The Football Life’s SFA CEO Position Interview

With Stewart Regan departing as SFA Chief Executive, it’s time for the SFA to find a new head. The vacancy may not even be on the website yet, but I felt it safe to assume that the SFA are going to interview me to ensure that a wide range of candidates are brought in to speak to and because they would find it hard not to be impressed by my LinkedIn Profile. Here’s how it’ll go…



Interview Panel: Thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to speak to us today, Richard. Would you like a drink?

Me: Just water please.

Panel: OK. What attracted you to the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Scottish FA?

Me: I believe that Scottish football right now is at a crossroads. We can carry on with the same business plans as before, follow market leaders and maintain a managed decline into the third level of European nations when it comes to international and continental club performance, or we can choose to be transformative. My CV shows that I have previously not just been open to any and all business opportunities for the companies I have worked and consulted for, but that I have a record of overseeing transformative changes at the companies I have worked for that have brought about considerable increases in profit and turnover. In addition, my record in terms of knowing where the trends of business are going has seen me win awards for my ability as a forecaster, both on a local and on a national basis, even while putting into practice changes that have massively altered the way in which my employers have done business.

I believe that this record stands for itself and I see the Scottish FA role as not just a challenge, but also a way to put my energies into enabling transformative impacts in to something I love. I appreciate that people will come through the doors here at Hampden and tell you how much they care for Scottish football and that, for many applicants, that may be the sole reason they applied. On the same note, there will be those who have applied solely as they see the Scottish FA as something good on their CV yet look at Scottish football dispassionately and, as a result, have a disconnect with our fans. I have applied because I believe I am one of the only candidates you will meet that combines both an almost obsessive love of the game with the business acumen and personality to effect broad change where needed while also keeping both customers and key stakeholders onside.

Panel: Currently, the Scottish national team is going through an extended period of failing to qualify for major championships and is without a manager. Could you explain what you would do to try to ensure that Scotland can get to international tournaments?

Me: Firstly, we would have to set the terms for any new manager to operate under. I feel it would be wrong to, at this point, insist on qualification for Euro 2020 and believe any manager should be given a four year contract as standard. This would then give a manager the job security to put their mark on the national set up without having to worry about losing their job by the time Euro 2020 comes around. It is impossible for Scotland to get to a major tournament with short-termism and we have to look at implementing top-down strategies from the senior set up to Under 16 level in terms of how we want our national teams to play and what is most effective. Any decision on personnel to run the set up must then come secondary to that - for example, there would be little point in appointing, for example, a Sam Allardyce type figure if we want our teams to be known for keeping the ball on the ground.

To do this, I would look to canvass opinion from previous Scotland managers and also successful International managerial figures from across Europe with relevant experience (for example, Gianni De Biasi) to allow the SFA to set up a framework of how we want the national team to play, to operate and what best practices are there for us to attain success. From there, a small shortlist would be drawn up of managers whom we would wish to employ and a manager would be head-hunted on that basis. I do not feel that open applications to all would be an effective use of the time available to us and would rather focus on proactively identifying and getting the right person for the job. This would be with the aim of appointing a manager prior to the South American end of season tour while allowing Scot Gemmill to lead the team in the March friendlies.

Panel: At this time, we are looking at the location of the national team post-2020 with the lease at Hampden up for renewal. What are your thoughts on that?

I believe that Murrayfield is an attractive option but I would need time to have a full review of the financial figures prior to making a final decision on this. Certainly, for key games, I believe the larger capacity at Murrayfield has the potential to provide a large financial boon to the SFA but this comes in tandem with having to look at resolving the attendance issues the Scotland team has for smaller games and also potential clashes with Rugby games. For example, both the home games vs Slovenia and Malta in the most recent campaign saw crowds well under 30,000 and great consideration must be made to ensuring the Scotland games sell out where possible to ensure the best atmosphere at the games and also to ensure that our nation’s team looks well supported and has more of a buzz around it.

This means pro-active forecasting of crowds and ensuring that games take place in the most appropriate venue for the game in question be that Murrayfield or Hampden, Celtic Park or Ibrox or the new Aberdeen stadium, Easter Road or Tynecastle Park. I do also believe that the national side should tour the country although this has issues in itself - were the national side to move to Murrayfield from Hampden, there would then be no possibility to hold Scotland games in Glasgow due to the lack of a suitable, mid-sized arena in the city as, after all, were a game to be hosted at Celtic Park, then it is one that would have the appeal to be held at Murrayfield at lower cost. While I do not feel that Hampden is an ideal venue for both the national team and it’s supporters, I also feel that a move would have it’s own complexities going forward to attain what I feel is a vital aspect of what the SFA should be doing - making the national team available to as many people and in as many locations as possible.

Panel: We are currently looking at implementing the Project Brave vision, with the potential for including Colts teams in the league among other changes. What are your thoughts on this?

Me: There are, I believe, two elements hindering the implementation of Project Brave.

First, I believe it’s difficult for many fans to look past the previous issues in Malky Mackay’s career. Fans expect the Scotland team and set up to embody certain values, particularly when relating to changes the SFA wishes to make at youth level, and Malky Mackay would seem to fall short of those.

That is something football has to look at as a whole, particularly with the rise of movements such as Me Too - whether those in key positions and those who can be held up as examples for children are positive role models. As an example, on announcing the relaunch of the XFL, Vince McMahon stated morality clauses would be in contracts and that those with criminal convictions “even a DUI” would be barred from playing in the league. While I would certainly hesitate to go that far, it is only right to look at a code of conduct and at just how much we wish to see those who have wronged be rehabilitated in the public. At the highest level, those who have been proven to have committed racist or other discriminatory offences should not be considered unless a considerable amount of time has passed and, much as we ask owners to pass a fit and proper persons test, we should also look to extend that to new players coming into the league who have previous criminal convictions as to whether they have the sort of moral fibre we must, in 2018, demand players and all those working in football to have.

Secondly, fans, particularly those of smaller clubs, are concerned that larger clubs, in particular Celtic and Rangers, are being given licence to steamroller their way into the league for colt sides without the SFA or SPFL getting much in the way in return. That is a balance that has to be redressed. In no way would I endorse “taking on” the clubs, but it has to be visible that for the SFA to allow something they are pushing for, such as Colt sides, that something is being given back in return.

Panel: Such as?

Me: Primarily, I would be looking at broad changes in how the Scottish football is organised, broadcasted and marketed. For example, to allow Colt sides in the league would have to be open to all clubs and would have to be financially viable both for the Colt teams and smaller clubs in the League structure. In our League system, we currently have 76 clubs including the Highland and Lowland Leagues and, as a minimum, we should expect all eight Elite youth academies as graded by Project Brave to be able to enter a Colts team into this. Bringing our League system up to 84 clubs will require a reorganisation, particularly as 52 of those will be at the fourth tier or lower and a move to regionalise the fourth tier into two leagues of 12 with the fifth tier being as two leagues of 14 may well be required to help smaller clubs out in terms of costs, provide more local derbies to aid attendances. That is a suggestion and thorough research would have to be completed before it would be put to clubs but if clubs are insisting on Colt teams in the leagues, they must be prepared to start at the bottom and also accept that change must occur to ensure it works in the most efficient manner possible.

Panel: You mentioned broadcasting. What opportunities would you explore in regard to this?

Me: We have to accept that we are in a market where our own fans are being aggressively targeted by clubs in England. Most fans have an English club they feel affinity to and the Premier League has ingrained itself to the extent where they have their own children’s programming. It is no longer a credible strategy to simply do the same as we see in England as that would only lead to a slow death of interest for many clubs. Therefore, we have to force ourselves to be market innovators. A key spend at the start would be to supply all clubs with high quality broadcasting equipment alongside the expansion of the Scottish FA’s marketing team and budget to include an editing team inhouse with the aim of, prior to the start of the 2018/19 season, all Scottish Cup games to be streamed live on Youtube and Facebook and, if the SPFL are able to assist with this contractually, this to be extended to all Scottish League games also (excluding any televised by major broadcasters).

This would then be graded on key metrics for an aggressive expansion of the amount of users using our online media outlets - currently, under 20,000 subscribe to the Scotland team’s Youtube channel. My aim would be for this to be over 100,000 within 12 months. As the future of broadcasting is online, making these investments serves only to improve Scottish football’s chances of making the leap to games being shown on Amazon, etc and for these companies to pay for the product.

This asks a lot of the clubs and, in exchange for their willingness to assist with this, I would seek to implement a centralised ticketing service for the clubs, based in Glasgow. This would serve to reduce costs to clubs from having to own their own ticketing systems and in staffing and, by basing it in Glasgow, the SFA could look to bring in the expertise that is currently in clubs such as Celtic and Rangers which would enable a central Scottish football ticketing agency to hit the ground running and also reduce any negative headlines over job losses. This would save clubs money, allow the SFA’s enlarged marketing team to get involved and even take the lead on promoting games to a larger audience that individual clubs can and provide a service that is easier and more accessible for consumers of the game.

I appreciate neither of these are cheap endeavours and the targets that would be in place for them are ambitious but I believe that these transformative changes are entirely necessary to ensure prosperity for clubs in the next decade. These changes would, I believe, futureproof Scottish football.

Panel: Finally, what would you do to increase revenues at the Scottish FA as your answers appear to be focusing on spending what reserves we have?

Me: I believe that the investments that I would look to make in Scottish football would be revenue generating in themselves. An increased marketing spend would be targeted on increasing engagement with the national team, with our club competitions and with clubs themselves thereby making our fans more likely to spend money. This will mean increased ticket sales for national team games, more eyes on the product, organic growth across social media as other key influencers latch onto our message and, ultimately, more money coming into the Scottish game as a whole.

Changing and expanding our broadcasting offering online does the same also. We know that thousands of fans are happy to watch illegal streams of non-televised games and this will trickle down to all levels. If we broadcast Ross County vs St Johnstone at 3pm on a Saturday on Youtube, thousands of people will watch because there is no alternative but rather than it going through a dodgy stream, it will come through the SFA’s own channels where we can own customer data and use it to improve what we offer going forward. I’m not offering guarantees that it will vastly improve income, but I can guarantee that it will be a lower cost than the cost of doing nothing. Proving this model works will mean we can then look at paid models and subscription fees that will bring in money that can be fed directly to clubs and to the grassroots of Scottish football as a whole, improving what we can offer at every level.

Panel: OK. Thank you for coming today. You’ve given us a lot to think over and we’ll be in touch…

5 days later, after seeing the announced CEO name come up on twitter…

Me: They announced HIM/HER! I was robbed!