DAY IN THE LIFE

When Alistair Mackintosh became boss of Premier League football club Manchester City at the age of 32, he was the youngest chief executive in the top fl ight. Five years on, he’s busier than ever and enjoying every minute of his hectic days.

FROM WHERE I LIVE, NEAR MACCLESFIELD, I have an hour’s commute to the City of Manchester Stadium, so I’m up at 7am and, as usual, breakfast this morning was cereal bars eaten on the move. It’s surprising how many football people are available at that hour, so there are calls to make on the journey. That’s when I also get updates from my head of communications. Anything urgent is ready for me when I get in the car via text or email.

I have a close working relationship with the City Council so I’m involved in the other activities around Sportcity where our stadium is situated. I’m also a director of all the leisure centres in Manchester so this morning I went past a number of sporting venues I am actively involved with. Most days I either head for the main stadium or the training ground at Carrington, which is in a different part of the city. Today it was the latter and I arrived at around 8.30am. A lot of people tend to be in work before me so I could never claim to be first in, though I am often last to leave!

At 9am I met our physiotherapy team because we had eight players missing with injury in the previous game, and then I spent some time discussing performance analysis. My job isn’t so much looking at the data, but to make sure we have the best systems in place so the manager and his staff can do their analysis. We would like to be at the leading edge of that and we think we’re close to it. We are spending more time looking at smarter performance analysis and, in particular, smarter scouting of players worldwide.

I spent about an hour brainstorming that before catching up with first team manager Sven-Göran Eriksson – I had half an hour with him before the team went training. There is a lot to sort out at this time of the year, particularly when it comes to the short term. We were talking about pre-season and which players we want to keep and which players we want to let go. That meeting resumed in my office earlier tonight before the reserve team played. I also met Jim Cassell, our Academy director, to discuss preparations for next season.

Meetings with Sven are crucial because the days when managers negotiated contracts and wages have gone. Sven and his team identify a transfer target – who we sell or buy is down to him – but the actual contract negotiations are taken on by me. I believe in a healthy division of duties. It is not my job to be popular with the players because it will generally be me who says goodbye to them at the end of their contracts!

Football is a business and one that has changed dramatically. When I first came into the game a decade ago clubs were still run by general secretaries – there were still handwritten ledgers – and the team managers. It remains a special type of business though. Clubs are integral to the lives of many people – they defl ect hardships and have a tremendous reach. It is what people talk about around the dinner table so it is an unusual business. It can be a force for good in a local community, too, and we have great ties in that regard.

It is also tremendously high profile, and from speaking to chief executives in other walks of life, the issues that happen in an average business once a week happen once a day in football. Everything we do comes under tremendous scrutiny. The media has been a good control over what happens and fantastic in terms of promoting the game, but it does take extra resources to manage.

After returning to the ground from Carrington today I had a meeting with a player’s agent – a common occurrence – then had lunch at my desk before hosting a heads of department meeting. I have a strong team. They are all empowered, so the meeting was really an exchange of information. We discussed all sorts of things including forthcoming events at the ground – the UEFA Cup final, boxer Rick Hatton’s next fight and rock concerts. The stadium is in use all year round.

When that finished, I met up with Sir Howard Bernstein, the chief executive of Manchester City Council, to discuss a couple of club matters and wider Manchester issues. He is very positive about sport in Manchester and has been a tremendous force for change. He has become a good friend.

I dashed back to see Sven again and then stayed for another hour working, informed the club’s owner Dr Thaksin Shinawatra about important issues, and finally left around 8pm. On the way I home picked up a takeaway for myself and my (very understanding) wife, and then did a little more reading after dinner. The beauty of my day is that no two are ever the same!

WORDS BY HAZEL DAVIS