Sports PR professional (formerly
@Nike
and
@ManUtd
) and now a sucker for a beautiful stadium
@Populous
; Husband and dad; all views are mine and mine alone
Enjoying hosting this podcast. With the sustained rise in profile and audience of Women's Sport, this episode focuses on gender-equitable design - how clubs should address stadiums and training grounds through specific design considerations, or equitable use of shared facilities.
Drawing People Together: Series Two, Episode Two – Equitable Design
Join us for this episode of Populous’ podcast as we explore how our teams
#InspireInclusion
in the design of sports venues, facilities and events.
Available now on all major podcast platforms.
#IWD2024
So staff at
@ManUtd
have been busy phoning to check in on around 3,000 of the club's elderly season ticket holders. Some great moments and stories in those conversations. But some fans also got calls from a few club legends. Bit dusty in here..something in my eye 😢
Miroslav Klose and his football boots. A 🧵
1...
Back in 2004 I was Football PR Mgr for Nike. We had big ad / photoshoot for the pre-Euro 2004 campaign, shot on location at the Nou Camp (the ad was the one with Figo and the Brazilians shouting "Ole" at each other).
🗣️Miroslav Klose: "I said stop playing football because I no longer recognized it. Today, young people think about other things. As a child, I only thought about training and becoming someone in this sport that I always loved. At Lazio and in the national team, after each
Nice moment as Ole and the
@ManUtd
team get off the flight back from Paris at Manchester Airport and the armed police on duty give him a round of applause 👏🏻
A quick 🧵 on this photo:
In 1990 i had a year out and spent 6 months living in Melbourne. Wanted to play football and someone told me about a park where loads of teams train. So I go down and watch one night…
1/
Remember being part of the meetings planning this when I was at
@nikefootball
. Then when media phoned to ask if it was real or not once it went out, we’d just say ‘if there’s one player that could do that…’
This story brought back memories. When Utd went to Nike HQ in Oregon in 2003 I was PR Manager for Nike based in the UK. I got sent out while the club were there because I'd worked with some of the UK journos who would be on the tour. A🧵on their visit to the Nike campus...
1/...
🇺🇸 Beckham the unmentionable
🇺🇸 Pelted with missiles in LA
🇺🇸 Roy Keane & a Bob Dylan concert
🇺🇸 Ronaldinho in a Philadelphia nightclub
Manchester United broke new ground by going to the US in 2003, but what happened off the pitch was more memorable...
#MUFC
📝
@OliverKay
13...
So like I said, let's put some respect on his name. What a player, what a professional. And to this day if you're ever stuck in a lift with him, I bet he can tell you more about soft and supple ultra-lightweight KNG-100 upper technology than anyone ever deserved to know..
12...
This was serious for him. The boots were the tools of his trade. He needed to know about them. And then he was being paid by a sponsor to talk about them, so he wanted to know all the information so he could do it properly and give it his all, and not just mail it in.
11...
He then did the best interview of the week, talking in animated detail about the boot technology. So when he's quoted about young players today not necessarily being committed or professional, I thought back to that day.
I don’t remember a player called Ange (or Ange-o as his Aussie teammates would doubtless have nicknamed him), but
@celtic
if you’re reading this, pass him my regards and tell him we’re practically former teammates 😂😂😂
So in non-lockdown times, all the
@ManUtd
staff who work at Old Trafford get lunch each day in one of the suites. Nice touch from the club for staff. Every morning there's an email saying what's on the menu. Today one of the staff posted their own 'WFH with kids' version 😂
8
...he listened intently, then proceeded to ask me about 50 questions on exactly WHY they provided better grip, WHY the textured upper was superior, WHY this would be more comfortable than his current boots, WHY there was a big '90' on the side. Why? why? why?
My kids have obviously assimilated fully back to the UK, because one of them got some Nike gear for his birthday and pronounced it to rhyme with ‘bike’ instead of the (official) way - to rhyme with ‘crikey’. My former colleagues will LOL at this eternal debate...
2...
Loads of players came over the course of a week. They had to get photos in the new national team kits and their new boots, the main one of which was the 'Air Zoom Total 90 iii' (these bad boys, now regarded as a bit of a design classic...)
10...
Until, finally, he had satisfied himself. He put the boots on, did some keepie-uppies, stopped, sat down, asked me one more technical question, then he turned to his agent and said, *very* seriously: "OK. Perfect. Gut. Zese are ze boots for me!"
...and before anyone says 'other clubs have already done this', absolutely, and well done to every team that has. Supporting your team is competitive. Coronavirus isn't. 😀👍
A quick personal news 🧵:
I’m excited to start a new role as Communications and Marketing Director for
@Populous
, the world's leading stadium and entertainment venue architecture and design practise ()
1/5
Dermot Gallagher on Sky saying yellow cards for shirts off dates back to Giggs FA cup semi goal v Arsenal because ‘people in certain parts of the world found it offensive’. Is that the reason? Really??
5...
and then there was Miroslav Klose. Now, I think Klose gets overlooked a bit. The guy is the World Cup record goalscorer, after all, let's put some respect on his name. When I briefed him on what journos like to call the 'PR Bumf' to say about the boot, he listened intently.
Had a few drinks last night and now taking my daughter to her swim lesson in the world’s hottest pool building and I’m not going to lie the struggle is real.
9...
To the point where I ran out of things to say. "I just PR the bloody boots, mate, I didn't design them" I remember thinking. Followed by "Hurry up, Darius Vassell is coming in a minute...". But Miroslav wanted to ask more questions and wear them before he would talk...
If you’re stuck in lockdown and looking for some reading material, here is a selection of my favourite football books. I recommend any or all of these...
...true to his Peckham roots, Rio looks around, takes it all in and deadpans "Yeah...Rio Ferdinand Towers, that's what I want." Headline duly delivered.
So thanks for the memories,
@OliverKay
...It was a fun week and privilege to be there.
6...
I gave him our three key boot innovation messages (built for comfort with air technology, stud configuration for maximum grip and textured upper for control, since you ask, fellow boot nerds...)
I get talking to a younger guy watching a different group and tell him the story. He starts creasing up and says “mate, you know who that is? It’s Ferenc bloody Puskas!!” I’ve been trying to scrounge my way in to the team managed by FERENC PUSKAS. The shame….
5/
In the 1992 Olympics, Derek Redmond tore his hamstring in the 400m semifinal.
His father, Jim, ran onto the track to help him finish the race ❤️
(via
@Olympics
)
...and as if to prove Sir Alex's infamous reported rant at the media (“He's a f*****g great player! Youse are f******g idiots!”), Veron walks up, pings it onto the crossbar first time, grins, shrugs and walks off. Crossbar challenge over. Legend.
12/...
3...
Often it was the first time they'd properly seen or worn the new boots, and as well as the photoshoot, I had to interview them talking about the boots for a VNR (Video News Release, LOL, 2004 called and wants its PR back 😂)...
Five years ago today I was working at Nike’s global HQ and
@BarackObama
came to speak to employees there. Properly inspirational to see and listen to in person.
Proud to have played the tiniest part in advancing the cause and awareness of
@RainbowDevils
while at United. Great to see their banner on display at Old Trafford today 💪🏻🌈
James & Lindsey ❤️ from RDs talking to MUTV at OT about today’s
@RainbowLacesUK
match, the growth of RDs as the official
@ManUtd
LGBTQ+ Supporters Club & how we are all included in the Manchester United family whatever your sexuality/gender/race
#allredallequal
#OneLove
#LGBTQ
7...
And whereas most players had struggled to remember these three and regurgitate them for their interview (and one who shall remain nameless needed the key words written on a bit of paper and taped to the wall behind my head), Miroslav was made of sterner stuff.
That moment when the platform drops for the Manc train on the boards at Euston. Pure Darwinian survival. Fight AND flight. Chaos as those who hedged platform 3 sprint for platform 15, anxiety levels soar as
@AvantiWestCoast
staff try to check the tickets pre-platform…😳🏃🏻💨🚅
...Ole received a pass and tried a cute flick onto another player. The ball ran out. And Roy Keane went ballistic: "OLE!! WHAT THE F***?? YOU F*****G PASS THE F*****G BALL PROPERLY OR YOU F*** OFF, FOR F***'S SAKE!!!" And just like that, the mood changed completely...
5/...
Proud of my eldest boy Cameron for being selected to the
@TimbersFC
ODP (Olympic Development Program) Squad after their selection tournament this weekend. Proof that talent doesn’t depend on genetics, if nothing else
#ProudDad
4...
So I had to try to brief the players on what to say about the boot 'innovation' in the interview. a few were up for it and interested, most were professional and did their best, some clearly couldn't have cared less and just wanted to go. Such is life ...
So, after I move from a job at
@Nike
to a job at an
@adidas
sponsored club, THIS happens! Coincidence...? Well, OK, let’s be honest, yes. But still good to see. Some things much bigger than brand rivalries...
Have launched/unveiled a LOT of kits (both good & bad), and one thing that is true every time is that no kit looks good in grainy leaked images. Wait for the proper photos and wait to see it on pitch. Amazing how often initial criticism precedes tomorrow’s perceived classic...
...whose enthusiasm for this impromptu opportunity to exhibit their skills in the noble art dwindled in direct ratio to Roy's increasingly vigorous application to his task. In short, he battered everyone. Undisputed champion.
8/...
Four fans of same club: *tweet about the same club-related topic*
Every single digital news outlet: "FANS OF XYZ CLUB ALL SAY SAME THING ABOUT CLUB-RELATED TOPIC"
And so ends one of the most storied, successful, memorable - and sometimes controversial - athlete/brand partnerships in sport. Whatever the numbers behind it (don't kid yourself, it will be the numbers), Tiger & Nike will be forever intertwined in our collective memory....
a 🧵
If you think I’m just going to sit here all afternoon watching Tiger play every hole by belting it right into the trees then playing a series of literally unplayable second shots to within 10 feet, you’re absolutely right. ⛳️🐯
#TheMasters2019
Nike created a giant mural of some of the players overlooking the main training pitch. When they came out for the 1st training session,
@RvN1776
turned and shouted to Sir Alex "Hey, Boss! Where's YOUR picture??" The reply was not printable in a family twitter thread...
2/...
Once asked one of the pre-wenger Arsenal players who the best player was he ever played with. “Bergkamp, no doubt. After his first training session we sat there quietly, all wondering what we’d been doing with our lives when we could have been working to be half as good as him.”
Lived in the US for 8 years. Daughter was born there (so could, theoretically, become the first female US president!). So much at stake for everyone today. Don’t let us down, America….
Did a media event prior to 2003 Wimbledon with 2 Nike players, Andre Agassi and a then-little-known Swiss guy called Roger Federer. Had to beg some of the journos to interview Roger as a favour. Two weeks later, he beat Agassi in the final. Yesterday he won his 20th major. GOAT.
while aghast parents covered their kids' ears, it was suddenly work - a Manchester United training session, and the whole thing went up 1,000%. Keane had just done it to make a point, and whatever their later differences, Sir Alex watched on, clearly pleased at what he saw.
6/...
...couple of minutes into 1st training game, Tim makes a save & Rio shouts "TIM! TIM!!' asking for the ball. Howard looks up and goes "Uh-huh?". Rio immediately starts giving it a massive Elvis impression "Uh-huh!! Uhhh-Huuuh" and everyone creases up. Welcome to United😂
10/...
Love it when players get ready to serve at Wimbledon and ask the ball boy/girl to throw them 3 balls, hold them in their hand, weigh them up and knock one back and keep two. So Slazenger spend years and £££ getting the balls identical and they’re like “nah, that one’s wonky”
There’s a big chubby guy watching, obviously manager of one of the teams, so I sidle up to him and try and get talking, tell him I play and I’m looking for a team to train/play with. He doesn’t speak great English but he’s polite, if distinctly non-committal.
3/
Pic of me interviewing a young
@Ibra_official
outside Nike HQ in Holland in 2004. I had bad jeans. He's being too polite to say it, but you know he's thinking it. But now we are both on the West Coast of the US, we can be pals again...Zlatan? Zlatan.......??
On the same subject, here is a media kit we created for
@nikefootball
national team shirts in 2010. The shirts were (still are) made of recycled plastic bottles so we sent media a shirt in a bottle. We did it for club shirts too and I still have the Man Utd one at home...
Was great to be back at Old Trafford today to see the unveiling of the statue for the great Jimmy Murphy. Massive credit to the fan groups that came together to campaign for this and to
@ManUtd
for working with them to make it happen. Emotional for everyone.
#mufc