So what does a systems engineering approach to football management – especially the management of FC Saxan in the Moldovan top tier (Divizia Nationala) – look like?
I don’t yet know – when, prior to being appointed, I floated the idea over dinner with the chairman, Eugeniu Merciu, I was talking off the top of my head. But Merciu, who is not only a trained engineer but also a successful business owner – is the kind of man who believes firmly that the proof of the pudding (Moldovan chickpea pudding, no doubt) – so I’d better come up with something.
The first step is to identify the various systems at play.
I stand in front of the whiteboard in my office that I’ve been itching to use and begin to map the systems. I started thinking about this on my voyage from Istanbul to Giurgiulesti and have been thinking about each evening during my walk in the park once I’m back home in Taraclia.
I have identified five systems:
- Talent acquisition (TA)
- Talent management (TM)
- Finance (F)
- The business environment (BE)
- Continuity (C)
Using the notation FM for football management and f to represent ‘is a function of’, I write top-centre:
FM f (TA, TM, F, BE, C).
I like to feel I’ve written something profound. I feel sure that Grace, my PA, will be both intrigued and impressed.
