Football Club Ownership: Data, Decisions & Competitive Edge
The Athletic FC Podcast
The Athletic
4.0 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2021
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Host Mark Chapman and The Athletic's football news reporter Matt Slater speak to Simon Hallett, owner of English League One side Plymouth Argyle football club and Chief Investment Officer at Harding Loevner, an investment boutique that manages more than $70 billion for individuals and institutions about how he finds the balances between running a football club like a business and a labour of love - as a life-long Plymouth fan.
We hear about the business processes implemented in leading a football club at the intersection of economics, finance and psychology and data.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic. |
| 0:13.6 | Hello, I'm Mark Chapman. |
| 0:15.0 | Welcome to the Business of Sport Pod on The Athletic, |
| 0:17.4 | alongside us as ever from The Athletic Football News reporter Matt Slater. |
| 0:22.2 | Coming up today, we're going to talk to Simon Hallett, owner of English League One Side |
| 0:26.4 | Plymouth Argyle and Chief Investment Officer at Harding Lovenor, an investment boutique |
| 0:31.8 | that manages more than $70 billion for individuals and institutions. |
| 0:37.4 | And we'll talk to him about how he finds the balances between running the football club $70 billion for individuals and institutions. |
| 0:41.6 | And we'll talk to him about how he finds the balances between running a football club like a business, but also as a labour of love because he is a lifelong Plymouth fan. |
| 0:47.8 | This is the business of sport from the athletic. |
| 0:52.9 | So we'll play you the interview in just a moment, but Matt, it is fascinating, isn't it? |
| 0:58.2 | His insight is really interesting into data and the decision-making processes, both within football and business that are very important to him. |
| 1:08.4 | Yeah, I think so. |
| 1:09.3 | Because his day job and the reputation that he's built in business, which. Yeah, I think so. Because his day job and his, the reputation that |
| 1:12.1 | he's built in business, which is, which is phenomenal, to be honest, he picks stocks. He's, he, |
| 1:17.5 | you know, his job is to work out which companies are worth investing in for a long time. And I find |
| 1:23.6 | that really, really interesting when we talk to all these people that are buying into football, |
| 1:27.6 | you know, what is it that attracts you to football? What are you seeing? And Simon's brilliant. I don't want to sort of steal his thunder, but he kind of shoots that down straight away. |
| 1:36.7 | That, you know, this football's not an amazing investment. That's not really why you should be here, which I think is why is refreshingly honest, |
| 1:45.8 | but it is also sort of kind of beautiful and romantic because that we talk an awful lot about, |
| 1:51.6 | I mean, it's the business of sport, right? But he's not seeing it through that lens. And I, |
| 1:56.5 | and I like that. But, but then he couldn't help himself that he still does want it to be sensible. |
... |
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