I love hard work … I could sit and watch it for years.
Now there’s a quote we can all relate to. Or can we?
The reason I bring this up is that recently, a Middle Eastern billionaire bought into one of my local football teams, Notts County.
Now the reason I find this interesting is that Notts County – whilst being the oldest professional club in the World – are shit.
Yes even shitter than my beloved Nottingham Forest.
Hell, they’ve been bumbling along the bottom of the [old] 4th division – beating relegation by the skin of their teeth – year after year and yet, for reasons that still have not been made totally clear, a billionaire has decided to revive their fortunes despite living in a land about as far removed from Nottingham as you can get.
And the long and short of it is that I think it’s great.
In a sport where we’ve seen outrageous levels of investment in many of the so called ‘glamour’ clubs – here is a man who has decided not to take the easy, and obvious, path … but chosen to help a proud and historic club that is down on its luck.
To me, that say’s a lot about the man …
Sure, he’s paying the ol’ Swedish pervert – Sven-Göran Eriksson – 2 million quid a year to ‘oversee’ his investment, has promised additional funds for player acquisition and has said he wants the team in the Championship by their 150th anniversary [3 years from now] but all in all, it seems the goal is to earn the right to be viewed as successful rather than simply buying in at the top level.
In a World where people view success more by what you have rather than what you did to earn it, I find this approach both refreshing and inspiring … and whilst I’m under no illusion that having a billionaire backer and globally renowned football coach makes things easier, it’s still the path of great resistance which is why it seems to me the man behind all this positive turmoil subscribes to the view that nothing feels as great as when you’ve overcome some level of adversity – and I wish more companies adopted this view because in their quest for ‘easier’ profits, they’re potentially missing out on opportunities that could make them truly great.
There’s nothing wrong with making [m/b]illions … but to me, it’s how you made it and what you did with it once you got it … which is why I’m more likely to support the new Notts County patriarch than I am Mr Abranovich or most agency CEO’s for that matter.