Growing Leicester City FC

[theessexfox]

Problem is, previous management was growing Leicester City FC year-on-year, in a risk-bearing and non-reckless manner. Why do we need a change of direction to look to accelerate this goal, with no real evidence that the new manger is more capable of advancing us, and a hell of a lot more risk involved?

[jamesmilner]

Yes it is. BBC even did a documentary series on the similarities, at our club when Frank O'Farrell was manager. One of the very first 'inside' documentaries of any football club.

No it's not !! Pearson proves that !! He would've been sacked in most, if not all businesses with his behaviour , other than FOOTBALL !! Football is also a non profitable business in some clubs , some clubs in fact lose money knowing they'll lose it !! That's not a normal business , you're completely wrong !!

[davieG]

Not quite as simple as making a cup of coffee . I jest but this is the level you're trying to compete with to get to the top.

 

Apologies for it's length.

 

 

 

Manchester City's data-driven vision for players and fans

By Bill WilsonBusiness reporter, BBC News

• 14 July 2015
• 
  Technology is a major part of the coaching set-up at Manchester City

Technology of Business

 

"You gotta roll with it," blares out Liam Gallagher as the Oasis hit combines with the rain thundering onto the roof of Manchester City's indoor academy pitch.

The racket threatens to drown out coach Simon Davies.

The City Under-21 assistant coach is using digital technology to explain to a bunch of slightly unfit reporters how he wants a coaching drill involving the use of overlapping players to develop.

And just as Mr Davies successfully cuts through the surrounding noise, so the club is attempting to cut through the increasing business "noise" - all the playing and supporter data it is endlessly accumulating and managing.

The club, which has been at the forefront of data analytics, has signed a new deal to help it make sense of all this data.

The City Football Group (CFG), which comprises Manchester City, New York City, Melbourne City and Yokohama Marinos, has entered into a global, multi-year marketing and technology partnership with German software giant, SAP.

Big goals

"The intersection between sport and technology might change the landscape about what we do in the future," says Ferran Soriano, chief executive of both Man City and CFG.

At the more prosaic - but financially important - level, CFG says the SAP deal means it will be able to operate more interactively as a global football business.

Premier League clubs track practically every step by players on the pitch

All four clubs will be "speaking the same business language" by using the same systems, and swapping best practice when it comes to marketing, for example, as well as enabling the quartet to stay efficiently inter-connected.

However, on the more visionary, and, as Mr Soriano says, "emotional" fronts, CFG believes the SAP tie-up will be of huge value in revolutionising both their playing and fan operations.

All Premier League clubs have data analysts, as do many in the lower divisions, with stats crunched on everything from the distance covered by a player in a game to the number of crosses played with either foot.

In fact, every step on the pitch is monitored now.

Thousands of hours of club training sessions are logged

Similarly, away from match day, thousands of hours of training data is accumulated, while injury, dietary, sleep and medical data is also harvested and studied.

Assisted by SAP, which worked with the successful German 2014 World Cup-winning squad, the teams will use the insights derived from this data to produce everything from individual player coaching and training programmes, to tactics tailored to counter each opposition team.

But CFG, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group, believes that all this sports data could eventually be condensed and a whole whole new way of playing emerge.

'A better game'

"Technology will allow us to play better football," says Mr Soriano, who formerly worked at Spanish giant Barcelona.

City Football Group hopes that SAP will help it to use its data to achieve playing breakthroughs

"We are going to work together in finding new ways of understanding the game, and designing a better game to help us win."

That vision of creating a new way of playing - a new Total Football or tiki-taka for the future - is shared by colleague and former player, Brian Marwood.

He won a league title with Arsenal in 1988/89, and is managing director of the football group's City Football Services. He oversees the recruitment, development, training and management of hundreds of players in Manchester and at other global training centres.

"We have a great opportunity to lead in football, and are searching for the next trend. which will keep us ahead of everyone else," says Mr Marwood.

A research and innovation programme for all four clubs is being created

"We have got a team of people trying to find out what the next 10 to 20 years of football will look like. We want to be ahead of the game."

To that end, a research and innovation group for all four clubs is being created.

'Talking points'

Another major goal is to use data to enhance the fan experience.

CFG believes that with SAP's assistance they can change the way supporters of the group's four teams access and consume football data.

Tom Glick, president of New York City FC says that CFG will be looking to enhance the viewing experience of fans, whether "glued to the action" at the stadium, or sitting at home watching on TV.

Manchester City fans are to be given closer insights into player performance

"The task of finding new ways to get this information to the fans starts now," he says. "We will be asking them what additional information and data about the game and players they would look to see - what is important to them."

The first innovation in this area will be a large digital statistics wall installed at Man City's Etihad Stadium from next season, which will show player and match statistics from the previous game.

"I can see the attraction in providing supporters with access to match data, particularly among the younger tech-aware generation in their teens and twenties," says Kevin Parker, secretary of the Man City supporters club.

"We have all got an opinion on how our players are playing during a game and whether a particular player - for example Fernandinho - has worked as hard or not as it appears to fans at the game," he says.

A fan leader says enhanced data can lead to increased enjoyment of the game for supporters

"Or you can confirm whether David Silva or Yaya Toure have played those key passes that you thought they had. That can all add to the whole spectacle and enjoyment of the game, and provide talking points."

But he warns that "some of the more vociferous elements at a match might get on a player's back" if their match data was not impressive.

He also says data overload might be a danger, particularly if chewing over match statistics at home overshadows the experience of attending a game in the flesh.

"Any data has to be handled and presented in the right way," he says.

Meanwhile, the next step in enhancing that data collection for the group of clubs will be this October, when Melbourne City FC take to wearing player monitors during Australian league games.

"We believe we are doing something that has never been done before, around the world," says group chief executive Soriano of the tech route ahead.

"We have to take risks, innovate, make mistakes."

 

 

[SouthLondonFox]

So the OP is effectively saying that our owners are to LCFC what Whitbread is to Costa, or am I missing something?

[Frank to be]

Trouble is unlike Costa we can't just open new outlets in order to grow. We are in Costa terms limited to one single shop in a not particularly fashionable part of town, and we're competing for the best coffee beans with other shops who have much greater pulling power and resources that us. We can ply money into our coffee bean acquisition department all day long and sure, we might get some better coffee, but getting the right beans in the right blend is a delicate skill and it could also go wrong easily too.

Football, I would say, is less like coffee and more like buying shares. You can spend a fortune on getting the right conditions in place to do well in buying shares, you can research as much as you can stand but ultimately, there's no guarantee that your portfolio is going to grow.

[eye666]

Trouble is unlike Costa we can't just open new outlets in order to grow. We are in Costa terms limited to one single shop in a not particularly fashionable part of town, and we're competing for the best coffee beans with other shops who have much greater pulling power and resources that us. We can ply money into our coffee bean acquisition department all day long and sure, we might get some better coffee, but getting the right beans in the right blend is a delicate skill and it could also go wrong easily too.

Football, I would say, is less like coffee and more like buying shares. You can spend a fortune on getting the right conditions in place to do well in buying shares, you can research as much as you can stand but ultimately, there's no guarantee that your portfolio is going to grow.

 

Being fashionable hasn't stopped the Tigers from being (probably) the best supported Rugby team in the country. Different sports I know, but success on the field = success off the field. Which is why clubs like Chelsea and Man City have pumped in huge amounts of cash to achieve on the field success. Which, strangely enough, has led to them being more successful off the field through an increased number of fans, higher sponsorship deals, merchandise etc. Who's to say that the city of Leicester can't be a sporting powerhouse of the country with a top football and rugby club?

 

I think Big Vich and Top are prepared to get the chequebook out big time and felt that Ranieri is a big enough draw to get in some top players. They want success and want it pretty quickly, hence why I think Nige was given the boot - I wouldn't be surprised if he was more cautious and wanted to develop the team at a slower pace. I think the next couple of transfer windows are going to be really interesting, and I honestly would not be surprised if we signed our first £10m (or even £20m) player(s). The owners want European football (and I think they mean Champions League when they said this) and I'm certain they know that it's going to cost them a lot of pound notes. We as fans need to buy in to the owners vision of success and stop viewing ourselves as a small club or also-rans - think big and speculate to accumulate.

 

Strap in lads - it's going to be an interesting ride.

[Sir Fynwy]

Not understanding the difference between a franchise business model and owner operator business make just about everything the OP has written redundant, a football team can't buy up smaller opposition in other locations, have multiple operational bases etc

[5waller5]

Not understanding the difference between a franchise business model and owner operator business make just about everything the OP has written redundant, a football team can't buy up smaller opposition in other locations, have multiple operational bases etc

 

 

Not understanding the thrust of the point "football is a business and to grow requires a plan, a team to implement it, and getting everyone to understand the plan and keep to it etc" and confusing this with differences between a coffee shop / franchise and football club makes your point redundant?

 

Even in your detail of why it's different ... A football club can't buy smaller opposition .... It can buy feeder clubs in different leagues.

 

Multiple locations?? .... Sales outlets for merchandise across the globe, media outlets for exclusive content (it's no accident the official website is now the source for breaking news).

 

You've helped make the OP point attempting to argue with it.

[Bagworthblue]

Not understanding the difference between a franchise business model and owner operator business make just about everything the OP has written redundant, a football team can't buy up smaller opposition in other locations, have multiple operational bases etc

i'm not trying to draw a direct comparison, more so the attitude that translates to success. I could have used a lot of examples in closer related industries but the Costa story is a simple example of what can be achieved if you set your sights higher each time you grow rather than accepting being what you have become.

 

We can expand as a brand beyond our locality (our stadium and shop) by targeting merchandise sales on a global basis. This is the comparison with Costa opening new outlets outside of London and indeed the uk. 

 

The message pure and simple was that the owners have set goals to grow this club in a way many of us never expected. They are not looking to 'tick over' or even establish as a premier league team, they are aiming for top 6.

 

My point is that we need to embrace their ambition and start thinking the way they are thinking rather than dismissing their targets as unrealistic -  (however unrealistic it may seem to many) i.e our mentality of

 

'get real chaps - we are LCFC not Chelsea'

 

is at odds with their mentality of

 

'we know we are LCFC but we want grow towards being a new Chelsea'

 

To some, this statement will seem farcical and many will worry what other fans reading our boards will think of us even daring to consider this - it's beyond our station etc. I added the word realism and we and the owners must maintain a level of realism but the fact is that their aims are ambitious but are not impossible over a 5 - 10 year period if they remain committed to achieving them and we allow ourselves to be open to the possibility, rather than taking a non constructive negative stance that can only inhibit rather than promote their plans.

 

Alas football is more than just a sport these days, it is a business and to succeed, you must do so on and off the pitch and yes the 2 are related. But right now, we are in the right place at the right time to look to grow and if that is what they want, we should stop dismissing it or fighting it and play our part in enabling it.

[Merging Cultures]

Yes we can.

[RedSoxUK]

Problem I have,

 

Last time I accepted potential major growth, with goals higher than currently expected - we signed DJ Campbell, went through managers quicker than Henry VIII's wives and were relegated to our lowest point ever.

[Bagworthblue]

Problem I have,

 

Last time I accepted potential major growth, with goals higher than currently expected - we signed DJ Campbell, went through managers quicker than Henry VIII's wives and were relegated to our lowest point ever.

and that is the wrong model admittedly - On this occasion, the foundations appear to have been built, and the recruitment is more robust. The Thai's are also much less trigger happy and have much deeper pockets. There is always risk but I feel this time, the necessary mitigation is being put into place.

 

succumbing to fear of failure will always prevent success

[fuchsntf]

Cor blimey, after all this....I need a bloody coffee...

I'm off to Costas, down at the KP stadium... Ranieri expresso por favor.

[foxoffderby]

didn't understand a word of that but i really fancy a frapachino  now.

[Bagworthblue]

didn't understand a word of that but i really fancy a frapachino  now.

a what?? 

[Carl the Llama]

a what?? 

Pidgin French - he wants to smack a pair of trousers.

[Stadt]

Costa grew because the market was there for them to grow into, there wasn't another 19 coffee shops that were similar or better than them preventing them from growing

And I'm sat in pret a manger now, paying £2.15 for a ****ing mug of coffee, if you want us to grow you'll probably know when your season ticket price starts creeping up

[Guest Col city fan]

Football is just not run like a typical business surely?

There is no supply and demand for instance.

Some fans will travel hundreds of miles to support Man Utd, whilst ignoring their local team.

There is little regulation...FFP can be skirted around in sundry different ways.

For instance, LCFC could be run in the most financially prudent way, but we'll never compete (in the long term) with the likes of Man City spending up to 49 million quid on one single player.

Even the income of the bigger teams (with massive stadia) isn't much based upon gate receipts anymore. TV rights, merchandising, sponsor deals etc provide clubs with their biggest income.

Finally, football for many is still not seen as a commodity to be purchased.

The die hards will still buy their season tickets whatever league we are in.

I'd already decided to renew mine for instance even if we'd have got relegated.

Sure, their are still clubs run well and those run badly. I think we are generally run well, whilst QPR have been managed atrociously.

But football is still it's own world and not subject to the same set of market forces that most private sector companies are.

If Costa don't sell coffee, they go bust.

If football teams fail, some rich benefactor will bail them out.

[The Horse's Mouth]

genuinely intrigued with the thought process you had when you decided to compare Costa Coffee to Leicester City

[HEGGSY]

genuinely intrigued with the thought process you had when you decided to compare Costa Coffee to Leicester City

I was thinking the same

[fuchsntf]

genuinely intrigued with the thought process you had when you decided to compare Costa Coffee to Leicester City

Hes on a bonus to get Costa and KP doubling up on our shirts.plus for special events the stadium

to be known as the Costa Arena. Simple really.

[fleckneymike]

i'm not trying to draw a direct comparison, more so the attitude that translates to success. I could have used a lot of examples in closer related industries but the Costa story is a simple example of what can be achieved if you set your sights higher each time you grow rather than accepting being what you have become.

 

We can expand as a brand beyond our locality (our stadium and shop) by targeting merchandise sales on a global basis. This is the comparison with Costa opening new outlets outside of London and indeed the uk. 

 

The message pure and simple was that the owners have set goals to grow this club in a way many of us never expected. They are not looking to 'tick over' or even establish as a premier league team, they are aiming for top 6.

 

My point is that we need to embrace their ambition and start thinking the way they are thinking rather than dismissing their targets as unrealistic -  (however unrealistic it may seem to many) i.e our mentality of

 

'get real chaps - we are LCFC not Chelsea'

 

is at odds with their mentality of

 

'we know we are LCFC but we want grow towards being a new Chelsea'

 

To some, this statement will seem farcical and many will worry what other fans reading our boards will think of us even daring to consider this - it's beyond our station etc. I added the word realism and we and the owners must maintain a level of realism but the fact is that their aims are ambitious but are not impossible over a 5 - 10 year period if they remain committed to achieving them and we allow ourselves to be open to the possibility, rather than taking a non constructive negative stance that can only inhibit rather than promote their plans.

 

Alas football is more than just a sport these days, it is a business and to succeed, you must do so on and off the pitch and yes the 2 are related. But right now, we are in the right place at the right time to look to grow and if that is what they want, we should stop dismissing it or fighting it and play our part in enabling it.

 

Football operates on two basic levels, tribalism and success.

 

Currently our merchandise sells only to the 'tribe', we could market the **** out of the club and still no **** outside of the shire would buy the stuff. Man City and Chelsea had this very same problem, they didn't 'grow' their clubs, they financially doped the living shit out of them until they became some distrorted freak which was impossible to ignore. If we want into 'the big 6' then there is no 'growing', no well laid plan, no magically 'believing' bean we can take, we'd need to spend obscene amounts of money and keep spending obscene amounts of money until we achieved success, then and only then can we consider 'growing the club'.

 

The Costa analogy is bullshit. It is snake oil. It is a motivational poster stuck on a wall of a no mark company.

[Bayfox]

I can sell coffee all round the world. Can I persuade people it's the best at the best price. Maybe.

Can I sell Leicester to players such as messi, neymar etc. Probably not.

That is the problem.

If they can. Then they deserve a medal.

[Bagworthblue]

Football operates on two basic levels, tribalism and success.

 

Currently our merchandise sells only to the 'tribe', we could market the **** out of the club and still no **** outside of the shire would buy the stuff. Man City and Chelsea had this very same problem, they didn't 'grow' their clubs, they financially doped the living shit out of them until they became some distrorted freak which was impossible to ignore. If we want into 'the big 6' then there is no 'growing', no well laid plan, no magically 'believing' bean we can take, we'd need to spend obscene amounts of money and keep spending obscene amounts of money until we achieved success, then and only then can we consider 'growing the club'.

 

The Costa analogy is bullshit. It is snake oil. It is a motivational poster stuck on a wall of a no mark company.

kinda expected you to disagree mate 

[sphericalfox]

The problem with growth in this market is it's gonna Costa fortune.