Contemporary issues for the LOI

Right folks,

A bit of a personal indulgence here. I am currently undertaking the FiMBA in Liverpool, which is basically an MBA with a specialism in the football industry.

As part of the course, we've a 15,000 word piece of work to do on a topic of our choice. I've a few ideas of topics, but obviously if I could I'd be interested in doing something which might help the League and indeed a club.

Due to the fact that it's an MBA, a lot of previous pieces of work are business/finance related, however there are plenty which spill into the sponsorship/marketing/CRM realm as well.

As an example of the type of topics which have previously been done
- "Practical Implementation of FFP based on an analysis of club licensing in France and German";
- "Management and Risk Mitigation of Financial Risk in Player Transfers for club CEOs";
- "Analysis of South American Club Shareholder Structure and the resultant economic impact";

So anyone got any ideas of topics etc that might be worthwhile for the League to consider?

If you actually want it to help the league rather than be overlooked, you should probably begin by asking a different question: who is going to take my research seriously? Is the FAI going to give two ****s about a report, or would you be better off targeting a specific club, person or organisation? You could frame your question then around your audience.

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

If you actually want it to help the league rather than be overlooked, you should probably begin by asking a different question: who is going to take my research seriously? Is the FAI going to give two ****s about a report, or would you be better off targeting a specific club, person or organisation? You could frame your question then around your audience.

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I think that is a fairly sound bit of advice, not ideal that you're probably right but hey, that's where we are. If you can look at what one thing needs changing/improving specifically and see if there is scope for analysis/report/suggested change

CD,

Been having a sit down with clubs and others in the UK in the last couple of weeks with that very intention in mind, to make the research relevant.

That has generated some useful ideas, but it has also shown that particularly at a club level, they can be too closely focused on the operational issues to consider long term trends/impacts.

I recently completed an MBA and at one point wrote a paper on operations and process management and how this can have a strategic impact. Our business is a cyclic services business and there are serious issues matching supply to demand while maintaining quality and margin. In the loi we have a problem matching our revenue times with our cash out times. Stems from an offseason and poor home game scheduling in-season. Result is cashflow issues during the season and only 1 season player contracts. You could look at ways to structure the league, player and commercial cashflows etc. To flatten out a clubs cashflow over a full year. All sorts of business process topics to choose from and how they apply to the cyclic nature of football operations. Should allow a fc to think more strategicaly rather than hand to mouth.

FoM,

That's the kind of thing I'm after. As an example, we've just finished a piece of work for Cardiff as to the early impact of the rebranding exercise has had on the club.

I would say it is very interesting, the course you are doing. I see you have done some research on Cardiff, are clubs helpful to ye students ?