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Address
by Gerry Brooks, chief operating officer, Ansa McAl, at the
T&T Pro League end-of-season awards function on March
31 at the Ambassador Hotel, Port-of-Spain
This
business called football
Gerry
Brooks
Abdul
quader fitral, at 38, is probably the world’s youngest
Central Bank governor. Two years ago he took up the world’s
most harassing central banking and professional challenge.
He had to restore Afghanistan’s ruined financial system.
He is the head of a resourceless Central Bank. Before the
Taliban fled Kabul in November, 2003, they ransacked the last
pitiful reserves, running off with the last US$5 million in
cash. Along with the Central Bank, Afghanistan’s two
state-owned commercial banks and four sectoral institutions
are shrapnel-shaped husks. There is nothing.
Tens of millions of dollars are owed in unrepaid loans. Five
years of Taliban rule and years of brutal cruel war. Afghanistan’s
banks are in a practical sense, zero per cent operational.
There are no country estimates and expenditures. Any estimate
will be fictitious.
None of this disheartens Mr Fitral. The most important thing
is to serve this unfortunate nation in whatever capacity.
“I
must help to recreate faith, which virtually all Afghans have
lost. We need effective people, desire, and within six months
to a year the bank will be back.”
If Abdul Quader Fitral can dare to do it, if he can see opportunity
and if he can dare to excel in war-torn Afghanistan, then
we must do so in the Pro League, at club level, as players
and at national level. Excellence and success must be our
mantra!
This is a powerful lesson and example for all of us—players,
management, referees, sponsors—to emulate, and to push
our own limits of performance. Let us rededicate ourselves
tonight to excellence and continue the journey with renewed
enthusiasm and passion!
Nothing splendid, nothing exceptional has ever been created
except by those who dare to believe that something inside
them was superior to circumstances. There are several awardees
tonight who will receive individual accolades and/or team
prizes. I ask all of you to join with me in collectively recognising
and congratulating them.
Soccer, the game, and football, the business—the industry
is not a place for the faint-hearted, the mediocre or weak.
It is performance-driven and results-oriented. It also provides
jobs, career opportunities and in many impoverished communities
is a source of pride. It can be the difference between crime
and a meaningful contribution to society. It is important
business as it is a crucial lifeline and career choice.
Awardees, let your 2004 accomplishments and tonight’s
recognition be a springboard for greater success as you expand
your imagination about what is possible. Mediocre thinking
attracts mediocre results; great thinking attracts great results.
Dare to win! Push the envelope! To players whose season was
unspectacular: plan, work, think and prepare yourself to ensure
the next session is memorable, outstanding and successful.
Permit me to also congratulate the Pro League and management
team on its several initiatives including the development
and refinement of the business plan, the initiatives to deepen
and widen the league branding; improve brand recall and top
of mind awareness.
The management is moving assiduously and aggressively to professionalise
the league by laying the crucial foundation stones on which
a sustainable, successful league can be founded. They have
worked with corporate sponsors and government successfully.
Let us convey to them our support, our ideas and our congratulations.
To Dexter Skeene, his board and his management team, let us
warmly congratulate them.
Tonight’s theme, “Opportunities and Challenges for
the Development of Professional Football from a Corporate
Perspective,” provides a unique opportunity for introspection
and reflection in a calm, sober atmosphere.
Too much of what passes for planning is immersed in crisis,
bacchanal, hysteria and public posturing. Just look at West
Indies cricket. Ask one simple question: is the best West
Indies team representing us in the first Test against South
Africa? Ask another question: how can the West Indies cricket
team lose US$14 million? How? On what was it spent?
Any process that does not ultimately result in the best team
not being consistently selected is flawed. Any governance
system that is churning out sustained losses is severely compromised
and needs urgent overhauling. Any administrative structure
that is continuously in the public glare for all the wrong
reasons requires that all the stakeholders relook:
n the business model
n the strategies
n ability of the organisation to execute well
n the governance structure and key stakeholder relationship
Pro League, learn from this and avoid these painful and costly
errors.
Tonight, let us talk football and look at some opportunities
at three levels:
n club
n player
n league/national level
In the interest of time, I will restrict the opportunities/challenges
at club level to three; two opportunities/challenges will
be explored at player level and perhaps one at national and
league level. The suggestions made are put forward with the
greatest humility and are adaptations from lessons learnt
in the corporate board room, in the market place, across the
Caribbean, Central and North America, from interface with
customers and from encounters with competitors.
Club level—opportunities and challenges:
1. Your club is a business!
View your club as a business! Run it like a business. Recruit
the best talent! Invest in it and develop it! Build proper
management and leadership structure. Have good it; a Web site;
e-mail players. Every player must have a pc at home. You must
be on-line! Put the club on-line! Recruit good marketing people
to help brand and market the club.
Stop selling the club and start marketing it! Develop board
structures and recruit the competencies you need—legal,
financial accounting, marketing and IT. Build capacity. Every
great basketball franchise has strong management. Have a corporate
plan at club level. Share it with your players at a specific
club planning meeting. Let them understand the imperatives
and the deliverables. Let them appreciate their role and responsibilities.
Get their feedback and input and hold all accountable. Build
capacity and build the organisation over time with a three-five-year
outlook and deliver! Deliver! Deliver!
2. Build longevity—create an enduring organisation.
Why do some institutions endure and other die after five years,
ten years, 25 years? ge is in existence for centuries and
so too is General Motors; ansa McAl is 126 years, cl Financial
is 100 years.
Why do some clubs come and go and others stay? Where is Colts?
Are Maple and Malvern a force today? Why is Manchester United
a force? What is special about Queen’s Park Cricket Club
or Wanderers in Barbados? The challenge is to build a sustainable
structure which is successful and which can endure?
n Look at your constitution and have a clear set of core values
and philosophy underpinning the club.
n Link your club to the community. Embed firm roots at multiple
levels—that is at the heart of Manchester United’s
success.
n Players, management and all key stakeholders must have a
passion for the organisation—through thick and thin.
Have the courage to share ideas, recommendations with management
in a sober, responsible, mature way. Cursing, abusive and
rude behaviour is a front for ideas not well conceived or
the absence of will to execute.
Tonight, think about your club and your role in same and how
do I make this club—which is integral to my life—a
more responsive, more successful, more resilient organisation.
(I think about my business 24/7.)
3.Dare to take the club to the next level
Set goals at the soccer and business level. Why can’t
a club be floated on the exchange and be publicly traded?
Football is an industry. The Caribbean space is becoming smaller.
csme is at our doorstep. A host of bilateral agreements and
Mercusor arrangements are being developed. Merchandising deals
can be extremely lucrative.
Players are very significant products with huge spectator
appeal and brand value. Why will a North American or European
company not want to utilise the league and leverage its marketing?
How can a marketing plan be crafted at club/ league level
incorporating players and other key stakeholders to provide
a compelling brand proposition?
This requires a wholesale overhaul of the club business model—this
is not about “cake sale,” “raffle” and
“footballers who can cook,” but real corporate stuff.
In ansa mcAl, we are daring to make the organisation a powerful
global brand coming from the south going into the bowels of
North America. We are going to do it! And you can too! But
clubs must release accounts, must be accountable, must create
value and must redefine themselves as sleek, performance-oriented
corporate vehicles. As Martin Luther King said: “Take
the first step in faith. You do not have to see the whole
staircase, just take the first step.”
4. What are some of the player opportunities and challenges?
At player level the opportunities and challenges are flip
sides of the same coin. Be professional and deliver promised
results—the corporate world is a no excuse environment.
Football is your job.
Answer the personal question early: what legacy do I wish
to leave? How will I be remembered? How will I have left my
club and my country? Will my family and I be proud of accomplishments
ten-15 years later?
George Best was an outstanding player in the ’60s—his
talent, his reputation was renowned in Europe. Sadly, he lost
his way and left a legacy of indiscipline, unreliability and
unprofessionalism. What legacy will you leave?
Companies want and expect clubs, officials and players to
behave ethically and professionally. Technically sound on
the field; good attitude. Equally important, off the field
you are the ambassador of the club and the sponsor’s
brand. Don’t ill-speak it. Don’t misrepresent it.
Immature nonsense has no place in business.
Use the sponsor’s product. Each sale helps you. Persuade
others to use them. Drive a Honda! Buy a Mitsubishi and Ford
Focus! If not, order a Jaguar or Land Rover. Attend sponsor
functions, photo shoots and do so with enthusiasm. Use the
opportunity to appraise the executive management on recent
accomplishments. Understand more people know you than you
think! Circumspectness and personal discipline must be your
mantra. You are on show every day.
Deliver results! No sponsor will continue to sponsor a team
indefinitely that is not winning. Ask Real Madrid. Somebody
will have to go—Zidane, Beckham, Raoul. Deliver results.
Corporate entities aspire to success and want to be associated
with success.
Second player recommendation—“sharpen the saw—ongoing
education is imperative”:
n Enhance and work daily on your personal and professional
development and maturity. Brian Lara’s maturity has risen
exponentially in the last seven years. Work on your game,
screening, passing, shielding, dribbling, trapping, shooting,
etc but also work on other aspects of your craft. Develop
yourself into a true, well-rounded professional.
n Develop your leadership skills.
n Develop your appreciation of contractual requirements.
n Develop your speaking skills and presentation skills.
n Sharpen your knowledge of finance and accounting. You work
hard for your money. Let it work hard for you. Invest it wisely,
eg the ansa mcAl share appreciated 81 per cent in the last
year. Had you invested $30,000 you would have earned $54,300
plus a dividend. That is approximately $25k more.
When the spotlight shines you have to be ready. When opportunity
knocks, seize it. It may never return. Cultivate friends,
role models and mentors outside of football who can add value
to your lives. Some friends whom you grew up with may not
today share your values or be able to help you. Be pleasant
but move on.
Have a plan! Execute it! Think ahead to when you leave the
field of play and how you will navigate your options. Who
knows, you may be asked to spearhead the division of an organisation
which you encountered or you may wish to start your new business.
Always give back to your community!
At the Pro League level, the aspiration must be to develop
a league—a soccer architecture which is comparable to
the best in the world. It must be founded on a strong club
structure, a good quality product which is clearly defined
and articulated. All stakeholders must be treated with respect
and treat each other with respect.
Increasingly, the Pro League may opt to embrace teams from
the Caribbean to strengthen the competitive element, sharpen
and hone the skills of players and provide an improved product
for spectators.
In this connection, development programmes for referees, match
commissioners, ball boys, groundsmen and vendors must be accelerated
and must be congruent with the Pro League plan.
At Disney World, the sweeper thinks of herself as an integral
part of the entertainment product describing herself as an
entertainment assistant. It goes way beyond corporate money.
It is about structure, shared vision, single-minded focus
and consistent energy and effort and delivering results.
The beauty is the league once developed, corporate entities
will line up enthusiastically to participate. Why? Because
a sustained successful formula has been created. Corporate
participation here can span the whole gamut from television
sponsorship deals, merchandising, product endorsements and
club marketing. In short, it is an infinite pool of possibility.
Soccer at the national level presents both a challenge and
an opportunity. A challenge because as a community we are
frustrated about the results of the Soca Warriors to date.
Yesterday after the game, a spectator seeing me in red asked,
“How much we lorse by?” At least he said we. I think
we played a much improved game, there are some technical issues—ball
watching, running offside too often, not shooting on goal,
and poise in midfield and defence, and developing more attacks
through the left flank. But we played better and have a chance.
Let us also recognise and thank Jack Warner for his ongoing
support. There are several ways we can help support, support,
support.
More important, the next team will be drawn from you for 2010.
Be ready. Prepare yourselves mentally and psychologically.
There is a clear nexus between how well our national team
does and the corporate response to the professional and domestic
league. Success begets success.
Friends, this is not a time for waffling. The t&t and
regional economies are on the move. The Trinidad and Tobago
Stock Exchange is at record levels. There is opportunity at
every corner! Seize it. The critical question says General
Colin is: “not how well you have performed your job”
but “how much can we still improve our performance.”
It was Charles Darwin who said: it is not the strongest of
the species that survives, not even the most intelligent but
the one most susceptible to change. Take one or two big ideas
and focus effort, energy and capacity and deliver. Good luck!
To the league, congratulations. To all the awardees, our sincerest
congratulations again. To all of you and all the stakeholders
of the league, may God bless you abundantly as you embark
on this, a most exciting phase of your journey.
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