All tagged communications

Adrian Bevington: Crisis communications, football and the coronavirus

Like every industry, sport is trying to cope with the impact of the coronavirus and understand how it will reemerge once the current crisis has passed. In uncertain times, clear and effective communication is always crucial.

Adrian Bevington has managed this function at a number of high-profile football organisations, most notably the English FA. He has also held key strategic roles.  

Bevington is well-placed to articulate the core tenets of effective communications at this time but also articulate the opportunity to reframe a better, more socially-responsible football industry once society returns to some semblance of normality.

Luke Sutton: Mental health, elite athletes and finding a 'new balance'

Luke Sutton is trying to change the narrative around mental health and elite athletes, using lessons from his own story.

At the end of a long career in county cricket, team-mates staged an intervention over his alcohol-consumption and self-destructive behaviour.

On retirement, Sutton became an agent for one of those concerned friends, record-breaking England Test bowler Jimmy Anderson. Since then the agency has expanded, taking on footballers, boxers and Olympians.

At the end of 2019, Sutton released a book called Back from the Edge, which recounts the mental descent during his time as a wicketkeeper-batsman and how he turned his life around.

Sutton has vowed to run his agency with his clients' long-term well-being in mind, even if that leaves 'money on the table'. He also has strong views on the way elite athletes are perceived and how they are handled by the press, public and the sporting authorities.

Nicola Palios: How to create a community football club

Tranmere Rovers have been a true footballing success story in the last five years. The other team from Liverpool had just slipped out of the Football League when Mark and Nicola Palios bought the club. There was even a danger they might case to exist.

Since then they have had trips to Wembley, a couple of promotion but, just as importantly, built a solid football business with a positive impact on its local community.

The Palios’ have just finished their first five-year plan. It concluded with this husband and wife team taking on investment from Indonesia, a place close to my heart.

Vice-chair Nicola talked to me about Tranmere’s turnaround, the crucial revenue-raising community schemes, the importance of pro-active communication and what their next five-year plan may bring