Dr Dan Parnell: Understanding Recruitment of Backroom Talent in Elite Professional Football

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In this article, Dr Dan Parnell and colleagues examine some of the important factors for sporting directors in England when they are recruiting backroom staff and middle-managers. It raises important questions on the value based on human capital or merit.

Parnell is an Associate Professor in Sport Business at the University of Liverpool, however he is deeply immersed within industry to ensure he can deliver an enriched teaching and learning environment for his students through undertaking high quality research. This involves undertaking public engagement roles to build relationships with and access to usually closed environments. One such role, is CEO of the Association of Sporting Directors.

Through unprecedented access to 25 Sporting Directors in England, Parnell’s and colleagues recent research examines their guarded recruitment processes. The research explicitly looks at the recruitment of nonplaying staff rather than players. Read the open access research by searching for ‘recruitment in elite football: a network approach’ online or clicking here.

The research focuses on the process of recruitment and how Sporting Directors are able to find middle-managers, such as heads of department. Through the lens of network theory the research identifies how the Sporting Directors established relationships with similar people heavily influence their decisions.

Naturally, recruitment decisions in elite football are constrained by tight timeframes and high pressure from club boards, fans and the media. As such, any leader under these pressures require people ‘they know’.

People you ‘know’ often know how you think, what you need and when you need it. Communication is easier, faster and more effective. Importantly, trust is high. These are all important for high performing teams.

This is also important is the culture of high  employee turnover, especially in relation to middle-management-level positions, in the football industry. Roles including the Head of Recruitment, Head of Academy, Head of Sport Science, Loans Manager, Club Doctor, First Team Head Coach and other backroom staff are all susceptible to this culture.

Despite ‘knowing someone’ being generally favoured over an objective assessment of a candidate’s human capital and merit, there can be constraints in this approach. This approach can have a limiting impact upon existing practices and can influence the clubs’ levels of diversity, problem-solving, creativity and innovation.

The insights collected from 25 English Premier League and Championship Sporting Directors helps better understand these recruitment decisions in the football industry. The data evidences that, whilst normally in recruitment, weak ties (i.e. more removed connections) are essential for getting a job, in football, trust and knowing people (i.e. strong ties) are the most critical aspects.

Hiring from within an existing closed network is often the default position for recruiters, which triggers a process of homophily, where people cluster with others who share similar characteristics.

English Premier League Sporting Director: “I have recruited someone I trust, who I know can do the job, even if they have never done the role before. I need to know that if I say do X, it gets done. You need that quick trust to get things going.” 

English Championship Sporting Director: “When you join a club, you don’t know how much time you have. You need people who can hit the ground running. People you can trust. So you need people you know. This could be someone you have worked with, or someone who has worked with someone you trust. But the main thing is you trust them.” 

Potential impact on club culture innovation and performance

Although the study does not focus on the consequences of recruitment practices, lack of meritocracy may create a dangerous precedent in the football industry.

Homophily can be damaging to football clubs, as it can promote a toxic culture, where individuals are fearful of those deemed as ‘outsiders’. Although unintentionally, this has the potential to create non-diverse and inequal organisations, as it is easier to discriminate against people whose gender and ethnicity make them less likely to access existing networks.

Most importantly, homophily raises player welfare, safety, and performance questions concerning the recruitment of Head of Sport Science and Medicine or staff supporting playing squads. While hiring known people speeds up recruitment and future workflows, overreliance on tight connections may damage creativity, innovation and access to knowledge, by blocking professionals who might be ahead of the learning curve in these areas.

Weak ties and ‘network entrepreneurs’ as sources of competitive advantage

Although the issue of homophily remains, the study findings point at alternative strategies which could help optimise the recruitment decision making process.

While reliance on strong ties is the norm, reaching out to people outside their network helps recruiters gather information on potential candidates, especially in areas outside of their expertise (e.g. medicine, periodisation, coaching).

English Championship Sporting Director: “My background is in [player] recruitment, so when it comes to stuff outside my direct expertise, such as medicine, periodisation or coaching, I know I need to be clever. Of course, I know a lot of be topics and know a lot of people who can do the job[s], but I know people who might be ahead of [learning] curve. If I am looking for Head of Performance, I will speak with people I know, who will know who the next best thing is. I would speak to colleagues universities and people who are the heads of performance even if they are in other sports. This will give me a start.”

English Premier League Sporting Director: “If I am looking for Head of Performance, I will speak with people I know, who will know who the next best thing is. I would speak to colleagues, universities and people who are the heads of performance, even if they are in other sports. This will give me a start.”

Likewise, clubs can take advantage of ‘network entrepreneurs’ (e.g. agents, loan managers) or people who can connect multiple networks by introducing people or organisations, and facilitating the flow of information and opportunities.

English Championship Sporting Director: “We have a number of strategies for finding backroom staff [i.e. Heads of Departments]. We usually have a few names that we know could fit in and hit the ground running. Then we speak to other execs (executives), agents, consultants, existing staff and when applicable, players. To get a better understand of the quality of the candidate.”

English Premier League Sporting Director: “Our loans manager has to work with other teams. He feeds information on good practice and people into me directly, and if we like someone, then we have a route to get a sense of whether they are interested in joining us.”

Impacting recruitment in elite football

At present the study is the most viewed empirical research within the ABS Journal European Sport Management Quarterly, with 12,000+ views since December 2021. The impact of the study goes beyond academia, as it has been shared with some of the most influential decision makers in the UK and worldwide.

The research team have engaged in extensive knowledge exchange with the technical leaders globally, including the Association of Sporting Directors, global football leagues (i.e., Major League Soccer, United Soccer League, Korea League), The Football Association and Abex Futebol in Brazil. Through this article we hope further leaders in football can utilise the findings to discuss the questions it raises and begin to influence and improve recruitment and performance in football.

 

This article by Dr Daniel Parnell, Senior Lecturer in Sport Business at the University of Liverpool Management School, was originally published in 41st Edition of the Football Medicine and Performance Editorial.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Ana Alvarez (Marketing Officer – Marketing, Recruitment, Communications and Events, Management School, University of Liverpool, UK) for her support in this article.

Research paper: Daniel Parnell, Alexander John Bond, Paul Widdop, Ryan Groom & David Cockayne (2021). Recruitment in elite football: a network approach, European Sport Management Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/16184742.2021.2011942