Lots! I think you constantly need to work on people management – every new relationship teaches you something else and it’s never a one-size-fits-all model. I learned a lot in my mid 20s when I was managing people a lot older than me. Listening – I still think it’s one of the easiest to overlook and hardest to master and it’s

so tempting to put thoughts into your own head, but I have learnt the power of taking the time to hear what, and crucially how, people are saying things to you. Lastly, financial literacy. I didn’t have any formal training and as such a few jobs back, I identified with help from my boss at the time, that if I wanted to keep progressing in my career, having a better understanding of accounting principles and practices would stand me in good stead. I undertook an evening course at London Business School, which really helped in my understanding and confidence in the subject. I still wouldn’t consider myself an expert – that’s why we have trained accountants – but I can look through a set of accounts or financial reports with confidence and ask relevant questions, which are needed.

SKQ: What tips would you give to youngsters looking for work, either as an intern or a first job?

LC: Following your passions is brilliant, but getting a foot in the door in the world of work is also very beneficial, so be open to considering all opportunities as you will always learn valuable skills that you can transfer into future roles. There’s plenty of time to shape your career and it’s fine to try different roles as you move along your career path. If you’re interested in certain industries take time to speak to people who work in them to find out what it’s really like. Think about the type of energy you will bring when you speak to people and attend an interview, a huge amount of first impressions will come from the energy you give. Lastly, and I would say this – sport is a great way to develop transferable skills for life, so if you already take part, think about the skills you have picked up, which can help in the world of work. If you are yet to get involved, there’s a sport or activity out there for everyone and I would urge you to give things a go – you won’t regret it!

Quick Fire Questions:

What puts a smile on your face?

My children, sunshine and a good meal. What’s your favourite quote?

Your current situation is not your final destination – I first heard it delivered by a Young Mayor of London speaking to thousands of children at an event at Wembley and whilst it was a quote taken from someone else, the words felt really

powerful coming from such a young, mature individual, who was clearly inspiring the next generation to achieve their potential.

How do you deal with disappointment?

I let myself ‘feel it’ first – it’s a human reaction and personally, I might just need a little time to absorb and wallow, but in doing so I firstly assess if any of it was in my control – if it wasn’t then I’ll ditch it quickly. If it was, I’ll think about how I can improve for the future and how, if I had my time again, I would do things differently, which may have changed the outcome. Lastly, I remind myself that no one is perfect and you should expect disappointments to occur along the way, it’s unrealistic to think otherwise.

What is your favourite board game to play?

Ah I love a board game! I do love Trivial Pursuit, but my current favourite is Codenames.

What is the best hotel that you have stayed in?

The Black Rhino Lodge in Pilanesberg in South Africa.

Who do you most admire and why?

My Mum, because she has instilled in me a sense of adventure, that being kind trumps most things, how to see the best in any situation and she still has that joie de vivre into her 70s, which I hope to have when I’m that age.

Laura Cordingley CEO Chance to Shine

RICHARD GOULD, NEW HEAD OF THE ECB:

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

Richard Gould’s career has always been about the business side of sport, but his journey has been anything but ‘business as usual’. He has been CEO at Somerset Cricket Club, Surrey Cricket Club and at Championship football club, Bristol City, where he was until the end of last year. He has now returned to the cricketing crease, as it were, to run the England and Wales Cricket Board.

While it might seem surprising that someone can switch so seamlessly between the beautiful game and the gentleman’s game, it’s something Richard takes in his stride.

“There are many similar themes between all sports and particularly at club level, which means there is quite a lot of movement between football, cricket and rugby,” Richard explains. “The main di erence being that the recruitment and contract process for footballers tend to include bigger numbers and more intermediaries.”

But unlike many club managers, he skipped the professional sportsman years, as he was, by his own admission, not good enough to play professional football and decided to focus his attentions elsewhere. As a teenager he joined the Army cadets at school and became unusually focused at a very young age. He won an Army scholarship when he was 16 and went to Sandhurst shortly after achieving a very modest set of A-levels - again, his words. By 20, he was a young o cer leading a troop of soldiers in the Royal Tank Regiment stationed in Germany. He stayed in the Army for just over 10 years before the first of his rather surprising career shifts - retiring as a Major in the Army and getting a job at Bristol City as the Commercial Manager.

THE HARDEST WORKING MEMBER OF STAFF

He took this first Bristol City job over 20 years ago, but in 2021, after years at the helm of some of the country’s most successful cricket clubs, he found himself back there again, this time as CEO. Here his job was to set the vision and key objectives for the club and ensure that their resources were balanced correctly to deliver success. They needed to win games, keep supporters happy, create great footballers and ensure the club remained financially sustainable within the parameters set by their very supportive owners. He describes it as a fun job and one that took up all of his time – a theme that seems to run through each of his roles.

“None of the jobs I have ever done are 9-5, they have all been non-stop full immersion roles; and I really enjoy that. I like to try and be the hardest working member of sta in the business,” he says and then adds “I like listening to people because I can learn so much. I try to speak to as many people as possible during the day and then catch up on paperwork after hours. If we have a problem in the business, I know the answers are often with someone in the business; I just need to find them!”

YOU CANNOT HAND HOLD ALL THE WAY

But what about the footballers and their relationship with money? What are senior sta doing to support them? Our own research here at SK has highlighted just how volatile and fragile this relationship can be. Richard explains that there is a balance to how you manage this. While you don’t want them to get into financial trouble, you cannot hand hold all the way, it’s about giving them strong role models and providing sound advice –whether they take it, though, is up to them.

“Work starts very early through the Academy system, where they can see how the older players behave and we keep a careful eye to ensure they are picking up good habits. The value of their contracts tends to rise relatively gradually because we think this helps them develop further as footballers and people; rather than getting too much too soon. But we don’t get overly involved because they have to be self-reliant and we hope that they are getting proper professional guidance. I have sometimes given feedback on intermediaries that seem to be performing poorly but ultimately the player needs to make good choices both on and o the field.”

QUICK FIRE QUESTIONS:

What puts a smile on your face? My family, and Wizard the dog.

What’s your favourite quote? If you leave it until the last minute, it generally only takes a minute (but said with heavy irony).

How do you deal with disappointment? Head down and get on with it.

What is your favourite board game to play? Monopoly.

What are your three favourite red wines? Bordeaux Left Bank, any three.

Who do you most admire and why? Field Marshal Lord Montgomery of Alamein. He got stu done.

www.ecb.co.uk

"Don’t be afraid of failure. This is the way to succeed."

LEBRON JAMES

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