Communications Manager

Location

Tottenham, Greater London | United Kingdom

Job description

Job Description

Job description

Founded in 1882, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is an English Premier League Club, based in North London.

Led by the late great Bill Nicholson, the Club became the first in England to win the League and FA Cup Double in 1961, and the first in the UK to win a European Trophy two years later. Spurs has since been home to some of the game’s great entertainers, including Jimmy Greaves, Glenn Hoddle, Paul Gascoigne, David Ginola, Gareth Bale, Heung-Min Son, and Harry Kane.

In April 2019, the Club opened an iconic new stadium that sits at the heart of a £1billion sport-led regeneration of North Tottenham. The stadium is the largest football club stadium in London and is a multi-use venue with the ability to host a variety of events 365 days a year, including NFL, boxing, rugby, concerts, and other major events, plus visitor attractions including Stadium Tours and the Dare Skywalk.

The stadium development scheme has to date created more than 4,000 new jobs for local people, with circa £300m pumped into the local economy each year.

Tottenham Hotspur has:

• A clear strategy to develop talent from within its Academy, showcased by a strong track record of Academy players graduating to the first-team squad.
• A £100m state-of-the-art Training Centre that supports the Club’s ambition to attract, develop and retain the best talent.
• Commercial partnerships with globally recognised brands including AIA Group Limited (AIA), one of the world’s leading providers of life insurance services, and Nike, the world’s leading sports footwear and apparel company.
• A commitment to minimizing its environmental impact across Club operations, being named as the greenest in the Premier League for the past three years. Tottenham Hotspur is a signatory of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, committing to halve carbon emissions by 2030 and become net zero carbon by 2040.
• An award-winning Foundation that is renowned for creating opportunities to help enhance the lives of people in its local community through education, employment, health, and social inclusion programmes.

Based at the Training Centre in Enfield sit the Club’s Communications department, as well as the Men’s and Women’s first teams and the Academy’s training and coaching activities. The team are looking to recruit a Communications Manager who will support all press-related activities in order to enhance its reputation and perception across a wide variety of audiences and stakeholders. Reporting into the Head of Football Communications, the successful candidate will have the opportunity to work alongside experienced press professionals within a leading global sporting brand.

The successful candidate will be required to work at all First Team matches (home and away) and selected other fixtures such as some away or U21 matches, so a flexible individual is sought.

JOB PURPOSE

To support the Communications team in enhancing the reputation and public perception of the Club by providing assistance and support with best practice media relations and communications across all key stakeholders.

KEY RESPONSBILITIES

• To support the communications team in managing the expectations and requirements of the 24-hour rolling news media environment
• Manage the media responsibilities of members of the First Team, as well as working with the Academy and Women’s teams, to oversee coverage for the Club and key partners.
• Liaise with coaches and players at all levels as well as senior staff on a regular basis to ensure consistent messaging when communicating externally.
• Oversee the delivery of the Academy media training program.
• Management of pre and post-match media requirements for domestic and overseas fixtures and deliver the Club’s broadcast obligations.
• Working as part of the matchday media operations team for our Men’s First Team to ensure all stakeholders are given an excellent experience at both home & away fixtures (including travel to all home & away games).
• Manage relationships with key stakeholders including journalists, broadcasters and governing bodies.
• Working alongside other departments (such as Partnerships, Business Development and Public Relations) to ensure business objectives across the Club are met through effective comms support.
• Enhance the reputation and public perception of the Club through best practice communications both in domestic and international markets.
• Advise on media responses and strategy in both domestic and international markets.
• Offering support during times of crisis management, intercepting issues, assessing their impact and responding under direction including preparing talking points for relevant spokespeople.
• Knowledgeable about emerging new media, trends and social influencers in order to collate, feedback and make recommendations on domestic and international media stories and highlight any opportunities for the Club.
• To draft correspondence on behalf of the Club and key personnel including briefing materials, press releases and statements which are consistent with Club messaging and resistant to scrutiny.
• Identify and oversee media and social influencer opportunities in key markets for the Club.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Internal – Communications staff, Men’s, Women’s and Academy coaching and playing staff, Business Development, PR, Commercial Partnerships and Marketing teams

External – Domestic and international football authorities and clubs, national and international media organisations, third party stadium event hosts (e.g. NFL), commercial partners and agencies

PERSON SPECIFICATION

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

• Thinks ahead, generates innovative ideas
• Values & respects others, builds relationships, collaborates
• Gets things done, delivers to highest of standards, takes responsibility
• Excellent communicator with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to influence and persuade, exercising a high degree of tact and diplomacy
• Driven and thrives working under own initiative
• Able to keep calm when working under pressure to tight deadlines
• Strong organisation skills and attention to detail
• Well presented, with a high level of integrity, discretion and maturity
• Adaptable, likes change
• Engaging and charismatic
• Self-motivated and organised with a high-level of attention to detail

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Educated to degree level in Media, Communications, Journalism or a graduate with the equivalent in industry experience.
• Significant experience in a Communications role within a high-profile sporting or related environment, and experience dealing directly with journalists and the media.
• A good awareness and understanding of the constantly evolving media landscape, including emerging media platforms.
• Awareness of and existing relationships with major media players and journalists in the industry
• Knowledge of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club
• Adept in a second European language (desirable)
• UK Full Drivers Licence (desirable)

Job tags

Salary