Moisley means business

The new stand gives Mark Moisley exciting business opportunities

MARK Moisley is thinking outside the box when it comes to planning for Athletic’s future success in a new, four-dimensional era.

The club’s new commercial manager officially gets his feet under the table at SportsDirect.com Park in the middle of next month.

His task is stated simply, but far from straightforward in its execution: to get supporters and businesses engaged with a Sky Bet League One club at which new entrants to university next year will never have seen play at any other level.

“We have to attract people with what we have got, with what makes us what we are,” said Moisley, currently finishing up as per his contract terms as marketing manager at governing body England Hockey.

“It’s the personal touch here that can make the difference.

“We are not offering Premier League football, we know that. And it is not all about cost, either.

“It’s about providing a good-value, enjoyable day out.

“I believe that football in general has been slow to react to the move towards greater fan engagement.

“If you look at rugby league crowds over the past few years, the sport has done really well. You look around Super League grounds and there are a lot of families watching. That doesn’t just happen by chance.

“There is a bigger fan base than is coming to games at the moment. The people are out there with the interest and it is up to us to work harder to get them here.

“We have to engage and it is important to get businesses involved with it as well.”

If that sounds like a progressive viewpoint — a contrast, perhaps, to the understandable frustrations vented at low crowd figures in these pages from Athletic director Barry Owen back in October — then Moisley shouldn’t be written off as a dreamer.

He knows this game. His start date of January 19 marks the 48-year-old Yorkshireman’s return to his football roots, having previously worked for six years at Sunderland in the Premier League and Championship.

“A proper football club” is how he describes the Black Cats, albeit not one that is particularly stable on the field with seven managers coming and going during his stint on Wearside in the early 2000s.

The drive to work across the M62 might not rival the wish-fulfilling walk down Wembley Way he used to experience daily when in a role selling corporate boxes for IMG at the iconic national stadium.

But with Athletic’s new North Stand to be opened up to punters and businesses from next season — the roof and cladding is due to be installed from January 2 — he sees a major opportunity to replace the stasis of 18 unbroken years in the third tier with progress.

“It is a great time to be joining and the big thing for me is, the opportunity that the new stand brings with it,” said Moisley, a lifetime hockey enthusiast who last year represented England’s over-45s side after impressing at trials.
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