FROM starting out as a young Warrington Town fan, Richard Smales has been on a roller coaster sporting journey during the past decade, now becoming owner and Chairman of his own football club in Hull!
His journey started by simply watching a few games of football at Warrington Town, his first experience of non-league football where he became a passionate member of a young “barmy army!”.
He soon realised that football existed beyond the professional clubs and a whole world of opportunity came with it.
Starting out in life as a Rugby League fan watching Hull KR, he even had a spell in his “dream job” as commercial manager at the club he loved.
Now 10 years on his sporting life has almost gone full circle – but now as Chairman and owner of his own football club in Hull.
Taking up his story Richard said: “After a few games and bringing more people with me to watch I was asked to help out with the supporters club, from here I was introduced to the club Directors and became close to them and offered any support that I could to assist with the club’s development off the pitch.
“From here I was given the opportunity to move to a club in Stockport called Woodley Sports, sadly the name no longer exists and has gone through a number of changes but has recently been taken over by the owners of Stockport County so an exciting time for the club now.
“Here I was able to manage the club’s commercial and sponsorship elements plus have a hand in future marketing and social media activities, this really opened my eyes to what it’s like and needed to run a football club at this level.
“After about a year I noticed an opportunity too good to not enquire about when in 2013, an opening became available at Sheffield United.
Richard at Sheffield United
“I spent two and a half years at Sheffield United, experiencing an FA Cup run to the Semi-Final at Wembley, League Cup semi-final against Tottenham and a few play-off games too. I still remember the first game just a few days after I started, it was against Bradford City and 23,000+ inside Bramall Lane. I immediately thought wow, I’ve made it as a career to work in football and sport.
“Within the first 6 months of working here the department changed with new senior management coming in place and a new style of selling sponsorship, I learnt so much from this that I still implement many concepts into my work todate. We set a number of club records in terms of revenues, profits and selling sponsorship/advertising. It was exciting everyday I entered the stadium to go to work, I met a number of high profile individuals along the way and I still keep in touch with many people now.
“As time progressed I realised that working within sport opens many doors of opportunity, building contacts and connections up with people at all other clubs using LinkedIn creates so much wider opportunity to network.
“It was here I learnt of my dream opportunity to work for the club I was brought up to support – Hull Kingston Rovers, a role and position I’d always wanted, Commercial Manager.
“It was at the time the club reached Wembley in 2015 for the Challenge Cup final. I was offered the job and moved back to my place of birth, Hull. Unfortunately sometimes in life things don’t always work out, this is what happened here and it was a huge lesson learnt that it’s not always best to work for the club you love and adore so much. Rugby League is also a sport which fluctuates very quickly financially as I was to find out in my next sports club.
“Following a spell of what I call a normal job (outside of sport) I was approached and offered the position to help resurrect the commercial power of Bradford Bulls. Again an opportunity I couldn’t pass up on given the power, brand and history of the club. I knew it was in a period of transition but the appeal and opportunity was too good to miss out on. What I wasn’t aware of was the full extent of how much the club was on the brink and again things don’t always work out as you planned. Not long after I started, the owner at the time put the club into administration, an extremely tough situation to find myself in. Funnily enough it was left to just myself and the General Manager as the most senior positions remained to look after the other members of staff.
“Looking back at this time it was an experience I once again took so much from, learning from the owners’ mistakes and why the club was in the mess it was, understanding this and processing the reasons I came away following a few months of uncertainty having learned so much. Sometimes good things do come from bad experiences.
“You’d think following these experiences I’d have given up on the sports career dream but that isn’t me, I still wanted to prove myself and took it upon myself to learn as much as possible using short term contracts at York City Knights and Club Doncaster to learn as much as possible.”
Richard added: “But football was always my calling. Rugby League is a fantastic sport and a sport I have been brought up to watch however from working in the game it is clear to see the challenges it faces. Financially, the ability to attract brand names as sponsors and poor marketing ultimately has a huge effect on the game as a whole. It’s a challenge and those that do it within clubs, do it well however it just doesn’t have the appeal levels that some League 2 football clubs have.
“A period of reflection offered me the chance to speak with a number of local business people in Hull, speaking of my experiences and knowledge I formed a partnership with a business in Hull and working alongside the owner I went on the search to start my own project. Winterton Rangers accepted the proposal and I worked as CEO for 18 months, transforming the commercial element of the club, improving revenues, playing budget increases and attracting outside personnel to come on board. A successful period was had however I quickly realised I had hit the ceiling on what I could achieve and so needed my own club to fully impact my long-term plans.
“I waited for the right opportunity and learned of a local club on the brink of collapse, the perfect opportunity to turn things around and implement a long term development plan, perfectly placed in Hull too. This was during the recent Covid pandemic, October last year.
“I guess it’s never the right time to take over a football club but even more so during a global pandemic. What it did offer was the time needed to rebrand, reform and start the club once again from a blank piece of paper. Everyone left from the old regime, even down to the players and coaches, it was literally a blank piece of paper.
“Fast forward nearly 12 months we now have a newly branded football club – FC Humber United, a highly qualified football manager and a young, exciting team to watch. We are now in discussions to find a suitable location to build our own facility to call home and an ever-growing Community Foundation ready to work throughout the Humber region.
“It might sound silly to suggest but I have gone full circle and right back at the beginning of my journey again however this time with nearly 10 years of experience, knowledge and many valuable lessons learned.
“The best thing I look back on is the value of generating contacts along the way, people who you can call upon when needed, they don’t always have to be high profile people but those who work in the game, everyone knows everyone else. There is so much potential here that I am yet to scratch the surface, however as my past experiences prove anything can happen in sport at any given time. What I would suggest to anyone wanting to follow in a similar position is to certainly do it, just don’t expect it to be all rosy and glorious on the inside as you may think it is from looking in from the outside. Sport is a harsh world to work within however one which also offers so much happiness and excitement, you also never know what is going to happen each day. It is like no-other industry to work within, once you are involved it is very hard to leave!”
Richard celebrating with the Barmy Army
