The person who constructed the fashionable Premier League is on a mission to get his beloved membership into it ultimately.
Richard Scudamore catapulted revenues from £670m to £5.2bn over 19 heady years in control of the highest tier.
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Now, in his first foray again into soccer, Scudamore’s transient is to get Bristol Metropolis a slice of that pie he helped bake. He formally joins the in-form Championship membership’s three-man board on Saturday.
No official title for now, however as a Metropolis fan at the start, this can be a proud ardour challenge 60 years within the making. “The journey is actually fairly simple,” he tells Telegraph Sport at Ashton Gate instantly after his unveiling to workers who final tasted top-flight life in 1980.
Metropolis can depend themselves fortunate to have the Premier League’s former govt chairman rooting for them in any respect. Earlier generations of Scudamores got here from the east Bristol district of Hillfields, a blue-and-white quarter heartland for bitter native rivals Bristol Rovers.
Nevertheless, as Scudamore explains: “my dad and my uncle had been large Bristol Metropolis followers by default” due to Rovers’ coverage on disabled followers within the Nineteen Fifties. “They had been a uncommon breed,” he defined of his Metropolis outlier household. “My dad obtained polio in 1949 and ended up in a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. Rovers did one thing unusual. In 1955 they reconfigured and didn’t actually need the disabled followers in there. So my uncle stated, ‘proper, effectively, we’ll should go to Bristol Metropolis’.”
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The Scudamores had been reds for good, with an toddler Richard sneaking in without cost in a nook of Ashton Gate alongside his father’s “invalid carriage” – a now politically incorrect time period for a three-wheel bubble automobile utilized by disabled individuals.
“He used to slip the door open, and I watched the matches from there,” Scudamore, 66, provides. The primary match he attended was John Atyeo’s 1966-67 testimonial in opposition to Leeds United.
Getting a glimpse of the most effective participant ever to tug on Metropolis purple was a simple promote. When his father fell too ailing to attend, he began attending matches on his personal from the age of eight. Metropolis had been on the up by his teenagers, having fun with a four-season First Division keep earlier than plummeting by the divisions within the early Nineteen Eighties.
Bristol Metropolis are at present fourth within the Championship on 22 factors after 12 video games – PA/Bradley Collyer
In distinction with Metropolis’s notorious tumble to the underside flight, Scudamore’s profession was about to hit take off. After stints at Yellow Pages after which Thomson, his first soccer position was a two-year stint as chief govt of the Soccer League from 1997 – a 12 months after Steve Lansdown turned majority proprietor at Metropolis. As a “good friend” and “admirer” of Lansdown, Scudamore says, “I’ve at all times had his ear and vice versa”.
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Since , Scudamore has had an off-the-cuff affect at Metropolis since being requested to “lean in” by Richard Gould, the membership’s former chief govt. His formal position as a de facto vice chairman is a private request by Lansdown, nonetheless.
The possession household, which incorporates Steve’s son Jon as chairman, have made no secret that they’re open to attracting new funding for the membership. “He’s completely open to funding,” says Scudamore, earlier than including “he’s not determined” and it “shouldn’t be a distraction from the membership’s ambitions”.
“My focus is to assist Tom Rawcliffe and Jon Lansdown be the most effective CEO and chairman of a membership they are often,” he explains. With a long time extra in soccer than his two fellow board members, he suggests he’ll attempt to “shortcut a few of their angst” with decision-making by drawing on his personal expertise.
At a fan discussion board in latest weeks, the membership confirmed had been amongst potential suitors. “In fact he’s had individuals flirting,” says Scudamore.
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Nevertheless, regardless of being praised for overseeing the sharpest rise ever seen in sports activities TV rights values throughout his time on the Premier League, it’s membership success – relatively than a sale – that shall be Scudamore’s focus.
He sounds cautiously optimistic concerning the membership, in fourth after three consecutive wins, however provides that “everybody can say they wish to be within the Premier League”.
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“Someplace between that aspiration and that imaginative and prescient, it is advisable have a plan to get there,” he provides. “Though they do have plans [Lansdown and Rawcliffe], I may also help them focus, sharpen and make these plans extra environment friendly,” Scudamore, who successfully replaces Gavin Marshall because the third senior voice in cost, provides.
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In a press release confirming Scudamore’s outstanding position, Lansdown snr stated: “I’ve recognized him for so long as I’ve been concerned within the membership and am assured that his wealth of expertise will assist Jon and Tom take the membership ahead,” he stated.
Since Liam Manning’s abrupt swap to Norwich Metropolis after play-off semi-final defeat final season, Metropolis have loved a optimistic begin underneath Gerhard Struber, whose direct fashion of play has been welcomed by the membership’s success-starved help.
Supervisor Gerhard Struber’s direct fashion goes down effectively at Ashton Gate – PA/Bradley Collyer
There was progress financially too. The most recent annual pre-tax loss sits at £3.3m – a significant enchancment on June 2023 which had a £22.2m deficit. Metropolis have to be extra artistic within the switch market than many rivals boosted by parachute funds. Scudamore, one of many key architects of soccer’s pyramid payouts throughout his time on the Premier League, insists the system solely offers Metropolis additional incentive to achieve the promised land.
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“The explanation for parachutes is you need individuals to spend the cash, however how will you ask them to spend the cash and put the membership in danger should you get relegated? It’s an insurance coverage.”
Scudamore is an insurance coverage coverage in himself at Metropolis. He says he may also help present “rigour” behind the scenes. His evaluation of an encouraging begin to the season is usually measured. “Right here we’re but once more, sitting in a mildly optimistic, not overconfident place,” he says. The brand new man on the board at Metropolis is aware of full effectively there aren’t any simple routes to the promised land he helped design.