Ben Kensell Talks To ACN

Earlier this week, ACN brought you Tom Parsley and Andrew Lawn’s chat with Wes Hoolahan and Russ Martin at the announcement of their Team Wes v Team Russ charity match in May. It feels a long way off now, but kick-off will be just over 24 hours after the final whistle blows on City’s 2018-19 regular season, and it’s not a huge leap of the imagination to wonder if we could be celebrating more than the 661 combined appearances of two men who were there for our last three promotions.

After all, our last league defeat was more than two months ago. And if you can cast your mind back that far, you may recall it was only a couple of days later that the club somewhat unexpectedly announced a new management structure. Ben Kensell stepped up into the new post of Chief Operating Officer, and a haul of 25 points from a possible 27 since has given him a decent first few weeks in the job. No doubt it got even better when on Monday night he too was lucky enough to be able to sit down with Tom and Lawny for a chat about where our club is at, and where it might be going — both on and off the pitch.

The new structure sees Kensell form one-third of the senior management team alongside Business and Project Director Zoe Ward and Sporting Director Stuart Webber. “The team that we’ve got at Carrow Road and Colney is absolutely behind me, Zoe and Stuart – and Daniel [Farke] as well. They’re pulling their own weight – we’re not doing it all, this isn’t an organisation that’s hierarchical or run by one or two people. Perhaps that’s been a flip change, perhaps it was quite dictatorial before, and actually, do you get the best out of people when you tell them what to do, or do you actually point them in the right direction, show them the direction they could be heading in, and get them to come with you? I think that’s been one of the big things. So I’ve felt a lot of warmth from the staff that have really got around me and wanted to work with me to make it a better place.”

The club’s financial position is well documented, with fans having been broadly accepting of decisions such as the sale of James Maddison. Kensell is keen to maintain that understanding. “We will always have the financial pressures that we’ve got, but I think a problem shared is a problem halved, and ultimately, if we’re a little bit more transparent with our staff and with our fan base around what the challenges are, then perhaps we can come up with solutions around that.” Having spent nearly four years as Commercial Director, he is also well placed to observe the continued growth of the club’s revenue generation beyond player sales. “Commercially, we’re very, very strong. We have been for a period of time, and of the peer group clubs that we’re talking about in our division we’re in the top five easily, probably top three.”

What that overarching financial scenario means, however, is that a little bit more imagination is required – and that’s where the marginal gains come in. “What you’ve got to remember is that up until recently, we as a club didn’t have what I’d call a DNA, an identity, and that isn’t just on the pitch and the way that you play, it’s also off the pitch. We have our values and we live and breathe by that, one of them is growth, and actually for me that’s about continuous improvement. What can we be the best at, which isn’t necessarily bound by money? Can we be the best at engaging with our fans? Why can’t we? Because that’s actually just about having a much more transparent relationship with our fans, being more open and honest, being more communicative, being able to engage with fan groups on every level – on their terms, not our terms, not once or twice a year but, actually, how do we do that once or twice a month?”

It’s already happening – in recent weeks ACN have not only been let loose at this media launch, but also enjoyed an audience with Christoph Zimmermann and accepted an invite into the press seats at the AGM. “It’s really important to reach out to as many people as possible through as many different channels, and ultimately I don’t think we should be talking more traditionally to one set of media than another. Ultimately we just want to be open, transparent and communicative, and actually, from my perspective, it’s nice to get it out through different channels and get our messaging out. I think we just want to be more open and I believe we’re starting to really do that. I’m comfortable and confident that the media partners that we’ve got come in different sizes, through different channels, and we want to embrace them all.” Different sizes? He must have seen that photo…

So there are marginal gains everywhere, but other than pink away dressing rooms and trips to Florida, we don’t really know what they are. “There are so many examples in and around the club that people and fans may not see. What that does is start to influence Colney, and Colney influences Carrow Road, and then collectively we’re influencing that fan base who are thinking, ‘Wait a minute, something special is happening at the club’. But actually, you can’t have any of that without the players absolutely embracing what Daniel’s thoughts, philosophies and footballing identity is. We never had this off the pitch, and I think you can play at it – but not for me. You need to wholeheartedly believe it. And I think our staff believe it, I think our players believe it, and I think there’s real unity. I think we’re building something unique, but the minute we think we’ve made it is the minute we will fail. So we need to remain humble, we need to remain committed, and absolutely continue to do what we’re doing on and off the pitch.”

OK, must remain humble, got it. But it’s pretty easy to get over-excited – and few would dispute that the current level of connection between club, players and fans is the best it’s been in years. “It’s massive that we’ve got the fans on board. We’ve obviously had to work hard at that, to rethink our strategy on that. We have done and we’re now starting to implement that. What I would say is it starts internally, and you have two sides that are absolutely bonded together. From my perspective what we’ve managed to start to deliver is that unity and that togetherness, that almost sense of continuous improvement. How can we better ourselves? What do we need to do to be the best that we can be? I think what we’re starting to see now is the results of some hard work and good work over the last year or so. We’ve consciously said, ‘How do we engage with our fans? How do we do it through the channels, and actually, what sort of messaging do we want to put out?’

“It doesn’t really matter where you are at the club, whether you can’t attend all of the games for whatever reason. We’ve got to be stronger together, and I think that’s what we’re trying to develop as a strategy moving forward, that unity can take you much, much further than perhaps money can at times. We have to do it that way because we’re in that situation where we’re not blessed with the types of fortunes that other clubs have, so we have to be different, we have to do things differently, and you have to recruit that kind of culture – it doesn’t just happen, you have to nurture it.”

One very visible demonstration of this attitude has come in blocks D and E of the Lower Barclay this season. Getting hundreds of flags on big, pointy sticks produced, distributed and waved in the air is a more complex logistical process than one might assume, due to the understandably stringent safety restrictions around things like bringing big, pointy sticks into a football stadium, and so it’s been more of a gradual process than turning the place into Dortmund’s Yellow Wall on day one. But the collaboration process between Barclay End Norwich and the club is improving all the time, with countless unseen hours of research, meetings, emails and phone calls, and so too the crowd-funded displays are getting bigger, better and more varied game by game. There’s plenty more to come, too. “We’ve been very open [to the recent efforts to improve the atmosphere] because we genuinely believe that’s a competitive advantage,” Kensell states. “We’d love it to become a proper cauldron with loads of singing fans and as much of an intimidating environment as possible.”

The Bolton game saw the colour spread around the ground, as fans in all four stands raised their scarves en masse while belting out On the Ball City before kick-off. It looked great – simple but both effective and inclusive – and from an ACN and Barclay End Norwich perspective, the club’s Friday afternoon tweet about the plan and a “raise your scarves” instruction in the PA script were welcome contributions in helping to spread the word. By the way, if you didn’t have your scarf on Saturday, make sure you dig one out for Boxing Day – we’re doing it again, but even better.

That match will see City attempt a sixth consecutive home win, and whatever it is that’s maintained that run – shooting towards the Barclay second half I reckon, marginal gains again – a trip to Norwich is an increasingly formidable prospect for away teams, and we have the power to make it even more of one. “One of the competitive advantages has to be that Carrow Road is to become – remain – a fortress. Regardless of whatever league you’re in, people shouldn’t want to come to Carrow Road and feel like they’ve got an easy day out, and the fans play a massive, massive part in doing that. The atmosphere has been top notch, it really has, but I think it could go up a level and at the club internally we actively want to encourage that.”

We wholeheartedly agree – and there’s one particular fixture on 10 February that the place really should be going up to eleven for. “It’s not all about that one game, but obviously it’s a massive game for the county and for the local area – so what do we do as a football club to really make that game memorable for the millions that are going to watch it on Sky and for the thousands that are going to be in the ground?” Ooh. Watch this space.

Plenty to look forward to in the rest of this season, then, and hopefully we’ll have lots to celebrate on a sunny Bank Holiday afternoon in five months’ time. Tickets for this friendliest of all friendlies went on sale on Tuesday morning, and they’re already flying out. “[Wes and Russ] deserve a really good crowd singing and cheering them on. I just want everyone to get behind it, to support it as best as they possibly can and hopefully come May they’ll get a proper send-off, with all of the lads back, and I think it’ll be a real celebration.” At lb10 for adults and kids for a quid, it’s an affordable day out too. “We’ve priced it accordingly to make as much money for the charities and to allow for it not to be a barrier for entry for people, so it’s a great Christmas present.”

There you go, not even halfway through December and your gifts for the whole family are sorted – get those tickets under the tree. Our thanks go to Ben Kensell for his time, and to the club for the invite.

Full audio of the interview for those interested is available below too: