Meet Crawley Town Football Club's new head of partnerships James Ball

SussexWorld

We caught up with Crawley Town Football Club's new head of partnerships James Ball top talk about his role, his background and how easy a sell the club is to prospective partners

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm James, I'm the Head of Partnerships for Pallbytown Football Club. I have been

00:11here for three weeks, so fairly new, but worked in football for about eight years now.

00:17So I'm an Essex boy, so I started at my local club which was Southend United. I was

00:25really fortunate to be given an opportunity there and an in into the game. I spent three

00:29and a half years at Southend through what was a turbulent time for the club, both on

00:34and off the pitch to be fair, but learnt so much, worked with so many great people and

00:39just felt the need for change in the end. I went to Dagenham and Redbridge, another

00:42local side for me. Brilliant club, really enjoyed two very good years there and met

00:47again some wonderful people and really learnt a lot from them. I then moved to Millwall

00:52in the Championship. Again, terrific people, real learning experience. I think I brought

00:58what I could, but learnt so many key skills to go on from there. Ben got in touch in the

01:03new year. I came and saw the opportunity and fell in love with the club. I think to come

01:07here and bring those skills with me is hopefully something I can bring to fruition.

01:15It's been three weeks and it feels like a longer time, which I guess is a good thing.

01:20The people have been fantastic, both the fans, the sponsors, the people working in the office

01:25and working for the club. Everyone's been so welcoming. I've still not learnt everyone's

01:29names, so I'll have to apologise quite often. They say in football, when somewhere feels

01:35like a home and you can really support the team, this feels like that. It's a good place

01:39to be. It's got a fantastic following. Hopefully I can add to that in a real positive way.

01:47Ben just sees EFL newsletters, names pop up. Initially, it was actually a recruiter that

01:58reached out. At the time, I was happy. That never changed, me being happy where I was.

02:06Ben then came direct. I think the recruiter passed on some information. He just said,

02:12come and see who we are. He didn't beat around the bush as to what cruel he was. Having seen

02:17it, you can fall in love with it. It's got so much potential. As I said, the fans and

02:23the sponsors are really great people. I think the team mirrors that as well. They're a good

02:30bunch of lads. Hopefully, if I can put in a bit more commercial off the pitch and get

02:35some new partners in and bring the place a little bit to life on that side, then we can

02:38really have a good push to make this a success.

02:43Affinity. My foreign exchange background came a little bit into that. I'd done that when

02:50I was a youngster. I think you need someone on board. You never know when those transactions

02:54come in handy. Affinity and Sam are a fantastic company. It's really good to speak to them

02:58and get them involved.

03:04A lot of conversations are being had. Hopefully, some of them will start to get over the line

03:07in the next couple of weeks so we can start announcing some new partners to fans and them

03:11to see who's involved with the club. Again, a lot of referrals as well, which has been

03:15fantastic. All the current sponsors have been amazing in terms of reaching out and getting

03:19in touch. It's good to get some meetings in with them to find out what they want to do

03:24with the club and how we can help them a little bit more now that I'm involved and can be

03:28a bit more hands-on.

03:33Well, certainly. Every club has got a tale to it. It's got a bad story or a bad reputation

03:38in some capacity. I think that our owners are really misunderstood. Having worked closely

03:44with Ben and Preston to get my role over the line, to understand a little bit about them,

03:48I know how much they do care about the club. I think sometimes the Americanism and what

03:53they want to bring into English football, having seen sport in America, is tough and

03:57they don't necessarily always hit the mark. That doesn't mean they don't care and they're

04:01not trying to get it right. They are trying to get it right. Owners of the clubs take

04:06their money from what they do. They do it for the love of the game and to have it as

04:10a little bit of a hobby. They are around, they are present, they're happy to speak to

04:14people. They've brought me in hopefully because I can be their cat and try and help people

04:18to understand a little bit more about what we want to bring in and be a little bit more

04:22transparent, I guess, in the right way. Hopefully I can bring in some new partners and a little

04:26bit more money. I think if I do, you'll see that they'll invest that into the team and

04:30into improving facilities for fans, which I really do want to make happen and I believe

04:34that we will within the next year. In terms of Scott coming back, what a fantastic guy.

04:38I've been fortunate enough to be in and around him and his team and they're all fantastic,

04:42so welcoming. Like I said earlier, this place is a real home to them and this club means

04:47a lot. It affects them so much when we lose games. I saw them Tuesday night and they still

04:53come. They're happy to be in and around and won't shy away. It means a lot to them.

04:58We're still six points off and we're still daring to dream that this can happen and everyone

05:03is still really excited about the last few games. The fans have been incredible. I said

05:07to Ben when I first came to a game before I'd even started, we lost to Cambridge. This

05:11is just before Scott came in. No one left the game. The fans were still here, still

05:16banging that drum, still making some noise. You don't see that in many football clubs

05:21and that really hit home with me that this is a real good place and that people care

05:25and I think if we can all come together, something really positive could happen at this football

05:29club. You can sense it, whether that be this season or whether that be next. I think we've

05:34got a great team in place, both on the field, off the field and good backing everywhere

05:38around the ground. Hopefully, as I said, I can bring some more in, bring a bit more life

05:42in terms of sponsorships, get more people on board, get more people coming to games

05:46and see what we can do.

05:48Reach out to me at my email address, james.ball at crawleytownfc.com. Drop me an email at any

05:59time. I'm always receptive and try and get back to you as soon as possible. In other

06:03contexts, give the club a call, ask for myself. More often than not, I'm around. Working in

06:09football, you don't really have set hours. It's for the love of the game, I guess. More

06:15often than not, I'm around. Even if it's a supporter, if you've got an inquiry and

06:18you want to speak to me, let's have a call, let's have a chat. I know that a lot of people

06:23know the team in the office of Tom, Sam, Maisy. There aren't loads of full-time guys. Obviously,

06:28there's Lewis, there's Rhona, there's people in and around the club, but they're always

06:32receptive. If you can't speak to me, speak to one of them and they will help. They will

06:36give you the answer or they will try to, at least. Like I said, they've been fantastic

06:40with me and making me feel like I'm at home already after three weeks.

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