Mark Bowen, Fmr Premier League Player & Manager: ‘Man City accidentally bid £35m for Messi’ (Ep48)
Release Date: 12/03/2024
Ben Calveley, The British & Irish Lions CEO: “We Need Some Wins; This Is A High Performance Team!” (Ep68)
Business of Sport
Today we’re delighted to welcome the British and Irish Lions CEO Ben Calveley to the show. The Lions are one of the most iconic institutions in sport. Made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, this team which tours once every four years is the pinnacle of many a rugby player's career. In just a few weeks, the team will begin its tour of Australia, trying to win a series for only the third time in the last 30 years. This highlights how difficult it actually is for the Lions to be successful. There are few things more difficult than winning away in New Zealand, South...
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Charlotte O’Neill, Manchester City Women Managing Director, ‘Why Is Women’s Football Expected To Be Profitable When Men’s Football Isn’t!?’
Business of Sport
Today we’re delighted to welcome Manchester City Women’s Director Charlotte O’Neill to the show. This is a part of the game we talk about a lot. The growth of women’s football has been in turbo over the last decade, both in the UK and beyond. Man City have been one of the clubs leading that charge, compiling a squad of world class talent with the facilities and infrastructure to deliver on a long term ambition, to be the best women’s team in the world. But behind this is a broad range of both successes and major challenges to overcome. From developing female first brands with unique...
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Steven Elworthy, Surrey County Cricket CEO: ‘Is County Cricket Sustainable?' (Ep66)
Business of Sport
Today we’re delighted to welcome Surrey County Cricket CEO Steve Elworthy to the show, our first venture into one of the toughest businesses in sport. Surrey is a historic institution in a historic sport, part of a club set up integral to the development of all cricket, including the much loved short form franchise tournaments that dominate today. But well documented, the clubs are struggling big time. Surrey, as you’ll hear, is not one of them. By far the best team chasing a 4th consecutive championship, a key piece of infrastructure generating tens of millions a year, a perfect...
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Joe Gorman, Exeter City CEO: ‘The Club with 4700 Owners!’ (Ep65)
Business of Sport
Today we welcome Exeter City CEO Joe Gorman. This show is long in the making. One of the most requested guests we have had. Why? Well Exeter are one of football’s biggest rarities; a fan owned club. This means they cannot rely on the wealth and exuberance enjoyed by many to succeed on and off the pitch. They actually have to try and make the business make sense. Punching above their weight for many years, the club sits in League One alongside mega rich teams like Birmingham and Wrexham, and are more than competitive. So how does a club owned by 4700 fans paying £24 a year compete at the top...
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Nicolas Julia, Sorare Founder: ‘Building a $4bn Fantasy Sports Empire’ (Ep64)
Business of Sport
Today we welcome Nicolas Julia, founder of Sorare, the record breaking platform that blends fantasy sport with digital collectibles. This is a step beyond the fantasy football/F1/rugby you may already be a part of. It’s an open market, providing the chance to show your skills and talent identification to buy, select and trade tangible assets in the form of player cards. They are reimagining sport for the digital age, combining NFT’s, global partnerships, and strategic gameplay to create a fan-owned, athlete connected future of sports entertainment. From signing partnerships with the...
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Jimmie Johnson, 7x NASCAR Champion: 'Has the Rise of F1 Been Good For NASCAR?' (Ep63)
Business of Sport
Today we welcome 7-time NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson, a racing legend. Motorsport has never been bigger. The Liberty Media world of F1 has exploded, MotoGP has sold for over $4bn, but what about NASCAR? The US's second most watched sport is an entertainment and commercial giant, yet outside of America, it’s fair to say exposure is limited. Jimmie Johnson is one of the most successful drivers to grace any track; think Lewis Hamilton or Michael Schumacher. He is the joint record holder for most Championships won, dominating the sport in the noughties winning 5 titles in a row. Now, he’s...
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Andrew Parkinson, Plymouth Argyle CEO: ‘Hiring Rooney, Beating Liverpool, and Fighting for Championship Survival’ (Ep62)
Business of Sport
This week, we take a look inside one of the most talked about clubs this season. From hiring Wayne Rooney as manager to knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup, it’s been a crazy season for Plymouth and CEO Andrew Parkinson. Even more so when the club finds itself bottom of the championship fighting for survival. But this is a club that continually outperforms its budget, competing against teams with 6x bigger budgets, and that’s what we want to get into today. How do you build success in a football club when you can’t rely on money to win? On today's show we discuss: Economics of a...
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Bill Sweeney, RFU CEO: Behind the Curtain of Rugby's Most Scrutinised Organisation (Ep61)
Business of Sport
This week, we’re delighted to welcome the CEO of the RFU, Bill Sweeney, to the show. There’s no hiding from the fact it’s been a hard few months for the organisation and Bill personally. Significant losses reported last year alongside the now infamous LTIP scheme generated an unrelenting flow of negative press and questions of the leadership. This show is about understanding the financial health of the RFU and wider sport. And it’s certainly not as bad as many would have you believe. Fueling the almost holistic negativity around Rugby, which we have talked about many times on the...
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Simon Leslie: Eastbourne Borough Owner, ‘Non-League Clubs Deserve Better’ (Ep60)
Business of Sport
Welcome to the business of Non-League football. Beneath the top four tiers of the revered English football pyramid sits a whole other football world; hundreds of teams, players, coaches, owners playing week in week out to climb the ladder. Jamie Vardy, Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen, Tyrone Mings have all played non-league football. ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ recently storied the quality that exists and the difficulty in getting out of it. I’ve wanted to do a show focused on this from day one, so I’m delighted to welcome Eastbourne Borough owner Simon Leslie to the show. This is the fully...
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Liam Dooley: Shrewsbury Town CEO, ‘How to Work With the Smallest Budget in League One’ (Ep59)
Business of Sport
Another first class Football League CEO in the studio this week. Liam Dooley has been in charge of Shrewsbury town, League one’s longest serving club, since 2023. Operating on the smallest budget in the division, balancing good business with competitive performance is not easy. Shrewsbury have had 10 consecutive years at this level, but are currently bottom of the league having lost their last four games. But, with their latest accounts showing they have halved their annual losses, the business side has impressed. With a top manager like Gareth Ainsworth in charge on the pitch, the fight is...
info_outlineToday we speak to a man who has been in and around football for over 40 years. Mark Bowen played over 400 games at the top of English football for the likes of Tottenham, Norwich and West Ham, before transitioning into management as both a head coach and assistant. For much of his management career he has partnered with Mark Hughes, acting as his assistant manager at Man City, Stoke, Southampton, Fulham and QPR.
Most recently Mark has spent a number of years with Reading, and is currently going through a delicate process around his exit from the club; a conversation for another time.
However this is something that we have wanted to do for a long time. Quite a lot of our shows fall into the more serious ‘business of sport’ category. Having got to know Mark, this is someone that has seen the inner workings of clubs transacting at the highest level, and has some incredible stories to tell off the back of it. From being at Man City when they were bought by Sheik Mansour and the Abu Dhabi Group to being in the opposing dugout for QPR when Aguero scored THAT goal, this played to the kid in both of us while emphasising the fact that the business of football isn’t always a smooth process.
Kick back and enjoy some proper tales of signings, sackings, and outrageous transfer bidding.
On today’s show we discuss:
The birth of the new Man City:
- Which players did Sheik Mansour want to sign as a statement transfer when he bought the club?
- How do you integrate a load of new players to form a cohesive team when the money is flowing and budgets are virtually endless.
- The incredible transfer story of signing both Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta after the sale of one key player, and the conversation he had to have with Kompany when he arrived.
- Lionel Messi for £35m? How the club accidentally bid for one of the greatest players ever.
- Why was Mark Hughes fired by the club with the club flying in both the league and cups, and what happens to managers when they get that call?
Tales from Stoke, Southampton, and QPR:
- Turning Stoke into a top performing Premier League club who were able to attract top European talent like Bojan and Shaqiri.
- Overseeing a QPR team struggling for survival in the League with Joey Barton as captain and Tony Fernandes as owner.
- The Man City title win story…from the QPR dugout: what does Mark attribute that memorable Aguero moment to?
- Moving to Southampton and the challenge of managing top teams when there is an agreement to sell players you want to keep.
Football vs Money:
- Harry Redknapp’s reaction to Mark leaving West Ham to sign for a Japanese club…and the number that persuaded him the offer was too good to turn down.
- How to manage your personal life in football when the team takes you away from your family and home. Is it worth it?
- Is it always about the money, or do players need to be incentivised by other things in and around clubs?
- Where was Mark at his happiest both as a player and a manager?
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