SEATTER DEPARTS BUT NOT BEFORE TIME

March 22^nd 2008

By Andrew Dewhurst

Rather than write a column without you having the benefit of seeing the release from NZF announcing the resignation of CEO Graham Seatter, I have decided to let you read the release and then my comments at the same time.

Suffice to say I do not agree with a great deal of what has been written to coincide with what in my opinion has been a three year period that on balance has been detrimental to the development of the game in this country.

Remember the context, in 1999 the game was broke and went to the country looking for a bail out. They received a one off levy from all affiliated members but along with it came a clean out of the administration.

Bill MacGowan was head hunted by New Zealand Soccer after successfully overseeing the 1999 FIFA U17 world cup. He and a new board led by John Morris set out to right the ship and get the game back in the black.

They did this and throughout the same period NZ qualified for two Confederations Cups (one was in 1998 for the 99 Mexico tournament), both of which were achieved by defeating Australia.

As you read this you should know that from 2001 to 2005 I was contracted to work for the national body in the area of media and communications, during that time I came to know many of the board and staff.

Through this work I also gained an intimate knowledge of how the game worked, the politics, the personalities and the issues facing the game in the short and long term. I have maintained my involvement in the game through the media but also with my work at Waitakere United, something I have always been up front about.

That involvement merely continues a lifelong association with the game as a player, an administrator, a media commentator and critic. I feel I know the game, its personalities, its history and its intricacies as well as anyone in the country.

It is on that basis that I have always been willing to offer comment or critique, whether positive or negative. I am often asked to do so, in particular on the radio given my role as a commentator and host of The Total Football Show.

It is fair to say that I formed an opinion about Graham Seatter very early in his reign. This was based on both personal dealings with him as I ended my involvement with the national body but also on my observations of him in his role as CEO and the early decisions that were taken or promises that were made.

It is also fair to say that I have been a reasonably constant critic of the national body through this time. This has not been out of spite but out of a genuine concern for the direction the game was taking – all of this based on my prior knowledge and understanding of the game and the boundaries within which it must operate.

I have been prepared to put my reputation on the line in print (in particular in the now defunct Soccer Talk), on air and in interviews with various hosts. I have done so at all times with the best interests of the game at heart.

I have not been alone in this regard and don’t consider myself to be a lone ranger when it comes to having doubts over the ‘expansionist’ policy of the board or the actions of the administration in recent times.

It saddened me hugely to see most of my worst fears proven true when the game was thrown into turmoil with the announcement of a massive debt and cash flow problem late last year.

In my opinion the game can be summarised as follows: 

Domestically the game has been neglected.

The NZFC has not been developed, nurtured or resourced over the past three years. The initial sponsor has gone without a replacement, TV coverage has been reduced and a number of franchises have been left to flounder on and off the park for too long.

The Chatham Cup has lost its sponsor and is a shadow of the competition it was just four or five years ago.

Winter leagues have been left to wallow in their own infighting and indecision with little or no guidance from the national body. Best case in point here is the ludicrous way in which the Northern League has been dismantled.

The women’s league is one of the first victims of the financial belt tightening and despite much chest beating about the women’s game, was the first to be chopped or changed.

Internationally

This has been the focus of NZF, openly saying that with more games, more exposure and more media the game will attract more sponsors and commercial partners. Unfortunately the game has lost sponsors and gained very little other than bills.

The game has lived beyond its means and in doing so sent the national body to the wall.  At a time when we have effectively been gifted entry to all FIFA tournaments thanks to the withdrawal of the Aussies we have shown little or no improvement in age group teams nor the All Whites. During this time of activity we sank to our lowest ever FIFA ranking and seem to be placing fewer and fewer players at clubs of any note overseas.

The odd great result is something we should be proud of but nothing out of the ordinary, the All Whites and age group sides have been getting the ‘odd great result’ throughout the game’s history in this country.

Performances by our age group sides in recent years have at times been embarrassing, this despite much resource and preparation time.

Commercially

The finances speak for themselves where this is concerned. Few if any new sponsors of any note have come on board. Thai Airways would appear to be a partner in contra only (or for very little cash) and even that appeared not to favour NZF with players left in limbo or bumped off flights after recent international fixtures.

Seatter once famously said to a departing staff member ‘thanks for your efforts in this area but we are about to get serious’. Well, seriously, where are the new sponsors and where is the new income?

Other

• Staff levels went up and salaries increased accordingly – again in my opinion for little or no return to the game.
• The end of the Knights was a debacle, for the most part because of the owners and lack of capital and management skills at the club. But the way the issue was handled by NZF and in particular the relationship with the players left sour tastes in many mouths and did not endear the national body to them. I have no doubt this contributed to a number of international retirements.
• The future of the A-League in this country was heading down the gurgler until the intervention of Terry Serepisos. I know personally a number of potential investors (one in particular) who made approaches to NZF during that time of limbo and the desperate search for more money, only to be ignored for months while the future looked bleak – literally they were not even phoned back after offering tens of thousands of dollars. Thank god Terry Serepisos listened to Radio Sport while having his hair cut! It is interesting that NZF has gradually but surely been cut out of the picture in Wellington as Serepisos and Pignata run things their way.

But enough from me, here is the press release along with notes in italics from me. I urge everyone though to make their own judgements. I make no apologies for mine; they are based on a long association with the game and knowing many of its key stakeholders.

I hope they get the right person and right board to put things to right because there is still a long way to go before the game is once again on a sound financial footing or achieves some degree of credibility with the media, the public and those involved at any level.

I’m afraid though that the tone of the press release announcing Seatter’s departure suggests that too many people still have their heads in the sand.

However, given the deputy CEO, the CEO, communications manager and a financial assistant have all resigned in recent weeks, maybe the clean out might allow for a fresh start. 

NZF Press Release, March 20

New Zealand Football Chief Executive Graham Seatter is to step aside after three years in the role.

Seatter announced his resignation to staff this morning and will depart the Albany-based national body on April 18 after successfully guiding the sport through a challenging period of expansion.

(Given the position that the game finds itself in as Seatter leaves, how on earth can the three years under his control be considered ‘successful’. Seatter took over an organisation with money in the bank, a new national league concept with huge potential and most importantly an organisation that had gained the respect of the media and the football community after years of infighting. He also inherited very quickly an organisation that was gifted qualification into most if not all major FIFA tournaments thanks to the withdrawal of Australia from Oceania. The challenging period of expansion was a decision taken by the Board and Administration and was not foisted upon them by anyone else.)

NZ Football Chairman John Morris thanked Seatter for his “tireless work” for the game. 

“Graham’s energy, passion and boundless optimism for our game will be sadly missed,” Morris said before announcing a new tack for the code. 

Morris confirmed that the NZ Football Board would take a more operational role in an effort to drive the national body on the road to long-term financial sustainability. A new CEO will be appointed in due course.

(In other words they are changing course both in terms of the qualities of the new CEO and the strategic direction for the game, this in itself is an interesting commentary on the past three years).

The restructure will also include a review of NZ Football’s current administrative set-up and strategic plan. 

(Ditto the comment above, you only change course when headed for the rapids and you clearly don’t continue to have any faith in the tour guide that is slowly but surely taking you towards them).

While sad to walk away from a game with “limitless potential in New Zealand”, Seatter will depart confident the sport has grown under his watch, an ambitious period of expansion that had been “widely accepted” by the game.

(Widely accepted by whose definition? The Federations have been open in their contempt for the financial mismanagement of ‘their’ game and the desire to see heads roll. I find this comment laughable).

“There is no secret that my three years have been very challenging from a financial viewpoint but that is nothing new for football and is increasingly the case for a growing number of sports in New Zealand,” Seatter said.

(Again the direction taken by the game was taken at the insistence of the Board and the CEO. It is they who must take responsibility for the financial ‘challenges’ - most of them have been of their own doing. When Seatter arrived in the office he promised new sponsors and greater commercial revenue on the back of this expansion approach. Little or none of it arrived.)

“But I firmly believe we have made progress and now that a financial solution has been found I believe the sport is in good shape. The time is right for someone new to drive the new era.”

(By this I guess Seatter means the 1.5 million dollar KiwiBank loan that must be paid back long after Seatter has gone and the hand out from SPARC to the tune of the interest on the loan and a $300,000 grant. This can hardly be considered a sustainable financial solution, more a millstone around the neck of the game for years to come).

Seatter rates the return of the All Whites from football’s international wilderness, the retention of New Zealand’s Hyundai A-League licence and resurgence of the women’s game as his proudest accomplishments as CEO.

After playing just one international in 2005, the All Whites are on the brink of qualifying for next year’s Confederations Cup in South Africa and a FIFA World Cup playoff on the back of a schedule of 18 matches in 21 months – including an historic win over Georgia and the profile-boosting date with then world champions Brazil in 2006.

(This is trumpeting the very issue at the heart of the financial crisis – too many meaningless games with no financial spin off that has driven the game to the wall.

As for qualifying for a Confeds Cup; as already mentioned NZ has qualified for these in 1998 and 2003, on both occasions beating Australia. Beating Oceania without Aussie is surely the minimum expected of the All Whites, not something to shout about as being one of his proudest accomplishments.

As for the 4-0 loss against Brazil, great for 90 minutes but where is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Ultimately without any commercial reward, this game is one that will be seen as representative of the Seatter era – a ridiculous exercise in back patting and hob-nobbing that the game couldn’t afford).

The difficult birth of the Wellington Phoenix from the ashes of the failed New Zealand Knights A-League franchise remains one of Seatter’s toughest, yet most important, victories. 

(Sorry, this process was headed down a one way street to nowhere until Terry Serepisos had a hair cut. NZF had already turned away at least one potential investor and had little or nothing to do with luring Serepisos. Credit where it is due, in my opinion NZF did little or nothing to step in to help the Knights when they desperately needed it, preferring to usher them to the exit in the hope of finding a new suitor – Serepisos saved their blushes).

He has also overseen significant initiatives domestically including player, coach and referee development programmes across all the game’s age-groups.

(To the best of my knowledge, many of these programmes were well and truly underway before Seatter’s arrival and are the hard work of many of the team at NZF. If there are specific programmes that bear the Seatter trademark I apologise and congratulate the outgoing CEO).

One of Seatter’s last challenges will be to help convince the New Zealand Olympic Committee today that both the Football Ferns (senior women) and Oly-Whites (U-23 men) deserve their place at the Olympics in Beijing this August.

“We’ve gone unbeaten in 30 games in Oceania to qualify for six World Cups and two Olympic spots which people probably take for granted. But I don’t think it should be,” he said.

“Nothing would make me more happy than if both teams play at the Olympics because New Zealand would join the US and Brazil as the only nations to have played in the last six World Cups and the Olympics. That would really cap it off for me.”

Seatter said he would take “time out” to consider his options.

Release Ends

(And so too does Graham Seatter’s time at the helm. Next step is to find a new CEO to begin the rebuilding).