For The Love of Game

Ir Shamsul Muhardzi Shaharom,
Chief Executive Officer of Clicks Network
“Manchester United’s story is one of humble beginnings and sheer determination. Prior to the Sir Alex Ferguson years, MU was not doing so well and was actually in danger of relegation. However, once Sir Alex took over the reigns as manager, he began building a team of young English players with the likes of David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, who were in their teens at the time. In response to this, Alan Hansen, BBC’s football pundit, criticised Ferguson’s strategy and came up with the memorable phrase, ‘You can’t win anything with kids.’

“Well, MU didn’t just win with these ‘kids’; they went on to win a Treble of the English Premier League, FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League in 1998-99. One of the most memorable matches was the Champions League Final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich. We were down 0-1 until the 90th minute when, over the course of the three minutes, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer scored once each for MU to win 2-1. It was a dramatic victory and also considered one of the greatest comebacks in football history!

“I’m hoping for a better season for MU this upcoming English Premier League. They’ve been moving in the right direction since Louis Van Gaal took over from David Moyes as manager; with MU moving up from 7th to 4th in the league. There are also young hopefuls, such as Memphis Depay, whom I am excited about; I’m keen to see if he can work with veterans like Wayne Rooney to swing things around in our favour.

“There are many similarities that can be drawn between running a football team and one’s own business. The manager is the firm’s CEO; the goalkeeper the CFO; the defenders are the HR, admin and support service; the midfielders are the operations team, while the strikers are embodied by the sales team. It’s important to understand the team’s capabilities and coach the members to work together to ‘attack’ a client, while ensuring our own fundamentals are intact. No single entity can bring a team to victory; so, everyone needs to work together and, with the right strategy, achieve that winning formula.”

Christian Metzner,
General Manager of The Andaman Langkawi
“Having grown up playing football in Germany, I’ve always been drawn to Chelsea because a number of great German footballers, such as Michael Ballack and André Schürrle, have served with the team. I’m also very fond of Didier Drogba, who was Chelsea’s striker until he retired in August 2014 and is referred to as the ‘ultimate big game player’, and, of course, their manager, José Mourinho.

“I’ve actually had the pleasure of meeting José Mourinho in person when he stayed at my hotel. At the time, he was managing Real Madrid. However, I’m very happy now that he’s returned to Chelsea; it was a good move for the team and it showed when they won the 2014-15 title. One thing Mourinho said that has stuck with me since is that, to succeed, you need a combination of the right talent with the right strategy. Talent alone is not enough to win; we saw that in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, when Brazil took on Germany. Brazil had some of the most talented players around, but they still lost 1-7 because they didn’t work as a team and were unable to correctly apply their game plan, whereas the Germans were able to.

“It’s the same with hospitality; one person can’t make the hotel a success and you need a team effort to succeed. Of course, you also need strategy; what markets are we aiming for, the services we can offer, what the brand stands for… The coach is like the general manager and it’s important that they lead the team in the correct direction to achieve victory.

“I’m hoping that Chelsea will have another great EPL season. With John Terry captaining the team, they certainly have the opportunity to continue to dominate the league. Players like him are especially rare in today’s world – he’s been loyal to Chelsea for 17 years now – where everything revolves around money and you often see players freely swapped around. If Chelsea can also go on to win the Champions League again, that would be fantastic as well.”

Ko Van Den Hill,
General Manager of The Westin Kuala Lumpur
“Like most kids in Holland, I began playing football at the age of six. I actually scored my one and only hat-trick when I was 15 years old. It wasn’t a very big game and not that important in the grand scope of things, but I still remember it very fondly even to this day. I’m a big fan of Graziano Pellè, an Italian footballer who used to play for my favourite team in Holland and is now Southampton’s centre-forward. He’s always been a hero to football fans in Holland and this is what drew me to Southampton.

“Southampton is one of the smaller teams in the EPL, but I’m very fond of them because they have this ability to bounce back from hard times, and they’ve gone through some very difficult periods. They were relegated from the Premier League at one point and almost went bankrupt, but they managed to recover. Because they don’t have the resources of the wealthier and bigger teams, however, they really have to fight to overcome adversity, and I’ve always found that very charming about Southampton. They got back into the EPL in 2012 and, recently, had a hell of a season, finishing 7th in 2014-15. This was a feat no one believed they were capable of. Hopefully they’ll be able to hold this position in the upcoming season.

“Of course, being a small team, I’m always worried about Southampton’s future. I’m not sure if they have to sell a lot of their good players to keep their finances afloat. Also, they don’t have a ton of money to acquire new players. It’s important that they spend it wisely, hopefully on young talent that they can groom. This is the story of a lot of Southampton’s players; because they can’t afford to buy new players, many of the players have been with them since they were children and have grown up with the club.

“As is the case in football, I believe that, to succeed in the hospitality industry, you have to be very bullish, which means being aggressive and playing to win. Winning in this industry can mean building up the brand’s reputation, the success of the hotel and guest satisfaction.”

Shahid Shayaa,
Managing Director of Berkshire Consulting
“What makes Arsenal such a great team is the fact they possess that winning combination of having great individual talent and outstanding teamwork. This showed during the 2003-04 season, where they went 49 games unbeaten, setting a new record in football history and earning the nickname of ‘The Invincibles’. This was a really great time for the team and I hope they can replicate this feat one day. It’s always disheartening to see Arsenal come so close, yet so far, to winning the League for many years in a row now. Fortunately, they recently defeated Aston Villa in the FA Cup Final and I’m looking forward to a great performance by the team following Wenger’s star signings of Mesut Özil in 2013 and Alexis Sánchez in 2014.

“As is the case with football, one man alone cannot bring the company success in the corporate world. It’s important to build a team of players that can provide the flexibility and synergy required for a business to grow. By having versatile players on the team, a firm will require less separate departments and become more streamlined as a result. Of course, every company still requires specialists but, if extenuating circumstances put them out of action for a period of time, then, at least, there are other team members who can take up their roles adequately.

“I like to use football analogies to outline our strategies. One thing I tell my team a lot is to ‘stop dribbling’ but, rather, get to the point and score. If you look at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where England lost to Germany 1-4, England spent most of the game dribbling the ball aimlessly about while the German team performed like a machine; they were extremely well structured and goal-orientated. While there are teams like Brazil that are very flashy and have great showmanship, I believe results are what matters most. Currently, my aim is to grow my company’s valuation to more than MYR120million over the course of the next two years.”

Paul Schofield, 
Senior Manager of Carigali Hess Operating Company
“Football has always run in my family’s blood and, as a native to East London, I was exposed to the sport from a young age. West Ham has always felt like a very family-orientated team; many of the players came from East London, so we saw them as our local neighbourhood heroes. In fact, my uncle actually played for them in the 1950s. While West Ham has taken on more foreign players in recent years, the core backbone of the team is still made up of East Londoners. This is why I don’t like David Beckham – he came from East London, so he should have played for us!

“Despite being a mid-level team in the league, West Ham has a very rich history. After all, in the 1966 FIFA World Cup, there were three West Ham players – Geoff Hurst, Bobby Moore and Martin Peters – who made up England’s team and were essential in scoring the winning goals in the final against West Germany. I’ve actually made a bet that England would never win another World Cup unless they fielded three West Ham players. I may joke about it, but there aren’t many EPL teams that can say they’ve won the World Cup.

“I’m very much looking forward to seeing what Slaven Bilić, the new manager, can do for West Ham in the upcoming season. He played for West Ham in the past so it’s good to see the team revert to those roots. And, we’ll just have to see if Andy Carroll can actually contribute anything to the team. It will be nice if West Ham can finish higher than last year and have a good run in the FA Cup. But, mostly, I’m just looking for a bit of consistency; we tend to either have a good season or one that’s utterly rubbish.

“Having played football all my life and even served as captain of my school and district teams, on a strategic and tactical level, I like to use football analogies in the corporate world. Simply put, the best teams are the ones where players know each other inside out; we have a lot of different departments and teams here in the company, so I try to get them to know how everyone else operates. If you don’t know the pace of the teammate you’re looking to pass the ball to, then you’ll likely end up booting it miles in front of them. Also, if your team is a winning one, it’s important to be faithful and stick with that team; coach out the weaknesses, retain staff and players, and don’t fiddle with too many things if you are successful.”

Keith Collins, 
Chief Executive Officer of Vestigo Petroleum
“I’m looking forward to seeing Liverpool battle hard to win this year’s premiership, so, hopefully, Brendan Rodgers will be able to get the right blend of players together before the season begins. But it’s not about having a team of superstars or galacticos; it’s about instilling the right work ethic, finding ways to complement each other’s skills, and providing each team member with support during the highs and lows.

“This is also the reason why I’ll always support Liverpool – no matter if they are currently the best or the worst on the pitch, I’ll follow them through the good and bad times, because that’s just the way it is. There are also too many good memories to see it any other way, and the hope of future success keeps the passion of being a Liverpool supporter alive!

“The concept of the team being more important than the individual is what I think works fantastically well in the business environment we have today; however, this success also depends on how the manager interacts with the players in helping them to stay focused and to work together towards a common goal. One exemplary example of this would be Bill Shankly, who laid the foundations that enabled LFC to grow into the internationally recognised club it is today.

“A good manager also needs to know when to be tough and when to be supportive, as different players will react in different ways. Such a complex mix of skill requirements is quite similar to that of any CEO running a successful company, although football managers usually have the added responsibility of having to keep thousands of fans happy while being scrutinised by the international media.”

Datuk Zainal Amanshah,
Chief Executive Officer of InvestKL Malaysia
“I first became a Liverpool fan in 1977. Besides the rich history and traditions, what makes Liverpool a true football club with loyal supporters is the fiery spirit that binds the team with the players and supporters worldwide. Their famous motto, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, truly says it all. 

“While I do follow other football tournaments such as the Women’s World Cup, Copa América and UEFA European Under-21 Championship, my weekends just aren’t the same during the off season; I’m really looking forward to seeing the team perform better than the previous year and watching the smaller teams, or ‘minnows’, doing well and causing upsets – but hopefully not against Liverpool! The excitement of the transfer market activity just before the beginning of each season is also quite exhilarating, as I love the ‘mind games’ that these managers will play when trying to outdo each other.

“There are indeed several similarities that can be drawn between running a football team and managing a corporation – club owners are like members of the board, while the team managers are akin to CEOs. There are also plenty of significant leadership lessons that one can learn from the game – the importance of acquiring the right players for your team; nurturing their individual talents; providing the right support and never publicly criticising them; being prepared for anything instead of leaving things to chance; staying calm and adapting when things don’t go according to plan; and the need to instil that insatiable desire to win. Such rare qualities were best exemplified by Bill Shankly, who was not only the ultimate motivator and brilliant tactician, but also orchestrated the era of the club’s dominance during the 1970s.”

Ong Ewe Hock,
Managing Director of Du Pont Malaysia
“My passion for football began in the 1970s, during the peak of the Merdeka Tournaments in Malaysia. As for the upcoming EPL, I look forward to spending time observing matches between Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton, Manchester United and Manchester City – hopefully with more goals being scored by Man City.

“The thing about Manchester City that stands out is their iconic sky blue colours, which depicts professionalism rather than aggressiveness. While the sport is aggressive by nature, being ruthless or behaving like a ‘bull in the china shop’ while on the pitch does not necessarily guarantee victory. This philosophy is also very much in line with that of any sustainable business development. In order to succeed in the long term, one needs to play to the rules while staying focused on a clear objective.

“Manchester City players are also more cohesive, with balanced forward and defence lines. Despite several seasons of relegation to second and third tier divisions, the team has remained resilient while also developing a tinge of wisdom and humility over the years. Although big names like Edin Džeko and Yaya Touré do occasionally grab headlines, what truly makes them formidable is their cohesiveness and ability to work together.

“Just like the game of football, a company also needs a strong support system in order to achieve success, while being able to sense the change in dynamics in any playing field it chooses to participate in by having a thorough understanding of their competitors. As for the people behind these companies, they need be agile yet flexible in order to cope with the various challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”

Stephen Lewis,
Country President of ALSTOM Asia Pacific 
“My loyalty towards Newcastle United is something that’s been passed down through the generations as both my father and grandfather were also Newcastle United fans. It’s in the blood, which means I’m stuck with them. As for the EPL next season, my hopes for the team are somewhat limited: that they won’t be relegated and that there’ll be a little more consistency compared to their performance last season. Although the team has often failed to deliver the success that fans expect of them, the fans will never fail to show up at the stadium. And, as such, I hope that this loyalty is rewarded with some good performances on the pitch and, hopefully, some silverware in the cabinet.

“As a lifelong supporter of Newcastle, the most significant lesson that I’ve learned about leadership would be that the results are never certain. I remember when the team lost to Manchester United 0-1 back in 1995, which was a devastating blow as it essentially prevented them from winning the league title that season. But the following season, Newcastle United would return with a vengeance to beat Manchester United 5-0 in what turned out to be a glorious match that took place at St James’ Park. I still have a souvenir mug commemorating that match, and have carried it around with me during my various postings overseas.

“Of course, the chances of beating any opponent are much higher when you play at your best, and a good leader can make all the difference. Just like a football team, a company also comprises of talented, complex individuals, who rely on each other in order to achieve success. Each player plays in his position, while communicating with the rest of the team in order to build chemistry and earn their trust and respect.

“As for the leaders of the team, their role is to understand these different personalities and to create a dynamic process that will bring out the very best from each individual, which is something that needs to be done week after week! Only great leaders comprehend that the sum of the whole is greater than the individual parts, and one of the best examples would be Sir Bobby Robson, who managed Newcastle from September 1999 to August 2004. Not only was Robson an inspirational, honest and ethical individual, he was also a true gentleman who brought stability and dignity to a club that has endured a lot of chaos and drama. He still remains a strong favorite amongst both players and fans in the north-east of England.”