An eclectic and eccentric view of football, business and management by media entrepreneur Chris Ingram.
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On Saturday in true Churchillean style, we went down to Brighton to repel the invaders – ok it was Woking FC playing Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup but for small clubs if you can’t get overly dramatic in the Cup, you never will.
Anyhow, we played out of our skins in the first half, whereas Brighton can’t have played as badly all season. In the second half it was more like Dunkirk – a terrific, defensive rearguard action which we hailed as a victory. Score 0–0.
As a businessman this was a horrible FA Cup draw – playing the best performing club comfortably top of Division One, 80 places above us but with the smallest ground. (In the FA Cup, home or away, you share the gate money.)
Now, if after we’ve beaten Brighton in the replay (you do know about the power of positive thinking don’t you?) I just know we’ll draw Man United away in the Third Round. I accept the cup is supposed to be all about romance and not money but think about it: WFC annual turnover 750k; Man United: one day’s match day revenue - £3m, so splitting their revenue gives us around two year’s turnover in one afternoon.
I remember the days when we were regular giant-killers in the nineties, one year we beat West Brom 4-2 away (no it wasn’t played in a ploughed field in a howling gale – we just outplayed them with the ball on the ground). Anyhow, the next round we drew Everton at home. Out went the romance: the Board decided the money would set the club up for years to come (only it didn’t, because we blew it all on underperforming players). The result? Ah yes, well for our team and fans, it was our cup final. Everton treated us with huge respect after the WBA shock. After all, we fans, helped by a few pints, had worked out, entirely logically that there were only 3 teams in the Country who were capable of beating us in the cup Yep, Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal. The rest had better look out! The result? Yes, I’m coming to that. Well, we lost 1-0; Everton let us play our normal stylish football but unsportingly, wouldn’t let us near their goal. And as those horrid Premier Clubs do, given half a chance of scoring, grab it.
There was another result to that cup run: the then Board made the near fatal mistake of assuming that WFC would always be giant killers and have good runs in the FA Cup. They budgeted with that assumption built in and soon started to make uncontrolled losses and got into a financial crisis. That’s when in 2001, yours truly parked his brains and moved in to save the Club.
Somewhere in all this there are some management lessons:-
- Ensure you play Man United away in the Cup every year.
- Don’t buy a football club that you love.
- Sloppy budgeting ends up biting you in the bum.
Postscript:
Well, would you believe it, in Sunday’s draw we have been pitched against the United Team in Manchester! Well ok, its FC United of Manchester, set up a few years back in protest at the commercialism of Man United. This is definitely the fairy tale the media will want to follow but this time, with us as the bad guys.
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Chris Ingram is as passionate about football as he is about business. Owner of Woking Football Club, and a majority shareholder in the fast growing sports media business Sports Revolution, Chris is one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs.
Recently celebrating 50 years in the media industry and still actively involved with Woking, Chris is ideally placed to comment on the business side of football.
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