Nick
Administrator
Ray Ranson’s move into the hot seat at Coventry City towards the end of 2007 marked the beginning of a new era for Coventry City.
Ray’s hands-on style embracing both the commercial and playing sides of the club is already paying dividends with annual losses reduced and improved results on the pitch.
And if you also add the fact that the former England Schoolboys and Youth International is one of only three former professional footballers who are currently Chairmen of soccer clubs in the Football League (including Niall Quinn of Sunderland and Dave Whelan of Wigan) you begin to build a picture why the Sky Blues supremo has a track record and respected name in the game that ensures his calls are personally answered whether he is picking up the telephone to the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson or Kevin Keegan…..
Ray is rightly proud of his former soccer career in the top flight which he saw service at major clubs including
Manchester City (twice), Birmingham City, Newcastle United and Reading as well as a Wembley Cup Final appearance in 1981, after his soccer skills were spotted as a talented youngster by
soccer scouts in his native St.Helens. Today, he looks back on his soccer career as a very useful ‘apprenticeship’ which helped to lay the foundations for his second successful career in business which began in sports finance and
insurance and now of course involves his personal investment in Coventry City FC.
A career in business was always in the sights of the young ambitious Ranson even when he was a player with high
flying Manchester City at the peak of his soccer career. He loved playing football but knew that there was a life after the game and in 1991 formed his own business having identified a niche in the sports market. Before long, using his
contacts in soccer to help open doors, he had built up a successful company specialising in personal indemnity, contingency insurance and personal accident insurance for players, devoting his free time after training and during
holidays to expand his fledgling business. Thoughts of a career as a manager or coach at the end of his playing days did not appeal to him because of the ‘insecurity’ and he even turned down a coaching job in 1992
with Kevin Keegan at Newcastle. Eventually, the entrepreneurial Ranson had his big business break when he met
Matthew Harding in 1995 and formed a joint venture with the Benfield Group, one of the biggest success stories in the reinsurance market at the time. The company at its height was one of the most profitable private companies in
Europe and its interest in developing a sports arm presented Ray with a fantastic business opportunity. Sadly, the
major shareholder Matthew Harding was killed in a helicopter crash and Ray Ranson still talks fondly of his
relationship with the former Chelsea FC Vice Chairman. Ray eventually left Benfield in 2002 to pursue other interests in the sports arena.
“Thankfully when Benfield floated in 2003 I think the market capitalisation of the business then was about £750
million and fortunately I was a small shareholder,”he said.
In 2004 Ranson acquired ProZone, a sports analysis business tracking players movements and performance data and soon turned the loss making business into profit. “Most clubs in my opinion don’t utilise the software of ProZone to anything like its maximum potential.They can get a lot more out of it. I bet most only use 30 or 40 per cent of what it’s capable of doing. And it’s not just because I owned the business until recently that I say that, I am a big believer that it’s a fantastic tool and used to its full potential it has huge benefits. Everybody uses it differently for example Sam Allardyce uses it in a different way to how Mourhinio did. When I arrived at Coventry we didn’t have it. We simply couldn’t afford it. Now we have it and I know how to utilise its potential for the club, ”he said. He has since recently sold ProZone.
He also made serious moves towards buying a football club and personally approached Aston Villa without success
before building a relationship 2 years ago with UK owned company SISU to work together to identify and invest in a
football club. SISU and Ray Ranson identified clubs including Southampton and Manchester City before making an approach to buy Coventry City. The acquisition strategy was clearly defined. The remit was to find a traditional club with a loyal fan base and good quality stadium. Coventry City and the potential of the Ricoh Arena fitted the bill perfectly particularly with its history and loyal fan base. Coventry City is of course no stranger to ambitious individuals who have broken the mould in the game…. Sky Blues legend Jimmy Hill made his mark in soccer in the 60’s as a visionary and as the ‘architect’ behind the abolition of the players’ maximum wage who went on to steer the club from the third to first division. His innovative style and marketing skills ensured that the Sky Blues were never far from the headlines.
Ray Ranson, the club’s dynamic young Chairman, is undoubtedly a modern-day visionary but the difference from Jimmy Hill is that he is not only experienced in soccer but is equipped with proven business experience and skills and as a result has clear business objectives of where he plans to take Coventry City over the next couple of years working closely with the owners of the Ricoh Arena,ACL.
And as the press and Sky Blues fans have quickly learned from Ray’s open and honest approach in his 18 months at the helm, he won’t be making any promises that he can’t deliver simply to generate positive PR. That is not the style of the man…. Indeed, as he has repeated on several occasions, the only promise he is willing to give to the fans is that he will leave the club ‘in better shape’ than the organisation he took over when the Sky Blues were on the brink of going into Administration.
“Yes the club was almost £40 million in debt, losing about £8 million a year. We have forecast to reduce the losses significantly. And all the debts including the bank, long term creditors etc have been cleared. We’re now one of only three clubs in the country that is debt free,” he reflected. However, the blunt talking 48 year old northerner would rather not talk in detail about the mistakes made by the club’s managements of the past and you will definitely not find any signs promoting Operation Premiership around the club
offices in the Ricoh Arena! For as his fellow directors and staff will confirm, Ray Ranson is a man with a mission – his goal is to create a new chapter in the history of Coventry City by building a club with a reputation for consistent success on the field and an organisation that is equally as professional off it.
One of the most astute decisions he has made since moving into the Sky Blues Chair was to appoint Coventry-born lifelong Sky Blues fan and former Associate Director Gary Hoffman as Vice Chairman.
Gary, who has been appointed to the high profile role of Chief Executive of Northern Rock, brings a wealth of corporate experience to the new Sky Blues board. He began his new job at Northern Rock in October 1st having spent the previous 27 years of his career at Barclays Bank, more recently as
Deputy Chairman of the Barclays Group. Ray stressed the importance of the
relationship: “I knew of Gary through his senior role at Barclays and their sponsorship of the Premiership and sport in general.
“He is a huge Coventry City fan and brings tremendous experience to the board. He has been fantastic support to me since he became Vice Chairman and we speak most days on club matters.
“In fact we have an excellent mix on the new board. Joe Elliott is synonymous with the fans and the City of Coventry in general, Mike Parton is renowned businessman in the area of telecoms and technology and currently CEO of Damovo group, and we also have an employee of SISU Capital as a board director so it is a good spread of interests and talent.”
“Furthermore, we have brought in a new Commercial Director in Nathan Kosky. Nathan was highly recommended by a mutual friend and we interviewed a number of people.He brings a little bit extra to the table as he’s not your normal football Commercial Director. He’s used to running a
big venue and comes from the O2 Arena in London.” And on the subject of impressive stadiums, he continued: “We have the distinct advantage of playing in a fantastic stadium which is fast becoming one of the best
known arenas in the country, “But it is far more than a soccer stadium. That is its ticket but we have an unprecedented opportunity to maximise the commercial potential that the Ricoh Arena offers and build an entertainment venue that operates seven days a week, 365 days a year.
“The Ricoh Arena can become a centre of entertainment excellence and, a focal point not only for soccer but exhibitions, concerts, corporate hospitality and conferences – indeed every type of business use.
“The game plan is to create an excellent sporting experience for fans at the stadium, be they supporters, sponsors or visiting fans and officials,”said Ray Ranson.
“The Ricoh Arena is the future for Coventry City and will be an important part of the future prosperity of Coventry and Warwickshire,” he said.
An obvious signal of the way forward as far as his ambitions for the Ricoh Arena are concerned, was the recent move to bring the administrative offices of Coventry City and the Arena Coventry Ltd (ACL) together under one unit. [FONT="]
Ray’s hands-on style embracing both the commercial and playing sides of the club is already paying dividends with annual losses reduced and improved results on the pitch.
And if you also add the fact that the former England Schoolboys and Youth International is one of only three former professional footballers who are currently Chairmen of soccer clubs in the Football League (including Niall Quinn of Sunderland and Dave Whelan of Wigan) you begin to build a picture why the Sky Blues supremo has a track record and respected name in the game that ensures his calls are personally answered whether he is picking up the telephone to the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson or Kevin Keegan…..
Ray is rightly proud of his former soccer career in the top flight which he saw service at major clubs including
Manchester City (twice), Birmingham City, Newcastle United and Reading as well as a Wembley Cup Final appearance in 1981, after his soccer skills were spotted as a talented youngster by
soccer scouts in his native St.Helens. Today, he looks back on his soccer career as a very useful ‘apprenticeship’ which helped to lay the foundations for his second successful career in business which began in sports finance and
insurance and now of course involves his personal investment in Coventry City FC.
A career in business was always in the sights of the young ambitious Ranson even when he was a player with high
flying Manchester City at the peak of his soccer career. He loved playing football but knew that there was a life after the game and in 1991 formed his own business having identified a niche in the sports market. Before long, using his
contacts in soccer to help open doors, he had built up a successful company specialising in personal indemnity, contingency insurance and personal accident insurance for players, devoting his free time after training and during
holidays to expand his fledgling business. Thoughts of a career as a manager or coach at the end of his playing days did not appeal to him because of the ‘insecurity’ and he even turned down a coaching job in 1992
with Kevin Keegan at Newcastle. Eventually, the entrepreneurial Ranson had his big business break when he met
Matthew Harding in 1995 and formed a joint venture with the Benfield Group, one of the biggest success stories in the reinsurance market at the time. The company at its height was one of the most profitable private companies in
Europe and its interest in developing a sports arm presented Ray with a fantastic business opportunity. Sadly, the
major shareholder Matthew Harding was killed in a helicopter crash and Ray Ranson still talks fondly of his
relationship with the former Chelsea FC Vice Chairman. Ray eventually left Benfield in 2002 to pursue other interests in the sports arena.
“Thankfully when Benfield floated in 2003 I think the market capitalisation of the business then was about £750
million and fortunately I was a small shareholder,”he said.
In 2004 Ranson acquired ProZone, a sports analysis business tracking players movements and performance data and soon turned the loss making business into profit. “Most clubs in my opinion don’t utilise the software of ProZone to anything like its maximum potential.They can get a lot more out of it. I bet most only use 30 or 40 per cent of what it’s capable of doing. And it’s not just because I owned the business until recently that I say that, I am a big believer that it’s a fantastic tool and used to its full potential it has huge benefits. Everybody uses it differently for example Sam Allardyce uses it in a different way to how Mourhinio did. When I arrived at Coventry we didn’t have it. We simply couldn’t afford it. Now we have it and I know how to utilise its potential for the club, ”he said. He has since recently sold ProZone.
He also made serious moves towards buying a football club and personally approached Aston Villa without success
before building a relationship 2 years ago with UK owned company SISU to work together to identify and invest in a
football club. SISU and Ray Ranson identified clubs including Southampton and Manchester City before making an approach to buy Coventry City. The acquisition strategy was clearly defined. The remit was to find a traditional club with a loyal fan base and good quality stadium. Coventry City and the potential of the Ricoh Arena fitted the bill perfectly particularly with its history and loyal fan base. Coventry City is of course no stranger to ambitious individuals who have broken the mould in the game…. Sky Blues legend Jimmy Hill made his mark in soccer in the 60’s as a visionary and as the ‘architect’ behind the abolition of the players’ maximum wage who went on to steer the club from the third to first division. His innovative style and marketing skills ensured that the Sky Blues were never far from the headlines.
Ray Ranson, the club’s dynamic young Chairman, is undoubtedly a modern-day visionary but the difference from Jimmy Hill is that he is not only experienced in soccer but is equipped with proven business experience and skills and as a result has clear business objectives of where he plans to take Coventry City over the next couple of years working closely with the owners of the Ricoh Arena,ACL.
And as the press and Sky Blues fans have quickly learned from Ray’s open and honest approach in his 18 months at the helm, he won’t be making any promises that he can’t deliver simply to generate positive PR. That is not the style of the man…. Indeed, as he has repeated on several occasions, the only promise he is willing to give to the fans is that he will leave the club ‘in better shape’ than the organisation he took over when the Sky Blues were on the brink of going into Administration.
“Yes the club was almost £40 million in debt, losing about £8 million a year. We have forecast to reduce the losses significantly. And all the debts including the bank, long term creditors etc have been cleared. We’re now one of only three clubs in the country that is debt free,” he reflected. However, the blunt talking 48 year old northerner would rather not talk in detail about the mistakes made by the club’s managements of the past and you will definitely not find any signs promoting Operation Premiership around the club
offices in the Ricoh Arena! For as his fellow directors and staff will confirm, Ray Ranson is a man with a mission – his goal is to create a new chapter in the history of Coventry City by building a club with a reputation for consistent success on the field and an organisation that is equally as professional off it.
One of the most astute decisions he has made since moving into the Sky Blues Chair was to appoint Coventry-born lifelong Sky Blues fan and former Associate Director Gary Hoffman as Vice Chairman.
Gary, who has been appointed to the high profile role of Chief Executive of Northern Rock, brings a wealth of corporate experience to the new Sky Blues board. He began his new job at Northern Rock in October 1st having spent the previous 27 years of his career at Barclays Bank, more recently as
Deputy Chairman of the Barclays Group. Ray stressed the importance of the
relationship: “I knew of Gary through his senior role at Barclays and their sponsorship of the Premiership and sport in general.
“He is a huge Coventry City fan and brings tremendous experience to the board. He has been fantastic support to me since he became Vice Chairman and we speak most days on club matters.
“In fact we have an excellent mix on the new board. Joe Elliott is synonymous with the fans and the City of Coventry in general, Mike Parton is renowned businessman in the area of telecoms and technology and currently CEO of Damovo group, and we also have an employee of SISU Capital as a board director so it is a good spread of interests and talent.”
“Furthermore, we have brought in a new Commercial Director in Nathan Kosky. Nathan was highly recommended by a mutual friend and we interviewed a number of people.He brings a little bit extra to the table as he’s not your normal football Commercial Director. He’s used to running a
big venue and comes from the O2 Arena in London.” And on the subject of impressive stadiums, he continued: “We have the distinct advantage of playing in a fantastic stadium which is fast becoming one of the best
known arenas in the country, “But it is far more than a soccer stadium. That is its ticket but we have an unprecedented opportunity to maximise the commercial potential that the Ricoh Arena offers and build an entertainment venue that operates seven days a week, 365 days a year.
“The Ricoh Arena can become a centre of entertainment excellence and, a focal point not only for soccer but exhibitions, concerts, corporate hospitality and conferences – indeed every type of business use.
“The game plan is to create an excellent sporting experience for fans at the stadium, be they supporters, sponsors or visiting fans and officials,”said Ray Ranson.
“The Ricoh Arena is the future for Coventry City and will be an important part of the future prosperity of Coventry and Warwickshire,” he said.
An obvious signal of the way forward as far as his ambitions for the Ricoh Arena are concerned, was the recent move to bring the administrative offices of Coventry City and the Arena Coventry Ltd (ACL) together under one unit. [FONT="]
