Birkbeck Sport Business Centre: Previous Seminars 2005

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Birkbeck Sport Business Centre / Seminars and conferences / Previous Seminars 2005

14th December 2005

'The Role of the Football Supporters Federation (FSF) in the Modern Football Industry'

Malcolm Clarke, Chair of the Football Supporters Federation (FSF)

In this seminar Malcolm Clarke will examine the history of the football supporters' movement in England & Wales, its perceptions of itself and the key events which affected its development over a period of 80-100 years. He will examine the background to the establishment of the Football Supporters Federation (FSF) in 2002, the parallel rise of the Supporters Trust movement, and the relationship between the two. As well as looking at the key issues on which the FSF campaigns, Malcolm will give a personal view of the current role of the FSF in both domestic and international football; its strengths and weaknesses; the nature of the relationship with key bodies such as the Football authorities, Government, the Police and Local Authorities, and possible future development of the supporters movement.

7th December 2005

'Football Shirt Sponsorship Programmes - Is ISO14001 a Way to Address Retention and Value Problems?'

Dr Simon Chadwick, Department of Management, Birkbeck College, University of London

It is acknowledged that football clubs have problems in acquiring and retaining football shirt sponsors. At the same time, football shirt sponsorship contracts in England have been identified as being less valuable than those in other countries. There is also growing scepticism amongst sponsors about the effectiveness and relevance of shirt sponsorships, organisations have indicated that some clubs are often unwilling to cooperate with them, fail to communicate openly or regularly, do not engage with the staff responsible for managing sponsorship programmes, and frequently reject a collaborative approach to their relationship. Is the application of the ISO 9001 standard a way to address this problem.

23rd November 2005

'Something to Declare: Following England , National Identity and World Cup 2006'

Mark Perryman, Research Fellow in Sport and Leisure Culture, The Chelsea School, University of Brighton

In this paper Mark will draw on his extensive experience as a travelling England fan and pioneer of a 'fan-friendly culture to identify the causes and consequences of England supporters' negative reputation. Taking the experience of Euro 2004 as his starting point Mark will examine the reasons why this reputation, deserved or otherwise, has begun to change. He will explore the implications for the FA, government, police and media of how this process has developed. His conclusion will look forward to the likely outcome of England 's presence in Germany for World Cup 2006.

Read more about Something to Declare

16th November 2005

'Small countries and second class citizens in European football - What is the future for football in Northern Ireland'

Dr. Jonathan Magee, International Football Institute, University of Central Lancashire

This paper examines the key issues affecting the future of football in Northern Ireland and seeks to suggest ways in which a seemingly bleak picture can be improved. Recognising the dwindling status of the game's popularity, a taskforce was established and the Northern Ireland Soccer Strategy was produced in 2001 with £8 million of Government funding allocated. In the four years since, little has changed and many of the recommendations have been delayed, ignored, or rejected by the respective governing organisations. Consequently, as Northern Ireland occupies the lower reaches of another qualifying group the Government money remains unspent yet the game struggles on.

26th October 2005

`Football and its Communities'

Dr Adam Brown & Dr Gavin Mellor, Institute of Popular Culture, Manchester Metropolitan University

This paper is based on the conclusions of a major three-year research project for the English Football Foundation entitled 'Football and its Communities'. It is concerned with the relationship between English professional football clubs and 'communities' of various types, and the ways in which individual football clubs and the English football industry more generally can respond to new community development agendas.

19th October 2005

`It's an old saying, but you judge it by the league table - Impression management in football club reporting'

Stephen Morrow, Department of Sports Studies, University of Stirling

In this paper Stephen focuses on two distinct facets of financial reporting in European football clubs: first, the increasing use of narrative communication in the financial reports of British clubs and, second, the effects of the so-called salva calcio decree in Italy . Introduced by the Italian government, the decree effectively permitted Italian clubs to amortise the asset of players' registration rights over an arbitrary time period of ten years rather than over the length of a player's contract, thus improving their reported financial position and performance. It is argued that both facets are forms of impression management.

5th October 2005

'The Challenge of Promoting an Active and Successful Sporting Nation: The Role of Sport England'

Stephen Baddeley, Director of Sport, Sport England

Wednesday 5th October Sport England is the strategic lead body for delivering the Government's sporting objectives in England, notably through the distribution of both Lottery and Exchequer funds to sport, and has invested some £2bn since 1994. In this seminar Stephen Baddeley, Director of Sport at Sport England, explains how the organisation has sought to successfully address its challenging brief, providing an outline of SportEngland's strategic plan for the next three years and how the organisation plans to meet its strategic objectives.

Wednesday 29th June 2005

The Office of Fair Trading and Horse-racing: Lessons for Other Sports - David Elliott, Tom Hoehn and Eric Morrison, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

For the last five years the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have been considering the Orders and Rules under which horse racing takes place in the UK. It has been the longest investigation to date under the 1998 Competition Act yet the OFT have arguably achieved nothing. Nevertheless other sports’ industries should take no comfort in this. In this seminar, the speakers outline why other sports (such as football) should seek to draw upon the arguments made by the British Horseracing Board (BHB) to inform their own policies on competition policy; this being particularly important as “sport” remains very much top of the OFT agenda for “reform”.

Wednesday 15th June 2005

Quality Management in Football: Can the ISO 9001 Standard be Successfully Applied to Improve the Administration of a Football Club? A Case Study from Holland - Dr Henk J. de Vries, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands

In mainstream business an accepted benchmark initiative for improving business performance is the quality management system. The most common model for such a system is the ISO 9001 quality standard. In this seminar, Dr Henk de Vries asks whether the implementation of quality management systems in football clubs can significantly improve operational performance, most notably through the implementation of IS9001? Dr de Vries will illustrate his discussion with reference to a case-study of the implementation of ISO9001:2000 at the RBC Roosendaal football club in the Dutch First Division.

Wednesday 25th May 2005

What if? An Examination of English Football Under an American Sports Model - Professor John Wolohan, School of Sport Management & Media, Ithaca College, New York

In this seminar Professor John Wolohan examines what a re-organised English Football League might look like under the American sports model. In particular, he will: review various different American sports models; outline some of the benefits and shortcomings of both the American and English sports models; give an example of what English Football would look like under an American sports model and playoff system.

Wednesday 18th May 2005

We'll Support You Evermore - Or Just Till Next Season? Uncovering the Truth About Football Fans Dr Alan Tapp, Bristol Business School

The football industry is characterised by a series of assumptions about `the way things are' and `the way things get done' in the industry. One such assumption is that fans are endlessly, often stupidly loyal to their club. Rain or shine, through good times and bad, they will be there for their club. You can rely on them. Football fans are not 'customers': no one has their ashes scattered down the aisle of Tesco. This is the accepted wisdom of commercial directors who run clubs, reinforced by the media and commentators. To what extent is this assessment supported by research evidence? In this lecture, drawing from his own recent research, Dr Alan Tapp challenges these assumptions.

Wednesday 11th May 2005

What are players worth? Transfer fees, player capital and performance

Dr Fiona Carmichael, School of Accounting , Economics & Management Science University of Salford
In this seminar Dr Fiona Carmichael employs economic theory to address a number of key questions relating to the valuation of football players' contracts: (1) How are transfer fees determined?; (2) What are clubs paying for when they pay a transfer fee and why is one player worth £40 million and another £10,000?; (3) Do economic theories relating to human capital and production offer any insights that might help us to answer these kinds of questions or do they raise more questions that they answer?