Professionalization of Modern Sport - Manchester United Experience - Case Study Example

Professionalization of modern sport- for profit or Glory Introduction Sports are considered as all the forms of physical activity that can be competitive through participation that is casual or organized. Several hundreds of sports do exist in the modern sporting activities from those that require only the participation of two people through those that needs hundreds of simultaneous participants in teams or individuals competing (Blakeley 2010). With time, sports have become more organized and regulated compared with the past centuries. Increased leisure time for most citizens in the already developed and the developing countries have been brought to the increasing levels of industrialization. This has led to more time for the people to attend and followed spectator sports. With the advent of mass media in the contemporary world, these trends continued progressing at a faster rate leading to professionalism in sports. Today, professionalism in sports has become prevalent. This has further increased the popularity of sports as the fans of the sports begin following the exploits of professionals athletes. This happens through mass media, all while enjoying the exercise and the competition that is mostly associated with the amateurs participating in sports. The development of today’s football is closely related to the industrialization process. Most of the Britain’s new working class inhabitants of the industrial towns and cities are seeking fresh forms of enjoying leisure collectively. In addition, the increase in the levels of adult literacy has also spurred the mass media to cover sports that are organized such as football. The popularity of football has played a huge role in eroding the public interest in other sports like cricket (Szymanski 1998). The issue of professionalism in football reached a crisis in England in the year 1884 when football association (FA) expelled two clubs for using players who were professionals. However, players receiving wages had become a common thing by then that the FA had no powered but to sanction the practice a year later. With the growing influence of the players who were working, the upper classes were forced to seek refuge in other sports. With modernization, professionalism in football was inevitable. This led to the establishment of a football league that led to the competition among several teams. During this time, several clubs in England were owned and controlled by businessmen but the shareholders were receiving low dividends if any. Their main reward was only enhanced by the status of the public through running of the local clubs (Oberstone 2009). Later on, several overseas leagues followed the British model that included league championships of at least one cup competition every year and hierarchy of leagues. Despite the introduction of professionalism in various European countries and especially England, a comprehensive and a league that was fully professional only emerged sixty years later. Most professional leagues across several countries began the period of the year 1932 (Blakeley 2010). Today, professionalism in English football has reached a new level. Football is now a profession, and several clubs are competing by splashing huge sum of money in improving and creating better standards and services of the spectators including seeking the services of the highly skilled professional footballers. In England, several football clubs are spending money in professional football towards luring the skilled players and developing the clubs infrastructure. Despite this, Manchester United, and Liverpool are the only two renowned clubs that are known to have splash huge sum of money to leading to rivalry in both off and on the pitch (Szymanski 1998). Key Governance Issues for Manchester United Stakeholders Manchester is surrounded by millions of stakeholders who have a varying degree of influence on the club. They determine the direction and future performance of the club. These stakeholders include shareholders, fans, media, players and coaches (Spitzeck & Hansen 2010) . The whole community plays a certain part in determining the performance of the club through direct and indirect support. Shareholders mainly represent the escalating concern of Manchester united on the main stock exchange, lending them the possibility to step up their fiscal performance, inclined towards working as a company rather than a football club (Blakeley 2010). These shareholders anticipate a satisfactory outcome once they invest their money in the club. Manchester united funs that are approximated to be 659 million, form the largest body of stakeholders and are not only found in Europe but all over the world (Shaw 2007). These fans are considered the main customers Manchester United clearly explained by their large turn out during English Premier League and other soccer competitions in Europe. Funs are the main target for both media and merchandising; their large numbers is the strength for laying a sustainable business that basically takes the form of a company (Robertson 2004). As customers, funs expect quality performance of the club as well as favourable conditions for them to participate in the club activities. Although funs do not have keen on the amount of net profit, they have a very strong emotional attachment to the team. Their relation to the team is compacted by the good performance; any poor outcome has always broken their hearts. The Manchester united management has to consider the opinion of its funs regarding the structuring of the game, complains and constructive ideas that can boost the overall performance (Hill & Vincent 2006). Just like a company, which involves every member, Manchester united management has the responsibility of listening to its stakeholders. Since funs are more concerned with the performance of the team, they often conduct game analysis that in most cases it is not different from that of experts. They observe so much about players, the organization of the team and most importantly note the strengths and weaknesses of the team. According to the football consultation information, Manchester united wills to consult its fans on a regular basis via special forum that is done annually (Barros & Leach 2006). This entails conducting a survey to determine the level of satisfaction of all stakeholders. Another very sensitive issue concerning the primary stakeholders who in this case are fans is the tickets both at home and away. Despite the fact that there is a major problem of excessive demand of tickets for home ground games, the management must devise a strategy of ensuring fairness across the socioeconomic level of fans. Manchester united has a special commitment to broadening the access to matches through a number of ways such as: including future season ticket holders to antecedence list, in conjunction with premier leagues regulations, apportioning a minimum number of seats leverage for non-season ticket buyers (Szymanski 1998). Furthermore, fans aged 16-17 and above 65 are required to pay half a price tickets, the rest of the people should and official members have to pay a maximum of £20 for every single match. Tickets for matches away from home ground are sold to executive members as well as season ticket holders (McDonald 2010). This must be in consultation with the fans forum. Tickets are allocated after harmonizing between the so called standard and loyal pot. Games officials also qualify to apply for tickets when Manchester united participates in European away games. In the case of domestic and European cup finals, the executive club members and season ticket bearers who meet the qualifications are eligible and are given first priority. In addition, the ground areas of the stadium are especially reserved for families as well as special areas for fans with disabilities. For transparency and efficiency, ticket booking is done online at manutd.com or via phone call. This ensures that the interest of Manchester united fans is well taken care of regardless of the social and economic background (Bradley et al. 2009). A lot of changes have taken place when it comes to team management and ownwership.to survive all through these years of victory Manchester united has special governance regulation that ensures that its ownership lands in safe hands for a better future. For instance in May 2005 when Malcolm Glazer an American tycoon gain control of Manchester United, fans raised a lot of complains and become apprehensive of the change in ticket prices. Malcolm Glazer had acquired full control of Manchester united and no other buyer would outsmart him, this raised alarms by the fact that an individual personalizing such a football club will mean a lot of unwanted changes and consequently compromising the performance (Barros & Leach 2006). In accordance with the law governing football clubs in England, new management must take care of the needs of both customers and the players (Michie & Oughton 2005). Although change is inevitable, the new management should not make unnecessary changes without consulting with all stakeholders. Anything that affects Manchester united must first of all be tabled and discussed through various forums. A decision is then made basing on the findings from the discussion and analysis of facts availed. It is therefore mandatory that all stakeholders are involved in matters affecting the club, as they contributions are relevant and constructive. Priorities to be considered by Manchester United Management Manchester united management face very stiff completion from other clubs such as Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal. Without proper management and prioritization, it is very challenging to maintain good performance in the English Premier League (EPL) (Hill & Vincent 2006). Here are some of the factors the Manchester United management must strive to utilize in order to cope with the demanding and competitive football matches. Manchester united management must cater for the interests of all its stakeholders, it has to have an elaborate way of handling complains and recognizing complements as well. Success of any football club relies on the type of its stakeholders, for instance a very supportive and patriotic body of stake holders gives a club an upper hand not only through financially but also moral support. The driving force of a team heavily relies on the external environment besides the intrinsic motivation (Smith 2003). The management must utilize the strengths of Manchester united to attract more support while cruising through the top most position in terms of football club performance. Manchester united has a well-established global brand name and is undisputedly one of the richest football clubs. It has also distinguished marketing global brand and super quality merchandising. Furthermore, it has Old Trafford with a capacity of 75000 fans. The management can give priority to these strengths and utilize them to make the team stronger and enhance performance to enviable level (Oberstone 2009). The management should also prioritize on handling the identified weakness that can pin down Manchester united. For example, the management should ensure that factors such as financial constraints and the concentrated English football market do not vehemently shake the team, compromising its performance. To ensure that they do not run into financial problems, the management team should have a clear budget that will cover all the expenses of the club. This means that through the English premier League, the team should have enough money to buy new players, pay players as well as coaches and other necessary expenses (Barros & Leach 2006). Just like a company, Manchester united has a number of threats and opportunities. The management also can priorities on addressing these two influential factors to position the team in an adorable and stable place. The club has the opportunity to win the support of global fan footings such as India, the USA and china. In addition, enhancing club advertising and brand profile will help establish on the brand impartiality. On the other hand the club management should strategize and prioritize on how to deal with threats such as competition from other top clubs in buying out best player in preparation for the English premier League season (Richardson et al. 2012). Other threats that require attention include internal club wrangles; that is between players and management as well as financial liabilities incurred as a result of buying expensive players. Other priorities include observing code of conduct, upholding the disabled supporters policy, the privacy policy, observing the complaints and grievance procedure. Most importantly, the club should ensure that both home and away tickets are accessible in time and for all, especially the season ticket holders (Hill & Vincent 2006). All these factors combined form a stable ground for the team to take off for higher performance and merchandise. In summary, Manchester united is better placed if all its stakeholders understand their defined roles. Governance issues revolve around shareholders, fans, players and coaches. The shareholders are supposed to enhance the welfare of the team while the management must work to provide satisfactory services to the fans such as ticket pricing. To better the performance, Manchester united management must lay strategies and priorities to utilize its strengths and opportunities. The management must also prioritize on addressing the threats and weaknesses of the club to ensure the team remains competitive and among the top performing clubs. References Barros, C.P. & Leach, S., 2006. Performance evaluation of the English Premier Football League with data envelopment analysis. Applied Economics, 38(12), pp.1449–1458. Blakeley, G., 2010. Governing ourselves: Citizen Participation and governance in Barcelona and Manchester. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 34(1), pp.130–145. 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