▶ Introduction
Let’s imagine that the conference room, the meeting place, as well as all the rest of the stadium space is the headquarters of our Club. Each person attending the event takes on the role of a Club employee. A new executive board has just been elected, which has taken the decision to make a new start for the last time and consequently to carry out the transformation to the Club of new format. Members of the executive board appear on stage, and additionally the heads of several departments and divisions, presenting their idea to the rest of the staff, seated in comfortable chairs. Both conference days simulate the beginning of a long-term process of Club transformation.
▶ Day 1
Elaboration of own “Club Development Model” (CDM) is the prerequisite for complex evolution of a football entity. For this reason, at the beginning we present the self-conceived “Club Development Model of FDI”. We are aware that the implementation of the model development process – which is a huge undertaking – involves various risks. This fact obliges us to diagnose potential sources of risk and find a way to effectively manage them within the framework of the CDM.
After analyzing the topic of risk, we deal with the setting up of a legal basis for the CDM, excluding certain types of danger, as well as supporting the transformation into a strong and autonomous Club. Aspects of risk and legal basis provide a very important background for the work on conceptual matters. In this context, we focus with the highest priority on the substantive foundation of the CDM, stimulating in parallel the understanding for wide impact of the developed pillars on the entirety of Club’s management and development.
The first stages of the evolution process are always two-pronged: implementation of the CDM with consideration of ongoing operations. We should operate no differently in the finance field. The decisive factor is the comparison of differences between the classical budget structure and the development budget structure. The latter is understood as the goal of financial transformation. To achieve the full benefit from the work described above, we need technological tools. Specifically, this means the IT system for managing the Club.
▶ Day 2
The next step determines our conviction that sporting sector is the most relevant development area of a professional football Club. First, we concentrate on the sports substantive basis, meaning the development of the “Complex football concept”, as well as the design of a multi-level correlation mechanism. Then we deal with the key factor of sports development and the multi-faceted evolution of the Club: this status in our CDM falls to the role of Sports Director, for which we apply a non-standard definition and a non-standard position profile.
Sports Director works from now on the basis of a much broader spectrum of operation areas and content scope, but only the initial stage of the transformation process still requires him to be fully involved in every phase of team squad building.
A flurry of responsibilities sometimes prevents us from pausing, but in the end we find – both Board Members and the Sports Director – time for reflection. Is our internal communication effective? Are we properly communicating decisions? And are we resilient enough to cope with misunderstanding and pressure? We are looking for answers and solutions. The psychological aspect is an extremely important complement to the conceptual work, to which we return again. It’s time to define a long-term development strategy, based on
the “Concept of Club Strategy”. We conduct the formulation of strategic goals from the perspective of the various “Club Development Areas”.
The final chord of the preliminary stage is before us. Changes in the executive board, the “Club Development Model”, the substantive foundations, visible adjustment of the budget structure, “Complex football concept”, a completely different interpretation of the Sports Director role, a clear strategy for the Club. We are facing a serious challenge regarding external communications as an important measure of CDM implementation.
