TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| 'My first aim was stability,' says FA chief executive Ian Watmore Ian Watmore tells Owen Gibson about the challenges of his first six months in charge of the FAThe location of the Football Association's new offices – a long trudge up Olympic Way, past retail parks and trading estates – reflects the new period of austerity in which its chief executive, Ian Watmore, has had to work since he arrived at the beginning of June.Its move from Soho Square to Brent makes sense in financial and figurative terms, saving the FA rent and serving as a reminder of both its place at the heart of the game and the financial millstone that the tortuous construction of Wembley placed upon it. But the £757m stadium is also a reminder of the undoubted highlight of Watmore's short tenure so far, as the place where Fabio Capello's England team secured qualification for the World Cup finals and unleashed a predictable wave of optimism about their prospects in South Africa next summer.The FA's contributions to Wembley loan repayments and other costs helped turn a £24m profit into a £15m loss in 2008. Watmore says he has identified the four-year period between the World Cup in South Africa next summer and that in Brazil four years later as the "critical" period for getting the FA's house in order structurally and financially. "My first job was and is to get stability and plans into the organisation for that period. Losing the Setanta deal was a big blow to us. It was a deal at the peak of the market," he says.With Watmore weeks into the job, Setanta, which had paid £150m for the TV rights to England friendlies and FA Cup matches, went bust. When added to the Wembley burden and the recession it presented Watmore with a major headache. "We decided that to do a new TV deal in a hurry was the wrong thing to do," says Watmore, who instead sold an extra FA Cup game to ITV and experimented with streaming others on the web for this season.Watmore said the recent £60m deal over four years from next season was "a good deal for ESPN and a good deal for us". But it leaves him with a dilemma over the main portion of the rights, held by ITV, for which the contract expires in 2012. He wants to extend it for two years to bring it into line with the other deals. ITV or the BBC are the natural free to air home but there are fears neither will be in a position to pay anything like the current £69m per year. Watmore disagrees, pointing to the reversal in England's fortunes under Capello: "To be negotiating England at a time when we're doing so much better, we've got the Fabio factor and so on, is an offset."That feelgood factor has helped drive key sponsorship renewals with Tesco, Carlsberg and McDonald's, and a new deal with Mars through to 2014, but negotiations with the lead England sponsor, Nationwide, are dragging on and its exclusivity period has now passed. He also needs to find a replacement for the FA Cup sponsor E.ON. With the departure of the commercial director, Jonathan Hill, in the midst of a crucial round of renegotiations, Watmore has taken personal charge.The dash for cash has led the FA into new territories. Watmore says he "won't rule in or out" the idea of signing a betting partner for the first time and confirms that a sponsorship deal for Wembley is firmly on the agenda. "We'd have to work it out precisely but we won't be calling this the x, y, z Wembley stadium or the Somethingorother.com Wembley. Wembley will remain Wembley, the national stadium," he says.Wembley's tortuous construction predates Watmore's tenure, but he will be dealing with the fallout for years to come. He estimates the FA's contribution to Wembley, in the shape of services rendered and ongoing loan repayments, at around £20m a year until 2014, when he says it will break even and "a different kind of arrangement" can be reached.The hole in the FA's finances caused by Setanta's collapse, and exacerbated by the Wembley situation and the recession, has been absorbed by a round of cuts to shave 10% off its cost base. Watmore says it was "satisfying" to have been able to do so without cutting into the FA's headcount, which numbered 412 in 2008 and a further 132 at Wembley, or diminishing its spending on grassroots football through the Football Foundation. However £4m of its £15m-a-year contribution to the body will have to be deferred for a year. He says the calibre of the people employed by the FA has been the "biggest surprise". "From the outside the FA gets talked down so much, [so] to come in and find this very talented, vibrant, young, buzzy staff ... that's the last place I want to cut into. I want to give them the best opportunity to help football, which is what we're about," he says.If some of his predecessors have been guilty of becoming distracted by the stardust of the England set-up or been undone by private indiscretions that became very public, it is hard to imagine Watmore doing either. If anything, he positively revels in the detail of some of the less glamorous parts of the job – expressing as much enthusiasm for the launch of the new women's super league or a drive to boost grassroots participation as Capello's World Cup prospects.He has also made progress on the long-delayed concept of a National Football Centre in Burton-on-Trent a priority. With it now redefined as a centre of excellence for coaching, sports science and psychology, but not for players, he says former the Ipswich chairman and FA board member David Sheepshanks has come up with a workable proposal that will be unveiled at the end of the season. Watmore seems confident that private funding will finally be found to get the scheme going.As the senior civil servant once given the task of sorting out the Byzantine problems of the government's IT investments, he is well used to complex challenges. The periodic implosions on the 2018 bid board have not troubled him, he insists. Despite the well-publicised enmity between the chairmen of the two organisations, Watmore says he has been quietly building a good working relationship with his Premier League opposite number and focusing on policy rather than personalities."I think I got on well with Richard Scudamore from the very beginning and I continue to do so. We have regular meetings, swapping ideas. We even went to the Tottenham game together last week. We've done a lot on the last six months to get the FA and the Premier League working co-operatively together on all sorts of fronts," he says.When he has not been buried in balance sheets, Watmore has spent much of his first six months on the road, meeting everyone from club chief executives to league administrators, county FA members and other stakeholders. The reports from those meetings have been largely positive, suggesting that Watmore is making some progress in squaring off the often competing interests of the different levels of the game. "It starts by not being ivory tower-ish and antagonistic. It then moves into real issues you work through together. And from that point on, the public image starts to change because what's happening on the ground is changing," he insists.How all this squares with his chairman's pointed "cry for help" for reform of the FA's governance arrangements, made during a fractious period earlier this year when the former culture secretary Andy Burnham tried to provoke a debate on the game's future, is unclear. And unfortunately the 2018 bid, over which Watmore has no say, has become the canvas on which the petty rifts of English football's upper echelons have been painted in recent months, culminating in the self-serving resignation of the Premier League chairman, Sir Dave Richards, from the bid. To many of the public, the image of blazered buffoonery and endless ineffectual debate in committee rooms persists, fair or not."I know it's sloganistic, but I say 'let's build bridges not walls'. I keep emphasising that Football Association has two words in its name," says Watmore, slipping into cringeworthy management speak for the only time. "So let's keep it focused on football and the fact it's an association, which means a grouping of people with common interests – global, European, our big leagues, counties, all the players, managers and everybody else."There have been persistent calls for reform of the FA, most recently from the sports minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, who demanded that the remainder of the changes demanded by Lord Burns in 2005 be adopted in full as a precursor to it becoming a more representative and diverse organisation. If Watmore shares those concerns, he is too savvy to say so. "In terms of the structure, it is what it is. My style is to make up your mind what the right thing is, having listened and talked to people," he says. "Then put forward a plan for doing it and, generally speaking, people back you."History suggests Watmore will have done well if he is able to see out the four-year World Cup cycle that he says will be crucial in restructuring the FA's finances and securing its future at the heart of the game. If he does so, it will not be with reforming zeal but with low key, steely diplomacy. If Capello keeps delivering on the pitch, it might just give him the breathing space to do so.The FAWembley stadiumOwen Gibsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Tony Parks works wonders for Heurelho Gomes as Tottenham Hotspur draw at Fulham Spurs miss chance to go third in table but were hanging on against an impressive side who kept Heurelho Gomes busy. telegraph.co.uk |
Togo pulls out of African Cup after three die in attack on team bus Togo's national soccer team pulled out of the African Cup of Nations Saturday after three people were killed when the team bus ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Football's fashion idols: Roberto Mancini sets scarf trend Roberto Mancini isn't first manager to receive attention for way he dresses. telegraph.co.uk |
Today in Sport: Discuss the day's big stories Discuss the day's big issues, send us your favourite links, follow us on Twitter and take a look at our 2010 sport calendar7.55am: Good morning and welcome to our daily sports news blog. Throughout the day we will update this page with news, links, and what's expected to happen in the hours ahead. Time permitting, we'll try to wade in below the line, answering your questions and comments. We'll shortly have an update on how we expect the news to develop after the morning meeting but in the meantime here's what has happened at the Australian Open while you've been snoozing:In the men's last 16, Nikolay Davydenko took his winning streak to 13 matches with a gruelling five-set win over Spain's Fernando Verdasco, while Novak Djokovic cruised to another straight sets win, this time over Poland's Lukasz Kubot.In the women's last 16, Venus Williams recovered after losing the first set to Francesca Schiavone of Italy to reach the quarter-finals after a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 win. While her sister, Serena, had no such drama as she beat Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-4, 6-2. Other sport talking points: The New Orleans Saints reached their first Super Bowl after a thrilling 31-28 overtime victory over the Minnesota Vikings. They will face The Indianapolis Colts, who beat the New York Jets 30-17.Algeria's quarter-final victory over Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations. A surprise defeat for Didier Drogba's team?And, of course, Robinho's likely farewell at Manchester City. Had City not tried to fit him into a "system" - which seems to be Robinho's main point of contention - would they have seen the best of him?Oh, and with Man Utd, Liverpool and now Arsenal out of the FA Cup, is it a disappointment this season? Or is it better for it?9.15am: Laura Robson has stormed through her first-round match of the Australian Open girls' championship, conceding only one game against Belinda Woolcock of Australia. Looking ahead, Andy Murray is last on tomorrow against Rafael Nadal, around 8am GMT. TD9.20am Roger Federer has motored through the first set of his fourth-round match against Lleyton Hewitt, winning it 6-2. Can anyone stop him? TD10.00am: Today's Rumour Mill is in, wondering whether Yossi Benayoun could be heading east, and trying to come to terms with the fact that Robinho really could actually, finally, be leaving Manchester City. Meanwhile, Roger Federer is now two sets up against Lleyton Hewitt. TD10.15am: Here's what we're expecting today:* Press conferences from Liverpool, Spurs, Burnley, West Ham* Portsmouth are hopeful their transfer embargo will be lifted* Zambia v Nigeria and Egypt v Cameroon in the Africa Cup of Nations* England's rugby union squad get-together* And Bill McLaren's funeral11.15am Lleyton Hewitt made a bit more of a fight of it in the third set, but Roger Federer has gone through in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, and will meet Nikolai Davydenko in the quarter-finals.Elsewhere, crowds have turned out to honour Bill McLaren on the day of the rugby union commentator's funeral in his home town of Hawick.And Kevin Mitchell has blogged on why Frank Warren will soon get over the loss of Amir Khan. TD11.54am: Having your Dad's cast-offs at your disposal isn't always a blessing ... unless you're Darren Ferguson. It was only a matter of time before Manchester United's youngsters started to show up on loan at Deepdale; the first of those is the 19-year-old Danny Welbeck, who has joined on a season-long loan, although whether he is a blessing or not is a moot point. Preston certainly need pace in attack (the heavy-set Jon Parkin and Neil Mellor lollop more than sprint) and Welbeck needs regular games to prove that he can be more than a bit part player in the top flight. GR1.00pm: Two sides have dominated the Africa Cup of Nations above any of teh other nations: Egypt and Cameroon - and we'll have live minute-by-minute coverage when the two sides meet today in the quarter-finals at 4pm. While giving his mind a break from writing about the tactical nuances of Russian teams in the 1950s, Jonathan Wilson, our man in Africa, has penned this blog on why Ahmed Hassan and Rigobert Song face a legacy-defining battle. GR1.55pm: Calum Davenport has pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting his sister. While Notts County need to find £2m by Wednesday to see off a winding-up from HM Revenue and Customs in the latest exciting twist in the development of their "project".José Mourinho predictably put himself centre stage after Internazionale's 2-0 derby victory over Milan yesterday. Read Paolo Baldini's analysis. TD3:15pm Steven Gerrard has recovered more quickly than expected from his hamstring injury and could face Wolves tomorrow, which is good news for a Liverpool side who according to Martin Skrtel will apparently have loads more energy than their rivals in the run-in, the Reds being unencumbered by the tiresome burden of trying to win other competitions. They could even finish third, he says.In racing, Denman is being geared up for a Gold Cup prep-run at Cheltenham this weekend.And Barry Glendinning will be along shortly to give you minute-by-minute action from the Egypt-Cameroon Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final. Follow it here. TD5.10pm: Apologies for the lengthy silence, this afternoon's been a bit of a busy one in the office. Football Weekly is now up on the site though, you can take a listen here. Up for discussion today, among other things: Robinho's possible departure, Wayne Rooney's red-hot form and Ricardo Fuller's earrings. KM6.17pm: That's about it blog-wise for today but there are a couple of pieces of breaking rugby union news to bring you: Steve Borthwick will retain the England captaincy for the Six Nations and Matt Stevens will join Saracens next year when his two-year ban for cocaine use expires. Elsewhere, the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final between holders Egypt and Cameroon has gone into extra time, with Egypt now 3-1 up. Thanks for your comments today and see you tomorrow. KMGregg RoughleyTom Daviesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |