I had some free time over the last few weeks and sourced a book that I always wanted to read. I love my football and I wanted to get a viewpoint from a club owner and the circus that an owner has to put up with daily from the players, media , agents in the English Championship or Premier League. Simon Jordan's book "Be Careful What You Wish For" basically runs through his life from making millions from setting up his phone company at the height of the mobile phone craze. Selling the company for millions and then buying a championship club called Crystal Palace. The book takes in his time at Palace and his downfall when the crash hit in between 2009 to 2013 which left him with almost nothing.
Simon who would be a regular on Talksport now and is pretty outspoken pulls no punches when it comes to the circus that is footall. The book written by him and the language used that you can tell was him. He kind of reminds me of a Ryanair's Michael O Leary suffering no fools but even Michael O Leary would be traumatised by some of the costs that would be part and parcel of a football team.
The book goes through quite a few managers that came in under Simon, from Alan Smith, to Trevor Francis, Peter Taylor, Steve Bruce to Ian Dowie and finally Neil Warnock. There is a famous story where Ian Dowie left Palace "to be close to his family up north" only to sign as Charlton manager the week later. This angered Simon Jordan and he ended up issuing Dowie papers for court on the day of his unveiling at Charlton.
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I thought this was one of the most revealing sports books I have ever written and the names and faces are all familiar. He mentions players such as Clinton Morrison who he named "the Pest". He mentions getting rid of a few bad eggs as well. One of the names I actually holidays with in Aiya Napa one year. I will not mention his name but he was Scottish. My footballer friend took him with us and we all had to laugh when he arrived down by the pool wearing pink shorts, pink vest, pink shades and pink flip flops. This was at a time where pink was not in vogue and the whole holiday complex was looking at him so I must admit the Irish lads did think Jordan had a point here. I asked the player who the best player he played against was expecting a stocky centre half in the Championship answer. "Leonardo" he said to me. Ha. Anyway back to the book.
Simon Jordan was seen as a Flash Harry arriving to games in the red Ferrari, dating supermodels, living in Marbs but I have to say. I'd be doing the same in my early 30's if I had his money. He was the youngest club owner in the world back then and all from the graft of his successful phone company PPS. He made it without a silver spoon in his mouth and that's what I liked about him and you could see he watched the pennys even though he was rich which is the sign of a shrewd business man. He did make many mistakes that he highlighted in the book but he was unlucky to lose control of Palace in my opinion. A chain of events unfolded that he had unforeseen due to the world economy crashing down so I do feel sorry for him. But I think he did alot of good for Palace and where they are now. Out of everyone in the football world I would love to sit down and have a chat to this guy. Footballers are fast to criticise him on Talksport saying he is a failed owner. He is anything but. I loved a line from his book where a journalist asked him a question around if he cared what the players thought of him.
"I care about the players as much as the players care about me."
He received a call off Alan Sugar's son after this telling him that his father who was the chairman of Spurs had a great laugh at this. Simon thought the players were in their own little bubble and the world revolved around them. You can see this in todays game especially with the likes of Pogba, Neymar and Ronaldo. Dealing with massive egos was all part of the job and this was beginning just as Simon took over his club.
I recommend anyone to read Simons book. You may love him or hate him but it gives a great insight into the world of football and some of the personalities in it. I just couldn't believe some of the stuff that went on. Coming from a business background he was dealing with ex players who were probably pre madonnas themselves back in the day. They were not business people so they didn't understand financing and I don't think some of the managers cover themselves in glory either.
If you are into your English football this is the book for you