2. Snow, Switzerland & Staying In Touch
This blog follows on from the first blog, 1. Introduction, please read that first!
My first season in the job at Southampton FC flew by. I was living the dream and we had some unbelievable times - it’s definitely true that you “don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone” (Joni Mitchell!) - so many of the staff who worked that season still refer back to that as the peak. But I didn’t realise that Southampton finishing 7th was that special - for me it was all I knew.
I got into a rhythm at work, starting to learn what Ronald expected of me and what the club expected of me - unfortunately these didn’t always align. I often felt caught in the middle - a difficult place to be especially in your “rookie” season - but it was manageable for the 2014/5 season at least. We were winning games, riding high in the table and so people were happy.
Katharina Liebherr, the owner at the time, and Ralph Krueger, our chairman, surprised the squad with a 1st Team Trip to Davos, in Switzerland in March 2015 to celebrate the great season so far, do some team bonding and get a change of scenery. There was much excitement but we were under strict orders to keep the trip totally quiet - no social media, press or images could be put out until after we returned. It took the players about 15 mins to break that, where two of the younger players tweeted pictures of themselves in their ski gear to one another - but luckily it wasn’t picked up.
We flew to Davos and had a fantastic time - the focus was on nature, fresh air, good food and time together. The backroom staff went skiing and I was with the players who took a cable car to the top of the mountain to see the sights - the players weren’t allowed to ski due to the injury risk. The evening was a dinner where we took cable cars to the top of the mountain and hiked in a blizzard to a small wooden hut - on the way back my lack of fitness & ability to adapt to the altitude meant that I had to be dragged the last bit of the walk - but we all had a go on the Alphorn - a long Swiss horn - and thanks to my trumpet lessons as a child, was the only one able to blow the horn successfully.
At the top of the mountain, Davos 2015
There are many more stories from that trip but the result was a hugely energised and excited group who went the rest of the month unbeaten - and it was the first time that it fully registered to me the power of the non footballing parts of the schedule. We had done no training, no carefully regulated meals - we didn’t even pack footballs - but the boost and the morale from that trip was easy to see. Of course, any football team succeeds when everything is done in balance but I took a lot from that trip in my later jobs - Katharina & Ralph were huge proponents of the holistic player, the family approach and their care towards not only the players but the staff too was a key part of Southampton’s success.
Back home, I started to think outside of my Southampton network as I started to meet the other Player Liaisons at other clubs. There had been an attempt by Lorna McLelland at Aston Villa to create an Association of Player Liaisons, but it had unfortunately laid dormant for years and I realised that we just didn’t know each other very well. I took the initiative to organise a twice yearly dinner for all the PLOs, alternating between London and Manchester. This was fantastic - it was a purely social event, no agenda, no sponsors - just some Chinese food and some great conversation. It was a great forum to discuss work, such as how each club did Player Appearances or signed items but also to get to know each other.
Player Care Dinner, November 2019
The power of your network is key in most industries, but especially in football. It’s a bubble, you’re only ever a few degrees of separation from anyone in the world and it’s something I worked hard at. I’ve heard job seekers bemoan the fact that if you don’t know anyone, you can’t get a job - it is true that it’s harder, but it also rewards those that work on their network like they do their CV, relationships etc. I am a good networker - but I work really hard at keeping in touch with people, reaching out and being connected - remember in 2013 I graduated uni in America with no contacts in the football world. Hard work, persistence, people skills and a bit of luck is all you need. I can’t stress it enough how important it is to not only to get in touch with people, but stay in touch with them - the world (especially in football) is so changeable, you never know who will be back on top at some point.
I will use this blog to talk more generally about my journey, my philosophy and my way of doing things. I am also more than happy to talk to you about your organisation and how I may be able to add value with my processes, philosophy and way of doing things – please get in touch!