Martin Glenn stressed that the FA has learned from other sports.GETTY IMAGES
FA CEO Martin Glenn said that tackling the "deep-seated" challenges facing the England national team has "required a total rejection of sacred cows and established ways of doing things," according to Simon Gwynn of CAMPAIGN LIVE. Speaking at the Marketing Society’s Braver Conference in London, Glenn outlined what he referred to as the "doom cycle" of England’s experiences in recent tournaments before '18. He said that it consisted of six stages: hyper expectations, dawning realization, bitter recrimination, inquest, forget and repeat. Glenn: "What English football was guilty of was always looking for a messiah -- some kind of inspirational leader to take the team to the next level, rather than a reboot of the whole way that we organized things." The former Walkers marketer said that his challenge at the FA was "not so far away from his former life." He said, "I don't care whether you're a football team or a crisp company -- you need to have ambition and purpose, great people, and you need to be open to outside influences. I've always said that all business failures are marketing failures, and I think that's been true of English football." Changing things had to "start with a degree of humility." Glenn added, "Guess what, you can learn from other sports." Rather than assuming that football's popularity "meant it had a monopoly on knowledge, he looked to sports including Australian rules and rugby union." Embracing social media as a way to "disintermediate the way the players are projected" has also been key to overhauling the image of the team. This "ultimately helps them perform," according to Glenn. He said, "We thought, if these players were going to be authentic, they had to be able to express themselves personally" (CAMPAIGN LIVE, 11/15).
