Karen Brady: The first woman of football

Karen Brady is the managing director of Birmingham City football club. This is a position she has held since 1993. She was 23 then. And no, just in case you were wondering, she wasn't related to anyone who owned the club.

For someone who didn't go to University, so that she could start earning young and learn the ways of professional life, she defintely has achieved enough to show that her 'education' taught her what her 'studies' may not have. She was into advertising when she managed to sell ads worth over 2 million pounds to a single client. The client, John Sullivan hired her and made her a director at his firm. Karen was 20 then.

Then Birmingham FC went for sale and Karen persuaded Sullivan to buy the club and let her run it. From a club in administration, Birmingham was turned to a profit making enterprise in no time and has enjoyed some years in the Premiership in Ms. Brady's 15 year spell in charge. She has faced some controversies as well, being arrested for suspected financial irregularities not so long ago, but no charges were pressed and no further questioning has happened. She has faced the ire of fans, and in her interviews shows an appreciation of the special relationships (and hence say in policy) that fans of a club have.

Now faced with a market where clubs need billions and not millions to compete, she is ready to move on once the future of the club is secured in the hands of a magnate looking to play "My Club is Bigger". All the best to her!

Stories abound about her toughness in a male dominated world and how she has dealt with the challenges. A player once commented that he could see her tits and she replied by telling him that he would not be able to see it from Crewe and got him transferred. Don't think too many players would be getting cute with her anymore.

It's difficult not to admire her. For breaking into a male bastion. For doing a bloody good job of it. For doing it at an age at which B-School tagged 'bright young people' like me are management trainees. For not eating out of a silver spoon.

Hasan Doğan - A Tribute

This is a tribute to Hasan Doğan who passed away on the 6th of July 2008 (while on vacation having lunch with Fatih Terim, who is more a face for Turkish football to the world than Doğan was in his lifetime). I had not heard of Doğan before his unfortunate demise and had it not been for a chance reading of a tribute to his achievements, I may have never known of this man who comes from a very rare breed of individuals – a loved and respected football administrator.

Hasan Doğan was the 37th President of the Turkish Football Federation and though his tenure was tragically cut short on his 143rd day in office, the outpouring of love and affection that he has received seems to suggest an impact much more significant than the short time duration warrants.

Doğan won the hearts of millions of football crazy Turks by hugging his wife Aysel overcome with joy in celebration of a Turkish goal. The open childlike expression of joy may seem commonplace to many but is not so in a country where such public display of affection is still a rarity.

However, genuine passion and love for the game are not the only qualities which set Hasan Doğan apart from your run of the mill football administrators. This was a man with a vision and a mission. Here’s a look at some ideas that he was looking to implement, each of which illustrates a desire to make football realize its potential for the fans and footballers of the country:

• Make Turkey a hotbed for exporting football players to the rest of the world in the mode of Brazil (which if you have seen the talent available seems like a very sensible project to improve the players’ income as well as exposure)
• Bring the 2016 European Championships to Turkey
• Ensure leading Turkish clubs had established academies by 2011
• Provide insurance protection for national team players

The strength of those ideas lie just not in the vision set out, but also the fact that he seems to have made progress on each of these fronts in the very short time he held office.

It is unfortunate that about the only sports administrator for whom I’ve heard and read nothing but praise had such a brief tenure in his last office. If we could have more Hasan Doğans around the world, then maybe more football players across many more countries could actually end up making a living doing what they love doing.

The President of the football federation in my country has been around for maybe twenty odd years and look at what we have achieved – a FIFA ranking of somewhere around 150 and exactly one player who made it to the third division of English football. Can we please swap these twenty years for 143 days that add real value.