Simulation Case Reports - Duncastle United PDF

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SIMULATIONCASEREPORTS– DUNCASTLEUNITED FOOTBALLCLUB

 Joseph Khoury, Thomas Gardner, Cameron McMurray, Daniel Moffitt, Jason SHi

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Table of Contents Title Page Submission 1: On-Field Performance

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PersonSpecification 3 JobDescription

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CoachDecision

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CriticalReflectionofCurrentCoach 4 Submission 2: Off-Field Performance Decision1–InfrastructureDevelopment Decision2–SponsorshipDeal

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Decision3–MarketingandAdvertising SocialMedia

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Decision4–TicketPricing

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Submission 3: Critical Incident Management

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PublicRelationsPerspective 8 Legal/GovernancePerspective DisciplinaryAction

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CodeofConduct 9 PlayerWelfarePerspective

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Appendices 10 Appendix1:PersonSpecification

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Appendix2:OnandOff-FieldGoalsandObjectives

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Appendix3:ComparisonofChosenManagerwithOtherPotentialManagers 12 Appendix4:PressRelease

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Appendix5:CodeofConduct 14 Reference List15

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Submission 1: On-Field Performance Person Specification (See Appendix 1)

Job Description Background: The overall aim of Duncastle united Football Club is to promote a winning culture and improve the club’s overall performance. Duncastle United is a club that has struggled in recent seasons and is currently in a relegation battle in the premier division. In the past Duncastle United was once the most successful club in the Premier division. Job Description: The core purpose of the Manager/ Head Coach position will be to manage the First team and ensure improved performances on the field as well as harmony off the field. the Manager will also be expected to ensure harmony amongst the first team players and build a cohesive chemistry in the squad. Moreover, expertise in the transfer market and investing efficiently is crucial to ensuring the teams success whilst maintaining the club’s financial strength. Work Term: 24-month contract Salary: 50,000 Notes: It must be noted that the club will be considering candidates who are both currently unemployed and employee The club is willing to pay 500,000 pounds in compeqnsation to acquire the correct candidate should the candidates club require compensation. There will be a one-year extension pending club approval. Location: Duncastle, England

Coach Decision We have decided to sign manager Bobby Felan, who we believe will assist Duncastle United in accomplishing its on and off field goals and objectives (see Appendix 2). At 61 years old, Felan has had over 20 years managerial experience in Europe which we assert will guide the club to a Premier Division title. This experience, along with coming 2nd in the Premier Division in his first season as a manager and winning the Spanish title twice, suggests reaching the semi-finals of the League Cup and Qualifying for the European Cup are not farfetched goals. His good reputation and previous success will contribute to completion of our on-field objectives of attracting and motivating elite players and developing youth, which will in turn lead to the realisation of off-field goals relating to improved financial performance and building a strong and supportive fan base. Felan’s expertise will also allow fulfillment of off3|Page

field objectives such as securing television broadcast rights deals and establishing corporate sponsor relationships. Other potential managers lacked the qualities required to meet these goals and objectives. For example; Graham Bell’s short four-year stint in management, Claudio Mursia’s inability to speak English and thus inspire players, Tommy Hughes’ poor attitude to player development, Alan King’s low status, and Henri Auberlin’s price tag meant Felan was the man for the job (see Appendix 3). This decision, as well as our on and off field goals and objectives, have been modelled on Manchester United Football Club. Their vision, set by former manager and legend Sir Matt Busby – “At United, we strive for perfection. And if we fail, then we might just have to settle for excellence.” – encapsulates our aspiration for Duncastle United to be the best football club in the world (About Manchester United n.d.). Sir Alex Ferguson, who for 26 seasons managed the club to 13 English league titles and 25 other domestic and international trophies, guided them particularly through man-management skills to on-field success which has enabled the creation of a global brand and an international follower base (Elberse 2013; History n.d.). We affirm that Felan embodies similar attributes which will inevitably provide success for the club.

Critical Reflection of Current coach Arsene Wenger, who joined Arsenal as their manager in October 1996, has been in charge of Arsenal till now. A feat in which should not be held lightly. Being a manager for the same club for 20+ years with consistent results is quite an achievement. He has won many titles in his time, including an Invincible Trophy, given to the team for finishing the season undefeated. Some of the strengths that Wenger has include being able to scout out future stars. An example of this is Thierry Henry, who playing for a different club, was not doing so well and played in the position of a winger. Arsene signed Henry to Arsenal and changed his position to a Striker, where he didn’t fare too well in his first couple of games, however when he scored his first goal he didn’t look back and became the all time leading goal scorer for Arsenal with 228 goals overall. It was not just Henry who he turned into superstars, it was notable names like Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri. Arsene is also able to change tactics, formations and game plans to adapt to the ever changing needs of modern football, which has helped him maintain a consistent high throughout the years, However Arsene also has some weaknesses, including sometimes being too predictable when it comes to tactics or substitutions, to the point that fans can predict who will come on and at what times, as well as opponents being able to predict their game plans. Another weakness may include the lack of world class signings and rather focus on young players, which in turn affects the quality of football on the field and fan satisfaction. In answering the question, what skills and knowledge makes an ideal/high performing coach, is one who is passionate, motivated to win, able to build connections with with the players and someone who is able to help players grow and continue to grow with the team.

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Submission 2: Off-Field Performance Decision 1 - Infrastructure Development Due to the financial situation of Duncastle united, a complete stadium improvement is not a viable option as overspending on infrastructure will drain vital profits needed to improve the teams player quality in order to avoid regulation and challenge for the premiership. The benefits of this would be an increased number of supporters and therefore fans attending matches. This will catalyse the new strategy to create a larger loyal fanbase to the changing club conditions. A tactical decision would be to upgrade two stands of the stadium (north & south stand) in order to renew interest In the club while still remaining financially secure. As construction takes 20 weeks for one stand to be completed only one at a time will be upgraded. The upgrade will increase the current 7500 capacity of the section to 17 500 and cost $20 million. This will mean that advertising efforts through the elected newspaper and regional television must be prioritised to ensure that the new efforts and freshly engaged interest result in more spectators attending the games. Upon completion the new ticket price of $15 , a $5 increase from the old stands will provide spectators with a free beer as incentive from the new partnership with northern breweries in an attempt to ensure the new capacity is filled and potential profits of $175 000 are gained in order to begin repaying developments and furthering the clubs growth. The developments would be highly beneficial to the clubs financial future with stadium capacity after the developments increasing from the current 30 000 to 50 000, therefore the increased profit margin from ticket sales would rise from $300 000 to $675 000 gross profit a match or $500 000 net profit a match after incorporating the losses from the new stand free beer incentive. As fan participation at matches is encouraged in the push to create a supportive fanbase for the changing team , new coach and players, the potential for further developments such as permanent team stores is always present however entirely dependent on the clubs success in their new developments and the amount of fan commitment that is achieved.

Decision 2 - Sponsorship Deal As the part of our business, we choose Northern Breweries as our sponsorship. Northern Breweries is known as an international drinking business and they are ambitious. They export to more than 75 countries around the world. This is a good representative for Duncastle. It also can give us a lot of support with alcohol provision during the match. We choose a 4 year selections that would be 4 dollars for every ticket we sold. Current capacity is 7,500 for each stand and when the new building upgrade, it would be 17,500 for each stand. We have four stands that have to be upgraded. We offer the price of 15 dollars for the current stand and 20 dollars for the new one. For example, if we use the current four stands it would be 30,000 dollars for extra ticket earning. When we finish all stands it would be 70,000 dollars for all stands. Every customer could have a free beer when they come to see the match. After that, each beer would be sold for 5 dollars. We have our Northern Breweries as our sponsor so that they support us with supply of alcohol.

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Decision 3 - Marketing and Advertising As part of our marketing campaign, we have selected two advertising mediums – local paper and regional television – that we believe will effectively contribute to greater brand awareness, build market share and increase game attendances for Duncastle United. Through use of local evening newspaper Duncastle Herald, we will seek to engage the loyal Duncastle United fans as our target market and aim to encourage most of these fans to attend each home game as they are key consumers of our product. This will be achieved through a full-page advertisement for every home game in the sport section of the Friday and Saturday edition. The advertisement will provide critical information like the day, time and location of games as well as opponents, statistics, team news, team line-ups, and key player match-ups to enhance fans’ excitement in the lead-up to the match and ensure they attend. The low $3000 cost per home game to advertise, estimated reach of 25,000 readers and timely nature of the advertisement, supports our decision to utilise this medium. We’ve also chosen to market Duncastle United through regional television to attract a target market of ordinary citizens who might not be interested or affiliated with the club or sport in general and entice them to attend games and increase their awareness of the club. This will be accomplished via a one-minute advertisement screened before the news on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night. It will provide details on how to get to the stadium and focus predominantly on creating incentives for new customers to attend through promotions such as free beer and cheap ticket prices as well as family-friendly pre-game entertainment, meanwhile enhancing brand positioning and community perception of the club. Despite the $30,000 advertising fee per home game, the estimated reach of 30,000 viewers per day and convenient mid-week time prior to the news, justifies our decision to exploit this approach.

Social Media Social media if used appropriately, can be an effective method of promotion and advertising. There are benefits of using social media such as it is free and the audience is not limited. Anyone a given social media platform can view your business and therefore there is a greater reach available. Duncastle United will use social media as a form of advertising. The organisation will use several platforms such as, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. Moreover, these platforms will provide fans to get a closer in depth look of the day to day running of the business with interviews and club information being shared on these platforms. Also match day information will be shared on these platforms and allow for discussion about the team’s performance to take place through the comment section of these platforms. In order to build the brand and sales through social media we will allow fans to get involved in raffles and competitions to win gift vouchers, jerseys and match day tickets. Moreover, there will be discounted ticket and merchandise prices represented to followers if they are to buy their tickets if they follow the business on any of the social platforms and buy them through the clubs social media platforms. This is will encourage fans to follow the club’s social media and offer incentive whilst growing the club on social media and establishing a brand and increasing sales for the club. There may be challenges in starting and using social media as a form of advertising and representation. The club may face issues regarding the free speech on social media, as anyone can say anything. They will need to set rules on their platforms and also monitor

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their comment section to report and block any hate speech or other issues that may arise in there comment section, for example, bullying, racism.

Decision 4 - Ticket Pricing There is a direct correlation between ticket prices and quality that is provided on the field. Fans will not want to pay high ticket prices and attend games if their team is playing very poorly, as has been the case from Duncastle United over the past 10 years. That is why we believe that as per the quality of football that the fans are viewing, we will be setting the price of tickets at a base rate of $10 per ticket for all ages. Families of 4 have the option to pay $35 for a family pass. These prices are for the current stands within the stadiums. With the plan to redevelop and upgrade the stands, one at a time, ticket prices for the new stands will increase with a flat rate of $15 per ticket, or a family pass for $50. Due to the correlation of ticket prices and quality, we believe this is a justification for the increase in prices, due to the upgrade in comfort and quality of seating as well as the expecting increase in entertainment on the field. As on field performance increase, the board will consider increasing the prices of tickets if the demand for tickets increase as well. With the decrease in fan attendance by over half, we believe it is necessary to reduce ticket prices to give an incentive for, and attract fans back into the stadium. We believe that the reduction in price will increase demand by fans ultimately increasing stadium attendance.

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Submission 3: Critical Incident Management Public Relations Perspective From a public relations perspective, we have decided to respond to the critical incident involving star striker Thomas Brown using the following strategies in comparison with Cricket Australia’s management of the recent ball tampering issue (Crisis management and communications, 2007). The first step will be to create a crisis management plan and team. Within this is our crisis communication team which will specifically focus on communicating the incident to the public and key stakeholders. Selecting a capable spokesperson and providing them with training is essential. This requires practice avoiding using jargon, refraining from saying “no comment”, having positive body language and sharing key information regarding the incident with the spokesperson. The spokesperson will disseminate information in a press conference as soon as possible after the event. This contrasts with Cricket Australia’s CEO, James Sutherland, who fronted the media himself instead of delegating a spokesperson, which brought negative attention on himself and his poor body language and depressing tone caused more hurt for stakeholders. We will establish four communication channels – our website, company phone line, Facebook account and email – for stakeholders such as fans to discover more information on the incident and express their concerns and suggestions for improvement of the club. Social media is particularly effective as it is a mass notification system. On the contrary, despite utilising email and Facebook to publicise information, Cricket Australia did not use their website effectively and refused fans the opportunity to express their concerns directly via phone, which caused excessive discussion on social media. Our initial response must be quick, accurate and consistent. Hence, we will send a press release the morning after the incident to ensure the public are notified immediately (see Appendix 4). Accuracy can be maintained by checking all facts and consistency will be ensured through keeping our spokesperson updated on pertinent information. Cricket Australia comparably failed to disseminate information quickly, leaving fans and the public unaware of the situation which caused confusion and created an adverse reputation for the organisation. To ensure our reputation is repaired, we will be apologetic towards fans, take responsibility for the incident and notify them of the subsequent disciplinary actions to take place. Postcrisis, we will deliver all information promised to stakeholders as soon as possible and keep them updated on the progression of recovery efforts including investigations and corrective measures. This approach is justified when juxtaposed with Cricket Australia’s lack of accountability towards the ball tampering issue, shifting the blame exclusively on the players involved when the organisation’s culture was at fault. Their inability to provide information after the incident resulted in their significantly damaged image.

Legal/Governance Perspective Disciplinary Action

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After lengthy discussions and evaluation with board members and shareholders with considerations from all professional areas of the club, the club has decided to fine Thomas Brown of two week’s wages (£50,000 per week) and suspend him from all competitive matches for 2 games. In addition, we will also be expecting Brown to issue to an apology to the public and make clear that this was an isolated incident which does not affect the outlook and ambitions of the club and ensure fans and other shareholders that this type of behaviour will not be displayed again. In making this decision, we considered past incidents that showed similarity to that of Browns incident and we considered the past consequences that were given to these players. For example the incident of Mario Balotelli in his tenure at Manchester city, The player was found to violate his curfew and visit a strip club in the early hours of the morning before a game and faced a 400,000 GBP fine (roughly 2 weeks wages) (Business Insider, 2012). Although Balotelli was fined significantly more than Brown. I believe that the game suspension will have a greater impact on Brown and his behaviour than simply fining him a larger sum of money as these players have a financial responsibility to provide for their families who should not suffer for one’s actions.

Code of Conduct (See Appendix 5)

Player Welfare Perspective Duncastle United football team has a profound culture. As part of our responsibility, we have to look after our players. As the issue happened, we need to fix it. We will not allow this incident to affect...