Lessons from other codes: AFL

The Australian Financial Review Boss magazine volume 8 for June 2007 ran an article by Andrew Burrell Team Players Pages 22 to 26 about chairs of 3 AFL clubs - Dalton Gooding from West Coast, Richard Colless from Sydney and Eddie McGuire from Collingwood.

The AFL is under pressure from bad player behaviour and drug taking, and weak responses from clubs. But it was some of the other things these successful people said about their code that caught my attention.

The leadership challenge comes at a time when the AFL has never been better off financially. Crowds and TV viewers are flocking to the game, and it has a five-year $780-milliontelevision deal with Seven and Ten networks... Last year revenues rose 6 per cent to a record $215 million and the league's operating surplus jumped 8 per cent to $140 million. Other measures, such as aggregate club profitability (up by $2.9 million to $11 million) and record memberships (up 1.95 per cent to 519,126)... page 22

Eddie McGuire advises that Collingwood is set up as a '52-week event company'... and 'you probably have more people on your staff than you would if it was a privately run business ... it's all about winning games of football, and giving your supporters something to enjoy on the weekend and something to talk about through the week... Match days are like staging 11 Rolling Stones concerts a year. We run the biggest restaurant in Australia 11 times a year... We're an internet company, we're a gaming company, we're a hotel business, we're a travel agency... ' page 24

So for McGuire the financial performance is a means to and end. And I think this is true for all A-League team owners who crave that something that owning and controlling a successful team brings.

Sydney Swans' Colless talks about the directors role in keeping the club solvent balanced by protecting its 'history and culture... as long as you're not in danger of going out of business, the members will take the P&L and the balance sheet for granted.. ' and focus on 'players and coaches' Well all codes know this. Lose a few games and the coach gets hammered.

Colless was brought into Sydney in the mid 1990s when 'We had a 26-game losing streak, turnover of about $3 million and around 3000 members.' An A-League club would be out of business if it lost 26 games. These guys backed their product. We need to be prepared to do the same for the A-League.

Colless also talks about the establishment of the player leadership group in AFL teams as opposed to a single leader. Last season when criticised for not naming a captain, the Roar's Frank Farina asked rhetorically why you need a captain. Colless and other AFL leaders have thought about this issue. They see a clear role for a group of senior players taking the weight off the coach and mentoring junior players and even making some decisions.

The author also make the point that 'at most AFL clubs there is a high level of clarity involved in the organisations' reporting structure and demarcation lines.' page 25 This does not appear to be the case for most A-League clubs, where the owners seem to get to say a lot about who they buy and how the coach operates. In the AFL, the Chair and Board would talk to the CEO, like most companies. I am not sure this is the case in football - from Chelsea downways (ah Mourinho?).

West Coast Eagles Gooding - who I understand to be backed by key WA mining industry participants plus Hungry Jacks and SGIO - and is the wealthiest AFL club ($40 revenue) - says emotion is the difference between a listed company and a club. He says that a listed company is about share price, but at a club it is about performance. 'You get a flogging on the weekend and the whole world is calling for the coach's head - that's a fairly big crisis for your organisation.' page 25 I agree and I have seen it at A-League level watching crowd behaviour turn on Miron and, perhaps in a more ugly way by parents at junior level.

Gooding points out ' We've tried to instill the factors you'd use in running a business into running a football club. Ever single person at the club has Key Performance Indicators, and we try to make everything measurable and accountable.' This is easier said than done. But if you can set it up in a meaningful way it is the way to go. You get clarity on what is working and what isn't.

One more cup of coffee before I go? Or Sydney v Newcastle is even more interesting...

So the current story is Frank Farina.

Former Roar coach Miron was running from this story from about half way through last year. For Miron and many Roar fans the story was - whether true or not:

ex-socceroo coach Frank Farina wants an A-League coaching job and there are only eight. Frank won the grand final for the Brisbane Strikers as captain coach in 1997. So Frank will wait for an opening at the Roar.

And when it became a question of when and fans again began calling out from their seats for Frank, Miron jumped.

But Miron caught everyone off guard. Particularly Frank and more particularly, it appears from press reports, his family. Frank had been preparing Courier Mail readers with hints in his weekly column that he was interested but that Miron had the job. Miron had to make the finals, so maybe the chance was next year. But at about the half-way mark Frank was put on the spot. Take the chance now or risk losing it altogether - a European was said to be interested in buying a share in the Roar and converting it into a feeder club for a major European club (or something like that as an alternative to Frank). And there are only 8 A-League coaching jobs. And he probably didn't want NZ.

So fans are told Frank is at the Roar for two years. Later it transpires that this was a handshake deal without a contract. Everyone wanted to move fast to secure the right outcome. Handshakes can be worth the paper they are written on.

Fast forward to the present. Terry Butcher is not well liked at Sydney. Players have been fighting. Top strikers have not been getting game time. At least one player has signed with a Japanese 2nd division team coached by the former Sydney coach. One of the coaching staff leaves for the same team and others may follow. Apparently, Terry threw water bottles and things around in the dressing room. Plus his game is said to be boring. And he does seem to be in his own world when you see him on the sideline. Also the crowds stayed away.

Anyway.

Come the end of the home and away season when destabilisation isn’t going to impact the Roar performance, someone howls to the press that Sydney FC is interested in Frank and Frank may not want to move to Queensland after all. With that any breathing space that Frank might have had, or needed, to wait for the orderly end of the season and to allow all the cards to fall as they will disappears.

Soon there is a bark in the press that Frank has been asked to commit to two years as our best friend within 24 hours. The deadline passes. Ambiguity reigns. Can Terry yet make the case to stay? What would it take? Enough that Sydney retain their title? Or too late anyway but can’t move for another coach until the season is officially over? And of Frank, there are still only 8 A-League jobs (he has consulted for the two new teams but they are not due till 2008-9 season), and if he leaves the Roar and Sydney does not become available? Maybe Frank needs Newcastle to win well enough to knock out Sydney tomorrow night, and then he can declare his hand?

And for the Roar? Are fans left thinking that they are the second choice and part of a step in someone’s career plan? Are they left, as the Courier Mail has suggested, with Damian Mori and is he a serious coaching contender? Surely Miron can’t come back? Or will the European reappear? Or was that media handling to make it look like the Roar had thought-out choices?