Ed Warner: Bullingham must own England manager decision if it comes
“The FA should only look at English managers if Gareth Southgate steps down.” “No, the FA should be prepared to hire a foreign coach.” Discuss ad nauseam.
Now imagine you are Mark Bullingham, the Football Association’s chief executive, possibly (but not certainly) about to have to make an appointment whose success or failure would stand as the defining moment of his leadership, regardless of any other achievements in his tenure at English football’s governing body. Such is the lens through which chief executives in sport are viewed by the public.
Bullingham was bumped up into the top seat from within the FA in 2019, inheriting Southgate as the England men’s team head coach more than two years into the role and with a World Cup semi-final already to his credit. Martin Glenn will be remembered for the progress he oversaw in dragging the FA towards the 21st century, a car crash appearance before a parliamentary select committee, but most importantly for his emergency appointment and subsequent steadfast backing of Southgate after the 67-day and one-match reign of Sam Allardyce. Lucky or good? Doesn’t matter. It’s a results game (on and off the pitch).
This week I’ve been leading a course on governance for a cohort of wannabe sports chief executives. Good governance these days comprises much more than simple tick-box compliance with codes and guidelines about corporate structures and board conduct. It’s a holistic, whole system game. UK Sport has recognised this by introducing a toolkit for sports bodies that helps assess the overall health of an organisation across a range of metrics. The buck doesn’t stop with chief executives in all of these dimensions, but as day-to-day leaders there is no hiding place for them.
It strikes me that the CEO role in sport, and especially in a governing body, is far more complex than in commercial businesses, even large multinationals. Time was when captains of industry need worry only about keeping their boards sweet and delivering returns for shareholders. Now, there is an imperative to reflect the interests of a wide range of stakeholders, from employees to communities. The sport CEO, though, typically has to deliver across all of these groups as well as doing what they can to ensure success on the field of play – and all in the glare of a media reflecting scrutiny of devoted fans and the wider public.
Win and naturally the plaudits will accrue to players and coaching staff first. Their employing or governing organisation might bask in the reflected glory – and know itself the role it played in creating the environment from which success sprung – but its task swiftly becomes to capitalise on the opportunities afforded by victory. The responsibility for a positive legacy – whether in grassroots participation numbers, follow-on elite team success, or lucrative sponsorship deals to fund both – falls to a sport’s leaders. And can be a longer and harder task than securing the original sporting triumph. Just reflect again on the transient impact of the London 2012 Olympics and the general consensus that it represents a missed opportunity in terms of sporting activity across the nation.
Headhunters Spencer Stuart calculate the current tenure of UK CEOs in the business world as 5.4 years. They are on average almost 56 years old. Anecdote and Wikipedia gauge chief execs in sport to be very slightly older. Totting up the tenure of the leaders of a dozen of Britain’s largest governing bodies indicates an average of just 3.1 years – notably shorter, then, than for those in industry, although longer than the mayfly existence of top football managers. There’s every chance that a CEO of a sports organisation that has an elite element won’t face the task of hiring a replacement head coach, manager or performance director during their time in office.
When/if Bullingham goes about the recruitment of the next England manager, he would be well advised to remember that, ultimately, it has to be his choice. Whatever selection panels he organises, regardless of how widely he consults, it will be his name that is tagged in the public’s eyes as the man who picks the individual who picks the England team. Quite the responsibility.
All I want for Christmas…
As the football World Cup draws towards a close, so too does viewing for one individual’s collection of 103 works of footballing art that is for sale as a single item through the Chris Beetles Gallery in St James’s, London. If someone is feeling generous and would like to buy the collection and then farm out The Tackle (above) or A Cup Tie At Crystal Palace (below) to me on loan, my Christmas would be made.
View the collection online at the Chris Beetles Gallery here and you’ll see that it’s not just LS Lowry’s iconic Going to the Match that captures the essence of the game. The Lowry painting was sold by the Professional Footballers’ Association in October for £7.8m. The buyer? The Lowry arts centre in Salford, where it has been on display for the past couple of decades.
…but really
With another postal strike looming before Christmas, why take the risk of sending conventional gifts? Time instead to contemplate donations to the sporting charities closest to the hearts of your friends and family.
Whether it’s the foundations attached to the football or rugby clubs they support (all doing invaluable work in their local communities), organisations supporting disability sport (don’t forget GB Wheelchair Rugby!), or sport-specific charities such as the Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation that gives inner-city kids the opportunity to play cricket in glorious surroundings, or the Speedway Riders Benevolent Fund that supports seriously injured riders. There’s something for any and every sports fan that’s just an online donation click away. Just do it!
Ed Warner is chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and writes at sportinc.substack.com