3.5. Methodology review
3.5.1. Research protocol
To collect data of the same type and to be able to compare it
efficiently, a research protocol was put in place by the interviewer. For each
club, top managers have been interviewed at their office, by the same
interviewer. Two of them were general managers, one was marketing manager and
the last one was financial director. Their function allowed them to answer
clearly each question because of the overview they had on the business. As the
same data were required from the clubs, the same questions were asked to the
four managers. This element of the protocol was essential. Moreover, for each
interview, a length of one hour was required by the interviewer. At least, the
data collected had all the same type, so the same analysis method was applied
to them.
3.5.2. Reliability of the data
It was important to base this research on reliable data. Data
coming from the clubs were official ones: the annual reports were a legal
obligation for clubs, so they published their real accounts. The interviewees
were top managers of those clubs and are supposed to deliver true data. Mostly
based on official reports (from leagues and clubs) the data were also verified
using chains of evidence. The data from websites, articles and books, although
not official, allowed the researcher to check the statistics and information
given by the clubs. Articles from Emerald and Mintel reports were peer-reviewed
so they were considered reliable for the study. Everyone should be warned about
the lack of reliability of newspapers and radio concerning football. These
sources of information aimed at selling their information and were based on
rumours, scandals and polemics. The author would recommend keeping an attentive
attitude to the information they give to feel the atmosphere but not to use it
as reliable data.
3.5.3. Limits of the methodology
The limits highlighted were due to the face-to-face interview.
First, it has been difficult to obtain those interviews. Football clubs'
managers (like every manager) were very busy and not always available. So it
was time-consuming to convince them. The second limit was due to the language:
as English was not the interviewer's mother tongue, some information may have
been misunderstood or forgotten. A face-to-face interview is also limited in
time: although the interviewer asked for one-hour-meeting, the interviews
lasted from forty-five minutes to one hour and a half depending on the
manager's availability. This length seems quite long at first sight, but all
the points could not be developed as wished. Another limit is that this
research is mostly based on those four interviews and it cannot represent a
general view of the football sector. Moreover, the data collected came from
football clubs and could have been biased by managers to give a better
impression of their club. That's why chains of evidence tried to be used as
often as possible.
How stakeholders influence football clubs' strategy ? September
2003
In Liverpool F.C., the managing director was not available for an
interview so the interviewee was the financial director. Due to his function,
Mr Weathley had a complete knowledge about stakeholders linked with the club's
finance but less data about others stakeholders' groups. The last limit was
that French football clubs did not have to publish annual reports, so the
statistics for French football clubs analysis were not as detailed as for the
English ones.
4. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
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