We caught up with Crawley Town Football Club's new head of partnerships James Ball top talk about his role, his background and how easy a sell the club is to prospective partners
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm James, I'm the Head of Partnerships for Pallbytown Football Club. I have been
00:11here for three weeks, so fairly new, but worked in football for about eight years now.
00:17So I'm an Essex boy, so I started at my local club which was Southend United. I was
00:25really fortunate to be given an opportunity there and an in into the game. I spent three
00:29and a half years at Southend through what was a turbulent time for the club, both on
00:34and off the pitch to be fair, but learnt so much, worked with so many great people and
00:39just felt the need for change in the end. I went to Dagenham and Redbridge, another
00:42local side for me. Brilliant club, really enjoyed two very good years there and met
00:47again some wonderful people and really learnt a lot from them. I then moved to Millwall
00:52in the Championship. Again, terrific people, real learning experience. I think I brought
00:58what I could, but learnt so many key skills to go on from there. Ben got in touch in the
01:03new year. I came and saw the opportunity and fell in love with the club. I think to come
01:07here and bring those skills with me is hopefully something I can bring to fruition.
01:15It's been three weeks and it feels like a longer time, which I guess is a good thing.
01:20The people have been fantastic, both the fans, the sponsors, the people working in the office
01:25and working for the club. Everyone's been so welcoming. I've still not learnt everyone's
01:29names, so I'll have to apologise quite often. They say in football, when somewhere feels
01:35like a home and you can really support the team, this feels like that. It's a good place
01:39to be. It's got a fantastic following. Hopefully I can add to that in a real positive way.
01:47Ben just sees EFL newsletters, names pop up. Initially, it was actually a recruiter that
01:58reached out. At the time, I was happy. That never changed, me being happy where I was.
02:06Ben then came direct. I think the recruiter passed on some information. He just said,
02:12come and see who we are. He didn't beat around the bush as to what cruel he was. Having seen
02:17it, you can fall in love with it. It's got so much potential. As I said, the fans and
02:23the sponsors are really great people. I think the team mirrors that as well. They're a good
02:30bunch of lads. Hopefully, if I can put in a bit more commercial off the pitch and get
02:35some new partners in and bring the place a little bit to life on that side, then we can
02:38really have a good push to make this a success.
02:43Affinity. My foreign exchange background came a little bit into that. I'd done that when
02:50I was a youngster. I think you need someone on board. You never know when those transactions
02:54come in handy. Affinity and Sam are a fantastic company. It's really good to speak to them
02:58and get them involved.
03:04A lot of conversations are being had. Hopefully, some of them will start to get over the line
03:07in the next couple of weeks so we can start announcing some new partners to fans and them
03:11to see who's involved with the club. Again, a lot of referrals as well, which has been
03:15fantastic. All the current sponsors have been amazing in terms of reaching out and getting
03:19in touch. It's good to get some meetings in with them to find out what they want to do
03:24with the club and how we can help them a little bit more now that I'm involved and can be
03:28a bit more hands-on.
03:33Well, certainly. Every club has got a tale to it. It's got a bad story or a bad reputation
03:38in some capacity. I think that our owners are really misunderstood. Having worked closely
03:44with Ben and Preston to get my role over the line, to understand a little bit about them,
03:48I know how much they do care about the club. I think sometimes the Americanism and what
03:53they want to bring into English football, having seen sport in America, is tough and
03:57they don't necessarily always hit the mark. That doesn't mean they don't care and they're
04:01not trying to get it right. They are trying to get it right. Owners of the clubs take
04:06their money from what they do. They do it for the love of the game and to have it as
04:10a little bit of a hobby. They are around, they are present, they're happy to speak to
04:14people. They've brought me in hopefully because I can be their cat and try and help people
04:18to understand a little bit more about what we want to bring in and be a little bit more
04:22transparent, I guess, in the right way. Hopefully I can bring in some new partners and a little
04:26bit more money. I think if I do, you'll see that they'll invest that into the team and
04:30into improving facilities for fans, which I really do want to make happen and I believe
04:34that we will within the next year. In terms of Scott coming back, what a fantastic guy.
04:38I've been fortunate enough to be in and around him and his team and they're all fantastic,
04:42so welcoming. Like I said earlier, this place is a real home to them and this club means
04:47a lot. It affects them so much when we lose games. I saw them Tuesday night and they still
04:53come. They're happy to be in and around and won't shy away. It means a lot to them.
04:58We're still six points off and we're still daring to dream that this can happen and everyone
05:03is still really excited about the last few games. The fans have been incredible. I said
05:07to Ben when I first came to a game before I'd even started, we lost to Cambridge. This
05:11is just before Scott came in. No one left the game. The fans were still here, still
05:16banging that drum, still making some noise. You don't see that in many football clubs
05:21and that really hit home with me that this is a real good place and that people care
05:25and I think if we can all come together, something really positive could happen at this football
05:29club. You can sense it, whether that be this season or whether that be next. I think we've
05:34got a great team in place, both on the field, off the field and good backing everywhere
05:38around the ground. Hopefully, as I said, I can bring some more in, bring a bit more life
05:42in terms of sponsorships, get more people on board, get more people coming to games
05:46and see what we can do.
05:48Reach out to me at my email address, james.ball at crawleytownfc.com. Drop me an email at any
05:59time. I'm always receptive and try and get back to you as soon as possible. In other
06:03contexts, give the club a call, ask for myself. More often than not, I'm around. Working in
06:09football, you don't really have set hours. It's for the love of the game, I guess. More
06:15often than not, I'm around. Even if it's a supporter, if you've got an inquiry and
06:18you want to speak to me, let's have a call, let's have a chat. I know that a lot of people
06:23know the team in the office of Tom, Sam, Maisy. There aren't loads of full-time guys. Obviously,
06:28there's Lewis, there's Rhona, there's people in and around the club, but they're always
06:32receptive. If you can't speak to me, speak to one of them and they will help. They will
06:36give you the answer or they will try to, at least. Like I said, they've been fantastic
06:40with me and making me feel like I'm at home already after three weeks.