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Tom Burwell - Interim CEO Podcast


Cack Stottie said:
I really enjoyed that, actually.

Probably worth noting that he's appearing on a sports business podcast and not one specifically aimed at Sunderland fans, so if people are ever so slightly uncomfortable with the way he speaks, then they just need to swallow it, really, as he's in a room with other sports business types who are pretty much all cut from the same cloth.

Burwell is only acting as the interim CEO and he was keen during that chat to point out that he was actually interviewing for the permanent role that same day, so whilst he's got a high level oversight of the running of the club, at some point soon he'll step back in his role with the sporting group that owns us and the running of SAFC will eventually be left to whoever they have in mind, which is both daunting and exciting.

The most intriguing thing that stood out to me was how far behind we are because of spending ten years in the wilderness. It's obviously been viewed that whilst we are moving quickly, we aren't moving quickly enough, and at a corporate level, we need to bring some serious experience in to help shift Sunderland into the 21st century so that we don't end up lagging behind other clubs in the top flight commercially.

The uncomfortable truth is that if we want a competitive team in the Premier League, there are going to be some unpopular decisions made. However, I trust this owner and board as they've given us no reason not to trust them.

We're a very attractive football club right now, which I imagine makes us a tasty proposition for ambitious executives who really want to get stuck into a project that could do wonders for their career, and I don't think we should fear that. It's a long way away from being seen as the biggest basket case in England, where nobody of worth would have touched us with a barge pole.
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Agree with every word of this
 
Interesting that he still think we have "some way to go to in ensuring we get the ticketing price right".

Dig deep lads :lol: he does qualify it with saying they don't wanna just push, but create value.
 
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Puts a lot of emphasis on how we need to grow the international fanbase. I think the obvious thing would be a follow up of the netflix series, that play off campaign was written for TV.
 
HarrogateMackem said:
Rumour I heard at the weekend was that Bruce had been sacked because the commercial revenue was nowhere near where senior leadership wanted it, and they were unimpressed with our various sponsorship deals.

I think this interview (I’ve only watched the first bit so far) already singles exactly what the intent of the new CEO will be (I’m going to bet it ends up being this like full time - but even if not). To get every penny out of us all. Way of the modern game innit.
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Not really the modern game, just life really. That's what CEOs are generally trying to do.

Even so, I think it's pretty clear that his focus is more on building the club's brand and standing and improving the corporate offer. He even makes the point that it's not worth squeezing and squeezing average match-going fans.
 
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FulwellViaLeeds said:
Not really the modern game, just life really. That's what CEOs are generally trying to do.

Even so, I think it's pretty clear that his focus is more on building the club's brand and standing and improving the corporate offer. He even makes the point that it's not worth squeezing and squeezing average match-going fans.
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He said they had increased tickets dramatically this season - 17-18%. But I don't feel like i am being squeezed personally. I think my ticket at £660 is well worth it for the view I have the quality of the team. We were too cheap imo.

Interesting he said the average season ticket cost £360. Shows how the concessions pull it down.
 
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