 If You Can't Spell, You Won't Write a Great Story.... If You Can't Score, You Won't Win a MatchWritten by This_girl_is_blue on Saturday, 22nd Sep 2012 21:26 Who'd be the owner of a football club these days? Or chief exec/manager come to that? Over inflated egos and pay packets, greedy agents, impatient fans wanting instant gratification. It must be tricky to say the least and as Marcus has told us, you need to build success and it won't come overnight. But hang on. Is it really that hard and is owning ITFC that different to any other business venture that Marcus Evans has taken on? He's a multi-millionaire and a highly successful businessman, so why are Marcus and his team floundering at Portman Road? I'm a loyal supporter through and through. I buy my season ticket every year and have all those memories from way back when managers like Bobby Ferguson and John Lyall were in charge. Like the rest, I've stood and sat at PR and seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Being a long-standing football fan though, I also recognise the signs that are emerging match by match and it looks to me as if the writing is on the wall for PJ. How do you create a team that gels and performs consistently well on the football pitch? I think this is a fundamental question that obviously holds the answer to success for football clubs up and down the country and I'll have a go at answering it by drawing on the example set at ITFC. Firstly, employ a chief executive who has no background experience in football. He won't know how to run a football club but he'll learn by his mistakes (here's hoping there aren't too many because they could cost millions). He may sanction some dodgy decisions because his lack of experience means that he wont know when to step in and when to trust the manager, but he's got other skills so don't worry. He's a good talker and provides the corporate image we all need and that has to be the priority. Next, employ a succession of questionable managers. The first one will be completely inexperienced, it will be his first job in management but he was previously the captain so I'm sure he'll be fine. Plus he's passionate about the club and that's really important. The second will be more celebrity than manager; the fans will love the idea of him being in charge because he was such an outstanding player and interesting personality. We - and the media - will feel excited to have him in Ipswich but his record is mixed and whilst he excelled once before, he then flopped dramatically. He's a risk but we're confident so we'll sanction him to make unrealistic promises and whip up the excitement. It's bad luck for us because he flops again and by even greater misfortune, he let's a 40-goal-a-season striker walk straight out of the front door. The appointment of the third manager doesn't excite anyone. Escaping relegation is what we're learning to master, maybe that's why we can't seem to attract any bright new players. We start to see players leave ITFC and go on to excel with other clubs. Maybe they were played out of position or something. The crowd seem to be frustrated and the ground looks half empty. I don't know - I think these Ipswich fans are fickle. They certainly have high expectations. The last ingredient for success is essential - make sure you have an owner who insists on anonymity, none of the fans will ever see or speak to him and so will never feel quite reassured of the fact that he believes in the club or is willing to try and re-coup the good money that he - through others - has thrown after bad. By contrast, the club up the road are canny, they've got a good team of people with a plan that's working. They pinched a manager from elsewhere because they noticed how good he was and now they're in the Premiership. That seems like good business sense to me. As we all know through our children - or our friends' children - success at school starts by having a great headteacher. This person is experienced, respected and deservedly well paid. Other teachers want to come and work at the school because of the leadership shown and the support and effectiveness in and out of the classroom. The school isn't turned around within the first month or so but what you can feel straight away is the positive energy and the trust to get it right. In fact, hundreds of families within that community feel reassured that despite all the challenges, they can leave this person and his/ her team with the thing that is most precious to them-their child. Successful leadership starts at the top and until you've the layers of management right, no one on the front line is going to reach their potential. It's time for Simon Clegg and Marcus Evans use the experience of the last disastrous few years and act quickly to stop the rot at ITFC. Get a great manager in, take advantage of the good players that we've already got and build the club back up from scratch. Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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