Football's organisational outlook: Fans in the world of profit-minded approach of clubs

There has been a change of personnel at the top level of the Arsenal hierarchy recently. Ivan Gazidis who was the Chief Executive would be moving onto AC Milan. The role would be filled up by the dual team of Raul Sanllehi (Head of Football) and Vinai Venkatesham (Managing Director). Ivan Gazidis has played a major role in displacing the longstanding Manager, Arsene Wenger, from his duties and getting in Head Coach, Unai Emery.

Gazidis has been the face of the transition for Arsenal and felt it was pulled off fairly smoothly. As the fans were used to the presence of Arsene Wenger for so long, the search for his substitute representing the stability of the club was Gazidis for a few of them. Possibly, this was one of the reasons that might have made the Arsenal faithful to feel a bit unpleasant with the movement of Gazidis from the club so soon after a major change over the summer that the London Colney faithful are slowly moving on from.

Wenger was a nagging issue on various levels (depending on the fans, everyone had an opinion on this) but very few doubted his affection and trust towards the club. He was empathetic with them, spoke with them of all the things related to Arsenal Football club and put in the effort to make footballing sense around all the decisions taken.

He was the face of the Arsenal Football Club and also an immense fan. But Gazidis brought in a different point of view for the club that was transforming to run like an organisation. Gazidis was an employee serving the duties of the people owning the club.

A general organisational outlook

Organisations' functionality works on numbers. And generally, they work singularly on one number alone - profits. When an individual becomes the head of an organisation, their fundamental way of sustenance and the drive to continue are strongly dependent on making profits.

As the priorities unfold for the organisations, one of them would be to satisfy the stakeholders - a group of people who collectively own an enterprise. Now, the final say would be generally in the hands of the few who own the majority of shares. If the majority is retained by a single entity, the say in the organisation’s proceedings would rest only on one voice.

Organisations make money by providing a set of services to its customers - banks provide a service of trust towards its customer’s money, Food corporations provide the service of edible products that are to be paid and consumed by the users and the list goes on. In most of these cases, through competition, the user has a strong choice to opt the service from a particular entity - when the service is bad, one can move on to the other.

It is a matter of what serves best for the user. This is, more often than not, a transaction where a strong emotional connect is hard to find. And, it serves the purpose - competition ensures the best of the services at the best price across the spectrum for the user.

Football though is in a special spot. At least, it was.

Evolution of the profit approach

Traditionally, football has ventured into and thereby advanced from the depths of the society. People from the tiniest of regions played the game and came up with teams that represent their area - a lot of names of the clubs are just an extension of where they are from.

This has provided the people involved in the region to have a special connection for their own team - they would vouch for them to win the matches every time and back them to compete in every trophy religiously. And if their teams lose, they generally draw parallels to life and back them again.

The bond of a football club to the fan who follows it is not just a transaction - it is a relationship. It is not a choice as to what club to follow - it is a sense of identity and this generally sustains irrespective of the performances for a considerable amount of time.

If we for a moment go back and try to imagine how these clubs have built up or sustained - there would have been a bunch of local aficionados or entrepreneurs who chose to pool in money that can let a club sustain and represent them. The locals would come to watch the matches, back them to win with their eyeballs and tickets while they stay hopeful of going back home with memories.

The players, the investors and the fans were from the same region which would glue their ambition. The trust circle has been intact as the fans were confident that the efforts were maximised to give it all on the pitch.

Football is passionately followed by hundreds of millions across the globe

Now, as the sport has gotten bigger, viewership improved, then the stakes, then the money. There were players loaned from other parts of the land, there were fans who watched from other parts of the world and fell in love with the ones that connected with and consequently has driven investors who saw a huge bunch of people’s interest in this area. This only meant an opportunity to make money or build credibility elsewhere.

Slowly, the clubs changed hands. Football teams were owned not with the intention to win every match but to make money. The fans though did not change much. When a fan sits down to watch the match, he wants the team to still win, just like the old days. The difference though is that the trust circle is not that concrete anymore. There are multiple entities involved in the club hierarchy that might not have their focus solely to win each and every match.

At a few clubs that lie at the top, the club’s performance is a few slides in a presentation for their owners. It is not about whether this outlook for the sport is good or bad. Just that, in the case of industries other than sports, it wouldn’t affect the users' morale directly if the association is transactional.

But in the case of football, any action that’s made to maximise the chances of profit at the expense of improving the chances of winning the match would impact the ardent consumers, the fans deeply and consistently (there's a match every week).

Today, this sport is a global phenomenon. Football is watched by billions and played in most of the countries. As generations pass, the new set of fans are grown into the sport with this corporate setting in place. But, it would be hard to find a lot of clubs around where the entire system is focused on what the fans would like - to win. Possibly, the clubs would be ‘Profit and Loss’ statements at the end of the season. The fans would be having a different emotional trip though.