New Hamilton owner on the risk of administration and his future plans

Supporters celebrated when the takeover by the group which operates Cymru Premier outfit Haverfordwest County AFC in Wales was confirmed.

But who are MSM? Why have they bought Hamilton? And what are their future plans? Chief Football Writer Matthew Lindsay spoke to major shareholder Rob Edwards.

Who is Rod Edwards? Who are the Morley Sports Management Group (MSM)? Why have you bought Hamilton Academical?

“I am from Hackney in East London. I have an accountancy qualification. I worked for a number of small practices, as an internal auditor in a PLC in the United Kingdom and for KPMG in Malaysia in a secondment role. The majority of the work I've done in finance has been within finance departments at commercial businesses. 

“Finance was my original career. It's a good grounding for a business career. But working as a finance professional was not really my desire when I qualified. I was keen to get out into the real world. I've not really been in practice for a long time.

“I've had a number of ventures in hospitality before getting involved in sport and other freelance projects that I have either started up myself or worked in tandem with start-ups to help them grow. I've not really been a full-time career finance professional for probably 15 years or so.

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“MSM was effectively founded on a football opportunity that I had with Haverfordwest County back at the start of the global pandemic in May 2020. It wasn't something that I was actively looking for at the time. But I'm a massive football fan. I love the game. I still have a season ticket for Leyton Orient, which has been my club since I was a kid.

“When Haverfordwest came along I saw that as an opportunity to get involved in football. Football and business are two of the things I love most. So to combine the two was a good opportunity.

“It's not often you get a good opportunity within football. Generally, clubs are in really difficult positions or at a level where there's not much scope to progress. But Haverfordwest was a well-run club without any debt. They lived within fairly modest means. They had got promoted back to Cymru Premier.

Hamilton playing Rangers in a Premiership game at New Douglas Park in 2018 (Image: Stuart Wallace/BPI / Shutterstock)

“An opportunity to be in any top division is a privilege. There was an opportunity of European football. I wanted to use them as a blueprint, to build a club which had a social and community impact and some ambition to go further. Fortunately, we have been able to do that. We had our highest finish in the Cymru Premier last season and have achieved European qualification in two in the last three seasons. 

“We've had a really good run of things. We have hopes of pushing on towards full-time football and competing at the top end of the league every year. That was always the blueprint. We founded MSM with the intention of proving ourselves at Haverfordwest and then looking to pursue other opportunities. We purchased Ohio Valley Wrestling in Kentucky in May.

“We look for undervalued assets or low barrier to entry in emerging markets. We don’t necessarily want to spend millions of pounds taking on any new business. We'd rather put any money that we have into growing the business itself. We've been able to take the two businesses further without a huge capital outlay. We look to transform struggling, undervalued legacy assets.

“Hamilton fit perfectly into that. They have probably gone too far on the other extreme. But it is a huge club. I grew up watching them play in the Premiership week in, week out. It's been disappointing to see them in this position. But there's a lot of good people left within the club who are passionate to succeed. 

“We can bring our experience and knowledge of being able to transform clubs and businesses over the years and build on some of the success we've had in sport so far along with the passion of the people in the club. 

“I think there's an opportunity there. The next three or four months are going to be the most challenging. But I believe there's a real foundation there and we can get them back to where they want to get to.” 

What are the immediate challenges? What are the immediate objectives? 

“To be honest, it's across the board, operationally and financially. Financially, we're uncovering the clarity of the position, liaising with creditors to ensure that we can create suitable repayments. There's obviously the very public issue with The Funding Globe. We're in negotiations to try and put that to bed.

“There are immediate financial repairs that need to be made. The club is operating at a very high cost base for its level. There's very little resource within the business. Decisions are going to need to be made on and off the pitch. How can we create some stability to the end of the season? 

“I'm having to rely on help from our Haverfordwest staff to help me with this initial transition. Fortunately, we're in a break in the Welsh league,  the second phase starts in a few weeks. That means I have extra resource and football experience to help me.

“There's not one thing that is the focus right now. There's a number of areas within the club that we’re looking at. We need to firstly understand in its entirety what the situation is. We're gradually getting there, but obviously it's only been 24 hours. There's still a long way to go. 

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“We need to put people in the right places. We need to know exactly what roles we need to fill based on our preferred structure going forward. But finance is the real key objective. We need to get through the next three or four months unscathed. But I genuinely feel going into the summer and into next season that we'll be in a really, really strong position. 

“On the pitch is not really a concern at this point. The fact the players and staff have continued to turn up and were willing to turn up on the Saturday shows the sort of people they are - the sort of people you want to be in the trenches with. 

“Obviously, there's going to be a considerable amount of change. The team that plays Cove Rangers on the January 24 is probably going to be very different to the team that played last Saturday. That's just because of what the players have been through and the opportunities they've been pursuing before our takeover. We completely accept that. 

“Also, the club requires to trim an excessive wage bill down to something that is manageable until the end of the season. But we'll try and build the most competitive team we can by the end of January. We want to win games. But it's about more than that at this stage.” 

Hamilton have been hit with a variety of SFA and SPFL punishments in the past year. How much will they affect you? And do you plan to hold talks with the governing bodies?

“We had a call this afternoon with senior people in the SFA. We want to rebuild that relationship. I'm aware there's been a number of issues over the medium-term history. I'm completely aware of the sanctions and what their relationship is with the club.

“Hopefully, they will give us the benefit of the doubt. If they look at their counterparts in Wales and see what we've done there, the kind of ideas we have and the way we run a club I think they will. That will show that we have genuine intentions. 

“I completely accept rules are rules and the club has broken them. It's up to us to make sure that we understand the challenges we have, stick within the rules and have as much competitive advantage on the pitch as possible.”

The Hamilton players were last week told the club could be liquidated if they didn’t play against East Fife on Saturday. Is there a threat of administration?

 “In reality, nothing is off the table. It's not somewhere we want to go. We are confident that we can avoid that. A lot of that is down to the creditors' positions and their ability to negotiate. But it's in everyone's best interest that we avoid that.

“We have a plan that future-proofs the financial stability of the club. That is the main focus. I honestly couldn't look anyone in the eye and say that this (administration) won't happen. But it's something that we're looking to avoid.”

Hamilton fans were furious about the move to Broadwood and many have boycotted the ground. Are you hopeful they will come back now?

“I hope so. We've had positive conversations with the supporters' association since we made our initial enquiry and have exchanged various messages with fans on social media. From talking to staff within the club, it seems there has been a real positive response to the takeover among the support. When it was first publicly aired that we were interested, there was a real desire for it to happen.

“Unfortunately, it took us a bit longer than we wanted. We were trying to negotiate a position with the largest creditor and director to make it an easier transition and we weren't able to do that. But I was aware that if we didn't step in the future of the club was in real jeopardy.

Hamilton players celebrate after scoring a goal at Ibrox in a win over Rangers in 2020 (Image: Stuart Wallace/BPI / Shutterstock)

“We had to take that jump to ensure that we can get going as quickly as possible. Time is so crucial. But I believe that in time the fans will see, if they don’t already, our intentions as genuine football people are for this club to succeed.

“From a reputational point of view, we've had two successes within sport. We've got ambitions to grow our business beyond what we are now. We need to have success stories to be able to do that. 

“We're not just emotionally connected, there is a reputational risk for us as well. But it is something we're comfortable with. We back ourselves to do it. It's not all under our control at the moment, but what we can control we know we can get right.”

Hamilton’s academy has produced some great players over the years and fans were devastated when it closed down. Do you have plans to reopen it?

“Three years ago, the academy was very close to closure within Haverfordwest. We were struggling with being able to attract talent, to attract coaches. Our under-19s finished bottom of the league on minus points because we struggled to fulfil fixtures. The transformation is down to the people on the ground, particularly the CEO, the first team manager and the coaches in the academy.

“We took a holistic view of the academy and what we wanted to achieve. We effectively reduced the number of age groups and focused more on the quality of the provision. That has paid dividends. 

"This year, our under-19s won the Southern League and the Welsh Cup for the first time. We beat the New Saints, who are the biggest club in the Welsh system, in the final to qualify to play in the UEFA Youth League.

“So we've been able to take what we had that wasn't working and transform that into something that is productive and continues to supply players to the first team in a town of 14,000 people.

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“Hamilton has a population of around 60,000 or 70,000 and is on the outskirts of a massive metropolitan area like Glasgow. I feel the scope is even bigger. So that's definitely something that we can get back to in the medium term.

“Boys, academy, women's and girls football is a big part of the ethos of Haverfordwest. That's something that we've had success in. We want to create that community feel at Hamilton.” 

How important and realistic is securing a return to New Douglas Park?

“It's something the fans want. There's a clear desire there. You can't have a community club if it doesn't play in the community and that's a big part of what we do and how we've been able to build successful businesses both inside and outside of sport. We create something that people want to invest in and be a part of. 

“So it's definitely something that we'd love to do. But after 24 hours it's difficult to know the potential on that. We need to understand what the position is.”

 Can Hamilton sustain full-time football? Or will you have to go part-time?

 “The next three or four months are going to define where the club's going to go short, medium and long-term. At the moment, we want to be as competitive as we can. January will really decide where we sit budget and personnel-wise. But we want to give ourselves the best opportunity to be competitive going forward. 

“We'd love to see the club back in the Premiership where it really belongs. If that's a three, four, five-year process, then that's how long it will take. The main thing is the short-term financial stability and then sustainable growth. The revenue we can bring in and the support we have from people around the club and the community will dictate how quickly we can do that. 

“Football clubs are sustained by debt, but that's not something we're looking to do. Obviously, there needs to be an element of investment, but a club can't be funded by a benefactor. You can see across sport that just doesn't work. Our ability to drive revenue will dictate how quickly we can progress back through the divisions to where we want to get to.

“I don't want to go into specific numbers, but there are creditors that we have to deal with. The first 100 days in any business is important and in this circumstance having the ability to continue trading normally is really important.”

 Have you got plans to come up to a Hamilton game?

“I'm based in North West London so I've not moved far from my birthplace. I seem to have found a niche of struggling businesses nowhere near my house.  Haverfordwest is a five and a half hour journey, Kentucky is an eight hour flight. So an hour flight or a five hour train to Glasgow doesn't scare me whatsoever. 

“I plan to be up next week for a couple of days. Becky Nuttall, my CEO at Haverfordwest, will be in town at the club for most of next week. We'll get under the bonnet as quickly as we can, as we've tried to do remotely. But I plan to be there fairly regularly. Getting enjoyment out of it is important. The fun factor is something that can't be understated.”