Niall Quinn – a model chair of trustees?
Howard Lake | 11 May 2007 | Blogs
I spent the first part of this week in a euphoric state celebrating Sunderland’s stunning Championship title win, only to be brought back down to earth as my son and I watched Oxford Utd’s play off hopes go up in smoke after the agonies of a penalty shootout defeat.
However, it has been fascinating this season to watch Roy Keane transform the fortunes of Sunderland, backed by a smart, knowledgeable, young chairman in Niall Quinn.
Keane’s terms for taking the job were that he had absolute and complete control over his specific area of responsibility – the players, the training, and the results. He would not tolerate any interference and the Chairman and the board could take care of everything else. Quinn agreed, kept to his word, trusted him, and the team went from rock bottom of the Championship to Champions in less than a season.
And they look after their supporters too. After the Plymouth game, EasyJet refused to fly their last scheduled flight back to Newcastle airport from Exeter – apparently because the plane was full of ‘rowdy’ Sunderland fans. Quinn who was also on the flight (and whose name the supporters were chanting), paid out £8,000 for all the fans to get taxis to take them the 400 miles or so home that same night.
I’m not really sure where this is all leading other than my desire to get Sunderland mentioned.
Although thinking about it, wouldn’t it be great if you could get a Chair of Trustees like Niall Quinn? One willing to trust the professionals to get on with their job, non-interfering, and best of all very focused on exceeding supporters’ expectations.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.