Unofficial Partner Podcast

Seb Carmichael Brown was early to the whole ‘KSI YouTube influencers in to real sport‘ thing, first as the commercial guy for his brother Spencer FC’s empire, and then via Hashtag Utd, which they created together. Now Seb is a golf influencer in his own right, with 106k followers and a gig as a pundit in mainstream media. How did he do that? Is it as easy as he makes it look? And what’s it like when a team of YouTubers run out against a hungover and angry Essex pub team on a Sunday morning?We interview him in Sean’s kitchen on a cold day in January just before we head off to Paris for Global Sports Week for the first ever Unofficial Partner Live.See you on the other side.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Simon Dent was a lawyer then a sports memorabilia shop owner, then a sports agent to his flat mate Martin ‘Chariots’ Offiah and then a football agent. In 2016, he co-founded Dark Horses, a creative sports marketing agency that sits within Lucky Generals, one of the most successful independent advertising agencies in London.We went to the Exmouth Market office to talk to Simon and join the dots.Next week, Richard and Sean head to Paris for the first ever Unofficial Partner Live at the inaugural Global Sports Week event. Come and say hello if you’re there.https://globalsportsweek.comUnofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

This week we're talking about why the sports business looks like it does, which is predominantly white, male and middle class.Our guest is Pranav Soneji, co-founder of Livewire Sport, who have launched a mentoring project aimed at tackling some of the barriers people from under represented groups face when they start a career in sport and Digital industries. We talk about what diversity means, why the sports business should care about it, and why change takes so long. The programme takes place throughout 2020, will include sessions with some of LiveWire’s clients, including - Channel 4, Team GB, Wimbledon among others. You can find details of the scheme at http://livewiresport.com/mentoring/Finally, a big thank you also to our great friends at SDA one of London’s best boutique brand consultancies for opening their doors on Charlotte Street to us and allowing us to record this podcast at their offices, it is as ever much appreciated.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

This week we talk to Alex Fynn the former Saatchi and Saatchi adman turned author who played influential roles at two pivotal moments in football’s recent history. In the 1980s Alex was commissined by the FA to write a blueprint of the Future of Football, a document that ultimately led to the formatin of the Premier League. It was a piece of work that caught the eye of Silvio Berlusconi, then owner of AC Milan among many other things, who asked Alex to write a similar plan to reorganise European club football. We talk about both of those experiences, and what Alex learnt about himself and the nature of power in sport. We can recommend Alex’s most recent book, One Step From Glory, written with the journalist Martin Cloake, which is all about Tottenham’s journey through to the 2019 Champions League Final in Madrid.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

This week we talk to Arron Shepherd, the co-founder of The Goat Agency, the influencer marketing agency at the company’s headquarters on Finsbury Square in London.In 2015 Arron launched Sportlobster, a niche football social platform that used Cristiano Ronaldo as an ambassador. This experience shaped his approach to what he’s doing now, and how he looks at the whole idea of influencer marketing. We talk about the resistance to influencers from the traditional media and advertising agencies, and why they’ve missed the boat on a sector that some observers suggest will be worth $15billion by 2022.If you like the podcast, please tell other people or even write a nice review on Apple Podcasts or whatever platform you use to listen.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

This week Richard and Sean head to the Wimbledon home of sports business legend Andrew Croker to talk about his life and career. It’s a story that boasts an extraordinary cast of extraordinary characters such as Rupert Murdoch, Mark McCormack, Horst Dassler and Len Blavatnik among many, many others, stopping off at the great landmark moments of the past 40 years, from the 1966 World Cup through to the birth of Sky Sports, the launch of the Premier League, the first dotcom and Frank Lampard’s role in the advent of VAR. This is the final podcast of 2019, so it’s time to wish all our regular listeners a very Happy Christmas, we really appreciate your support over the course of the year. We’ll be back in the first week of January for the first podcast of 2020.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

This week we went to the BOA’s Headquarters in New Cavendish St to meet Vicky Gosling OBE, chief executive of GB Snowsport. Vicky had a highly successful 21 year career in the Royal Air Force, rising to the rank of Group Captain, serving in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, for which she was awarded the MBE in 2004. She left the forces to become CEO of the Invictus Games, the international multi sport event created by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex for injured servicemen and women.If you want to find out more about Vicky, she recently did a great presentation at the Marketing Society’s Bravest event in London, about what her career in the armed services taught her and how that can be applied to business. You find the video of that presentation at the Marketing Society’s website.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

This week we talk to two of the most influential sports news journalists working today. Martyn Ziegler is Chief Sports Reporter of The Times and Sunday Times newspapers and Martha Kelner has recently moved from a similar role at The Guardian to become Sports Correspondent of Sky News.The conversation took place at the Royal Thames Yacht Club in Knightsbridge just before the annual sports news lobby Christmas drinks where journalists invite prominent people from across the sports business and political worlds and ply them with free drink. To add authenticity, you can hear the barman getting things ready in the background at times during the recording.If you enjoy the podcasts, don’t forget to rate us on iTunes and subscribe to the unofficial partner newsletter via the site.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

This week’s guests are Mark Catlin and Kevin Rye.Former Bury director and Spanish telecommunications business leader Mark Catlin is chief executive of Portsmouth football club, and a recent winner of the Football Business Awards CEO of the Year and a judge at this year’s event.We talk to Mark about who assisted fans in the saving the club from administration in 2012, the acquisition of the club by supporters and the consequent takeover by former Disney chief Michael Eisner in 2017.Our other guest is Kevin Rye, founder and director of Fan Insights, who has created the first Fan Engagement Index, in which all 92 league clubs are rated for their relationship with their own supporters. Finally a big thank you to our brilliant friends at SDA, one of London's best boutique brand consultancies for opening their doors for us and generously allowing us to record the pod at their lovely Charlotte Street office, it’s much appreciated.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

This week Richard and Sean head to Putney to talk to Oli Slipper about the expensive mistakes that await sport’s OTT boom; the secret of the Maradona documentary and commercial appeal of long form sports films; why DAZN sold Perform and what Len Blavatnik’s really like; Barry Hearn’s sweary advice and the challenges of selling football club websites in the days of dial up internet connections.The former pro cricketer is now Chair of Pitch International, the sports rights agency, so we talked to him at the company’s riverside HQ, where the wall of his office is covered with a photo of Kenny Dalglish, despite Oli being a Spurs season ticket holder.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.