From Raj : Martin Glenn! Wow!
You probably don’t remember this, but some years back, when the Arsenal CEO job was available I sent ANR a message saying that Martin Glenn would be a great candidate.
I worked for him at Birds Eye. Real man of the people, incredibly switched on, highly intellectual, massive track record of success.
Most importantly, he is a huge football fan and he knows his stuff. Massive Wolves supporter but as he lived in Reading, he had a season ticket there instead. He also had a couple of Wembley season tickets so he could catch Cup and England games.
People used to joke about how the best way to get him to notice you was to overtake him in our Fantasy Football game. We also used to play 5-a-side football every week at work, usually made up of fairly junior staff but he was a regular.
When the Arsenal CEO job became available, I begged him to go for the job (and to take me with him).
He was fairly coy but didn’t really seem like he was interested.
The next day, he brought in a copy of the FT and put it on my desk with the page open on an article listing him as one of the top 5 candidates for the Arsenal job. We joked about it, but he assured me that he wasn’t interested and also said that he thinks he knows who will get it, and that person is a really smart guy (It turns out that person didn’t get the job, Ivan did).
I’m impressed that the FA have appointed him, it’s a really great move. Hs background is Marketing, so I think that says a lot about the appointment. The FA probably recognise that they need to improve their image and their brand, and there’s probably very few better who have a track record than Martin.
My experience of him also suggests that he’s very much his own man, and when he has a gut feeling, he likes to go with it.
Still wish he went for the Arsenal job. He’s not a Yes man, it would’ve been great for the club.
Myles says :
You’re right. I’d forgotten that email.
ANR gets a helluva lot of replies and some that are not published are more deserving than others that do.
That’s the fault of the editor: me.
This short but informative piece fills in more details on Martin Glenn’s background.