Epic read mind, but interesting. ............................................ FOR years Apprentice star and Sun columnist Karren Brady has been a lonely female role model in the manly corridors of football power. But now the outspoken West Ham United vice-chairman wonât be feeling quite so alone. SHARON HENDRY meets Margaret Byrne, the new boss of Sunderland AFC. AN elite group of Premier League trainees will soon line up expectantly in front of their new club boss as they embark on the path to potential superstardom. The nine lucky lads have been plucked from thousands of hopefuls to train at one of Britainâs best clubs â but first they must hear some wise words from an unlikely soccer sage. Wearing a chic dress and designer heels, it will be softly-spoken Margaret Byrne who meets and addresses Sunderland AFCâs latest recruits, who are hoping to follow in the footsteps of such Academy successes as regular first-teamer Jack Colback. The dynamic lawyer, 31, has taken on the position of chief executive at the North East club with both eagerness and ease. She says: âI make a point of meeting each of our new boys individually. âFirst, I tell them they are special, which is true, then I point out exactly what is required of them â not just in a sporting sense but as gentlemen. âI will not tolerate any behaviour that sullies the name of this club. âThe younger that message is drummed into potential first team players the better. âI also do the motherly bit, warning them to watch the sort of people who will want to become their friends and remind them to watch what they post on Facebook and Twitter. âFinally, I ask each of them what their back-up plan is if their football career doesnât work out. âThatâs when I see some shocked faces. Many of them simply havenât contemplated it â but they have to â itâs life.â Margaretâs no-nonsense recipe of tough love is symptomatic of someone who has made her own way in life and it is proving the perfect tonic for Sunderland. The club flirted with relegation last season but discovered fine form to escape under the guidance of Margaret, chairman Ellis Short and new manager Martin OâNeill. They finished a respectable 13th in the table and memorable highlights of the season included beating Arsenal in the FA Cup and a New Yearâs Day win against eventual Premier League champions Manchester City. It is an impressive CV for the daughter of a DHSS manager and a publican, who grew up during the tail end of Northern Irelandâs Troubles in the small town of Dromintee, South Armagh. Margaret says: âThere would often be three helicopters in the sky at one time and blocks in the road but it was just day-to-day life. âWe lived in a bungalow. There wasnât a lot of money but everyone was the same and we all smiled. âMy uncle worked in a duffle coat factory so we all had the same ones and some of my happiest memories are of holidays in a borrowed caravan in Donegal.â But life took a tragic turn when Margaretâs mum Sally died of a brain tumour in 1994, leaving dad Joe to raise her alongside brother Malachy, now 36, and sisters Anne Marie, 37, and Becky, 27. She explains: âI was 14 when my mum died. âShe complained of a pain in her head on New Yearâs Eve and three months later she was dead. âAt first there were lots of family and friends around making a fuss of everyone but then life went back to normal and the reality set in. âI remember thinking how strange it was seeing Dad doing things like the weekly shopping and buying our school uniforms. âBut it has created a special bond between us, which exists to this day. âI speak to Dad every single day and my brothers and sisters most days. Losing mum at such an early age taught us all that family is what is really important because it can be taken at any moment.â Being raised by her father also meant Margaret developed tomboy traits. She says: âGoalposts would often go up in Grannyâs garden and weâd get a phone call to say a match was on. âEvery week, I would join in family games with cousins, aunts and uncles. âAnd if the phone call didnât come, Iâd be the one begging someone to play. âThere was always a great love of football in our house. âOne of my earliest memories is of mum bundling me and my brother and sisters in the car after Irelandâs Packie Bonner saved the penalty against Romania in the 1990 World Cup. âWe went round and round Dundalk beeping the horn!â Despite grieving for her mum, Margaret continued to work hard at school and qualified as a lawyer after studying in Ulster and London. She says: âFor a while I represented people at police stations. âNothing fazes you when youâve argued on behalf of somebody charged with attempted murder. âIt makes you tough when you are there to help someone that no one else wants to talk to.â After stints working in criminal and family law, she responded to an ad for a new Sunderland club secretary in January 2007. âThere was just something about it,â she says. âAt the time, the owners were Irish. Roy Keane had taken over as manager, Niall Quinn was chairman.â Margaret won the post, reorganised the clubâs legal department and began working on contracts and pre-season preparations. Example ... academy product Jack Colback She stepped into her present position last summer and is now in daily charge, liaising between OâNeill and Sunderlandâs owner Ellis Short. She says: âI learned a lot from Roy Keane and now Iâm really enjoying working with Martin. He is an inspiration. Before our match against Man City we had six players injured but there wasnât a single guy who wouldnât have volunteered to play in GOAL for him if heâd asked. âHe is a great man motivator.â Margaret, who is in a relationship with a car salesman, is committed to negotiating the best deals for OâNeill. She says: âThere is definitely an art to buying and selling players. âThe problem is, every player thinks they should be playing for Barcelona and have the equivalent salary so itâs about lowering expectations. âThen we have the agents to deal with. âIt can be frustrating because they all claim to be working on behalf of their players but some donât contact them from one contract to the next. âSometimes I wish players were stronger themselves and stood up to the agents more. âThe best agents are the ones who look after the players and their entire families â they can help them to have long, successful careers.â Margaret was the first woman from a Premier League club elected on to the influential FA Council but is keen to play down her gender. She explains: âIf the fact that Iâm a woman inspires another woman to take up a good career then Iâm happy, but otherwise it isnât worth mentioning. âI just see myself as a person who is doing a job that Iâm qualified to do.â Everywhere she goes, even on summer holidays with her dad, Margaret is never far from work. She said: âThe PM has a red box and I have a red file. âIt contains the details of every current and potential new signing. âIn this business you never know when you might get a call that could transform the team. âIt definitely isnât a job you can leave behind in the office.â Somehow, itâs difficult to even imagine Margaret wanting to take time off from the business of making Sunderland, where she now lives, a serious Premier League contender. But under her guidance, it will remain a family club with its feet firmly on the ground. She says: âItâs the little things that make a club great as well as the big things. âFor instance, we encourage the players to keep back a pool of money so they can treat all the staff, including the cleaners, to some nice days out. Itâs important they remember all the people that help the club. âWe are bringing our Academy boys up to be proper lads. âFootball doesnât always get a good Press but I was brought up to believe that it should be a gentlemanâs game. âI might be a woman but it doesnât mean I canât help to reinforce that.â http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...yers-for-their-back-up-plan-if-they-fail.html
What a brilliant sounding woman. She can only benefit the club and there wasn't one thing she said that I disagreed with.
Very, very good read and its given me a completely new view of the lady. Lots of good stuff but the stand out to me, “I will not tolerate any behaviour that sullies the name of this club. “The younger that message is drummed into potential first team players the better. “I also do the motherly bit, warning them to watch the sort of people who will want to become their friends and remind them to watch what they post on Facebook and Twitter. and “For instance, we encourage the players to keep back a pool of money so they can treat all the staff, including the cleaners, to some nice days out. It’s important they remember all the people that help the club.
"Before our match against Man City we had six players injured but there wasn’t a single guy who wouldn’t have volunteered to play in GOAL for him if he’d asked." Great Read and its good to have the club in good hands ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I learned a lot from Roy Keane and now I’m really enjoying working with Martin. He is an inspiration." Oh Steve....
I’m really enjoying working with Martin. He is an inspiration. Before our match against Man City we had six players injured but there wasn’t a single guy who wouldn’t have volunteered to play in GOAL for him if he’d asked. “He is a great man motivator.” Good old MoN. I like her she knows exactly how she wants to take the club forward & no ****er will stand in her way.
Good find Comm, enjoyable read. She seems to be doing a fantastic, and I mean FANTASTIC job on the commercial side.
Great article. She sounds like a completely normal person, although cleverer than most! Tough but fair, she seems to understand what is really important in life and it comes across clearly that she loves football and really just wants the best for the club, the players, the supporters and the area. This serves to remind me how lucky we are to have such a dream team in charge of the club, and I am confident this will translate into a 'dream team' on the pitch, maybe not this year, but very soon.
[She says: “I make a point of meeting each of our new boys individually. “First, I tell them they are special, which is true, then I point out exactly what is required of them — not just in a sporting sense but as gentlemen. “I will not tolerate any behaviour that sullies the name of this club. “The younger that message is drummed into potential first team players the better. “http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...yers-for-their-back-up-plan-if-they-fail.html[/QUOTE] Whilst I agree that she has "talked a good talk" and I agree entirely with her sentiments... seems she was unable to get around to having a word in the ears of Titus, Cattermole and Bendy each of whom (on any basis) dragged us into places we should not be as a club... For her talks with the kids to have any real chance of hitting home then the senior professionals need to stand up and be counted.
Deliberately avoided reading this post, this morning. As I buy five newspapers at lunchtime and go to my local to read them, and sometimes have a meal. Having read the article in the paper, I must admit it is far superior to reading it on the web. But as a most of the time expat myself .I know only too well that newspapers are a sometimes rare commoddity. and take what info I can get, still a good article though.
“First, I tell them they are special, which is true, then I point out exactly what is required of them — not just in a sporting sense but as gentlemen. Is she grooming them?
