Paul Tisdale, Fmr Exeter City Manager: 'It's Survival of the Adaptable, NOT the Fittest' (Ep36)

This week we are delighted to welcome Paul Tisdale to the show. A former Premier League player, Paul went on to manage over 600 games in the football league for the likes of Exeter City, Bristol Rovers, MK Dons, and Stevenage. His time at Exeter delivered a complete transformation of the club, taking them from the National League to League One via back to back promotions. He cultivated an elite pool of talent that included Ollie Watkins and Ethan Ampadu. He was labelled the most fashionable man in football.

The approach to management is simple but so different to what you’d expect. But there is much more to the man than his achievements on the touchline. He has transformed his career to work alongside multi-club ownership models on a variety of projects, as well as venturing into the world of the sporting director, something we have been keen to dive into for a long time on this show.

The skills acquired in football as both a player and a manager and transferable in many ways. This is an education in how to build a profile across multiple areas of sport and beyond, with an excellent dose of how to be a top manager! We’re delighted to welcome Paul Tisdale to Business of Sport.

On today’s show we discuss:

The Business of Lower League Football:

• Big budgets are a thing on the elite; how do you operate when you an towards the lower end of football in the UK and strike the balance between sustainability and ambition?
• The challenges of running Exeter City as a cashflow business, meaning it could not lose money.
• Player sales are a key revenue driver for clubs. How did selling Matt Grimes and Ollie Watkins benefit the club financially and what did the structure of those deals look like?
• What are the budgets of a club in League One or Two?
• Scrapping the scouting department was one of the major decision Paul made at Exeter. Why did he decide to cut this key part of a football club?
• “It’s survival of the adaptable, not the fittest”. What does Paul mean by this?

Creating an Identity:

• Building a character than can deliver every week on a touchline was one way Paul was able to deliver success. Why did he do this?
• The power of fashion: dubbed the most fashionable man in football, what was the purpose of looking good in the dugout.
• Finding your place in sport is not something that comes naturally and being able to exist in an environment that has little forgiveness can be difficult for both players and managers.
• The challenge of moving teams is not something talked about enough. In football you are expected to move and slot straight in. It’s not that easy!

Transferable Skills:

• There are few educations as powerful as the one you’ll get in football, but how can it be applied away from the pitch?
• The power of data - this is something utilised by every club in today’s game, but are clubs doing it right?
• Staying relevant in football is not easy. What do you need to do to ensure there are roles available that may be unlike ones available previously?
• What next? Would Paul get back into management if he was given the opportunity?

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