The Strategies of Chelsea Football Club's Communications Department To

THE STRATEGIES OF CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB’S COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT TO GLOBALISE ITS BRAND

By Stara Anna ID no. 009200800023

A thesis presented to the Faculty of Communication President University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Bachelor Degree in Communication Major in Public Relations

October 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

THESIS TITLE...... i

PANEL OF EXAMINERS APPROVAL SHEET...... ii

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY...... iii

ABSTRACT...... iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...... v

TABLE OF CONTENTS...... vi

CHAPTERS

I. INTRODUCTION...... 1 1.1. Background of the Study...... 1 1.2. Company Profile...... 5 1.3. Problems Identified...... 13 1.4. Statement of the Problem...... 15 1.5. Research Objectives...... 15 1.6. Significance of the Study...... 17 1.7. Theoretical Framework...... 17 1.8. Scope and Limitations of the Study...... 22

II. LITERATURE REVIEW...... 23 2.1. Football and Globalisation...... 24 2.2. Football and the Media...... 27 2.3. Football as a Business...... 28

2.4. The Globalised Business of Football and the Fans...... 29

III. METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH...... 34 3.1. Research Method...... 34 3.2. Research Instruments...... 35

IV. ANALYSIS OF DATA AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS...... 36 4.1. Chelsea Football Club’s Communications Department Structure...... 36 4.2. Chelsea Football Club’s Communications Department Activities...... 38

V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS...... 69 5.1. Conclusions...... 69 5.2. Recommendations...... 71

REFERENCES...... 76

APPENDICES...... 80

Interview Transcripts...... 80

E-interview Transcripts...... 82

Documentations...... 91

vii

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Study Communication, defined by Griffin (2005), is the management of messages with the objective of creating meaning while Department means

a division of a college or school giving instruction in a particular subject1. Often called as Corporate Communications, Communications Department is a management function that offers a framework for the effective coordination of all internal and external communication with the overall purpose of establishing and maintaining favourable reputations with

stakeholder groups upon which the organization is dependent2. Similar to other management processes, professional public relations or corporate communications work emanates from clear strategies and bottom-line objectives that flow into specific tactics, each with its own budget, timetable, and allocation of resources. The public relations professionals who have the most organizational clout and get paid the most are those who demonstrate the ability to perform in crisis. Thinking “on your feet” is very much a coveted ability in the practice of public relations. So too is the ability to think strategically and plan methodically to help change attitudes, crystallise opinions, and accomplish

the organization’s overall goals. Should public relations truly be the “interpreter” for management philosophy, policy, and programs, then the public relations director should report to the CEO. In many organisations, this reporting relationship has not always been the case. Many times, public relations have been subordinated to advertising, marketing, legal, or human resources. Whereas marketing and advertising promote the product, public relations

1 promotes the entire organisation. Therefore, if the public relations chief reports to the director or marketing or advertising, the job becomes one of promoting specific products and not an entire organisation. The fact is, the management’s will cannot be correctly interpreted if being effectively “blocked” by superiors from getting to top management. That is why, ideally, public relations must report to those who run the organisation. Increasingly, that has become the case. For the public relations to be valuable to the management, it must remain independent, credible, and objective as an honest broker. This also mandates that public relations professionals not only have communication competence but also an intimate knowledge of the organisation’s business. Without the latter, according to research, public relations professionals are much less effective as top-management advisers3. Public relations, rightfully, should be the corporate conscience. An organisation’s public relations professionals should enjoy enough autonomy to deal openly and honestly with management. If an idea does not make sense, if a product is flawed, if the general institutional wisdom is wrong, it is the duty of the public relations professional to challenge the consensus. As the legendary investor and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Berkshire Hathaway company, Warren Buffet, once put it, “We can afford to lose money – even a lot of money. But we cannot afford to lose reputation – even a shred of reputation4.” In terms of sports industry, sport public relations is a managerial, communication-based function designed to identify a sport’s organisation’s key publics, evaluate its relationships with its publics, and foster desirable relationships between the organisation and its publics. While the public relations function often complements the marketing function within sport organisations, it is distinct in that it engages a more diverse group of publics and seeks relational rather than transactional outcomes. Public relations is a powerful promotional tool capable of generating substantial publicity for the sport organisation. However, promotion and publicity do not represent the whole of public relations.

The practice of public relations within sport is diverse, but its two most common forms are media relations and community relations. Media relations programs focus on building relationships with members of the mass media in order to maximise positive publicity and minimise negative publicity. Community relations programs are structured to allow members of the sport organisation to come in direct contact with their constituents and to allow the sport organisation to gain public favour by contributing to charitable initiatives. Other forms of public relations in sport include employee relations, investor relations, customer relations, donor relations, and government relations. Regardless of the nature of the specific public relations activity, effective practice is based on several fundamental skills, including the abilities to write well, interact with others, make public presentations, design publications, and work with Web sites. Effective public relations offers several benefits to the sport organisation. First, it is a powerful marketing tool that can generate brand awareness and brand associations. Second, it generates information that can be effectively marketed as a product extension (e.g., content on Web sites, game programs). Third, public relations counsel can help sport organisations save money by avoiding damaging mistakes in relation to key publics. The precise value of a crisis avoided or at least effectively managed may be difficult to determine, but the costs of public relations mistakes can be significant and long lasting5. As one of the world’s top football clubs, London-based Chelsea Football Club is a high profile organisation with a world class reputation to maintain. Its original communications system and Contact Centre was installed in the late 1990’s when the West Stand, one of the wings of Stamford Bridge, was rebuilt, and the Club chose NextiraOne, Europe’s leading experts in communications services headquartered in Paris, to design and implement the new system based on Alcatel-Lucent technology in January 2009. The club’s communications system handles a range of very diverse activities run by Chelsea FC. It was built with the capacity to

3 be heavily used on an everyday basis rather than simply around high- activity periods such as match days. The NextiraOne Contact Centre has the capability to handle telephone enquiries go via the centre on a daily basis and this is also the central information point for supporters on busy match days. The club also provides an auto-attendant Contact Centre which routes all calls for the megastore, for meetings and events, plus hospitality requests and all other Chelsea business areas. The system handles over 700 extensions on Chelsea’s three sites, the football stadium and management offices at Stamford Bridge, the training ground in Cobham which houses the medical, coaching and football management team and also the youth academy and Football in the Community departments. All these activities have to be supported with a communications system that is available at all times with a high reliability. Elaine Clark, Head of Information Technology at Chelsea FC, says: “We need the peace of mind that NextiraOne will be on hand if anything goes wrong with our system, especially on match days and at other busy times. NextiraOne built the system and they have given us excellent service up until now and it made sense for us to continue with a service that is running so smoothly.” Through this partnership, the Communications Department at Chelsea FC does not need to be concerned over its systematical programs and ways in engaging with its publics. Comprehensive support and maintenance seven days a week gives Chelsea FC the peace of mind that essential business services will run smoothly and seamlessly at all business-critical times, especially match days and other heavy traffic days. In addition, system performance indicates 99.999% reliability and the Contact Centre routes calls efficiently between departments and sites. Other than that, the use of intelligent routing provides improved customer experience by reducing hold times and speeding up transactions. Last but not least, the long-term scalability means the system can continue to grow and adapt to the changing business environment of the Club6.

When Simon Greenberg left his position as Communications and Public Affairs Director at Chelsea FC on Monday, November 30, 2011, Chelsea FC appointed Steve Atkins and Emma Wilkinson to jointly head the Club’s Communications Department that they already work within. Atkins becomes Head of Communications and Public Affairs, responsible for all external media and also controlling the Club’s public affairs efforts. Wilkinson, on the other hand, becomes Head of Communications and Community Affairs, responsible for all media produced by the Club and also directing community affairs activities. They will report directly to Chief Executive Officer, Ron Gourlay. They will both have the full authority of the board, speaking and acting on its behalf on all Chelsea FC

matters7.

1.2. Company Profile Full name : Chelsea Football Club Nickname(s) : The Pensioners, The Blues Founded : 10 March 1905 Stadium : Stamford Bridge (Capacity: 41,841) Address : Fulham Road, SW6 1 HS, London Owner : Roman Abramovich Current Chairman : Bruce Buck Current CEO : Ron Gourlay Current Manager : Andre Villas-Boas League : English Premier League Website : www.chelseafc.com Current Partners : Samsung, Adidas, Etihad Airways, Singha, Thomas Cook Sport, EA Sports, 188BET Current Suppliers : Dolce & Gabbana, Lucozade Sport, Laurent Perrier, Viagogo

CREST EVOLUTION

1905 – 1952 1952 – 1953 1953 – 1986

1986 – 2005 2005 – present

HISTORY

To begin with, Chelsea FC is not in the borough of Chelsea, which starts at the railway line that runs behind Stamford Bridge’s East Stand. It is situated in the parish of St. John, Walham Green, Fulham, now in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The use of grounds of the London Athletic Club (later renamed Stamford Bridge) in that area varied greatly, ranging from record- breaking athletics events to corporate sports days. Everyone from civil servants to laundresses held sports days on the grounds, where clowns and people on stilts mingled with participants.

By 1905, Stamford Bridge was well established as a London playground, and on 11 March 1905, The Times announced, “It has been decided to form a professional football club, called the Chelsea Football Club, for Stamford Bridge. Application will

6 be made for admission to the first division of the Southern League.” Three months earlier it had been called Kensington FC,

London FC, and Stamford Bridge FC8.

Nine years earlier, in 1896, an English businessman, Henry Augustus “Gus” Mears (1873 – 4 February 1912), and his brother Joseph purchased the Stamford Bridge Athletics Ground and later the nearby market garden with the intention of turning it into the country's finest football ground and staging high profile matches there. He failed to persuade Fulham FC chairman Henry Norris to re-locate his club to the ground, and considered selling the land to the Great Western Railway Company, who wished to use it as a coal yard.

Mears was ultimately persuaded not to sell up, and instead decided to found his own team, Chelsea, in March, 1905. The story goes that he was on the verge of giving up on the football project when his Scotch Terrier bit his colleague Fred Parker, who still supported the idea. So impressed was Mears with his friend's reaction, he decided to take his advice.

Mears was on the club's first board of directors, but did not live to see the club achieve any success. His dream of making Stamford Bridge one of England's top stadiums was realised, however, as it staged the FA Cup Final from 1920-22. His descendants would continue to own the club until 1982, when his great-nephew Brian sold it to Ken Bates, a 51-year-old British businessman8.

Bates purchased Chelsea F.C. in 1982 for £1. When he purchased the club they were in serious financial trouble, and threatened with relegation to the Third Division, as well being tarnished by a notorious hooligan element among their support. He

7 fought (and, through sheer persistence, eventually won) a long- running legal battle with property developers, Marler Estates, who had purchased a substantial portion of the freehold of Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's home ground. He re-united the freehold with the club (and thus secured its future) after Marler's bankruptcy following a market crash, which allowed him to do a deal with their banks and create the Chelsea Pitch Owners, an organisation set-up to stave off future developers and attempted to make the club more financially viable.

Bates spent 21 years at Chelsea, during which time he attracted the headlines on many occasions (many times with the controversial headlines that the club could have done without) and employed no fewer than nine managers. His match-day programme notes, in which he often attacked various individuals, were also controversial. In 2002 he was sued for libel by Chelsea supporter David Johnstone after describing fans' group, the Chelsea Independent Supporters Association, as parasites; Bates eventually settled out of court.

During the 1990s, he was involved in a bitter dispute with Chelsea benefactor and vice-chairman, Matthew Harding, over the club's future direction, which led to Harding being banned from the Chelsea boardroom. The dispute was ultimately only ended by Harding's death in a helicopter crash in October 1996. Bates sparked further controversy by later describing Harding as an "evil man" the following year.

By the end of his chairmanship Stamford Bridge had been substantially refurbished and modernised, while he had become (at the time) Chelsea's most successful chairman. The club had won several major trophies and were consistently finishing in the top six of the Premiership, with a top-class playing squad containing the

8 likes of Gianfranco Zola and Marcel Desailly. However, its future was threatened by an estimated debt burden of £80 million, yet it was secured against the clubs ground, Stamford Bridge.

In 2003 he sold the club to Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich, for a sum of £140 million making a £17 million profit. Bruce Buck the current Chairman was in charge of the clubs sale to Roman Abramovich. After the takeover Bates was investigated by the FSA for allegedly owning undeclared shares in Chelsea Village plc, but the case was eventually dropped. He stayed on as club chairman until March 2004, when he announced his resignation9.

ROMAN ABRAMOVICH ERA – THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Roman Arkadievich Abramovich (born 24 October 1966 in Saratov, Russia) is a Russian Jewish oil billionaire, main owner of private investment company Millhouse Capital, referred to as one of the Russian tycoons. Growing up as an orphan, Roman’s mother, Irina Ostrowski Abramovich, died from bacteraemia as a result of a back-alley abortion when Roman was one year old. His father, Arkady Abramovich, was killed in an incident on a construction site when he was three. He then grew in his uncle family in Ukhta and with his grandmother in Moscow.

Roman attended the Industrial Institute in the city of Ukhta before being drafted into the Soviet Army. After military service, he studied briefly at the Moscow State Auto Transport Institute before dropping out to go into business. He later earned a correspondence degree from Moscow State Law Academy. Roman started his commercial activity in the late 1980s when Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms permitted the opening of small private businesses, known as co-operatives. In 1992 to 1995

Roman founded five companies that conducted resale and acted as intermediaries, eventually specialising in the trading of oil and oil products. In 1995, together with Boris Berezovsky he acquired controlling interest in the large oil company, Sibneft. The deal was within the controversial Loans-for-shares program and costed the partners $100 million despite the real cost of the company in billions of dollars.

Through their holding company, Millhouse Capital, Abramovich and his business partner, Evgueny Shvindler, acquired during the 1990s significant stakes in Russia’s largest air company Aeroflot, aluminium giant Rusal, as well as smaller companies in the automobile industry, pharmaceuticals, food processing, real estate, and other sectors. Most of those assets have been sold with hefty profits in 2002 – 2005. Most notably, Millhouse Capital sold its stake in Sibneft to state energy giant Gazprom for 13 billion dollars, and its stake in Rusal to Oleg Deripaska for 2 billion dollars11.

In June 2003, he became the owner of the companies that control Chelsea Football Club in the United Kingdom. He had, apparently, investigated the possibilities of purchasing several other clubs before moving for Chelsea, who were financially vulnerable at the time. The deal immediately raised his profile in Britain and as soon as he took control, he poured massive investment into the Club, assuming the £80m debt burden and immediately making available substantial transfer funds. The Club also embarked on an ambitious programme of commercial development, with the aim of making it a worldwide brand and the result was near-instant success as Chelsea are now recognised as one of the dominant forces in English football10.

CLUB PERSONNEL

Chelsea FC plc. is the company which owns Chelsea Football Club. The ultimate parent company of Chelsea FC plc. is Fordstam Limited and the ultimate controlling party of Fordstam Limited is Roman Abramovich.

Chelsea FC plc. Board: Chairman: Bruce Buck Directors: Eugene Tenenbaum, Ron Gourlay (CEO)

Football Club Board: Bruce Buck, Eugene Tenenbaum, Ron Gourlay, David Barnard, Mike Forde.

The day-to-day running of Chelsea is undertaken by the football club's Executive Board headed by chief executive Ron Gourlay.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Cobham Training Ground The training ground is at Cobham in Surrey but sessions are not open to the general public. Special open days are organised at Stamford Bridge when fans can see the team train. Built in 2004, the Cobham Training Centre is the state of the art training ground of Chelsea Football Club located in Stoke d'Abernon near Cobham, Surrey. The Chelsea first team have trained at Cobham since 2005, but it was not officially opened until 2007. Costing a reported £20m, the training centre is on a 140 acre site and, similar to a campus, it houses all of the club's football activities, from the first team to the academy, reserve and women's teams. It features "the latest in training, rehabilitation, medical,

11 pitch and media technology" and its facilities include 30 football pitches (three with undersoil heating and six to Premier League standard), an indoor artificial pitch, a media centre, a medical centre, gyms, cold immersion pools, a sauna, a steam room, a HydroWorx pool and a 56ft hydrotherapy pool.

As a condition for receiving planning permission, none of the buildings in the complex were permitted to be taller than others in the surrounding area. Thus, approximately a third of the facility is underground; a moat was installed to reflect light into the basement rooms and to reduce energy usage. The main building also has a turf roof in order to help it blend into its surroundings and to improve air quality. Water from the surrounding area is collected in a reservoir for use on the pitch irrigation system12.

Hooligan Hotline Chelsea Football Club works in partnership with the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and the Metropolitan Police Service to create a safe environment for supporters and the local community.

Fighting Racism Chelsea Football Club practices a zero tolerance policy towards racism at Stamford Bridge and takes a leading role in all the major anti-racist campaigns such as Kick Racism Out of Football, Show Racism the Red Card and all Uefa backed Europe-wide campaigns13.

1.3. Problems Identified

Ever since Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea FC in 2003, the Club have won eight major trophies – the Premier League 3 times, the FA Cup 3 times and the League Cup twice. It is argued that Abramovich's involvement with Chelsea has distorted the football transfer market throughout Europe, as his wealth often allows the club to purchase players virtually at will although that has changed in recent years. He did however sanction the transfer of Ukraine and AC Milan legend, Andriy Shevchenko for a then British record transfer fee of around £30 million (€35.3 million).

In a December 2006 interview Abramovich stated that he expected Chelsea's transfer spending to fall in years to come, although he subsequently seemed to move away from this position. He is also present at almost every game Chelsea plays and shows visible emotion during matches, a sign taken by supporters to indicate a love for the sport, and usually visits the players in the dressing room following each match.

As of May 2008, Abramovich has spent approximately £600 million (€705 million) on the club since arriving in 2003. In January 2011, Spanish footballer Fernando Torres completed his move to Chelsea on a five-and-a-half year contract on 31 January for an undisclosed fee reported to be £50 million, which set a new record for a British transfer

and made him the fourth most expensive footballer in history14.

With big spendings throughout the transfer windows, highly rated players signing for the club and the number of trophies being won have made Chelsea the second most successful club in the past seven years, and they have just only entered the eighth year of Abramovich era. Unsurprisingly, many people, especially those of the rivals’ jealous fans, often say that Chelsea “buy” their success, that without Roman Abramovich’s investment the Club will not be successful, and that they are ruining the game of football itself. The argument still continues to this

13 very day as many other teams have been taken over by rich foreigners and yet Chelsea are still the ones under the spotlight.

Inevitably, in their way to become a worldwide brand as desired by Roman Abramovich, there have been obstacles along the way. For instance, in an article published by The Sunday Times on January 18, 2009, the newspaper reported that Roman Abramovich wants to sell

Chelsea to the Gulf Arabs, including members of the Saudi royal family15. Chelsea were quick to response by releasing a statement on behalf of their owner on the same day as the news was released that reads, “Defamation proceedings will be commenced tomorrow (Monday) in London by Roman Abramovich against the publishers of The Sunday Times. This follows the publication by them of false claims that he wants to sell his interest in Chelsea FC. Mr. Abramovich has already made quite clear, through the directors of Chelsea, that he has no intention of doing so and that neither he nor any of his appointed representatives has been pursuing any such course of action16.”

The case continued until The Sunday Times published an apology to Roman Abramovich and Chelsea on Sunday, June 14, 2009, however an application was still made in the High Court for a Judge to assess the amount of damages and legal costs to be paid by the Sunday Times to both Roman Abramovich and Chelsea for publishing the defamatory comments and for their subsequent actions17.

Such cases are pretty much expected when it comes to big, wealthy clubs. Negative and debatable issues help the media flying off the rack instantly. This is when the Communications Department is needed the most: to minimise and overcome potential crises. Therefore, with the department working all out to maintain and improve Chelsea FC’s global image and reputation, the media are also working just as hard to put their hands on controversial stories involving the Club and more favourably, its players.

1.4. Statement of the Problem

Throughout the world, many companies are in transition. Reasons vary, but two in particular emerge as prime forces in business change today: globalisation and corporate branding. Corporate branding does not necessarily involve globalisation, but successful global expansion almost always presumes the execution and communication of a well-devised

global brand18. A global brand is one that is available in most countries in the world and shares the same strategic principles, positioning, and marketing in every market throughout the world, although the marketing mix can vary. It has a substantial market share in all countries and comparable brand loyalty (brand franchise). It carries the same brand name

or logo19.

Chelsea Football Club have been expanding their brand footprint in most of the continents, ranging from Europe, Asia, America, to Africa. Solidifying its position as one of the most renowned football clubs in the world. Before the takeover by Abramovich in 2003, not many people outside of England were familiar with the London club. Abramovich’s financial status help the club raise and re-establish their mark in the footballing world. To better understand how Chelsea Football Club have become a global brand, one must look carefully at what have been done by the Communications Department to help in the process of brand globalisation.

1.5. Research Objectives

Although the definition of a successful “global brand” is similar in each football club, the level of success varies from one club to another. In a more interesting point, the ways for a club to achieve that global brand status is all in all the same with the exceptions of partnership types and approaching methods. Chelsea Football Club’s Communication

Department also have their own tactics and although their fans base can be found in many countries all around the globe and they are taking stable profits, it is not a proper measurement to determine whether they have become a successful global brand.

Through e-interviews with Caroline Mabey, Personal Assistant and on behalf of the Heads of Communications Department of Chelsea FC, and literature reviews, it is expected that it will help to answer the questions below:

1. What is the structure of the Communications Department at Chelsea Football Club?

2. Who head the Communications Department and who are in charge of the each division within it?

3. What are the job descriptions of each person in charge?

4. Who are involved in Chelsea’s globalisation efforts?

5. What internal factors help Chelsea’s globalisation process?

6. What external factors help Chelsea’s globalisation process?

7. In which sectors does Chelsea Football Club’s Communications Department operate in?

8. What are the activities conducted locally by Chelsea’s Communications Department?

9. What are the activities conducted globaly by Chelsea’s Communications Department?

10. What are Chelsea’s Corporate Social Responsibilities programmes?

1.6. Significance of the Study

This study is expected to detail the strategies taken by Chelsea Football Club’s Communications Department in order to globalise the Chelsea brand. It will also describe the kinds of activities conducted by the club in order to reach out to its publics along with the specific sections of the Communications Department and their respective Persons In Charge (PICs). It is hoped that this study will qualify as a decent comparative dissertation to similar types of study in the future.

1.7. Theoretical Framework

The strategies of Chelsea Football Club’s Communications Department to globalise its brand are best observed through two main, general theories: the communication theory and organizational theory. Communication has existed since the beginning of human beings, but it was not until the 20th century that people began to study the process. As communication technologies developed, so did the serious study of communication. When World War I ended, the interest in studying communication intensified. The social-science study was fully recognized as a legitimate discipline after World War II.

Before becoming simply communication, or communication studies, the discipline was formed from three other major studies: psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Psychology is the study of human behaviour, sociology is the study of society and social process, and anthropology is the study of communication as a factor, which develops, maintains, and changes culture. Communication studies focus on communication as central to the human experience, which involves understanding how people behave in creating, exchanging, and interpreting messages.

Communication Theory is a study of a two-way process that results in a shared meaning or common understanding between a sender and an audience. The sender is involved in encoding the message, which is decoded by the audience. Feedback is the audience’s response to the message and can take various forms. Communication takes place in various contexts: intrapersonal; interpersonal; small-group; public; organisational or mass. A model of communication can be used as a theoretical representation of the communication process (Cleary, 2009)22.

Organizational theory, a disciplinary area within the broader field of business/management studies, is concerned with the structure and design of organizations. Organizational theory, as a macro perspective, focuses on the organization (or its primary subunits) as its unit of analysis. To explain a sport organization from this perspective, it is necessary to examine its characteristics and composition (i.e., departments, groups) but also to examine the organization’s environmental characteristics (Daft,

2004)23.

All companies and other organizations – from the largest to struggling start-ups – undergo changes that can be illuminated and informed by theories of organization design. Organization theory is no less relevant to public sector and non-profit organizations, including central and local government departments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), art organizations, sport organizations, charities and so on. Organizations are no static. Not only are they continuously adapting to shifts in the external environment but they try to control those changes and, in doing so, contribute to changes in the environments of other organizations. Organizations face the challenge of finding ways of changing themselves and/or changing their environments to become technically, economically and ethically more responsive and effective.

Although football clubs are turning into “business” nowadays, they fall under the non-profit type of organizations. Managers in non-profits

18 organizations are not directed primarily at producing goods and services in order to be earning money for the stakeholders of the company but may encounter many others, such as the difficulty in securing funding or raising capital or competing with profit-making businesses24.

A large number of different types of organizations make up the sport industry, that wide array of public, private, and voluntary organizations involved in the provision of sport products and services. Many sport organizations operate as voluntary or non-profit organizations; the funds they generate are used to further activities that benefit their membership of the communities where they are based. Some sport organizations, particularly those from the public sector, have as their primary function to aid and assist other organizations in the delivery of sport. Many sport organizations are linked to educational institutions and provide recreational and competitive sport opportunities as a part of the educational process. The sport industry also includes professional sport organizations, which contract athletes and pay them to compete in their particular sport; the given event is then sold to live audiences and to TV networks for its entertainment value.

A sport organization, based on Daft (1989, 2004) and Robbins (1990), is defined as a social entity involved in the sport industry it is goal- directed, with a consciously structured activity system and a relatively identifiable boundary. The concept of organizational design refers to the patterning of the structural elements of an organization. Miller (1981) argued that organizations must be constructed to ensure that there is complementary alignment or fit among their structural variables. The structure of a sport organization is closely related to the particular context in which the organization operates. The term organizational context merely refers to “the organizational setting which influences the structural dimensions” (Daft, 1989, p. 17).

The Communications Department of Chelsea Football Club is a branch of Chelsea’s organizational structure. To create high brand awareness, the Communications Department effectively utilizes the media. With its many kinds of forms, the media have become a powerful tool in recent years. Through printed media, people all around the world can easily read any news that occur worldwide, whereas through electronic media, people are able to watch and listen pretty much everything they want to. The media, as a medium between the sender of the information and the receiver of the information, is understandably useful and essential. Football clubs need the media to publish its news, to broadcast its matches, and to also keep them updated with the world. Harold Innis presented a medium theory which is perhaps more user-friendly for a theory of broadcast.

In The Bias of Communications (1964, originally published 1951), Innis makes a major distinction between two kinds of ‘empires’ of communication. The first, corresponding to the printing press and electronic communication, results in spatial domination (of nations and of populations) – what he calls a ‘space bias’ – whilst the second, ‘time bias’, based on oral culture and the cloistered world of the manuscript, accommodates memory and continuity. For Innis, the oral tradition needs to be reclaimed. Broadcast belongs to the empire of space, and in the time he was writing, the early 1950s, it had come to structure prevailing power relations.

Unlike theories of broadcast, which have been around for some time, theories of cybersociety or the second media age are, for the most part, very new. Football clubs also start creating their own websites, networks and links to share their latest updates with the world in a simple and very handy manner. Since the Internet, as the most spectacular technology of electronic network communication, has only really globally existed in domestically available form since 1991, communication studies remains in a process of formalizing this new domain of research. The array

20 of theories, from journalistic to academic, has been burgeoning. Like the Internet Revolution itself, the rate of growth in literature about new communication technologies has been dramatic. And as with the pure acceleration of technological change, the literature is characterized by an urgent impulsiveness which produces many generalizations and knowledge claims which become redundant at about the same rate as information technologies themselves.

According to the second media age perspective, the tyranny that is attributed to broadcast lies in its hegemonic role in the determination of culture (the culture industry) as well as individual consciousnesses (the theory of hegemony) which derives from its predominantly vertical structure. This structure is one in which the individual is forced to look to the image and electronic means of communication to acquire a sense of assembly and common culture. The second media age, on the other hand, bypasses this ‘institutional’ kind of communication and facilitates instantaneous, less-mediated and two way forms of communication. In recent times, many football clubs start to trigger the publics’ awareness towards their clubs through its star players. Everyone has their favourite players and these players are starting to become a role model for many youngsters and adults.

Marketing-wise speaking, when a famous and internationally acclaimed player is used to advertise a club’s latest jersey or programs, people are more drawn and they feel the need to purchase that jersey or join the program simply because that particular player is involved in it. The individual player involved is subject to one-way communication from the ‘elite’ producers of messages. The horizontal connection with other consumes of the same messages is generally possible via the fetish of the image or the celebrity, in whom concrete consciousnesses are concentrated25.

1.8. Scope and Limitations of the Study

Since sports public relations is a fairly new research to develop especially in Indonesia, there are only a limited number of articles and sources to be used either as a comparison or as reference. This paper emphasises only on Chelsea Football Club’s Communications Department’s strategies to globalise the Chelsea brand. The limitations include the unavailability of Chelsea FC’s Heads of Communications Department for direct interviews as the main sources due to their busy schedules and the limited dissertations to be compared on this particular and specified subject. The scope of the study is Chelsea Football Club’s Communications Department and their brand globalisation strategies.

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

Since its humble beginnings as a rural British folk game, football has developed into a sport that is almost unrecognisable from its original form (Burdsey and Chappell 2003; Nauright 2004). Football was once a source of local and/or national identity (Giulianotti and Robertson 2004; McGuire 1999). Clubs are now frequently publicly owned companies that respond to market logic, cleverly and aggressively promoted in home and foreign markets in attempt to turn people into supporters and supporters into consumers (Madeiro 2007).

Football has increasingly become an institutionalised community of organisational actors that establish, maintain and transform the rules of business. Clubs are global brands, with apparently limitless opportunities for merchandising and profit making (Gammelsӕter and Jakobsen 2004). The dominance of a small group of clubs has created an uneasy tension between a profit-maximising understanding of football and a more community-oriented vision is increasing (Boon 2000; Milanovic 2003).

Coverage of sporting events has become an extremely important consideration for media companies wanting to attract viewers and advertisers (Williams 1993; Sandvoss 2003). The globalisation of media has allowed fans to follow their successful countrymen abroad, and also to become attached to foreign leagues, teams, and players (Nash 2000; Ben- Porat and Ben-Porat 2004). Whether or not they are successful depends on how the club’s brand image is perceived by both domestic and foreign fans (King 2000; Gladden and Kerr 2008; Kearney 2004).

For the purpose of organising this literature review, the information has been divided into four sections: football and globalisation; football and

the media; football as a business; and the globalised business of football and the fans.

2.1. Football and Globalisation

Milanovic (2003) asserts that football can be regarded as the most globalised profession. He believes that globalisation encourages a profit- maximising understanding of football and that the pressure exerted by its processes is threatening – and, in some cases has already overrun – the traditional, more community-oriented version of the game. Wright (1999) remarks that football has attracted special academic attention, both in regard to the globalisation of the game and the impact of the global game on national identities.

Giulianotti and Robertson (2004) analyse the cultural globalisation of football through their concept of ‘glocalisation’, a term which they claim encompasses the “interdependence of local and global processes within the games identities and institutions (p.545).” The argument is that local cultures manipulate any global cultural product – in this case, football – and redefine it according to their customs, beliefs and requirements. Dyreson, Majumdar and Mangan (2008) propose that when studying the social phenomena in and around football, five major aspects of globalisation processes become evident: international migration, the global flow of capital, the syncretistic nature of tradition and modernity in contemporary culture (i.e. the partial fusion of the two), new experiences of time and space and the revolution in information technologies.

Wright (1999) argues that globalisation, in general, occurs on three levels: economic, political, and ideological. He proposes that globalising tendencies in sport also interact at each of these levels. Ben-Porat and Ben-Porat (2004) examine the specific effects of globalisation on football, also through three major features: mobilisation of capital, mobilisation of labour, and cultural flows. This explanation seems to capture the fluidity

24 of the industry more completely than Wright’s, even though the situation dealt with during the analyses is a narrower one in that the focus is mainly on Israeli football. Madeiro (2007) takes a different approach and explains the importance of an increasingly common management ideology in the globalisation of football. More specifically, he examines the idea that football clubs are behaving more like market enterprises than ever before. Today, clubs are frequently publicly owned companies that respond to market logic. They are cleverly and aggressively promoted in domestic and foreign markets in attempt to turn people into supporters and supporters into consumers (Madeiro 2007). The notion that globalised football is damaging to local football cultures is rejected by some of the authors, who argue that local cultures will always work within football’s universal rules to produce their own representations of the game. Giulianotti and Robertson (2004) accuse a “social consciousness” of globalisation of producing misguided worries that the ‘global’ is subverting the ‘local’. These authors do not believe that globalisation is somehow external imposed upon the game. Instead, they view football as a representation of globalisation. This is a view echoed by Ben-Porat and Ben-Porat (2004), who argue that football remains a venue for the expression of national or regional identity and could possibly act as a shelter against global infiltration. Burdsey and Chappel (2003) believe that there are a number of teams that operate as “anchors of meaning” that strengthen the attachment and identification of individual and groups with a particular community, and that these links are less likely to be weakened by globalising processes. International migration, aided by the general process of globalisation, would appear to be relevant both on the level of players moving internationally and potentially bringing fans to their new club with them, and on the level fans finding themselves in different parts of the world and either rejecting local teams in favour of their home favourite or becoming a supporters of a local team exclusively or concurrently

(Dyreson et al 2008). It is notable not all of the authors place as much emphasis on the importance of politics in the globalisation of football. Although concentrating on the example of Israel, Ben-Porat and Ben-Porat (2004) argue that, because football played a part in state and nation building in the country, the ideology of the game is therefore highly political and nationalistic. However, they also note that its political links are being eroded by the increased commercialisation of the game. Wright (1999) rejects the notion put forward by Manzenreiter (2004) that, with regards to football, globalisation cannot be a commercially driven process due to the influence of domestic politics on the grounds that globalisation, in his view, shapes domestic politics. He also argued that politics interacts with other components of the globalisation process but Dyreson et al (2008) seem to subscribe to the belief put forward by Madeiro (2007), which states that the power of football’s governing institutions is waning and exerts less of a political influence over the direction the game is taking. The focus on the conomic globalisation of football is concentrated on the belief that power in football is wielded by a wealthy elite, and that this made possible by the increasing ease of global capital flow and the ability of fans the expend increasing amounts of disposable income on supporting their clubs (Wright 1999). Madeiro (2007) speculates that the concentration of power in the hands of an elite few clubs effectively constitutes a monopoly, and that this monopoly will be exploited through increasingly dominant interventions in developing football markets. Wright’s (1999) view of the globalisation of football’s ideology is much broader and does not seem as focussed as Giulianotti and Robertson’s (2004) analysis, for example. Wright suggests that globalising tendencies in football could lead to the dilution of national particularities in the game – especially those related to identity. This is in contrast with the view expressed by Ben-Porat and Ben-Porat (2004) and Frost (2004) that domestic football compoonents are strong enough to survive within a globalised context.

2.2. Football and the Media

Information technology is showing itself to be increasingly important in the field of football fandom as repatriated and foreign fans access the Internet to obtain information about their favourite football clubs and increasingly integrate the online experience into their supporter activities (Dyreson et al 2008; Ben-Porat and Ben-Porat 2004; Williams 2006).

Maguire (1999) emphasises the factors involved in the creation of football as a dense and interconnected network, arguing that multinational sponsors and television networks have become as important in diffusing the game as official football associations affiliated with specific countries. Companies such as Coca Cola and Adidas have become important sponsors and allies of FIFA (Fèdèration Internationale de Football Association) in spreading the game. They employ well-known players to front their brand, effectively riding on the back of the players’ own international brands. Commercials have become more important as a source of income for many professional clubs and also many professional players. He concludes that commercials have not only seen FIFA expand its market, but also meant that the clubs attracting big television and stadium audiences can fortify their position by extracting comparatively larger portions of sponsor-contributed revenue than the smaller clubs.

Ben-Porat and Ben-Porat (2004) note that the globalisation of media has allowed Israelis to follow their successful countrymen abroad, and also to become attached to foreign leagues, teams, and players. Fans are now able to watch live matches from the English Premier League and other leagues across the world. Many have reorganised their allegiances between a local club, the national team, and a foreign club. They argue that his means that fans cannot be taken for granted now the local football clubs have to compete with foreign clubs that have become available to spectators through television and later the internet.

Maguire (2006) highlights the connections between global capital, media industries and sport. Media companies are increasingly seeking out cheap, ready-made programming, which is leading to more televised sport, particularly football. He argues that the result of this practice has now become the goal; certain clubs have become global brands and are now reliant on exposure through worldwide media to maintain their status.

2.3. Football as a Business

Football is certainly a “beautiful game” but, over time, it has also developed into a global and highly visible business. In 2005-2006, the total income of the “Big 5” European football leagues (English, Spanish, Italian, French, German) stood at £12.6 billion ($18.54 billion) (Deloitte and Touche 2007), of which the English Premier League was the largest single contributor generating € 2 billion or $2.9 billion.

Gammelsӕter and Jakobsen (2005) argue that football has increasingly become an institutionalised community of organisational actors that establish, maintain and transform the rules of business. Clubs are globalised brands, with apparently limitless opportunities for merchandising and profit making. Whilst it may be emotive to view fans of football as the customers of this business, the revenues from the business are intrinsic to bringing in the best players and making Premier League football attractive. Fans, as customers, are intensely loyal to their chosen club and football stars. Increasingly, these clubs and football stars

are referred to by media, analysts and researchers as brands20.

In North America, Europe, and throughout many countries, sport is a rapidly growing and increasing diverse industry. Increased amounts of discretionary income, a heightened awareness of the relationship between an active lifestyle and good health, and a greater number of opportunities to participate in sport have all contributed to this growth. In Great Britain, the journal Retail Business described the sport industry as “one of the most

buoyant consumer markets of the 1980s” (Economic Intelligence Unit, 1990, p. 61) and predicted real-term growth into the 1990s.

Milanovic (2003) writes that in the Europe and South America of the 1960s and 1970s, commercial interests and motivations became more important than the building of social capital. Clubs have become much more commercialised and moved away from their old “socially-conscious” role where they often functioned as part of trade unions, political parties, or community organisations. Maguire (1999) argues that they now function as brands, and are deliberately exported for consumption to create worldwide fan-bases with important consequences for football fandom and the game itself both in the importing and exporting countries.

Gammelsӕter and Jakobsen (2005) explore the ways in which football clubs began to move beyond the traditional revenue streams of gate receipts and television rights. One of the most common changes in strategy was the enormous diversification of club activities based around the new, proactive approach towards commercial opportunities. They identified activities such as themed bars and restaurants, the sale of franchised outlets in stadia, expanded and enhanced visitor centres and museums, the development of large club shops and ‘megastores’, the inclusion of hotels and conference centres in stadia developments and the creation of much broader merchandise ranges as critical elements in the clubs’ attempts to make money from their fans and also to attract new fans to the club brand.

2.4. The Globalised Business of Football and the Fans

Over the past decade there have been dramatic changes in the way football is organised as witnessed by the formation of the Premier League, the introduction of all-seater stadiums, increasing money from TV deals, the dramatic increase in the price of tickets, the transformation of clubs into Plcs, and the growing media ownership of football clubs. Against this

29 background of change one fact remains constant – football clubs need supporters if they are to survive and flourish. Supporters play a vital role not just by turning up and lifting their rime’s spirits when they are down, but often by providing financial support to buy players or simply by providing funds to keep their club going. The financial backing of supporters over and above the money they spend on tickets and merchandise may be superfluous at large clubs, but history is replace with examples of clubs that would have failed but for the financial contributions and commitment of their supporters.

Faced with pressures such as broadcasting deals, redevelopment deals, institutional shareholders and media companies, there is a danger that football might develop in ways that serve the interests of those outside the game and weaken the links between football clubs, supporters and their local communities. Formalizing the positive role that supporters play in football through the creation of supporters’ trusts is one way of guarding against this danger. Football clubs have always had to balance the need to generate success on the field and the need to stay financially viable through proper organisation and management of the business side of the club.

The extent to which clubs have managed to satisfy this dual objective is mixed. There is no doubt that a small number of clubs are flourishing in financial terms, but for a variety of reasons many clubs operate on the borderline of viability. The extent to which this is due to poor financial management or poor football management and team performance, or both, differs from club to club, but it is fair to say that inadequate, and in some cases fraudulent business management practices, have played a part.

Unlike other spheres of business, football is peculiarly vulnerable to exploitation of its customer base because of the loyalty and commitment of its supporters. When the services that a club provides to its customers

(supporters) are sub-standard, most supporters feel they have no choice but to carry on supporting their club. In almost all other spheres of business, sub-standard products would make customers shop elsewhere. It is ironic, but nonetheless true, that the lifeblood of clubs – the supporters – are often treated so badly because they show such loyalty.

The incentive to run the business side of football clubs in a way that is detrimental to both the sporting and cultural interests of a club, and the interests of supporters and local communities, has always been present. It was in order to curb this threat that early in the game’s history the Football Association (FA) introduced Rule 34 which prevented directors from extracting significant income and profits from the clubs they ran. However, in the 1990s the FA sanctioned the bypassing of this rule by permitting clubs to form holding companies which were floated on the stock market as Plcs. The stock market flotation of football clubs has magnified the potential conflict of interest between the business and sporting side of a football’s club activity, as the final report of the Football Task Force makes clear, “...(many) supporters who have bought shares in their football club, usually through an act of loyalty, have seen the value of their shares fall dramatically. This has often happened at the same time as clubs have increased their prices, thus creating a two-fold burden on the supporter.”

The creation of Supporters Direct and the formation of supporters’ trusts constitute an effective bottom-up mechanism for making clubs more accountable to widespread public interest concerns. At the same time the Football Task Force majority report has recommended stronger regulation of football through the creation of a Football Audit Commission and a Code of Practice. Together, these two forms of regulation should do much to ensure the future health of the game and resolve inherent conflicts between the commercial and business interests of football clubs on the one hand, and the wider cultural and sporting interests of clubs, their supporters and local communities on the other21.

Burdsey and Chappell (2003) concentrated on the notion of fan identity in a Scottish and Northern Irish context, where football allegiance plays an important part in social identities due to the sectarian nature of the societies involved. The authors highlight the fact that supporting particular football clubs in these nations functions in tandem with other social processes to form social identities. This article argues that, often, affiliation with a particular club is the product of and contributor to a number of specific social, political and religious attributes.

While club affiliation and fan identity has been shown to have links with location, Tapp and Clowes (1999) took this one step further and showed that supporters with professional jobs who have moved around the country often built up affinities with local clubs along the way. Bauer, Exler and Sauer (2008) highlight the importance of brand image in team sports, specifically the effects on fans caused by how they identify with the club brand. The non-product-related brand attributes (i.e. logo or tradition) seem to have a particularly large impact on attitudes and behaviour. They highlighted identification, peer group acceptance, escape, socialising and companionship, emotions, nostalgia and entertainment as being the prime factors involved in the forming of allegiances with football clubs.

Jacobsen (2004) believes that the creation of fan identity occurs on three levels: a socialisation level, a socio-cultural level and a symbolic level. Traditionally, individuals become fans primarily through socialisation. Individuals who are not socialised into fandom might become a fan through ‘socio-cultural’ means. These include influences such as the media, mass merchandising, or marketing. The ‘symbolic’ level accounts for individuals who may become fans because of factors specific to the team, such as team colours, logo, name, or personnel. While Jacobsen conducted her research with American Football in mind, it is arguable that these levels can be easily transferred to be relevant to fans of British football clubs. This transfer alone seems to suggest that globalisation is creating a more general sporting canvas on which to

32 project concepts of fandom. Jacobson’s fan identity idea can be read as an ‘umbrella concept’ for Bauer et al (2008), although their focus is less centred on the financial element of being a fan.

Wann (1995) investigated the effects of club brands on supporter perceptions and loyalty. Interestingly, he found that the non-product- related brand attributes have a much higher impact on fan perceptions than the product-related brand attributes. He concluded that contextual factors concerning teams, such as stadium, match day atmosphere, other fans, the club history and tradition, and the logo and club colours are of greater relevance to fans than tangible aspects of the brand; in other words, fans identify more with non-product-related elements.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH

3.1. Research Method

The dissertation on The Strategies of Chelsea Football Club’s Communications Department to Globalise Its Brand is conducted based on a qualitative research method. Qualitative research is a naturalistic, interpretative approach concerned with understanding the meanings of certain observed phenomena or actions. It examines, analyses and interprets observations for the purpose of discovering underlying meanings and patterns of relationships in a manner that does not involve mathematical models. Qualitative research also provides explanation of reasons and associations between social variables. The data in this type of analysis is not in the form of numbers (Ritchie and Lewis, 2003; Royse, 1999). The researcher chooses this particular research method because the subject of the study is categorised in the social sciences, therefore qualitative research will provide a better and more in-depth understanding of the subject and investigates the why (do Chelsea FC globalise their brand?) and how (does the Communications Department globalise the brand?), not just what (are the strategies taken by the Communications Department to globalise the brand?), where and when (does it take place?). This method also produces information only on the particular cases studied – in this case, Chelsea Football Club’s Communication Department strategies to globalise the Chelsea brand.

3.2. Research Instruments

In order to collect the necessary data for this research, the researcher conducts an e-interview with Caroline Mabey, Personal Assistant of the Heads of Communications Department, Steve Atkins and Emma Wilkinson. Unfortunately, due to their hectic schedules, Mr. Atkins and Ms. Wilkinson were unable to answer the researcher’s questions directly. However, Ms. Mabey’s representative answers have been discussed and approved by Mr. Atkins and Ms. Wilkinson. The questions asked are self-constructed.

In addition to the e-interview, the researcher had a brief face-to- face interview regarding Chelsea’s plans for Asia, and Indonesia in particular, with Chelsea’s Chief Executive Officer, Ron Gourlay, during the club’s pre-season visit in Bangkok, Thailand, by the end of July 2011. The researcher also takes on scientific journals and literature studies as references and comparisons on the similar subject. Another data collection done by the researcher is through the Internet – Chelsea FC’s official websites and archives, relevant articles and publications, and many football and business related books.

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS OF DATA AND

INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS

4.1. Chelsea Football Club’s Communications Department Structure

Structure overview:  Steve Atkins: Head of Communications & Public Affairs Ensuring the team manager and players are represented fairly within the media. Responsible for day to day media liaison with external media on player and management matters. All external media strategy and outlets. Also in charge of all media staff.

 Emma Wilkinson: Head of Communications & Community Affairs Overall rresponsibility for all written and editorial content of club media material. Emma is also responsible for the departmental budget and is also a board member of the Chelsea Foundation. Also in charge of all web writers, and admin staff within the department.  Simon Taylor: Head of CSR Responsible for all charitable and London community activities. Development of club's public affairs/political (football and non- football) relationships; development and promotion of Football in the Community in Cobham and surrounding area.  Gareth Mills: Senior Media Officer Co-ordinating activity in relation to Chelsea editorial output, matches and players and delivering Chelsea's strategic messages.  Caroline Mabey: Personal Assistant to Heads of Communications Assists in the day to day running of the Communication offices at Stamford Bridge. Ensuring purchase orders are raised, office equipment and stationary are updated as well as helping Steve Atkins and Emma as and when needed.  Thresa Conneely: Accreditation Officer Responsible for co-ordinating and processing the accreditation of all media for matches at Stamford Bridge, and UEFA champions league away fixtures.  Andy Jones and Christian Collison: Web Writers Key members of the www.chelseafc.com editorial team. Assist in the delivery and control of all Chelsea editorial output. Help to deliver the company's mission, vision and values in all external and internal communication where appropriate.  Paul Mason: New Media Editor Smooth FM provides full commentary on every Chelsea match. This can also be accessed on an audio stream via Chelsea TV Online on the website, www.chelseafc.com.

 Darren Walsh: Official Club Photographer Responsible for all editorial photographic output.

4.2. Chelsea Football Club’s Communications Department Activities

Below are the ten major gateways of activities pioneered and conducted by the club’s Communications Department in order to globalise the Chelsea brand:

 Chelsea FC Soccer Schools Chelsea’s Soccer Schools are a fantastic introduction to the game of football, Chelsea Football Club, and Chelsea’s unique coaching philosophies for boys and girls of all abilities aged between 3 and 15 years old. With over 200 Soccer Schools, Goalkeeping Courses and Mini-Kicker Courses taking place throughout the year in London, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, Essex, Berkshire, Middlesex and Dorset, there is sure to be something to keep all junior JTs, little Lampards and diddy Drogbas entertained in a fun and safe environment. Overseas Soccer Schools include Forte Village in Sardinia, Italy, and Chelsea FC Soccer School Hong Kong. The common mission of Chelsea’s Soccer Schools include providing sporting opportunities through Chelsea FC’s football development program, helping to tackle crime, drugs and anti- social behaviour issues through sports, offering after-school coaching with education and proper football training, supporting and serving the community, and futher enhance the awareness of Chelsea FC in any parts of the world.

 Charity - Help A Capital Child (Current National Charity Partner)

The 95-106 Capital FM’s, The UK’s No. 1 Hit Music Station, charity program called “Help A Capital Child”, was set up in 1975 to help disadvantaged young people in local areas in the UK. It supports children and young people affected by abuse, homelessness, disability, poverty and illness. Chelsea Football Club and Supporters Group have been backing the club’s chosen charity and raising money for Help A

Capital Child26. Recently, at the Chelsea vs Swansea City game on the 24th September 2011 they invited children from The Harrow Club, a Help A Capital Child funded project onto the pitch to receive a cheque for £500. Jack and Rhiannon of the Harrow Club were delighted to follow in the footsteps of Didier Drogba and John Terry and walk out through the tunnel into a stadium full of cheering fans, just before kick-off. They then enjoyed watching the game in style from of the stadium boxes kindly donated to Help A Capital Child by the club. After the game the kids were able to get their programme’s signed by some of the players as well27. In 2009, The Blues have also officially kicked off their new charity partnership with 95.8 Capital FM’s Help a London Child. Chelsea players launched the project with children from the Brunswick Club in Kensington. After meeting then-manager Carlo Ancelotti and getting autographs and pictures with the entire first team, the kids joined Petr Cech, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba for a spot of shooting practice. Blues captain John Terry was excited to be involved in the project. “We are in a fortunate position to be able to help good causes,” he said. The whole team is looking forward to supporting Help a London Child and the fantastic work it does with kids.” Didier Drogba, who helped kids practise their free-kicks, was also glad to be involved with the charity. “I understand that just a smile can make a big difference to these kids, so it is important for us to lend a hand to the youngsters in the community,” said the

striker. “I have my own kids, so it is nice to be able to help. I have lived in London for five years now and my kids are London kids,

which makes it closer for me28.” Previously in April 2005, Chelsea announced its partnership with CLIC Sargeant, a charity created from the merger of two previous charities, CLIC (Cancer and Leukaemia in Children) and Sargent Cancer Care for Children, where they raised over £2 million through its 4 years partnership

from 2005 to 200929.

- Right To Play (Current Global Charity Partner) Founded in 2000 by Johann Olav Koss, four-time Olympic gold medallist and social entrepreneur, Right To Play stimulates and motivates local communities to engage in entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainable development practices. Right To Play is the leading international humanitarian and development organization using the transformative power of sport and play to build essential skills in children and thereby drive social change in communities affected by war, poverty and disease. Right To Play creates a safe place for children to learn and fosters the hope that is essential for children to envision and realize a better future.

Its programs incorporate a unique methodology that uses sport and play as tools for learning in four development impact areas: Basic Education and Child Development, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Conflict Resolution and Peace Building, and Community Development and Participation. Right To Play is committed to every child’s right to play and takes an active role to facilitate research and promote advocacy in this area. Its aim is to engage and positively influence key decision-makers from the development, sport, business, media and government sectors to ensure every child benefits from the positive power of sport and play.

Right To Play is also supported by an international team of top athletes from more than 40 countries. As role models these athletes inspire children, raise awareness and promote opportunities for funding for Right To Play projects. Its Athlete Ambassadors include Chelsea Football Club (UK), Team Columbia, Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia), Jose Calderon (Spain), Constantina Dita (Romania), Anja Pärson (Sweden), Alexander Ovechkin (Russia), and Steve Young (USA), among many others30.

By the beginning of 2007, Right To Play had sealed a six- year exclusive partnership to be Chelsea Football Club's first ever Global Charity Partnerr. The news was formally announced as Chelsea FC unveiled its Corporate Social Responsibility report at a reception in the House of Commons. Right To Play President and CEO, Johann Olav Koss said, "This partnership is a celebration of Chelsea FC's commitment to charitable organisations. We are delighted to be a partner of one of the world's most prestigious football clubs and fastest growing global brands."

Chris Robinson, National Director, Right To Play UK added, "During our discussions with the club, it was refreshing to see how Chelsea were motivated to work with us at the ground level. Our organisations share the same ethic and commitment to promote the best values of sport." Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, and Salomon Kalou have all agreed to be Chelsea Ambassadors for Right To Play. Essien said, "As a Chelsea and Ghana player it is great to make a commitment to helping children in Africa and other areas of the world."

Lampard added, “What Right To Play achieve using sport is fantastic. Everyone at the club is fully behind their work and we are all proud to support them. I’m sure our relationship will benefit thousands of kids throughout the world.” The partnership is an

exclusive deal with a football club and aims to raise in excess of £2 million over six years. The funding generated will support Right To Play’s extensive humanitarian operations in 22 countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Right To Play works closely with the United Nations, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNRWA, the World Health Organisation and the International Red Cross and community and

government organisations at the local level31.

 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Chelsea Football Club regularly publishes their annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report dating back to the 2005/2006 season. Its latest report for the 2009/2010 season shows Chelsea’s CSR investment was calculated using a series of different totals. Where necessary, Chelsea have attempted to monetise the value through estimates based on the commercial value of gifts in kind or the salaries of the staff and players who contributed towards its CSR work. Of this, £2,938,859.95 was the turnover of Chelsea’s Football in the Community department. Chelsea’s Education Department generated a further £330,000 in turnover, making a total of £3,268,859.95. Money raised, donated and leveraged for charity and wider CSR work came to £2,097,679.92. The club also contributed a further £379,400 through gifts in kind such as free pitch hire at Stamford Bridge and Cobham, free kit and equipment and video production. On top of these totals, Chelsea staff and players gave £964,500 worth of their time, furthering Chelsea’s charitable aims and objectives. Chelsea’s total CSR investments for the 2009/2010 season was £6,710,440. The details of the CSR programmes are as follows:

- Sport in the City

Chelsea’s UK charity partner Help a London Child ran a Sport in the City initiative offering thousands of seven to 15-year- olds the chance to experience free taster sessions in a variety of sports throughout the summer. Utilising funding from the Premier League’s Creating Chances initiative and Chelsea’s Community Shield allocation from The Football Association, a specially- designed programme was drawn up to provide activities in a range of sports. These included football, dance, boxercise, tennis, squash, badminton, circuits, basketball, swimming, breakdance, futsal, trampolining, street dance, table tennis, cheerleading, kickboxing, netball and hockey.

- Premier League 4 Sport Initiative The initiative uses the power of football to boost sporting participation in local schools and clubs. Premier League 4 Sport sees top-flight clubs, such as Chelsea, linking up with community sports clubs to help attract young people in their area to take up minority sports such as judo, table tennis, badminton, and volleyball.

- Football+ Chelsea celebrated the handover of the Paralympics by hosting a coaching session for disabled footballers. The event took place in the London borough of Merton, with more than 60 people from the local area joining the club’s Football development. The scheme provides local children and adults with special needs the opportunity to experience sport in a safe and friendly environment, while the aim of the project is to help them to come across and get some physical exercise, and also for the banter and the lifelong friendships that are made as well.

- Jobcentre Plus Teaming up with Jobcentre Plus, Chelsea FC provide support for long-term unemployed people in West London. The innovative 10-week course, based at Stamford Bridge, is using football coaching as a motivational tool. Jobseekers are now receiving specialist work search and CV preparation advice from Jobcentre Plus, alongside morale-boosting health and fitness sessions from Chelsea’s award-winning community coaches.

- National Girls Get Moving Week As part of the National Girls Get Moving Week, Chelsea Ladies held a girls-only football coaching session and knife- crime tackling workshops which targets girls at risk of being drawn into crime. It was aimed at inspiring more girls to take up physial activity and support the government’s drive to tackle youth crime, particularly the rise in underage drinking among girls which leads to crime, disorder and nuisance.

- Chelsea Community FC The official pan-disability football club of Chelsea. Recently, the team won the Fuorlgloco European Cup which was held in Mantova, Italy. The aim is to inspire young disabled children to want to compete in these types of tournaments.

- Help a London Child Chelsea’s three-year partnership with Capital FM’s Help a London Child is raising significant funds by engaging fans and players to show support for children and young people experiencing abuse, poverty, homelessness, disability and illness throughout London. Chelsea mascot, Stamford the Lion, also helped to raise funds for the Help a London Child

partnership by running the city’s Marathon. He raised more than £11,000 for the charity and certainly put in the training on the capital’s streets in preparation, as well as working out at the Chelsea Club at Stamford Bridge. The mighty lion completed the 26.2-mile run, in six hours and 25 minutes. In addition, during the Christmas period, the Chelsea first team squad were guests at a project funded by Help a London Child to see first-hand the vital work the charity undertakes and how their fundraising is helping some of the most marginalised children in the capital The Lady Allen Adventure Playground in Wandsworth is a secure oasis in the district providing a safe place to play for autistic children and young people. The players joined the children on their specially constructed swings, slides and play structures, as well as posing for photos and signing autographs and a chat with the youngsters to discuss Christmas plans and hand out festive goods.

- Right To Play Sports Day The entire Chelsea squad displayed their skills and helped to coach children at a Right To Play Sports Day. The event was put together by Chelsea’s global charity partner to help raise awareness and funds for the worthy cause. As part of the scheme, the Chelsea team hosted training sessions with children before taking part in five-a-side matches against the young fans. The event raised hundreds of thousands of pounds. This went towards providing teachers, coaches and programmes to tackle health problems and conflict among some of the world’s poorest children in Africa, Asia and South America.

- Fashion House of Hun The Chelsea squad helped raised more than £70,000 for Chelsea’s charity partners Right To Play and Help A London

Child at the Armani store on the capital’s Brompton Road. Starting in 2006, for one evening the store was turned into part auction room, part gaming room, as around 100 young fans gathered to meet their heroes. The children and teenagers also got to test their skills against the players on games like FIFA 10 and Grand Slam Tennis, while their parents were able to bid for a number of fantastic prizes.

- Pitch Plays As well as Chelsea’s charity partners, several other charities were also guests at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium, as the club offered them free usage of the pitch to hold fundraising events. Organisations including Oil Aid, the Down’s Syndrome Association, PiggyBankKids and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust were guests during the 2009/2010 season, utilising the facilities at Stamford Bridge to help raise more than £600,000 for good causes.

- Special Wishes and Matchday Wishes Two terminally ill Chelsea fans were granted a special wish when they visited Chelsea’s Cobham training ground. Thomas Dudman, 17, and 25-year-old Tony Spark were invited down to Chelsea’s Surrey base after getting in touch with the Willow Foundation. The organisation helps arrange special days out for seriously ill people, allowing them to spend quality time with friends and family while creating special memories. Chelsea also run a matchday wishes programme at home Barclays Premier League games. The initiative sees young fans with serious or terminal illnesses welcomed into the tunnel after matches to meet the players.

- Tickets For Troops Chelsea was proud to become the first football club to support the Tickets for Troops initiative, providing 50 tickets at every home league game to the armed forces from November 2009. Across the scheme, thousands of tickets were made available at the Tickets for Troops website to all serving military personnel and veterans who have been discharged through injury since 2011.

- Poppy Appeal Chelsea players welcomed members of the armed forces who had served in Afghanistan to Cobham to mark the start of the club’s support for the 2009 Poppy Appeal. The visit was part of the club’s backing for the annual fundraising by the Royal British Legion that saw the 2009 appeal coincide with the top-of-the-table clash with Manchester United. Both teams took to the field with poppies embroidered on their shirts before forming a guard of honour for the soldiers. Following the game, the Blues donated their shirts to the Royal British Legion to help fundraising efforts.

- Inside Right Initiative The Inside Right programme was designed to help veterans adjust to civilian life after returning from active service. It uses football as a tool through a programme of social activity, offering veterans access to coaching qualifications and the opportunity to undertake different volunteering roles.

- Search For An Asian Soccer Star Chelsea’s groundbreaking Search for an Asian Soccer Star is the only initiative of its kind held by a professional football club and is designed to give a much-needed boost to Asian

participation at all levels of the game. Following the success of the initial instalment, the programme returned for a second year as players from Asian backgrounds took part in a series of specifically-designed tests followed by small-sided matches in a bid to win a trial at Chelsea’s world-famous Academy. The 2010 scheme saw a host of celebrity backers including Abhishek Bachchan, one of the world’s leading Bollywood stars, Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Blues striker Nicolas Anelka. The scheme, however, is not just about finding the next superstar. It is also about breaking down barriers, showing Asian players that opportunities at all levels of the game do exist and encouraging them to maximise their potential. Chelsea also invited managers, coaches and scouts from clubs at all levels of the game to identify talented youngsters, while information was on hand for Asian players to find local clubs in their area.

- Football in the Community Chelsea’s Football in the Community scheme hosted the first Men’s Health Day at Stamford Bridge to support Men’s Health Week. The event focused on raising awareness of preventable health and well-being problems, particularly among men and boys. Michael Cole, Chelsea’s London development manager, explained the reasons behind the event, “Men have traditionally suffered health inequalities as they do not visit doctors and other health professionals as often as women to address their health concerns. By engaging men through sport, we hope to be able to promote the benefits of healthier lifestyle, as well as referring participants to the relevant health agencies. We see Men’s Health Day as an integral part of the delivery of

our health projects and the club’s commitment to promoting a healthier community.”

- Matchday Screening Clinic Former Blues midfielder John Hollins and his TV sports presenter son Chris launched a matchday health clinic during the 2009/2010 season. The pair officially opened the innovative medical service for football fans. The Blues joined forces with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital to provide a mobile screening clinic on matchdays at Stamford Bridge. The screening included measing of blood pressure, diabetes testing, Body Mass Index (BMI) and obesity checks. Information about cancer screening, advice for stopping smoking or cutting down on alcohol or drugs is also provided.

- Chelsea’s Breakfast Clubs The clubs provided breakfast based on the first-team diet for more than 220 children from 10 schools across Hammersmith & Fulham who, for a variety of reasons, are unable to get a healthy and nutritious start to the morning. The programme ran in conjuction Hammersmith & Fulham Council, and the authority’s Lynne Richardson said, “The Breakfast Clubs continue to be very popular in our schools. Heads and learning mentors appreciate the benefits of having pupils in school, on time and focused for the day. This fits with the whole school approach that the borough adopts of healthy bodies and healthy minds. It also links perfectly with two of the Healthy Schools Scheme criteria of encouraging pupils to take part in physical activity and to eat well.” As a reward, the 20 pupils with the best attendence record were given the opportunity to visit the training ground to receive a coaching session with Chelsea’s Football in the

Community coaches. The schools reported that punctuality, attendence and behaviour of pupils improved once they started attending the clubs on a regular basis. They added that the children were ready to learn and settled into the school day after having something nourishing to eat and drink.

The backing of Chelsea’s players has been essential in creating one of the world’s best community programmes. Chelsea footballers took part in more community and charity activities than any other Premier League club during the 2009/2010 season, topping a poll conducted by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA). For the second time in three years, the Chelsea squad has come first in the PFA survey, having taken part in 1,145 activities throughout the 2009/10 campaign. This is 465 more than the second-placed club and almost three times the league average. Chelsea captain and PFA representative John Terry was delighted to top the poll again, “Everyone at the club knows how important it is to put to something back into our communities at home and abroad. All the players take our role extremely seriously and it is great that this work has been recognised again. We all love seeing the kids in their schools, down at the training ground or meeting them in the dressing room and tunnel after the game – it’s very humbling to hear their stories and we’re proud to be able to help.” PFA Chief Executive, Gordon Taylor OBE, welcomed the results, “Players get a lot of criticism, much of it undeserved. These figures show just how much they put back into their community and how involved they are in the Corporate Social Responsibility activitird of clubs. The PFA congratulate Chelsea once again for their outstanding community activities and, in

particular, the players for their commitment to supporting this

vital area of their work32.”

 Education

Chelsea Football Club is committed to the local community, to promoting grassroots football and using the power of football to inspire learning. The club’s education department continues to build on successful relationships with schools and the local community and to develop and deliver exciting education initiatives which use the motivational power of football to inspire learning. Education projects help over 2,000 learners aged seven to 70+ to achieve their learning goals. As well as specific programmes for school pupils and senior fans, there is an increased focus on family learning opportunities, involving parents and carers in their children's learning, through library and arts partnerships.

Learners have the benefit of working in small groups at the Hub, football-themed learning centre based at Stamford Bridge. Education officers also deliver outreach visits to primary schools, as part of Chelsea’s unique Education Through Football project. Chelsea are now supporting learning in over 40 schools across Hammersmith and Fulham, Wandsworth, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. In particular, projects focus on improving participants' skills and attitudes to learning, the club's rich history and changes in lifestyle and society over the last century. Celebrating equality and diversity are also key messages taught across the club’s programmes. Details of the education projects are as follows:

- Playing for Success

Playing for Success (PFS) is one of the core education achievements at the club. The programme is a partnership between the club, the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (LBHF) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). Hundreds of local school pupils have completed the programme of after-school study support sessions which focus on using football to help improve literacy, numeracy and ICT skills.

The Chelsea staff have developed an effective and engaging programme and introduced new elements to the project, such as numeracy activities in the Megastore and pitchside calculations. Activities support the National Curriculum and address the Every Child Matters agenda. Students, parents and teachers continue to give excellent feedback, with all schools reporting improvements in pupils' skills, confidence and attitudes to learning.

- Education Through Football (ETF)

Chelsea's Education Through Football (ETF) programme in partnership with Westminster City Archives continues to be a great success. The history and literacy project runs across a full school term and provides stimulating artefacts, resources and materials from Chelsea's history to help children understand the changes since 1948. Pupils are always highly enthused by a special launch day at the stadium, taking part in a museum and stadium tour and education workshops. Memories, pictures and stories told by fans who have been coming to the Bridge since the 1930s and 40s really help to bring past history to life.

- Premier League Reading Stars (PLRS)

Reading Stars is an educational project that harnesses the motivational power of football to encourage families to enjoy reading. The programme targets those hard to reach groups in society who may not have shown an interest in reading, but who do have a passion for football. Each of the 20 Premier League clubs nominate a Reading Star to recommend his favourite books, one for adults and one for children. Each club then adopts local public libraries who host reading clubs based on the book choices of all 20 Premier League Reading Stars. Both the children and parents attend the reading club, also enjoying a visit to a bookshop, a session with a published football author and a visit to the club stadium. Chelsea also enhances this programme locally by additional books and learning materials for the club’s nominated libraries.

The Reading Stars scheme has been running since 2003, with 111 different Premier League players having acted as Reading Stars. Over 16,000 parents and children have participated in PLRS groups since the beginning of the project and over 25,000 books have been read and 93 per cent of children on the scheme said they will read more regularly as a result of PLRS.

- Alive and Kicking

The Alive and Kicking project aims to give fans over the age of 75 the opportunity to increase their skills, in a supportive environment. Working together with tutors from the local Open Age charity, the group are able to share stories and memories and develop their computer skills. Due to popular demand, Chelsea added an additional weekly session, to accommodate the needs of over 75 learners who have taken part in the project. The group were delighted to receive national recognition with an Adult Learners' Week award for this unique and successful project. Senior fans have also enjoyed their own Star on a Stool-type events starring

club legends such as Roy Bentley, Peter Bonetti, Ron Harris and Barry Bridges and history talks from club historian Rick Glanvill.

- Tsu’Chu Business Courses

Chelsea teamed up with former Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and England forward Tony Woodcock to launch a scheme designed to encourage young people to go on to university and give them a head start in business. Tsu'Chu Biz is a four-day course designed for 14 to 19-year-olds which uses football as the teacher. The course is a unique collaboration between football, business and universities. To expand the project into the capital the group have developed a Tsu'Chu Biz London Olympics Enterprise Initiative.

Essentially the course is a mini MBA for young people from disadvantaged areas. It is hoped this will be the first of 40 courses being offered to 1000 14 to 19-year-olds from within the five Olympics host boroughs. The project takes its name from Tsu'Chu which is the ancient Chinese form of football from around 250BC that is widely recognised as being the start of the global game.

- Language Tuition

Students at the Chelsea Academy Secondary School are taking part in basic German tuition using football to help educate and inspire. The course has been developed in partnership with the Goethe-Institute and uses the power of football to engage students in language learning. The school languages teacher delivers the programme using the eye-catching students work book. In addition to classroom work, students receive football coaching from a Chelsea coach who will use some German words when giving instructions. The project culminates in a stadium tour when one of

Chelsea’s German-speaking tour guides will use some of the vocabulary that the children have learned.

- Alternative Education

A diverse approach is taken to target specific students in schools and pupil referral units. Pupils are referred to participate in sessions which are either delivered on site or off site ranging from cookery sessions to gardening. The carefully designed sessions are implemented to channel positive attitudes in specific areas. Group sessions and one-to-one sessions are offered to re-engage pupils using a 'drip feed' mentoring process.

- Creative Curriculum

The Maths, English, Science and Language into sport scheme also offers students an alternative education programme and works on improving students' abilities in specific areas of the four core subjects. This is delivered by incorporating practical and theory activities using football and multi-sports as a tool. Essential planning and preparation has effectively been used by Chelsea staff to deliver these sessions and achieve positive outcomes.

- Business of Football Tour and Workbook

The education department funded the development of this project which is targeted at students aged 14-17 studying level 2 Business Studies courses. In conjunction with stadium tours at Stamford Bridge it will provide students with a fun opportunity to apply the theory they learn in class to a real-life case study as well as finding out more about Chelsea and the stadium.

- PLRS Prison Project

In addition to the library projects, Chelsea is one of a select number of clubs who extend the work to prison inmates. Working with Wandsworth prison on material developed by the club's education department and with support from community coaches this project has proved highly motivational in encouraging prisoners to use their library more and to enjoy reading. Chelsea provide each participant with a free copy of Paul Canoville's book Black and Blue and they get to meet the author and co-writer Rick Glanvill.

- Sports and PE Tour and Workbook

Following the success of the Business Studies tour the education department developed this programme aimed at GCSE and BTEC students and covers fitness and training psychology and performance, diet and nutrition using examples from the training regime at the club's Cobham training ground.

- Kitchen Coaching

Last summer Academy head chef Charlotte Kemp shared her skills with local children in a smoothie-making workshop in the hospitality kitchens at Stamford Bridge and they were inspired to

eat more fruit as a result of making their own tasty drinks33.

 Environment Chelsea marked Earth Day by announcing that the club had achieved a 100 per cent rate for recycling waste at Stamford Bridge and Cobham training ground. The club teamed up with Powerday, a leading recycling company in London, resulting in food and contaminated waste being processed, which means that none of these leftovers from Chelsea’s stadium or training facilities now

56 goes to landfill. New machinery at the recycling plant also means waste is turned into the fuel which will eventually be used to power the site itself, cutting down on electricity consumption. Waste is processed using state-of-the-art technology, ensuring as much as possible is suitable for recycling. The remainder of the material is shredded into an even size to go as ready-to-use fuel to generate energy grom waste. Chris Alexander, Chelsea’s finance and operations director, welcomed the latest environmental initiative. “We are delighted to be working with Powerday, who share our view that we must do all we can to help reduce our impact on the environment,” he said. “Our commitment to this is something we take extremely seriously.” Powerday is a fellow member of the Green500 – the Mayor of London’s flagship energy efficiency programme. Indeed, Chelsea became the first football club to join. Mick Crossan, Powerday’s managing director added, “We’re proud of our association with Chelsea and commend the club’s commitment to recycling. We look forward to continuing a relationship that benefits the club, Powerday and the environment.” Continuing the club’s efforts to encourage the fans to reduce their own carbon emissions, Chelsea also teamed up with a fans group to establish a liftshare scheme. Set up at the request of the Chelsea Fans Environmental Committee, the scheme reduces travel costs as well as congestion and pollution. It can be accessed online and enables supporters travelling to home and away games to save money, as well as share lifts and their matchday experiences with fellow supporters. Journey details can be registered for free and the system works by matching fans offering lifts and those seeking transport to the game. The scheme will then let supporters know if anyone else is going in the same direction, leaving it up to them to make contact through a secure e-mail connection and arrange to share both the

journey and the costs of travel. The group said, “The committee welcome this latest scheme and the commitment of our club and supporters in reducing their environmental impact. We would urge fans driving to games to see if they can offer any lifts to Blues in their area. It can save money and bring fans together as well as saving the environment. Together we can make a huge difference.”

 Blue Pitches

Chelsea Football Club and Adidas have transformed four ‘Blue Pitches’ in West London with the aim of getting more young Londoners taking part in sport. The pitches are free to use to help get young people more active and make a real difference to local communities. Football, basketball and tennis can all be played on the four all-weather pitches which can be found at four sites close to Stamford Bridge.

The Blue Pitches are state of the art facilities where youngsters, regardless of age or ability, can meet up and play for free. All four pitches are, of course, blue in colour, inspired by the ‘Reflex’ blue in the Chelsea kit and are made from a high specification astro turf - a replica of a natural grass surface. The pitches will be used as key locations for Chelsea’s ‘Football In The Community’ programme, which provides sporting opportunities for local young people whilst tackling issues such as crime, gangs and anti social behaviour. Local schools will also have the opportunity

to benefit from after school coaching sessions and training days34.

 Social Inclusion

- KICKZ The KICKZ project is a national programme which uses the power of football to target disadvantaged areas in Wandsworth,

Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham and Westminster to create safer, stronger, more respectful communities through the development of young people's potential. By working in partnership with the police and relevant youth organisations, the programme targets young people at risk of offending and through regular coaching sessions and workshops provides motivation education and encouragement to tackle many of the problems participants face.

- Mini Kickz As with the main Kickz programme Mini Kickz uses the power of football to target some of the most deprived areas to build safer stronger communities and develop young people's full potential. The programme aims to engage children aged eight to 11 years to take part in positive activities, live healthier lifestyles and tackle anti-social behaviour and youth offending. Opportunities are also provided for local children to volunteer and become positive role models for younger members of their community.

- Positive Futures Chelsea's Positive Futures programme works with young people living in some of the most deprived communities to tackle offending and substance misuse by engaging them in positive football related activities and creating routes back into education, volunteering and employment delivered.

- Chelsea and CityWest Homes United Team (CCHUT) The CCHUT programme provides football coaching sessions and tournaments to the residents and schools in South Westminster to increase participation and act as an Anti-Social

Diversionary Activity for young people aged 12 years or over.

- Premier League into Work Chelsea's Premier League into Work project is a groundbreaking training programme which aims to use football to help local people who have been out of work for some time. The club provide a 10-week training course to build the trainees' confidence, improve their fitness and skills and help them back into employment. Workshops are provided at Stamford Bridge to provide participants with practical job seeking advice and regular coaching sessions and help encourage health and motivation.

- Apprenticeship Scheme Delivered in partnership with Essex County Council and SEEVIC College, the programme has delivered 12 apprenticeships to look after children, care leavers and young carers. A 15-month programme is currently being delivered, with each apprentice studying an NVQ course in activity leadership in coaching and working alongside the club's community coaches. Through an education and mentoring process, apprentices will be encouraged to develop their social skills, self-esteem and confidence.

- Prince’s Trust Chelsea Football Club is proud to support The Prince's Trust - The UK's leading youth charity which exists to help young people get their lives back on track. Through practical support including training, mentoring and financial assistance, it works with some of the hardest to reach 14-30 year olds in the UK including those who struggle at school, the long term unemployed, those who have been in trouble with the police and

young people in or leaving care.

- GoalZ Youth Engagement Project The GoalZ project runs three evening sessions per week at set sites throughout the borough of Elmbridge. The focus of the programme is to engage young people, aged between 12 to 16 years through interactive football and fitness sessions, these are integrated with specialised workshops to inform and encourage young people to make positive decisions about their future. The project targets those most at risk of offending. The multi-agency approach through Education, Surrey Police, Surrey Youth Service, Surrey Youth Justice and Elmbridge Council offers a wide range of support to young people and families referred to the project and hopes to reduce anti-social behaviour, truancy and young people getting themselves in the wrong types of situation. The pilot youth inclusion project is funded by the Premier League community fund from 2009 to 2012.

- Youth Club Programme The Youth Club Programme provides coaching on a weekly basis to youth clubs throughout the borough of Elmbridge. The monthly sessions offers both coaching and structured game sessions to engage the young people in a positive way. The programme concludes with an annual tournament hosted and managed by Chelsea FITC at the club's training facility in Cobham during July. Throughout 2010 Chelsea are introducing a follow on pay-and-play programme for any young people aged 12 to 16 at Xcel3 on Friday nights 6-8pm for any 12 to 16- years-olds wishing to attend a Chelsea training session. This programme will again work in conjunction with Elmbridge

Council, Surrey Police and the Surrey Youth Service.

- Street League Chelsea has been working successfully with Street League to engage young disadvantaged people to get their lives back on track. Weekly training sessions are provided alongside competitive games and educational courses to provide

participants with routes back into education or employment35.

 Football For All

“You can see when we are on the pitch we are all friends in one team, from different regions and different colours but we are still winning games. There is no place for prejudiced thoughts, no place for fighting, so if you can work well together on the football pitch you can do it in your life,” said Chelsea and France black striker, Nicolas Anelka. Last season Chelsea were awarded with the Intermediate Level of the Racial Equality Standard (RES) for its work tackling discrimination within the game, with extra impetus to the club’s work fighting racism and all forms of prejudice. The club has undertaken numerous projects throughout the year engaging fans and its communities in aspects of Chelsea’s anti-discrimination work. Along with the Football Association’s Kick Racism Out Of Football campaign, over 2,000 young people in south-west London participated in the club's anti-discrimination education campaign, headed up by Chelsea's first black player, Paul Canoville. Canoville played a significant part in the club's history and has become a regular visitor to schools across London for Chelsea’s education department, telling the story of how he combated the racism he encountered as a player. Every year pupils engaged in the programme design their own posters with the

winning designers having the opportunity to lead the teams out at

Stamford Bridge36.

 Coaching Chelsea’s Multi Sports Development programme in Essex currently delivers sessions in dance, cricket, badminton, judo, table tennis and volleyball to increase provision and raise overall sporting participation levels. The project seeks to develop significant changes in how young people are supported to move from school to club and how clubs are supported to reach out to schools. It utilises the experience and expertise of the National Governing Bodies of Sport and the network of School Sport Partnerships to build the capacity of sports clubs, working alongside the club and community outreach programmes. In addition coaching and leadership courses are offered to young people allowing for growth and sustainability.

- Coaching Clinics At schools and leisure centres across the South East, coaching clinics operate to increase participation during out-of- school hours. Players have the opportunity to attend and participate within a safe and friendly environment to develop their technical ability. Talented players also have the opportunity to further develop their game by being referred into academy development squads.

- Academy Development Squads Working in partnership with Chelsea Academy, structured and progressive sessions are delivered and fixtures organised with the intention to refer players into the Academy. An ETC (Excellence Training Centres) have been established in partnership with the Chelsea Academy to educate potential players who are striving for academy status.

- Chelsea Academy System The elite academy programmes run in conjunction with Chelsea FITC scheme offer both male and female players from all over the world the opportunity to broaden their educational learning while participating in a comprehensive training and playing experience. Male Academies are currently established in Weymouth College, Itchen College and Canterbury High School while female players are currently being run at the Therfield School and Kingston University.

The Academy students have personalised schedules which enable the balance of lessons against the rigours of an in-depth football development programme. All aspects of football are catered for and the programme sees the students taking their first steps onto the coaching ladder via in house FA courses.The academies offer a great opportunity for students to expand their education while learning about the game they all love. With first class facilites and resources the academies provide an excellent opportunity to employment within the football industry.

- In School Coaching / PPA Working throughout the South East, links have been developed in primary schools to deliver regular PE lessons. Delivery of the sessions are in line with appropriate national curriculum key stages assisting with school levels of attainment. The syllabus covers a range of PE Curriculum topics, in which a variety of sports and exercises will be taught to the pupils, focusing on agility, balance, coordination and movement. These skills and techniques will then be transferred into team games.

- Extended Schools Programme Linking into extended schools co-ordinators, out-of-school

hours provision is delivered. This consists of school-based breakfast clubs, lunch-time clubs and after-school clubs.

- Team Coaching Exciting, high quality attacking football is being taught by the club’s experienced Chelsea coaches. They will work with the players and coaches to achieve your anyone’s level of performance by learning to play the Chelsea way and working on the importance of team cohesion. Effective partnerships have been established with local FA charter standard youth football clubs to develop positive club links. Specific coaching sessions, workshops and qualification courses are delivered throughout the season to players, parents and coaches to assist with their individual development needs.

- Coach Education A comprehensive Coach Education programme is delivered to provide pupils, teachers and local youth club team managers with practical coaching advice and education as part of a club link initiative. Coach education courses are also delivered to up- skill young vulnerable people with the intention to employ them as front-line service staff within the strand to create community role models.

- Mini Kickers The club’s programme for younger players aged three to five years introduces movement coordination and basic instruction through fun football-based games at sports grounds and nursery schools.

- Satellite Coaching Clinics Groups follow a specially created syllabus and work to set

coaching ratios dictated by set age bands enabling players to develop and improve their game. The coaching sessions combine technical instruction through drills, games and small- sided matches.

- Summer Fair Support An alternative to curriculum support is an option to use Chelsea Coaches to run a Beat the Keeper stall for two hours at the Summer Fair. Chelsea FITC will provide a trophy and small prize while donating all the proceeds to the school PTA.

- Girls Only Programmes All groups follow a specially created syllabus that enables players to develop and improve weekly. The coaching sessions combine technical instruction through drills and fun games and at least 20 minutes of small-sided matches.

- London Japanese Junior Football Club Working alongside coaches at the LJJFC, the club's coaches deliver weekend football sessions and holiday camps and festivals for the club's Under 5 and Under 6 players. The club also organises an tournament every year for Japanese players across the capital. Established in 1993 the club provides football for over 100 players every weekend and is the only organisation

of its kind in Europe37.

Other than the listed programmes above, Chelsea’s Communications Department is also responsible in arranging press conferences, writing and distributing press releases, dealing with the media and fans requests in general, making sure that the club’s official statements do not get twisted by the press, counter-attacking negative publications in

66 the most positive light, promoting events, providing advice and consultation to any department within the club and many more.

Evidently, Chelsea’s globalisation efforts in Asia have been quite successful. Shortly after Chelsea’s 2011/2012 pre-season to Asia which included Malaysia, Thailand, and Hong Kong, Chelsea’s Chief Executive, Ron Gourlay, assessed the significant increase on the club’s popularity in Asia compared to their last time visit to Asia three years ago. The number of the crowds coming to watch Chelsea play live certainly showed an increasing figure. To start off, in Malaysia there were 85,000 people watching in the stadium, in Bangkok there were 50,000 people, and in Hong Kong, where Chelsea played twice, two stadiums were full. Gourlay stated that the goals of the pre-season were the preparation of team and the possibility for Chelsea’s current manager, Andre Villas-Boas, to see it in action, and the other one was the engagement with the fans off the field, which appeared to have worked very well.

The successor of Peter Kenyon was also thankful to have local supporters’ clubs on board during the club’s visit. The supporters clubs were reporting notable increases in membership just in the period of the team’s visit. Chelsea have been working with the supporters’ clubs very closely over the last 12 months since they announced they were coming to Asia, and it was very important to get the supporters clubs involved in everything the club did in their market place. The supporters clubs were the people on the ground there and they spread the story very positively. They also had question and answer sessions with Gourlay and former player, Graeme Le Saux, in every city the club visited.

As far as it goes for Indonesia and Asia in general, Gourlay believed that the opprtunity to come to Asia is in the odd-numbered years because the even-numbered ones are filled with European Championships and the World Cup. While waiting for the next odd-numbered year, Gourlay believed that there will still be Chelsea activity in Asia. This had

67 been another key part that Chelsea had been working on during the trip. Their strategy is very much working in the community, grassroots programmes, working with the kids and the youths and the vehicle to do that is Blue Pitches. Another plan is to have Chelsea’s youth team to visit different countries while the first team is in Asia.

In 2012, Chelsea are most likely to go to the United States and the youth team will come over and play in the three Asian cities the club had visited in 2011. This will give the youths of Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Hong Kong the chance to play against the Chelsea’s youngster and keeps the interaction going with the fanbase.

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1. Conclusions Since Roman Abramovich’s takeover in 2003, Chelsea Football Club have become such a dominant force in the world of football. Trophies are being won, big name playes are signed, fans are increasing, and consequently fans turn into consumers and through tickets and merchandise selling, they generate more money to the club’s revenue. The business of football has expanded worldwide and football clubs are racing each other to attract more fans/consumers and stakeholders to become parts of their alliances. Through brand globalisation, football clubs are able to extend their footprint across the globe without having to leave their countries to promote their clubs. Merchandising can indeed become a stable source of income for football clubs, but a brand image is priceless. Stephen King of the WPP Group, a global media communications services company based in London, once described the difference between a "product" and a "brand". He said, "A product is something that is made in a factory; a brand is something that is bought by a customer. A product can be copied by a competitor; a brand is unique. A product can be quickly outdated; a successful brand is timeless." One way to think of a brand is as a "word in the mind". If that word, even a combination of meaningless letters, creates an instant mind-picture of a product and a set of values, that word is a

69 brand. For example, when people combine the letters V, M, and T in the order MTV, instantly they associate the letter sequence M-T- V with the music television channel, rock music, and all that rock music represents (good or bad). Likewise, when they combine the letters W, B, and M into a certain sequence, they get BMW, what most people think of as a high-priced, high-performance German automobile – even though they also make motorcycles38. Even with the simplest of letter Y and an exclamation mark (!), people would easily guess that it stands for the Internet giant, Yahoo! Inc. The same with Chelsea FC, it only takes seconds for football fans to recognise that the letters C, H, and E in that order, displayed on the scoreboard or TV screens stand for Chelsea FC. When people ask a football fan, “Which football club do you support?” and the fan says, “I’m a Blues.”, they will immediately think of the fan as a Chelsea fan because “Blues” is a nickname for the Stamford Bridge army and when they see the crest or logo, it only solidifies that it is indeed Chelsea Football Club. Therefore, it does not have to be the actual, complete name of the football club, Chelsea alone would do just fine. Even when the word “Chelsea” is typed into the search engine, Google, the top results would be Chelsea the football club rather than a person’s name, a flower event, or songs and books title. This is what makes a brand globalisation highly important and necessary. The success from brand globalisation is a long-term goal and yet, it can be achieved in a relatively short period of time. Most top-ranked football clubs find it easier to globalise their brands through the media, broadcasting rights, merchandise, the players and the equally important, fans. The football clubs’ communications department also play a significant part of the clubs’ globalisation efforts. They are the ones in touch with the media and the ones responsible to achieve a successful two-ways communications between the clubs and its publics.

Chelsea Football Club’s Communications Department helps to get the messages across. It creates a line where the media and the publics are able to ask and seek information from the club. It also helps to plan events both domestically and globally, as well as manages the communication flow. Through the club’s CSR, community relations, education programmes and charities, the Communications Department helps to portray the good image of Chelsea Football Club and subsequently, globalising the Chelsea brand itself.

5.2. Recommendations

Although it can be said that Chelsea Football Club has managed to successfuly globalise its brand, there are some areas that the researcher believes can still be improved in terms of Chelsea’s strategies in globalisation. The researcher believes that the proposed recommendations are in line with Chelsea’s Communications Department, and Chelsea as a whole, efforts to globalise the Chelsea brand and preserve the fundamental and traditional values of the beautiful game of football.

Firstly, the researcher would like to address the importance of supporters clubs in every part of the world. Supporters clubs play a significant role in globalising the club’s favourite football team in the respective countries of each supporters club. Chelsea Football Club encourage these supporters clubs to be officially affiliated with Chelsea FC through a number of levels, conditions, and requirements and to date, there are 63 official Chelsea FC

supporters clubs registered all across the continents39. These supporters clubs help spreading the Chelsea “virus” throughout their countries and publics. They become the place where Chelsea fans gather and the fans are able to express themselves freely in

71 this place. They organize game gatherings, club’s gatherings, football or futsal trainings, and any other activities related to Chelsea Football Club and football in general. They become the bridge which connects Chelsea and its fans.

Unfortunately, supporters clubs have not been completely utilised to help the club’s brand globalisation. There is indeed an annual fans forum meeting held in London but it limits the availability of each supporters clubs to attend due to the costs and time period. The researcher believes that it would be better if Chelsea Football Club were to invite a representative (either the president, vice president, or secretary) from each official supporters club to come to London on Chelsea’s expense, perhaps once every two or three years, and arrange a special meeting with the Head of Supporters Clubs Department and the CEO. This way, the club can directly communicate its vision and mission, expectations and desires and vice versa. The researcher believes it is very important to get the supporters clubs involved in the club’s activities and for the supporters clubs to feel needed, wanted, recognised and respected by the club.

Secondly, and in line with the utilisation of supporters clubs, the researcher believes it would be best for official supporters clubs to be included and appointed first hand as an official partner during Chelsea’s pre-season tours. The supporters club would clearly honour and cherish the opportunity even if it is pro bono. When Chelsea FC visit a specific country for a pre- season, it normally involves only the promotors and the sponsors. Supporters clubs must find a way to get to the promotors and negotiate an agreement by themselves instead of being offered the chance. The researcher believes the partnership would benefit all parties in terms of time, effort, efficiency, availability and money.

Thirdly, a partnership with local TV channels and cables in many countries to broadcast the official Chelsea TV with a reasonable price so the fans can be updated with live news surrounding the club. In 2007, pay-tv Astro did broadcast Chelsea TV in Indonesia through a re-run program, however due to the Barclays Premier League broadcasting rights which were bought by MNC Group and ESPN StarSports on Indovision, most people referred back to Indovision and Astro was soon dissolved in late 2008. Chelsea TV provides the latest and most reliable news on Chelsea Football Club, therefore the more people have it on their TV channels, the higher brand awareness is raised.

Last but not least, in a more general recommendation, the researcher would like to propose an idea for all organisations – profit or non-profit, big or small, local or international – other than sports clubs to have a special department of Public Relations or Communications within the structure of the management. This department should have a direct line to the most important people in the organisation or company and report directly to the top management. In addition, they should be treated as equally important as the managers and be included and consulted in specific decisions-making process.

Compared to America’s version of football, the National Football League (NFL) is the highest level of professional American football in the United States. Formed by eleven teams in August 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, the league currently consists of thirty-two teams from across the States. Most of the coaches and players on NFL teams expect to engage in some type of charitable activities, events meetings, and/or programs within their local communities. Thus, the officials

73 in this office, who tend to be directors or public relations officers, are responsible to assist coaches and players by scheduling them for public apprearances, making sure they meet their commitments, encouraging them to interact with others at an activity site, and recording their actions for publication in the franchise’s newsletters to fans and/or in reports to the media and community.

In recent years, these relationships have become inreasingly important for the personnel on teams. That is, they should be available and willing to participate in such programs within poor, middle class, and wealthy neighbourhoods of their team’s cities and counties40. Along with the public relations, NFL teams also have a marketing department which deals with advertisements, promotional campaigns, and the sales of any products and/or services related to their NFL teams. More specifically, the department’s vice presidents and directors made decisions about the marketing of merchandise at retailers in teh local area, ads in their stadium during home games, and promotions on the Internet, radio stations and television networks, and in magazines, newspaper, and trade journals.

In addition to the NFL competition itself, the public relations and programs leaders also establish a youth centre which offers advice, guidance, and information on how to maintain good health, attend and perform well in school, avoid the use of illegal drugs, behave and listen to their parents, and establish goals to be successful in the future as adults. Because the teams develop and provide these and other programs to children of all ages, they receive economic and social benefits and perhaps promotion in publications of the media40.

The explosion of media outlets bodes well for the future of public relations in sports. Most major sports such as football, the

74 basketball, the NFL, golf, tennis, rugby, baseball and many more establish a Public Relations or Communications Department within their repsective clubs. Sports PR coordinate the flow of information from teams to the press and feed the public hunger for sports news items, team data and player information. They also play an important “promotional” role in generating public interest, inreasing teams’ visibility and filling stadiums with fans, which generated more income to the club. Often working seven days a week during a season, PR or Communications staff for sports team vary in size – professional teams or large universities have whole internal departments to coordinate public relations, while smaller teams or colleges might hire part-timers. Responsibilities include everything from dining with new media to supervising printing and delivery of game programmes.

College and professional sports PR personnel do everything from writing newspaper stories and press releases to organizing press briefings, preparing press guides and maintaining team historical files. They are responsible for responding to media and public information requests and often for positioning difficult or sensitive news stories relating to teams or players so as to throw the most positive light on a situation. This is exactly why sports Public Relations is essential for any sports clubs, or any organizations in that matter, who wish to succeed locally and globally.

REFERENCES

1. Samovar, Larry A, Richard E. Porter and Edwin R. McDaniel. (2009). Intercultural Communication: A Reader 13th Edition, p.9. United States of America: Wandsworth Cengage Learning.

2. Cornelissen, Joep. (2011). Corporate Communication: A Guide to Theory and Practice, p.5, p.61. London: SAGE Publications Ltd..

3. Seitel, Fraser P. (2007). The Practice of Public Relations 10th Edition, p.75. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

4. http://billionaires.forbes.com/quote/0dsL2ALd375Ka?q=Berkshire+Hatha way

5. Stoldt, G. Clayton, Stephen W. Dittmore, and Scott E. Branvold. (2006). Sport Public Relations: Managing Organizational Communication Vol. 10, p.19-20. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

6. http://www.nextiraone.eu/eu/references/chelsea_football_club/chelsea_foo tball_club

7. http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~1891221,00.html

8. Glanvill, Rick. (2006). Chelsea FC: The Official Biography – The Definitive Story of The First 100 Years, p.53-54. Great Britain: Headline Publishing Group.

9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Bates#Chelsea_F.C.

10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Abramovich

11. http://www.borisyeltsin.com/

12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobham_Training_Centre

13. http://www.chelseafc.com/page/ClubInfo/0,,10268,00.html

14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Abramovich#Chelsea_F.C.

15. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/21/abramovich-sues-sunday- times

16. http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~1524641,00.html

17. http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~1692418,00.html

18. Gregory, James R., and Jack G. Wiechmann. (2011). Branding Across Borders: A Guide To Global Brand Marketing, p.1. New York: McGraw- Hill.

19. Mooij, Marieke K. de. (2005). Global Marketing And Advertising: Understanding Cultural Paradoxes, p.29. Thousands Oaks, California: Sage Publications Inc.

20. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/research_finds_e ager/globalisation_of_football_brands.pdf

21. Hamil, Sean., et al., eds. (2001). The Changing Face of The Football Business: Supporters Direct, p.1-5. London: Frank Cass Publishers.

22. Cleary, Sandra. (2009). Communication: A Hands-on Approach. United States of America: Juta & Co. Ltd.

23. Slack, Trevor, and Milena M. Parent. (2006). Understanding Sport Organizations: The Application of Organization Theory 2nd Edition, p.3- 7. United States of America: Human Kinetics.

24. Daft, Richard L., Jonathan Murphy, and Hugh Willmott. (2010). Organization Theory and Design, p.5–12. United Kingdom: Cengage Learning EMEA.

25. Holmes, David. (2005). Communication Theory: Media, Technology, and Society, p. 41, p. 51-52. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

26. http://www.capitalfm.com/charity/appeal/about-appeal/

27. http://www.capitalfm.com/london/charity/chelsea-supporters/

28. http://bridgekids.chelseafc.com/en-GB/Help-A-London-Child- 220909/default.html

29. http://www.chelseafc.com/page/ClicSargentArchive/0,,10268~1646837,00 .html

30. http://www.righttoplay.com/uk/about-us/Pages/AtAGlanceCon%27t.aspx

31. http://www.chelseafc.com/page/TheClubCharities/0,,10268~966695,00.ht ml

32. http://chelsea2.chelseafc.com/documents/CSR_0910.pdf

33. http://www.chelseafc.com/page/Foundation_The_Hub/0,,10268,00.html

34. http://www.chelseafc.com/page/Foundation_adidas_BluePitches/0,,10268, 00.html

35. http://www.chelseafc.com/page/Foundation_Social_Inclusion/0,,10268,00. html

36. http://www.chelseafc.com/page/Foundation_Football_For_All/0,,10268,00 .html

37. http://www.chelseafc.com/page/Foundation_Coaching/0,,10268,00.html

38. http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199903/editorial0399001.html

39. http://www.chelseafc.com/page/SupporterClubsMap/0,,10268,00.html

40. Jozsa, Frank P., and John Maxymuk. (2010). Football Fortunes: The Business, Organization, and Strategy of the NFL, p.99, p.109. United States of America: McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers.

APPENDICES

Interview Transcripts

Interviewee : Ron Gourlay Title : Chief Executive Officer of Chelsea Football Club, 2009 – present Date : Monday, July 25, 2011 Location : Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

Stara : “So Ron, how is the pre-season so far?“ Gourlay : “It’s going well, pretty much what we expected really. Full stadiums in Malaysia and in Bangkok yesterday, I think it was over 135,000 people combined. The fans have been fantastic and this is why we love to come to Asia, their enthusiasm over the club and the players just shows how much this football club means to them. The team also got the preparation they needed and Andre was happy to see the performance so far. Next stop is Hong Kong, and hopefully the winning streak continues!” Stara : “I noticed that it’s not only the local fans who came by at the hotel and watched the match, you’ve got fans from all over Asia coming down to Malaysia and Bangkok and there were also a few from Africa and Australia.” Gourlay : “Indeed. I’ve met with a lot of fans from many Asian and other countries other than the host countries and the fact that they are willing to travel to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Hong Kong possibly, means a lot to us and we highly appreciate their efforts to

meet the club so we are always trying to improve on and off the pitch to prove them that their sacrifices to be here is well spent.” Stara : “Other than pre-seasons, is there any other activity planned for the Asian fans?” Gourlay : “Of course. Have you ever heard of our Blue Pitches? We are planning to have more of those across Asia. It is a great way to gather around and play football or any other sports and enjoy the game. We would like to get the community involved through football and other sports and help developing them towards a bright future. We would also like to send our youth team to Asia and other continents whenever the first team is travelling elsewhere. This way, both the players and the fans can stay connected when the season’s finished.” Stara : “That sounds brilliant, I’m sure we’re all looking forward to it. But there is one particular question that I’ve been dying to ask you: when will you be coming to Indonesia for a pre-season? We’ve got an official supporters club there with over 2500 members to date and we’d be absolutely honoured to welcome Chelsea to our country.” Gourlay : “Well, the ideal time for us to travel to Asia is in the odd- numbered years, you know because of the Euro and the World Cup. Next year we will probably return to the States, as you know it’s always been the US, Asia, the US, Asia. So the possibility to come back to Asia is most likely in 2013. But I’ve heard a lot about Indonesia and yes I remembered that there is an OSC (Official Supporters Club) in the capital, I’ve met a lot of Indonesian fans both here and in Kuala Lumpur and they are showing great support, so I will definitely keep that in mind and hopefully we can visit you in Indonesia in the next two years.” Stara : “Hopefully so, please do let us know and I promise you we’ll do everything we can to ensure you that Chelsea will have the most memorable pre-season in Indonesia and in Asia!”

Gourlay : “That sounds fantastic. Thank you very much for your support.” Stara : “Oh, have a safe flight to Hong Kong tomorrow and thank you so much for your time.” Gourlay : “No worries. Okay then, you get home safe ya! Bye!”

E-interview Transcripts

Name : Caroline Mabey Title : Personal Assistant to Heads of Communications Department at Chelsea Football Club Source : E-mail correspondence

E-mail #1 Sent : 3 August 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : To whom it may concern, Hi, my name is Stara Anna, I'm 21, I'm currently doing my undergraduate thesis, and I am the PR officer for OSC Indonesia. I am looking to be in touch with Chelsea's Communications Department so I can ask them for a permission to base my Thesis study on Chelsea's PR activities and interview them. If possible, could you kindly inform me the e-mail addresses of the person(s) in charge? I'd be extremely grateful  Many thanks in advance.

Best regards, Stara Anna

E-mail #2 Sent : 3 August 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message :

Dear Stara, Unfortunately we can't offer work experience because of the nature of our work and the confidentiality clauses involved. Is it that you just need to know about the day to day duties of the communications department/the function of the department in relation to the rest of the club?

Caroline Mabey Personal Assistant to Heads of Communications Chelsea Football Club

E-mail #3 Sent : 4 August 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : Dear Ms. Mabey, Hi  I am not looking for a job actually, I'm currently doing my undergraduate thesis and my subject is the PR activities of Chelsea FC. Therefore, I do, indeed, need to know the day to day duties of the communications department/the function of the department in relation to the rest of the club  If possible, I would be really grateful if I can conduct in-depth interviews as well through e-mails. Many thanks for your swift reply.

E-mail #4 Sent : 8 August 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected]

Message : I have forwarded your response to Emma and Steve as the Heads of Communications Department. Someone will get back to you in a week or so.

E-mail #5 Sent : 19 August 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : Dear Ms. Mabey, Hi, hope you're well  I would like to follow up on my previous e-mails regarding my request to do a thesis based on Chelsea's Communications Department's activities. I still haven't heard from neither Steve nor Emma so I was wondering whether they've gotten my e-mail  Thanks in advance and look forward to your reply.

E-mail #6 Sent : 19 August 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : I did send you an email with details on our department and explained that because of both Steve and Emma’s busy schedules they will unfortunately have no time to do interviews. If you didn't receive the email let me know and I will resend it again.

E-mail #7 Sent : 19 August 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message :

Dear Ms. Mabey, Hi, thanks for your swift reply. Unfortunately I didn't receive that particular e- mail/attachment. I'd be grateful if you could resend it  I completely understand if I can't interview them, but do you think there's a chance they would consider reading my interview questions? I only have 10 questions tops and I have until the end of September before I start compiling the data for the final submission. Once again, many thanks for your kindness.

E-mail #8 Sent : 19 August 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : Hi Stara, Please do send over the questions and I'll see what I can do. 

E-mail #9 Sent : 19 August 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : Dear Ms. Mabey, I am so very thankful for your kindness!  May I send the questions next Wednesday? I need to discuss it first with my thesis advisor :) Once again, thanks a bunch for everything and looking forward to the details that you mentioned earlier  Have a pleasant weekend!

E-mail #10 Sent : 19 August 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message :

No problem Stara.

E-mail #11 Sent : 13 September 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : Dear Ms. Mabey, Please find attached the list of questions for the interview. Apologies on the delay  I had to wait for an approval from my advisor. If you could kindly help me by forwarding them to Steve and Emma, I'd be extremely grateful. Many thanks in advance and look forward to reading your reply.

E-mail #12 Sent : 19 September 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : We have received your questions list but I'm afraid Emma and Steve have been extremely busy so have been unable to do the questionnaire.

E-mail #13 Sent : 19 September 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : That's alright, Ms. Mabey, I don't expect them to complete them now anyways  Hopefully they can get to it before next month though  Please do keep me posted and I'm still waiting on that Communications Department details  Thanks a bunch :)

E-mail #14 Sent : 26 September 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : Dear Stara, Further to your recent emails regarding telephone interviews with our Heads of Communications. As you can imagine it is now the start of the season and their work schedules are extremely busy and therefore will be unable to take on any new assignments such as additional interviews for the foreseeable future. However I have written below a synopsis on the Communications Department and the role it plays in the club. I hope this helps.

Steve Atkins: Head of Communications & Public Affairs Ensuring our team manager and players are represented fairly within the media. Responsible for day to day media liaison with external media on player and management matters. All external media strategy and outlets. Also in charge of all media staff.

Emma Wilkinson: Head of Communications & Community Affairs Overall Responsibility for all written and editorial content of club media material. Emma is also responsible for the departmental budget and is also a board member of the Chelsea Foundation. Also in charge of all web writers, and admin staff within the department.

Simon Taylor: Head of CSR Head of our Corporate Responsibility Strategy. Is responsible for all charitable and London community activities. Development of club's public affairs/political (football and non-football) relationships; development and promotion of Football in the Community in Cobham and surrounding area.

Gareth Mills: Senior Media Officer Co-ordinating activity in relation to Chelsea editorial output, matches and players and delivering Chelsea's strategic messages.

Caroline Mabey: Personal Assistant to Heads of Communications Assists in the day to day running of the Communication offices at Stamford Bridge. Ensuring Purchase orders are raised, office equipment and stationary are updated as well as helping Steve Atkins and Emma as and when needed.

Thresa Conneely: Accreditation Officer Responsible for - co-ordinating and processing the accreditation of all media for matches at Stamford Bridge, and UEFA champions league away fixtures

Andy Jones: Web Writer A key member of the www.chelseafc.com editorial team. Assists in the delivery and control of all Chelsea editorial output. Helps to deliver the company's mission, vision and values in all external and internal communication where appropriate.

Christian Collison: Web Writer Assists in the delivery and control of all Chelsea editorial output. Helps to deliver the company's mission, vision and values in all external and internal communication where appropriate.

Paul Mason: New Media Editor Smooth FM provides full commentary on every Chelsea match. This can also be accessed on an audio stream via Chelsea TV Online on the website, www.chelseafc.com.

Darren Walsh: Official Club Photographer Responsible for - all editorial photographic output.

E-mail #15 Sent : 28 September 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : Dear Ms. Mabey, First of all, thank you for letting me know regarding Steve and Emma's unavailability to directly answer my interview questions  And the details you sent were indeed useful  Anyways, I'm still missing some information on the Communications Department activities. If possible, and not too much trouble for you, may I interview you instead? I need the vision and mission of Chelsea Football Club, the short and long term goals of the Communications Department, the strategies to globalise the Chelsea brand, the campaigns, activities, or events to promote the Chelsea brand globally, the challenges in globalisation – pretty much the ones I listed on my interview questions  The answers don't have to be as details, brief explanations that capture the main points would be perfectly fine  Once again, many thanks and look forward to reading your reply 

E-mail #16 Sent : 4 October 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : I'm very sorry but I have given you as much information as I can provide. I suggest you go on the Chelsea website as it has a lot of information regarding the club. There is a whole section on our CSR projects on the website which you can download the reports. It goes into details all about our soccer schools home and abroad.

E-mail #17 Sent : 5 October 2011 Sender : [email protected] Recipient : [email protected] Message : Dear Ms. Mabey, Many thanks for your reply, I will do as advised  Once again, thank you so very much for your help, I couldn’t have done it without you 

DOCUMENTATIONS

Chelsea FC’s CSR programmes