Media

"But I told you the deal hasn't been completed yet," Sean said on the phone.

John was just sitting there while Sean was talking on the phone to Mary Thatcher, the reporter from the Leicester Mercury.

Usually, it was the job of the press executive of the club to deal with the media and reporters, but right now that position was empty at Leicester. The last press executive's contract had just expired this summer, and John wasn't planning to bring him back.

He knew it was a little cold on his part, but he couldn't afford to stop just because it was a little uncomfortable.

Sean put down the phone after a minute and looked at John with an irked expression.

"What?" John asked.

"You know I'm handling, I don't know, like three jobs at the same time right," Sean said.

"Yeah, and we're going to sort that out and hire people after transfers are done, getting players is our first priority. Our transfer business will likely be done in one or two days, after that we will take care of it," John replied with a calm voice while sipping on coffee.

"I still don't understand why you won't just renew the contract of the previous press executive and instead are fixed on finding someone new," Sean said.

That was an option and generally at small clubs even if the ownership changed, it wouldn't threaten the job of the press executive.

"You know I'm planning to change the way the club operates from on field matters to off field things," John said.

Sean looked at John and just nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"But right now we can't afford to fire anyone because it would cost us money which we don't have. His contract just expired giving us an opportunity, so I took it," John said.

"Why did you have to change the press executive though? He had been here for a long time, he knew the club and had good relations with media personnel," Sean said, "I just can't get my head around it."

Press executives were the liasion between the club and the media and by extensions, the fans. For them, having good relations with the media and having a good understanding of what the club wanted out there for the fans to see was of paramount importance.

Anyone new taking the job would need some time to get things under control and build relations needed to do his job well. But right now they could afford to provide the time to someone new because they were in the Championship and away from the spotlight of the Premier League.

"Yeah, I know those things are important. But going forward, the media landscape is going to change and with that we will have to change too," John tried to explain to Sean.

The world was moving fast and to remain ahead they will need to move with it if they were going to do something great. John had decided that he would do his best to take the club he loved to the top of the football and he would make the decisions needed to get there.

"More and more fans will shift online for news and the online media will be important. So, I'm planning to bring someone who understands those things a bit better," John said.

Sean picked up the tea from the table and took a sip.

"I'm not saying that isn't true. I've been seeing how things are going. More and more people are consuming their news on the internet and the newspaper subscriptions are falling," Sean said.

Ever since the world wide web, things were changing rapidly. Now people could access the news immediately after they signed on their computers.

"But we need someone who understands the basic things such as how to brief the manager about the press conference and knows how to deal with reporters rather than thinking way ahead," Sean said.

Leicester was a Championship club. Though fans were as passionate as ever about the club, their priorities were different from the Premier League mainstays who had to try and increase their influence to generate more revenue.

"I know you are trying your best to modernize the club and increase our efficiency but we have to keep an eye on the present too. We are all newcomers in our roles, be it you, me, Michael or Simeone, we need someone with experience for the rainy days," Sean said.

John started thinking about it. He had to say that Sean had a point. Though John had the benefit of future knowledge, he had no prior knowledge of how to run a football club.

John knew that fans would shift online for everything related to club with the speed of a bullet in the future. With the smartphones, everyone would have the ability to take photos and videos, and club's interactions with fan's increase to a never before scene pace.

And if a club like Leicester was going to compete with the giants, they would have to increase their fan base outside England. That would be a lot easier with the help of social media. So, they absolutely needed someone with the understanding of the technology in their midst.

"That's the problem, you won't always have it your way. So, why don't we try to find a middle ground instead of fixating on the ideal solution?" Sean said after seeing John trying hard to think of a solution.

"What do you mean?" John asked.

"Instead of trying to find someone perfect, why don't you renew the contract of our previous..."

"But..."

"Wait, let me finish first," Sean said in an authoritative tone.

"Why don't you give the previous executive a new contract and hire someone new in the field to help on the technological front and learn from him? You wouldn't have to pay him a high salary and he will get to learn from someone more experienced," Sean explained.

"That... is a good solution," John said.