This is no shade on the people employed at the club who work incredibly hard, but we've kept a very similar structure and incredibly small staff since becoming a league club, and I think a lot of people find their experience and interaction with the club underwhelming - a lot of the complaints we hear at the Robins Trust are people suggesting that very little is offered by the club beyond the bare minimum of opening for a football match and providing only the essentials you'd expect.
On a day to day basis, most of the management is handled by various club board members. As I understand it, the Directors are all voluntary, apart from Paul Godfrey, who is full-time, but has a huge burden of work as a result. I've had a number of conversations over the past few years about how the club would benefit from creating a post at the top of the club to to report to the board and to coordinate all of the day-to-day, operational and strategic work - so that there are clear lines of delegation and responsibility. And the guys on the Robins Report asked David Bloxham directly about a CEO (if I remember rightly), but DB didn't sound at all convinced. I know a CEO was briefly in post and it wasn't seen as something that added much value, but I thought I'd take a look at which other clubs operate with the very shallow Board <> Staff model that we use.
Caveats:
- I created this list myself, so some people might have recently left their post - all errors are mine.
- It's a bit open to interpretation, I know CEO and COO are different roles, but I've marked 'yes' here if the CEO model essentially appears to be in use, even if the title is 'COO', Managing Director, etc.
- There are a few 'interesting characters' on this list, but my post is about the idea of having this kind of role at our club - not whether it should be filled by the spouse of the owner...
Premier League
Arsenal - Yes - Vinai Venkatesham
Aston Villa - Yes - Christian Purslow
Bournemouth - Yes - Neill Blake
Brentford - Yes - Jon Varney
Brighton and Hove Albion - Yes - Paul Barber
Chelsea - Yes - Tom Glick
Crystal Palace - Yes - Phil Alexander
Everton - Yes - Denise Barrett-Baxendale
Fulham - Yes - Alistair Mackintosh
Leeds United - Yes - Angus Kinnear
Leicester City - Yes - Susan Whelan
Liverpool - Yes - Billy Hogan
Manchester City - Yes - Ferran Soriano
Manchester United - Yes - Richard Arnold
Newcastle United - Yes - Darren Eales
Nottingham Forest - Yes - Vacant (Dane Murphy just stepped down)
Southampton - Yes - Martin Semmens
Tottenham Hotspur - No - Daniel Levy (Chairman) assumes the role
West Ham United - Yes - Karren Brady
Wolverhampton Wanderers - No - Jeff Shi (Executive Chairman) assumes the role
Championship
Birmingham City - Yes - Ian Dutton (Managing Director)
Blackburn Rovers - Yes - Steve Waggott
Blackpool - Yes - Ben Mansford
Bristol City - Yes - Phil Alexander
Burnley - Yes - Paul Fletcher
Cardiff City - Yes - Ken Choo
Coventry City - Yes - Dave Boddy
Huddersfield Town - Yes - Dave Baldwin (Managing Director)
Hull City - Yes? - Tan Kesler (Vice-Chariman) - but looking for a new CEO
Luton Town - Yes - Gary Sweet
Middlesbrough - Yes - Neil Bausor
Millwall - Yes - Andy Ambler
Norwich City - Yes - David McNally
Preston North End - Yes - John Kay
Queens Park Rangers - Yes - Lee Hoos
Reading - Yes - Nigel Howe
Rotherham United - Yes - Paul Douglas (Chief Operating Officer)
Sheffield United - Yes - Stephen Bettis
Stoke City - Yes - Richard Smith (Managing Director) & Simon King (Chief Operating Officer)
Sunderland - Yes - Steve Davison (Chief Operating Officer)
Swansea City - Yes - Julian Winter
Watford - Yes - Scott Duxbury
Wigan Athletic - Yes - Malachy Brannigan
West Bromwich Albion - Yes - Ron Gourlay
League One
Accrington Stanley - Yes - David Burgess (Managing Director)
Barnsley - Yes - Khaled El-Ahmad
Bolton Wanderers - Yes - Neil Hart
Bristol Rovers - Yes - Tom Gorringe
Burton Albion - No
Cambridge United - Yes - Alex Tunbridge
Charlton Athletic - Yes - Peter Storrie
Cheltenham Town - No
Derby County - Yes - Stephen Pearce
Exeter City - Yes - Justin Quick (Chief Operating Officer)
Fleetwood Town - Yes - Steve Curwood
Forest Green Rovers - Yes - Henry Staelens
Ipswich Town - Yes - Mark Ashton
Lincoln City - Yes - Liam Scully
Milton Keynes Dons - No
Morecambe - Yes - Ben Sadler
Oxford United - Yes - Tim Williams
Peterborough United - Yes - David Paton
Plymouth Argyle - Yes - Andrew Parkinson
Port Vale - Yes - Colin Garlick
Portsmouth - Yes - Andrew Cullen
Sheffield Wednesday - Yes - Paul Aldridge
Shrewsbury Town - Yes - Jamie Edwards
Wycombe Wanderers - Yes - Rob Couhig (Chairman and CEO)
League Two
AFC Wimbledon - Yes - Danny Macklin (Managing Director)
Barrow - Yes - Levi Gill
Bradford City - Yes - Ryan Sparks
Carlisle United - Yes - Nigel Clibbens
Colchester United - Yes - Steve Bradshaw
Crawley Town - Yes - Chris Galley (Director of Football and Interim CEO)
Crewe Alexandra - No
Doncaster Rovers - Yes - Gavin Baldwin
Gillingham - Yes - Paul Fisher
Grimsby Town - Yes - Debbie Cook
Harrogate Town - Yes - Sarah Barry
Hartlepool United - Yes - Steve Hobin! (Chief Operating Officer)
Leyton Orient - Yes - Mark Devlin
Mansfield Town - Yes - Carolyn Radford
Newport County - No - (Did previously have)
Northampton Town - Yes - James Whiting
Rochdale - Yes - George Delves (Chief Operating Officer)
Salford City - Yes - Nicky Butt
Stevenage - Yes - Mike Pink
Stockport County - Yes - Simon Bellamy
Sutton United - Yes - Adrian Barry
Swindon Town - Yes - Rob Angus
Tranmere Rovers - No - (though Mark Palios is sometimes listed as Executive Chairman)
Walsall - Yes - Stefan Gamble
National League
Aldershot Town - No
Altrincham - No
Barnet - No
Boreham Wood - Yes - Charlie Hunter
Bromley - Yes - Mark Hammond
Chesterfield - Yes - John Croot
Dagenham & Redbridge - Yes - Steve Thompson (Managing Director)
Dorking Wanderers - No
Eastleigh - Yes - Tom Coffey (Chairman and Chief Executive)
FC Halifax Town - No
Gateshead - No
Maidenhead United - Yes - Jon Adams
Maidstone United - Yes - Bill Williams
Notts County - Yes - Jason Turner
Oldham Athletic - Yes - Darren Royle
Scunthorpe United - Yes - Lee Turnbull (Chief Operating Officer)
Solihull Moors - Yes - Anne-Marie Eden
Southend United - Yes - Tom Lawrence
Torquay United - Yes - George Edwards
Wealdstone - Yes? - Nick Symmons (Executive Director Operations)
Woking - Yes - John Katz
Wrexham - Yes - Fleur Robinson
Yeovil Town - Yes - Martyn Starnes
York City - Yes - Alastair Smith
So, in League One, it's only us, Burton and MK Dons who don't operate with a CEO. Alongside Crewe, Newport and Tranmere that makes only six of us in the EFL. Interesting to see (but pretty obvious) that the non-CEO model is more common in the National League.
After all that, I'm interested in whether others think a change of structure, and shelling out on a permanent full-time post to help pull all of the threads at the club together could solve a lot of the 'little old Cheltenham' issues.
I might be in a very small minority in even being interested in this, it's pretty niche, I'll admit!