If Liverpool Football Club was as 'ordinary' business, I wonder whether a letter asking for advice might look like this...
I could really do with some business advice from you and I hope you can help.
Our business uses foot-e-ball machines to manufacture official premier league points. The business had been performing ok for a number of years when a decision was taken to replace the general manager. When the new manager arrived he brought with him a unique patented system of improving our foot-e-ball machines. He owns the patent and is therefore crucial, we believe, to the future success of making good quality premier league points. In fact we were awarded the runner up spot in the Premier League Points Awards 2008/9.
One of the key benefits of the new manager's systems is that he was able to considerably improve the efficiency and general performance of our existing machines. We were then able to make more premier league points than we had ever done in the past. In addition to this, through his knowledge and contacts, he purchased new foot-e-ball machines and then added his patented systems for improvement. Now I have to confess that some foot-e-ball machines were not compatible with his systems but on the whole the effects have been astonishing.
They were so astonishing that all of a sudden competitors were approaching us to buy some of our foot-e-ball machines. Some of the offers couldn't be turned down so all of a sudden we were making major profits out of our machines as well as improving our points production. This has allowed for our net costs to be substantially reduced across the business. For example the Alonso-T5536 machine was one of the first machines he bought and modified, we have recently sold it for a £20m profit because of the value added by the new manager's processes. Other example include the Crouch-Tallman - £4m profit, Bellamy-Crazyman2000 - £1.5m profit and the Sissoko-Destroyer2Z - £2.5m profit.
While the benefits from some of our slower production machines have been substantial. Our high efficiency machines, the Pepe-Stops897 and Torres-Destroyer, are now indispensable to our business but are each probably worth at least 3 times more than what we bought them for (at least £50m profit). Even one of the machines we have had for years (our most efficient points producer before the arrival of the new manager, the Gerrard-Dynamic-X4) has, we believe, increased efficiency and value since the adoption of the manager's new systems.
You are probably wondering what the problem is. Well recently there have been some maintenance issues out of the manager's control. We lent some machines out and they came back damaged and some other machines have had other problems. Of course everyone is looking at our general manager rather than the managers of the companies we lent the machines to or the maintenance manager. I am coming under increasing pressure from a small section of our customer base to replace him. However, I am confident that the manager will continue to add value to our business and win lots of new awards longer term.
How can I possibly get rid of a manager who is improving our points production (when the machines don't have maintenance issues) and continually increasing the asset value of the business?
What should I do?
Your sincerely,
Chris Parslow
