window, of momentum, of team spirit and whether teams rise
to the battle for survival or fold under the pressure. If you look
at the run–in to the end of each season for the last few years
you can see how much the tables change. If League 1 had been
stopped last season at the same point, 3 of the 4 teams who
would have been relegated on PPG did in fact play their way to
safety. We can see the same happening in the Championship
now. Every fan who was at Blackpool to watch us notch up
our 3rd win on the run away from home in March knew that
we were going to be safe... and then the virus hit. Deciding
how to end the season in that situation was always going to be
difficult, but PPG was a lazy and poor way to do it.
Tell us about your decision to invest in a brand-new worldclass
pitch during lockdown?
Mark: During the course of the season the drainage under
the pitch failed, and the pitch became very waterlogged and
muddy, so we knew we needed to do some major renovation
work.
When play was suspended in March the football authorities
were saying they hoped the suspension would be for only 6
weeks and getting a new pitch done was going to take at least
12 weeks, so it was a huge gamble going ahead.
To complicate things further, we had no idea whether the
lockdown was going to prevent people driving to and from
work and therefore whether the workmen might have to stop
part way through, but they agreed to sleep at the stadium for
the duration of the project if necessary, and I never felt that
resuming play in 6 weeks was likely, so we decided to take the
risk.
I am very proud that, thanks to the support from our investors,
the Santini Group, we have been able to put down an absolutely
state-of-the-art new hybrid pitch which is as good, if not
better, quality as those used in the Premier League. At a time
of great uncertainty, it gave supporters something very positive
to focus on.
How did you both forge the formidable relationship with
the fans early on?
Mark: I knew they would welcome me back because I had
a long connection to the club, and I was coming back to try
to help. From the outset I made a conscious effort to make it
very clear that Nicky and I were a team working on it together,
because I knew it would be all consuming and that if it was just
one of us involved it would be a problem.
Nicola: We decided from the outset to try and be as open and
honest as we could be with the supporters. We came from
the premise that we were trying to do everything in the best
interests of the club, so if we explained our rationale for our
decisions then it would help build trust and understanding. It
might seem an obviously beneficial approach, but it is rarely
seen in football.
You’re both renowned for a great amount of community
support for the local area, tell us more about how you’ve
been helping during lockdown?
Nicola: When we came to the Club we had a very clear plan to
put the community aspect of the Club very much at the heart
of everything we do, so we had to put that into action through
the Covid crisis.
We have been delivering food parcels (close on 1,000 parcels
delivered to date), supporting around 1,400 vulnerable
people (in partnership with another charity called HelpLink)
with befriending calls, shopping services and prescription
deliveries, and delivering pre-cooked meals on a not-for-profit
basis to people who are shielding and not in a position to cook
for themselves.
We’ve also had our community team-working with our
dementia groups, providing study materials for parents having
to self-educate their children at home, fitness challenges for
families and lots more.
Do you think Covid will leave a lasting impact on the Club?
Mark: One lesson I learned in my years as a business turnaround
practitioner is never to waste a crisis, so we went
into the Covid situation determined to use it as a platform to
ensure that club emerges strongly from it. It is hard in the
short term, but we will emerge, leaner, fitter, stronger and more
focused than ever. One of the bi-products of the pandemic is
our demotion to L2, our focus now is to turn the anger into a
positive force that binds us together as a club. We have learnt
over the past 5 years how strong that makes us.
20 wirrallife.com