Casework
Anonymised to the division and the season, with the numbers intact.
Why there are no names
No client is named anywhere on this site. Almost none will consent, and the ones who would consent are usually the ones whose boards are least stable — so a page of logos would tell you something true about my clients' governance and nothing about my work. What follows is anonymised to the division and the season, with the numbers intact. If you want a reference, ask me in a conversation and I will arrange one privately.
The question
Three managers in four seasons, the same squad, and a board convinced the scouting network was the problem.
What was found
Eleven of the last twenty signings had been proposed by an agent rather than by the club, and the wage structure had one contract at six times the squad median. The scouting network had produced fourteen written reports in two seasons, none of which preceded a signing.
What changed
Decision rights written down and signed by the president. Recruitment proposes, sporting director decides within budget, board vetoes on money only.
Result
Promotion two seasons later with a squad cost ratio eleven points lower.
The question
An academy costing more than a fifth of the wage bill and a board that could not say what it returned.
What was found
Six per cent of first-team minutes from club-trained players against a peer median of fourteen, and a ten-year return of €4.1m against €11.8m of cost. The pathway broke at nineteen, not below.
What changed
Explicitly re-based as produce-to-sell, with two loan-pathway partnerships and the under-19 budget moved rather than cut.
Result
Two sales inside three seasons covering four years of academy cost. Minutes share unchanged, deliberately.
The question
A new owner, an inherited sporting department, and a manager appointment eleven days away.
What was found
Two candidates, and the one the room preferred had never worked without a director of football above him — which was the exact structure the club was about to remove.
What changed
The other candidate, and the criteria for judging him written down at appointment rather than in month five.
Result
Still in post three seasons later. That is the whole result and it is worth more than the retainer.
Questions
Will you name us as a client?
Only with written permission, and most clients decline. That is normal, it does not affect the work, and it is why there are no logos on this site.
Do you take interim roles?
Occasionally, for a defined period and a defined objective, agreed in writing at the start. I do not audition for permanent jobs through consulting, and I will say so if that appears to be the arrangement on offer.
What size of club do you work with?
From semi-professional upwards. Below that the honest answer is usually that you do not need me — you need one experienced person full time, and the fee for this work would pay a meaningful part of their salary.
Do you take a percentage of transfers?
No, and I will not work alongside anybody who does on the same engagement. Advice paid for by the transaction it recommends is not advice.
How confidential is this really?
Interviews are unattributed in every document, including to the president. That is agreed before the first conversation, and it is the only way the third week produces anything the club did not already know.
What if your finding is that we do not need you?
Then that is the finding, and it has happened. It costs you a conversation and it costs me an engagement, which is the correct way round for a business that depends on being called back.