Planet Swans ArchivesCommunications Manager Peter Owen left the Vetch Field. Mutual consent I am sure was the line used somewhere along the way and Peter and the club were both being very diplomatic as to the reasons behind the departure. However, JackArmy.net was contacted by Peter Owen who wanted to share the reasons why he left the club with the fans and also where he thinks things could be better at the moment.
So on a wet Friday afternoon in Sarn Services, Peter and I sat down over a cup of coffee (I hasten to add here that Sarn must be the worst Motorway Services in Britain and judging by the number of people there I’m not the only one to think that!)
Catching up with Peter, what is he up to now? “Since November I have been employed by Merlin Marketing, a PR company based in Cardiff Bay. I’m a public relations account manager working for seven or eight different PR accounts and also trying to track new business looking in particular at Swansea and South West Wales.”
It’s been over six months since Peter left the employment of the club after three years as Communications Manager and indeed responsible for the rebirth of the official club site under the joint venture initially set up by NTL and PTV. As the door closed on the end of the last traumatic season at the Vetch which saw the Swans regain football league status on the last day, a new era was beginning at the Vetch as Brian Flynn spent most of the summer rebuilding his squad in time for the hopeful promotion drive that we are currently watching in action. But the powers that be decided that Peter was not to be employed at the club come the start of the season – as he understands it what were the reasons given “The decision makers at the club, whoever they may be, felt that they were not in a position to support a full time communications manager.” So he means the board of directors? “We all know that there are other unnamed people involved in the decision process at the club and I know that the decision was made by certain people who are not members of the board made this decision, I was told that when it was communicated to me.
“What was suggested in a meeting with Huw Jenkins was major changes to my terms of employment and job description and day to day duties. The one that people think of straight away is a pay cut and yes I was asked to take one but this wasn’t the main issue as you can work your way around this. The major problem to me, as someone who takes pride in his work and had just been voted the best in the football league at that job, was that it was felt that the job of communications manager was not a full time position. This was despite the fact that my average working week was between 50 and 70 hours per week. This wasn’t through choice it was because it was what the job needed. I was told that the job shouldn’t take more than 20 hours per week.
“And they also wanted me to take on extra duties over and above that as well as taking a pay cut. I thought that my customers – the press and the fans – would still see my communications manager role and not necessarily appreciate that my role included other things. Therefore I felt that I could not keep up the standards that I was setting and people would start questioning my ability to do the job. I didn’t want to put my professional integrity on the line. I informed Mr Jenkins that I could not accept the terms.
“I don’t know where the decision was arrived at to say that the job should take 20 hours. It’s similar to many decisions taken at the club over the past 18 months where someone has an opinion as to this is how it should be done and that is what they go with without listening to advice from people with experience.
“At the end of last season there was only one club in the football league who did not have a minimum of two people employed to work on the web site and programme full time and that was Exeter City. We only had effectively one person last season in myself although Colin was employed part time although you wouldn’t believe it part time with the hours he was putting in. Take Cardiff City for example they have five people and have done so for two years. Bristol City print their own programme in house – the average is 2 to 3 people – one doing web-site, one doing programme and one covering both for absences and the like.
“It’s difficult to say how much time the web site took on a daily/weekly basis but to do the job effectively, and I like to think I did that with first team, reserve team news, commercial news and the like, it could take hours to even put together one article let alone a series of them. By the time I had dug around and researched the article. There was also the waiting around between stories for new signings and similar – these hours soon mount up.”
Peter Owen first joined the Swans under a new venture set up between NTL and PTV. Most fans understood at the time that PTV guaranteed the club enough money to cover Peter’s wages meaning that effectively he was a free employee to them. Did that change during his three years at the Vetch? “When it started it was guaranteed income providing certain things were meant. The guaranteed income was £2000 which was to cover my salary and operational expenses and then the club could earn money off the back of that. During the initial period, the club received a figure in the sum of £240,000 from this deal. Within that sum, the club received in the region of £25,000 between the current board taking over in January 2002 and the end of that season.
“In the pre-season of 2002/3 NTL restructured the deal which meant that any form of guaranteed income disappeared. There was a new system took in place which was promising income to the clubs if they performed properly. The income was not where it was the previous season but it was enough to cover my salary and then some on top. In all my time at the football club the club never lost money on me as I was always generating more income than I was earning. The predictions for the budget for this season were saying the same.
“The club shop online was bringing in an average of £600-£700 per month profit to the club, the auctions, the Hull City video was something that I brought about – in the two months before I went the video produced £4000 clear profit alone. I had also put plans in place for this season. Paul Stewart, the former England international, had agreed a deal where Plasma Screens would be in each of the bars and for two hours before each home game there would have been a Swansea City channel on display on these building up to the games. They would sell the advertising and it would be split 70/30 in their favour but we could also sell local advertising for this – split 70/30 in our favour. I’d also agreed that we could produce videos of every game this season which people could pay for up front and we would then produce and send. No risk to the football club as we would only produce what had been paid for. There was other things – highlights video at the end of the season, posters of the players, postcards – some small things but again all bringing income into the club. This was all in place for this season and would have all generated money for the club even after my salary had been paid.
“I could understand people saying that we couldn’t afford a full time communications manager but the facts are that I was self funding. I do know that a certain director as been telling people, as recently as January, that the club could not afford my wages and that the club does not owe anyone a living. This is the most upsetting part of it all as it is blatantly not true.
“I’d be lying to say I wasn’t disappointed. I didn’t agree with what Huw Jenkins was saying but I can’t blame any businessman for making a decision that he thinks is best for the business. Once it was obvious that there was to be no change in the decision I made the move on. I can’t be critical of how the football club handled it from then on in because everything that had to be done was done and everything I was owed was completed. To me the position of the Communications Manager in the 21st century is imperative especially to maximise the publicity for the football club. Now the programme editor has gone as well. The two main outlets for people to judge the football club communications wise are, it’s fair to say, not working any more.
“Last season we saw a marked upturn in revenue generated from the web site through things like the text messages. I know that there were comments on other sites about constant adverts but they were a necessity to generate income for the club. We also had strategies in place to increase revenue from the betting through adverts round the pitch, the programme and the Evening Post. You can’t do too much advertising – ask Coca Cola!”
So that was what happened when he left. Does he still read what is on the official site now and what does he think of it “I’m quite sad looking at it. It’s an embarrassment to the football club. No disrespect to anyone working on it but it has been given to them as an after thought to work on when they have the time. It just will not work like that – you know that yourself. I still get people coming up to me and asking me why I have left – even the Wales on Sunday said I did a great job and me leaving was the club’s loss. The club needs an official web site. The press are now badgering the players and management of the club for stories whereas before that all came through myself leaving them to get on with what they need to do and not bother them with these trivial things. 99% of the time I could deal with press enquiries without referral to the players or management. I could also strike deals with the papers because of my relationship with them to say that things were happening but could they hold onto it until it happens. This kept them happy. It also meant that papers were not bringing wild names into the limelight which seems to happen at times now.
“This time last year everyone knew who was coming through the youth team because this information was on there. What does anyone know about this year’s youth team? Does anyone know that Jay Thompson has left the club and has signed for Tamworth? There are also stories being released together when they don’t need to be and this loses the impact of the news that is being released. Take for example the summer it was announced on the same day that Trundle had signed, Travel House had re-signed and we had a new shirt. Had that news been staggered, and it could have been, then we could have kept a feel good factor going for a week”
Peter’s three years at the club were traumatic off the pitch at times with Mike Lewis, Tony Petty and the current board all being in charge. Have the current board made progress with the club? “Undoubtedly. I have a lot of respect for what the board has done. They took over at a difficult time and have certainly steadied the ship and moved it forward. I would also say that there is a downside in that they are too inward thinking – local club for local people – I understand this because of what happened with Petty etc but sometimes you have to look further afield. They have to take advice from people who know what they are talking about in the football world from people who know what they are talking about – this isn’t always done. Maybe we do need a paid for general manager who can take a step back and think through his decisions rationally rather than what has happened at times. They have stood up at times and said they have made a mistake which makes a refreshing change. There was a definite sense at the club when they took over that they wanted to purge the club of previous links whether they be good or bad. I now believe that this purge has gone too far – we have gone from too many backroom staff to not enough in my opinion. This comes down to the unnamed people on the outside who hold a lot of influence. I think the fact that these people don’t get involved on a day to day basis means that they don’t know what is happening day to day – i.e. seeing what people are doing. If you look at this time last year we had a communications manager, programme editor, commercial manager and commercial assistant, now we have one person doing all four jobs and with the greatest respect to Lesa it cannot be done effectively. This is bound to mean that somewhere along the line the club will be losing out.
“Moving into the new stadium, a huge step forward for the football club, people’s expectations of the club will rise. The eyes of the football world will be on Swansea for a short period of time and everything needs to match the image of the stadium. If they are looking at a rag of a programme and a web site four weeks out of date it sends the wrong signals to anyone thinking of investing in the club.
“To the best of my knowledge we are the only club in the football league who have not got a full time employee covering web site/media relations/programme. 2/3 weeks before I left the site was voted the most productive on the network. From the very top it has dropped to probably the worst site now on the PTV network. It’s the only one where you can’t find out what is happening on the weekend.”
If the club came back and offered him his job back would he take it “In an ideal world yes because it was a dream job. Whether it was feasible or not is a different matter. I know that the club is under pressure as to the direction the web site and the programme is going so somewhere along the line they will have to change their stance on this.
“The club are tied to the deal for 25 years from the outset. If they wanted to get out then they have to repay all the money that they have received which is somewhere in the range of a quarter of a million pounds. Middlesborough and Blackburn tried this before and lost. To give you an example of how this works even if the Swans came out they could show no highlights on the official site. Sunderland and West Ham when they were relegated to the football league kept their existing sites going. PTV took them to court and won to prevent them showing things like this as PTV are the only company licensed by the league to show highlights and audio commentary on the net. They could have chosen to pay £65,000 to show these highlights. If they come out of PTV they cannot even call themselves an official club site. It has been estimated to build a site as detailed as the PTV network it would cost an amount in the region of five figures. PTV is all or nothing.”
So there you have Peter’s side of the story on why he left and what he feels the club should be doing. It’s easy to say he is biased in reeling off what he did and his belief for a communications manager but I suspect that many Swans fans found themselves agreeing with what he was saying. It is in the past it is true and the official site is undoubtedly not what we would want to see from the club – personally I have made this viewpoint known to the club as well – the decision is not mine as to if or when they decide to change tact on this front.
And finally, I will resolve now never to stop at Sarn Services again – especially when it is raining!
