Football's back!
To celebrate the return of our national sport (and one much beloved in our community - whether you support the wrong team or the right one) we bring you this exclusive evening with one of football's biggest off-the-pitch-players.
Jon is a motivational speaker and sports 'super-agent' working with some of the biggest sports stars in the world including Diego Maradona and Lord Sebastian Coe. He managed the off pitch activities of the England Football Team for 10 years ultimately creating ‘Team England’ which is the vehicle used by the Football Association and the England Football Team to this date. He was the first commercial representative of the England Cricket Team and the first promoter of all the North American sports in the UK (NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL) including the major early NFL games at Wembley – he also owned the London Monarchs (in the World Bowl winning season). His autobiography, The Deal was published in 2016.
Sarah Shephard is a sports journalist who has written for The Times and Guardian and Sunday Times. She is the author of Kicking Off: How Women in Sport are Changing the Game. In 2016, she was named Journalist of the Year at the Women’s Sport Trust Awards.
Jon and Sarah will give their view on what the future holds, uncover the arcane mystery of signing footballers, and talk about their respective careers in sports agency and journalism. There will be an opportunity for questions which might help us understand how sustainable current fee structures are in light of the pandemic and how Covid-19 might affect football going forward.