Appointment of Walker is simply forward thinking
John May – Daily Echo16-Jul-2001THE FIRST question that forms in your mind when confronted with Graham Walker is: “What on earth is he doing working for Hampshire?”This, after all, is the man who raised £50m to build Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium. This is the man who as the Football League’s first marketing manager put the first live league games on the box after negotiating the deal with the TV companies.This is the man who brought such companies as Coca-Cola and Nationwide into the sponsorship fold.This is a guy who is a major player in the world of sports marketing and managing and his appointment sends out a message: Appoint somebody like this and you’re telling the world that you’re keen to be major players in the field.Walker’s appointment to succeed Tony Baker as Hampshire’s chief executive is another step on Hampshire’s planned journey. Baker did a fantastic job and was – still is – one of the most respected administrators in English cricket. However, Walker’s appointment marks a radical change in direction. While Baker was steeped in the ways and wiles of English cricket, Walker comes into the job with little experience of the game, outside of a few games with a Glasgow hockey club for which he played.They may be no bad thing. He comes into the job with an outsider’s view, and with none of the pre-conceptions that often blinker and hamstring those brought up in the game.For that reason, Baker will still be a key component at Hampshire, where he will be responsible for cricket administration.”I’m delighted that Tony Baker is staying on,” says Walker, “because he will look after the cricket administration. It makes no sense for a doctor to become a dentist,” he adds in recognition of the fact that the cricket side will not immediately be one his provinces.Not that anyone for one moment should be gulled into thinking that cricket will cease to be the main business.”It’s the cricket that attracts the attention, and which will be the prime function of this club,” says Walker. “You only had to witness the day-night game to realise what the potential is. This stadium is great, it’s wonderful – but it’s got a long way to go.Hampshire’s new chief executive will be left to oversee the Big Picture, and as pictures go, it’s bigger than any muriel Hilda Ogden ever had on her wall.”We want 16,000 seats in this ground to put this region on the map,” says Walker.”And that’s not beyond the realms of possibility.” Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove and Walker are almost soul-mates in their aspirations for what is described as: ‘The project.'”I have been working with the chairman and advising him personally for some time, so I’m not coming into this cold. “I was approached and we immediately struck up a rapport. “We share a similar vision for the future of cricket, Hampshire in particular.”We both recognise that for the future of Hampshire cricket to be successful we have to establish viability, profitability and performance.Bransgrove’s feelings on the financing and administration of English cricket are outspoken and well-documented, and Walker is aware that he is coming into a business where the vast majority of clubs depend for more than half their income on a handout from the ECB.Last year, 60 per cent of Hampshire income came from their Lord’s grant, learly not an ideal situation for a 21st century sporting power. “Outside of the Test match grounds, clubs tend to be unambitious,” says Walker.”Cricket is facing difficult times, but I was in football at a time when it was saddled with the Heysel and Bradford disasters. I believe that this sport has tremendous potential going for it.”Cricket will undergo a sea-change within the next ten years, and there’s no doubt that some counties might well go to the wall, or cease to be first-class counties in their present shape.Part of Walker’s task is to power-up a 21st century club, while retaining those traditional elements of cricket that are part of its attraction.To that end, he moved quickly to allay any fears members may harbour at being left earth-bound as the rocket ride takes off.”The members are the heart and soul of the club. If you remove the heart and soul you don’t have anything left. During my stewardship of this club, I will always put the members at the forefront.”People are fearful of change but the change will be seamless. Cricket does have tradition and values but it’s facing short-term challenges. “Whether you like it or not – and a lot of people don’t like it – it has to be run as a business.”But if you can’t retain the best of the past going forward, you’ve lost the plot.”As an unblinkered Outlander, Walker has looked around and outside cricket and is not unaware that seven miles away from the Rose Bowl, another gleaming new temple of sport has been erected.Unlike Hampshire’s move which has been littered with problems and still has a £5m funding hole that Walker needs to bung before Hampshire’s home is complete, Saints will move into the finished article.”Saints have responded and met their challenges by bringing their stadium in on time, and on budget,” says Walker. And the fact that the two clubs have moved house at the same time should open up possibilities, according to the new chief exec.”We’re both in the same business, that of entertaining people. “If we can establish a strategic alliance between Saints and ourselves that can only be beneficial to the people of Hampshire. “There are a number of ways in which we can work together. We’re not competitors, it wouldn’t make sense.”Certainly over the course of the next couple of years, south Hampshire could be THE place to watch your sport in state-of-the-art venues.”This region is unique in having a new first-class cricket ground and a new Premiership football stadium.”For too long this region has been seen as somewhat underchievingsports-wise. “It’s always been pleasant and welcoming, which is good.”So if you can retain those virtues and overlay them with ambition and confidence, people will want to be associated with success.” Of course, that won’t come overnight and Walker knows that small steps have to be taken before Hampshire can run.His first priority will be to get the pavilion fitted out during the winter and up and running for next season.”That has to be top priority and we have re-examined the plans and the budgeting for it.”Then come the next bits. “The vision for the future of this project is to make it a leisure village, accessible to everyone, every day for 365 days a year.”The number of first-class cricket days is restricted to just 50 and that impacts on the finances of the club.”You can expect a spectacular golf driving range, subject to planning permission. “There is only one other like it in the country, 64 bays on two levels, with the lower level heated during the winter. It will cost £3.5m and weanticipate something in excess of 200,000 customers a year.”We’re also a long way down the line in attracting something for the teen market. “This venue can also attract other sport and entertainment,” says Walker, words which will prick up the ears of those neighbours who complained about the use of the floodlights during the day-night match.There are problems which Walker will inherit, some of which are outsideHampshire’s hands, such as the access roads.If a 5,500 crowd caused traffic chaos on the M27, what will a 16,000Test match crowd do? But if nothing else, Walker is a man of unshakealbe conviction.”I went to the Millenium Stadium because I knew what the vision was. “Rod has got a vision which I share. He has made an emotional commitment which is far more than the financial commitment he has made and that is what sport is all about, emotion.”Sports is all about emotion and wanting to be a winner and Rod wants this club to be a winner and in some small way I hope to influence that.”