Manchester United today became the second EPL club to ban tweeting during press conferences.  Sunderland were the first and we could see the start of new code of use for the platform.  The clampdown appears to have come about on the back of TV/radio journalists complaining on the unfair advantage this gives as takes longer for their content to get out.

This media backlash can be seen as Twitter becoming a threat to traditional journalists who have, until now, had little competition.  The platform is used in different ways by different people but has rapidly become a news source for immediate breaking news.

Many of today’s press are on Twitter and a large proportion of stories featured in newspapers and on TV quote people from their Twitter updates.

In the US there is a twitter ban for players from 45mins pre-matches to the end of press commitments in the NFL and certain teams have banned it.  In the UK, Leicester Tigers have been the first to put an outright ban on players and the ECB is under pressure to do the same after recent faus pax by high profile players.

So, after the massive use of Twitter in an unregulated way are we now going to see beaurocracy take over and a move in the opposite direction.  There are still many who feel threatened by the new technology or don’t see its benefits and the recent examples will be used to help give them an excuse.

Where do you see this going?  Does using Twitter break any rules in press conferences?

The alleged match fixing charges against Pakistani cricketers which have been dominating the sporting headlines recently raise two interesting questions. Firstly, will there always be match fixing in sport? Secondly, is sport really any different to any other business?

History would suggest that the answer to the first question is unfortunately a resounding yes. In ancient Greece, Olympians had to take an oath to maintain the integrity of the competition but bribes were still common. Match fixing is probably as old as sport itself.

Getting back to cricket – the English game, which first attracted gamblers as early as the 1660s, is no stranger to match fixing controversy. A decade ago Hanse Cronjé, the then South Africa captain, was charged with match fixing and players from India, Pakistan, Kenya and South Africa have all been banned since 2000.

Our national game, football, has also been tainted by match fixing. Back in 1964, eight players from the FA were jailed for it. More recently, in 1999, a Malaysian based betting group was caught installing a device to disrupt the floodlights at Charlton Athletic’s ground and further investigations revealed that the group had also been responsible for floodlight failure at both West Ham and Crystal Palace. Another footballing scandal involved Matt Le Tissier who “revealed that he once attempted to play a part in a £10,000 betting scam while a player with Southampton”.

Across the channel, French football was shocked by a match fixing scandal in 1993 involving powerhouse club Olympique de Marseille (OM). In the year that OM won the Champions League, the club fixed a match with Valenciennes. The club was subsequently stripped of its French championship. Financial irregularities linked to the club president, Bernard Tapie, were also discovered. As punishment, the club suffered a forced relegation to the second division.

Similarly, Italian football was thrown into turmoil in 2006 when several major teams, including then league champions Juventus in addition to AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina, were all found guilty of match-fixing (the clubs actually influenced the appointment of match referees).

There are also ongoing investigations into match fixing in several other European countries and sports. In August 2010 charges were filed against two men alleged to have attempted to influence at least 10 football matches in Germany and 14 elsewhere in Europe. As I write this, John Higgins, the snooker star, is also maintaining his ‘100 per cent’ innocence into allegations he threw frames.

Arguably the most famous case of match-fixing in sport is the ‘Black Sox’ scandal. In 1919, the Chicago White Sox threw the baseball World Series. Eight members of that team received life bans for deliberately losing to the Cincinnati Reds. The ‘Black Sox’ scandal resulted from players being linked to the Chicago underworld, and set a pattern of established crime syndicates being associated with professional sports match fixing.

All these cases, and this is by no means a comprehensive list, merely demonstrate that sport is a reflection of the human character. Unfortunately that means that traits such as greed, arrogance, self-interest, to name a few, will always be present in sport. The stakes in sport are high and the punishment for breaking rules too light. The incentive to throw matches is always going to be there – and I haven’t even touched upon other sporting crimes such as doping, cheating on the field itself, breaching salary caps and other matters.

Getting back to the second question, sport is therefore no different to any other business (just look at some of the banking scandals on Wall St).  However, the ‘rotten apples’ in sport are definitely in a minority.

Nearly all sports are played, administered and governed properly and in the right spirit. Sport is far from being broken. The growth in popularity of sport on a global scale is living proof of that. The examples of good sportsmanship are just too numerous to mention but one famous one I’d like to leave you with took place in English football in the 1999/2000 season. In a surprising demonstration of fair play from a player previously banned for pushing a referee, the Italian striker Paolo Di Canio caught “the ball rather than shoot when Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was on the ground injured”.

The Football League launched its free Official Football League Clubs iPhone app at the end of August and is available to download for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

It covers all the teams that are covered by the Football League Interactive deal, which currently stands at 65 of the 72 npower Football League clubs.  So if you follow Leeds United, Middlesbrough, Portsmouth, Accrington, Aldershot or Stevenage unfortunately you wont be able to get your clubs updates.

Check on the list of clubs when you have downloaded the app to make sure yours is there.

If you are one of the lucky ones you can get some great features including latest news, fixtures, stats and player profiles.

The app also connects users to their twitter and/or Facebook accounts so it even easier to share comments and views with friends.

“Fans live and breathe football and want to be kept up-to-date wherever they are in the world at a time that suits them,” said Ian Ritchie, Chairman of FLi.

“We designed the Official Football League Clubs’ iPhone app with this in mind, using innovative technology to deliver access to rich and interactive content, tailored to your club.  Now you never need to be out of touch with your team.”

You can upgrade to the premium service (have to make some extra income somehow) by paying £4.99 for the season to access match video highlights 24 hours after the game and incorporates Google Mapping to make sure you don’t get lost on the way to the stadium (useful for away days?).

The Football League partnered up with Threepipe to help spread the message through social media and traditional media outlets to encourage fans of the teams to sign up. 

Looking through Google, it appears to have worked with messages appearing on club websites and fan forums announcing the launch and providing download links.

Sadly if you have a Blackberry, Android or Nokia then you will have to sit by your Apple friends and catch their updates.  Perhaps we will gain an update as to whether any other platforms will be catered for in the coming weeks.

Have you downloaded it?  What are the pro’s and con’s of the service?

Sponsorship has been increasing in popularity as a marketing tool for brands to create awareness, drive sales or new business, and increase customer loyalty or employee engagement.  With added interest and investment in Sponsorship, brands are now beginning to tread very carefully around the marketing tool and here are some of the reasons why. 

Mismatched brands and rights

Brands spend a lot of time and money carefully planning and deciding on the right property to sponsor (either this or its Chairman’s choice).  Despite this, there are brands that have spent huge sums of money on the wrong rights, which have not paid dividends and certainly haven’t offered much return on investment.  In some cases sponsorship has had negative effects in terms of ROI and a bad fit between brand and property has led to damaged reputations for the former and reduced commercial value for the latter.  However, today, brands have become much savvier about what they attach their name to because of the huge cost of sponsorship and with the global recession this has never been as crucial as it is now. 

Financial Services

During the recession’s worst moments any financial services company about to spend money on sponsorship was met with harsh criticism and serious public backlash.  Even now, as we begin coming out of the worst of it there are still strong opinions on the practice.  Bank of America ended any talks with the New York Yankees due to huge financial difficulties and UBS cancelled its sponsorship of the Hong Kong Open after it received a $59.2 billion bailout from the Swiss government.  Both did so for fear of major public backlash.   RBS on the other hand announced $41 billion in losses just after extending its sponsorship of the Six Nations – a decision which was met with outcry, especially as it is 70% owned by the government. 

The effects of digital

With digital, bad news can travel extremely fast.  This has meant that companies have had to rethink marketing strategies.  Bad press around a property can cause devastating effects for any company that has created a strong association through heavy marketing activity.  To illustrate the enormous implications of a scandal, combined with the power of digital, just look at Tiger Woods.  As soon as the story broke about his behaviour it spread across the world in seconds.  Shareholders of Nike, Gatorade, and other sponsors consequently lost a collective of $5 to $12 billion due to a significant drop in their stock’s values. 

Embarrassment 

Poorly performing teams, embarrassing scandals, politically damaging stories.  These are all reasons for brands (or in some cases properties) to cut-off associations with partners.  Famous and very recent examples of this are Accenture dropping Tiger Woods, Nationwide dropping the FA, and only last week, two Indian state-run firms – NTPC and Power Grid Corp of India – have decided to scrap their multi-million dollar sponsorships of the Delhi Commonwealth Games due to negative publicity around allegations of corruption, mismanagement and malpractice. 

In addition, the BP oil fiasco that has engulfed the Gulf of Mexico has severely damaged the reputations of many of the arts properties it sponsors, primarily The Royal Opera House, Tate Galleries, and British Museum.

Brands are now very cautious about what they attach their name to.  Understanding sponsorship and the effect that it has on consumers is key to understanding the possible risks of association, as well as the benefits.

This week has seen the release of a new FREE ebook that is designed to help grassroots sport when it comes to unravelling the dark art of Social Media. 

It has been put together by Ash Read from www.fundsport.com who has been writing for UKSN since the start in January and also is a regular guest blogger on www.sportsnetworker.com. 

Whether your a large sports club, a Sunday league football team, or an individual athlete there’s no escaping the fact that the Internet is going to play a big part in your development, and your future.

“Social media is about adding to the enjoyment of being a part of your club – giving your members more memories, more talking points and more laughs. For athletes and clubs alike a strong online presence can separate you from others and make you stand out, this could potentially be the difference between getting sponsorship and not getting sponsorship.”

In this ebook you’ll learn:

- Why should you take advantage of social media and the Internet?
- Why should you care about social media?
- The ins and outs of social media
- How can you use social media?

It is a great read and if you are involved in sport at any level and have an interest in social media then its well worth downloading.  If you have any questions for Ash you can get hold of him on twitter on @AshRead14

Click on the picture below for your copy….

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Geolocation has been the smash hit in the social media scene of 2010. Coming from relative obscurity in early 2010, Foursquare alone now boasts over 3 million users. With the NYC start up recently breaking it’s own record for most new users in one day, the social media darling has recently took funding to the tune of $20m while reportedly also turning down a buyout offer from Yahoo.

With Foursquare beginning to assert its authority in geolocation, one of it’s biggest possible rivals decided to step in. Earlier this month Facebook announced ‘Facebook Places’, the social networking heavyweight with over 500 million users took geolocation from niche into the mainstream overnight.

Where as location based services Foursquare, Gowalla, Hot Potato, Yelp and others relied on social networking to spread their message, Facebook turned the tables and are now trying to stamp its authority in the geolocation game by creating its own platform 

With all these recent developments, let’s look at the big players in the game right now, what they currently offer, what they may offer in the future and how sports marketers should be trying to take advantage of geolocation.

Thought geolocation was just for geeks? This billboard in Times Square begs to differ.

Facebook Places

So far Facebook Places is yet to really show its hand, while currently only available to users in the United States, the social media giant hasn’t actually released full details on how businesses can take advantage of the platform, but let’s start with a few titbits from what we know so far.

You can claim your location: Whether it’s your ball park, your front office or your training facility, you can now claim it and anything else you own. If it’s not already there, feel free to create it yourself.

You can link your Fan Page to your ‘Place’: You are able to link your Facebook ‘Place’ to your Fan Page, so do that ASAP.

Yep, that’s about all we really know so far.

For more info on Facebook Places, check out the slide below for a full introduction.

 
Facebook Places for Advertisers
 

Why Use Facebook Places?
This is one for the future. With very few features available so far, it is very hard to tell you to focus on Facebook Places – as being in such an early phase of its development it’s impossible to tell where it will go – but once the platform finds it’s feet, it will be crucial to your digital marketing plan.

Possible additions?

• Facebook Places ads: Ads that target you due to your location
• More game aspects: Features similar to mayorships, rewards, etc
• Hot Potato features (which are covered further down) this includes in-venue messaging

Foursquare

Currently the number one place for all your geolocation needs. It has the most exposure, has the biggest userbase (specifically for geolocation) and also allows you to take control of your venue. Not only these factors, but we have case studies. Manchester City, from the English Premier League, was the first team in all of professional sports to have an official presence on Foursquare. They had their own sub-page on the foursquare.com website, as well as the ability to let their fans “follow” them on Foursquare and become fans.

Kevin Pietersen has become the latest cricketer to be caught out on Twitter and could find himself in hot water with the ECB because of it.

We have highlighted the cases of several athletes around the world who have come a cropper recently and Peterson has shown that when the red mist descends then Twitter can be too easy to use.

With so many journalists using Twitter to gain latest scoops must have thought Christmas had come early when they saw this come up in Peterson’s stream.  At the moment there are no rules as to when and where players can use social media, plus I imagine no training by the ECB, clubs or agents for their prized assets on the do’s and don’ts.

You will probably have seen/read that Pietersen found out he was to be dropped from the England team for the first time since his debut back in 2004.  To say he wasn’t happy about it is an understatement as his tweet reveals although he has come out to say it should have been a direct message (DM) and not gone out into the public domain.  It still doesnt excuse the language used.

It is generally understood that players are not allowed to comment about team squads until after the official announcement is made.  This tweet came out several hours before and was soon picked up by blogs, new sites and TV across the globe.

Even though it was hastily removed it had already been seen, copied and pasted.  These things are impossible to undo no matter if you hit the delete button or not.

After Azeem Rafiq’s ban and fine for abusing the England U19 team development manager  on Twitter (plus being caught out late whilst on duty).  There is no doubt that the ECB will have to take a tough stance with at least a fine.

Talk is about a new rule being brought in banning centrally contracted players from using social media on the Ashes tour this winter.  The ECB claim to have reminded players before now about using social media responsibly, but how much training/education did they actually give?

This would be a massive over reaction but one you can see happening when you have technophobes such as Geoff Miller as an England National Selector.  His reaction was unfortunately obvious;

“I don’t like that kind of language and I don’t use that language at all.  I don’t follow Twitter and I’m not a great believer in that kind of thing. I don’t think it is necessary. I’m still the national selector and what I do is select sides with my co-selectors that we think is right for England. My priority is the England side and it is not about individuals.”

It doesn’t hold out much hope for the advocates of social media within the England team or ECB does it!

This shows a very archaic view compared to our cricketing compatriots in Australia who show a much deeper understanding of the benefits of its use. 

Michael Brown, Cricket Australia’s operations manager, said there would be no social networking bans placed on the players. “At this stage it’s really important that we are about growing the game and embracing the future, and young people are a critical part of it,” he said. “We want young people to be associated with the game.” The coach Tim Nielsen has signed up to Twitter and even the team manager Steve Bernard is using it.

And captain Ricky Ponting is equally enthusiastic about the benefits, “You won’t see us banning our players from doing that sort of stuff,” he said at the team’s camp in Queensland. “It is your job as international players to promote the game and be the best you can for the game. If we can use social networks, if that brings people closer to the game, brings people through the gates to play, then that’s what it is all about.”

Ponting has 11,000 likes on his Facebook page and vice-captain Michael Clarke has 42,000 following his every tweet.  Showing that they practice what they preach and see that for every slip and PR shocker there they are far outweighed by the use of social media for a better future.

“The biggest thing we face as international players is … everyone knows us with the helmet on but very few in Australia, or around the world, actually understand what we are like with the helmet off,” Ponting said. “If there are ways to express yourself then feel free to do that. I am totally all for that, as long as it is done the right way and within reason.”

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Will Carling famously referred to the game in England as being run by ’57 old farts’ back in 1995 when he was national captain. However, English rugby (union) has come a long way since then. Admittedly results haven’t been entirely awe inspiring following the 2003 World Cup triumph – but in commercial terms the future looks rosy.

According to SportsPro magazine, in 2009 “games at Twickenham generated £29.2 million for the RFU, accounting for a quarter of their £118 million turnover. The union’s gate receipts have actually increased by £4.1 million since the 2006-2007 season.” Last season in the 6 nations “England could have sold out its 82,000 capacity Twickenham stadium twice over for each of its two home games”.  Additionally, “England received the largest economic boost from the tournament, with a total of US $132.82 million spent by fans on match tickets, transport, food and beverage sales, accommodation, merchandising, and at city attractions, and by sponsors on marketing”.

Hospitality and marketing have been important aspects of the increased commercialisation of rugby in the country where Webb Ellis first picked up the ball. In terms of sponsorship, England’s involvement with O2, its principal sponsor since 1995 when it was known as BT Cellnet, has been both beneficial and lucrative for rugby. England’s mixed broadcasting package, unique to the home unions, with both Sky and the BBC ensures strong annual TV revenue. The BBC covers home games in the 6 nations while Sky covers the autumn internationals and much more – from U20 internationals to the Army and Navy game. Looking to the future, England will also host the 8^th Rugby World Cup in 2015. The Rugby World Cup is the third largest sporting event after the football world cup and the Olympics. When staged in France, in 2007, it delivered “a total economic impact estimated at up to £2.1 billion” for the host nation.

Domestically the picture looks bright too. Aviva, the fifth largest insurer in the world, has recently replaced Guinness as the official title sponsor of England’s premier club rugby competition. In a 4 year deal, Aviva will pump £20 million into the renamed Aviva Premiership. In another exciting move, JP Morgan Asset Management earlier this year launched a Sevens tournament for the 12 premiership clubs. This is a bold move which aims to build on the momentum that entry into the 2016 Olympics has given the shortened version of the rugby game.

There are, however, some small dark clouds for rugby in England. The so-called ‘Bloodgate’ scandal has left a bad taste in the mouth (quite literally). The affair has tarnished the image and reputation of both Harlequins (one of the oldest clubs in the game) and the sport in general. It would certainly have been scrutinised by sponsors even though Etihad Airways has signed a one year extension to its sponsorship with the Harlequins club.

The relationship between the Premiership clubs and the national squad is not always a comfortable one. Like in football, there are arguably too many overseas stars in the domestic game. If selection of these players curtails the long-term playing development of home grown talent the results of the national side may suffer in years to come. Some players in the national side are also plying their trade overseas and this has led to friction between their respective clubs and Martin Johnson’s national squad. This was notably the case when the French club Toulon refused to release Jonny Wilkinson for a recent England squad summer camp. To keep revenues coming in, the RFU needs to carefully manage these issues to ensure that its strongest side runs out at Twickenham in order to attract sponsors, broadcasters and keep fans streaming through the turnstiles.

The upcoming season promises to be an exciting one as the rugby community looks forward to the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Whether Martin Johnson and his England team will get their hands on the Webb Ellis Trophy again remains to be seen.

One thing we do know for sure – on the commercial front English rugby is in great health.

By Chris Jessop

The other day, I, like most football fans, was toying with the idea of doing some football coaching. I mean, a player of my calibre will surely be able to offer a pool of knowledge, wisdom and motivation to children all over the country……..ok maybe not, but getting paid to attempt to teach people how to play football would be pretty cool. And then I realised I had no idea where to start, I mean, I know you have to do various levels of coaching badges, but how easy is it to do that? Or even find information about it? I thought the obvious place to start would be The Football Association, better known as The FA.

On the FA website (www.thefa.com) there is a section called ‘Get into football’ and in there you will find a coaching section. There are various sections, including a page full of update’s on how The FA’s coaching schemes are working wonders, but on the subject of becoming a coach, it gives you a list of local FA’s and says to contact them. The Football Association runs courses for aspiring coaches at all levels, the first two of which are offered by County FA’s. So I selected my county, Northampton (www.northamptonshirefa.com/default.htm) and searched their site and under the development page there is a coaching section that shows all available courses from The FA Youth Awards up to the Level 3 badge.

So what is a Level 1 badge? This is the UK’s most popular coaching course for all coaches with little experience or knowledge. The course provides an introduction to the organisation and trains you to be able to deliver safe and enjoyable coaching sessions. The course provides practical drills that aim to develop players’ technical skills such as shooting, turning with the ball and heading. This course is for all intents and purposes an introduction to basic coaching, and is ideally suited to those who want to work with young players and or/teams at a local or amateur level. The price for the course is stated as £110 and is a one day course.

So you have your Level 1 badge, what’s next? As this is only the beginning, the type of jobs you can hope for are limited to local teams, after school classes and basic community projects with local clubs. Gaining more work experience as a coach is essential if you want to progress to the next level and although the website at www.football-jobs.com is really handy and lists various football coaching jobs, the majority want a minimum of Level 2 coaching badges!

Once you have completed your Level 1 or you’re a coach with a few seasons experience, you may want to start your training for Level 2, as it is still an open entry course you can apply through The FA. Although it is recommended that those taking part without a Level 1 qualification do have relevant coaching experience. The course aims to develop an appreciation of the ethical coaching process and on completion you should be able to plan, conduct and evaluate a series of football coaching sessions. As a coach you will be able to ensure the health and safety of players and those involved and be able to develop greater responsibility for their own learning and development. All of this should be done whilst promoting the sport in a positive and constructive manner. There is no price stated on the website and it takes around 6 months to complete.

So what is available to you with a Level 2 coaching badge? This qualification should lead you into careers along the lines of amateur teams, community roles for football clubs etc and for soccer schools. 

On the county site, it said there were currently being changes made to the Level 3 and didn’t offer any information, so I had to search for information and found it via the 1^st4sport qualification site (www.1st4sportqualifications.com) to find out more about it.

Now those courses are pretty straight forward, so the next step is the Level 3, also known as the UEFA ‘B’ Licence. You will need your Level 2 badge and you should also have to complete an Accident and Emergency Course and a Child Protection Course before being able to start your Level 3. Firstly, you will need access to a team that you can coach, and you will be encouraged to discuss the suitability of the team with a coach educator prior to signing up for the course. You will be able to plan and develop your own football coaching programmes, as well as how to manage, implement and conduct those football programmes.

As a coach, you will also learn how to effectively evaluate your activities and develop a plan for your further development as a coach. This qualification will not only form part of a credible CV for employment in the game, but as a UEFA accredited qualification, it will allow you access to a variety of opportunities within the professional game. You can also become a member of FACA (Football Association, Coaches Association, http://facalive.thefa.com )     which provides advice and support for top coaches. The price will vary to where you do the qualification, and it takes around 9-12 to complete. Other Coaching Associations include;  The Association of Football Coaches www.associationoffootballcoaches.com, The Professional Football Coaches Association (PFCA) www.leaguemanagers.com/search-7.html

Now you’re a top qualified coach, what can you do? Experienced professionals can be fast tracked to Level 3, so you should be in good company. In the professional game, coaches are expected to have at least the UEFA ‘B’ Licence, so if you have gained this qualification you should be looking at coaching at a fairly high standard.

Finally, if you have been coaching for a number of years and want to progress into top level coaching and even management then you will need to apply for your UEFA ‘A’ Licence. The best comparison for the ‘A’ licence is that it is the equivalent to getting a degree. Having this qualification makes you very employable to almost any coaching role available. It takes two years to complete and can only be done if you are working with or for a national FA. The course is centred around two parts, which are split into two-week sessions that are based at Lilleshall Football Academy (National Centre) with various other sessions, including distance learning and support sessions. This licence operates a pass or fail basis and it is now mandatory that all league managers hold a ‘UEFA ‘A’ Licence.

The UEFA Pro Licence is the final and highest coaching qualification available, and follows the completion of the UEFA ‘B’ and ‘A’ Licences.

A UEFA Pro Licence is required by anyone who wishes to manage a football club in the top level of the nation’s league system on a permanent basis (i.e. more than 12 weeks – the amount of time an unqualified caretaker manager is allowed to take control). This applies to both the head coach or team manager, and such a licence is also required to manage in the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup.

Each current manager of a top-flight team in Europe was set a deadline of 2010 to acquire the licence, or else face losing his post

I think it is definitely worth going on as many training courses as you can to become as qualified as a coach as possible and seemingly, the FA Level 1,2,3 coaching badges are adequate for you to have a decent go at become a coach. Those that dedicate their career to coaching will be advised to go further and do the ‘A’ Licence. Because, the better you get, and the more experience you gain from these coaching courses, the more likely you are to be spotted as a coach with talent. Another key piece of advice would be to keep up-to-date with current goings on in the world of football (I’m sure I don’t need to tell many football coaches this!) because it is a common ground with a lot of young children who will watch matches, so you will always be informed and who knows, you might see something that can lead to you becoming the next Sir Alex Ferguson!

You can also keep up to date with any new jobs in football by signing up for the job alerts by email, a FREE service from website www.football-jobs.com. As new jobs are posted to the website you get sent an email letting you know there are new jobs for you to look at.

So overall, I found the process of trying to find what coaching badges are available and where to do them, what they consist of, price etc, all very confusing. When it came down to it, you can access most of the information from The FA website, via a number of other different channels, which can prove very arduous. The information is out there and going on any search engine will take you to thousands of coaching sites, it would just be a lot easier if all the information about coaching courses and all existing jobs were available on one site.

About the Author: Chris Jessup is a Sport, Media and Culture Graduate looking for a job in media or Pr in football or sport in general. Find out m ore about him at http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/chris-jessup/23/994/a2a