Manchester City FC Head of Research Tom Wilkins on using fan insights for business growth
Learn how this guy reached a leadership position for his lifelong Premier League team
Reuben Williams
August 19, 2024
Hello friends! 👋
Welcome to the SportsGrad Podcast: The ultimate guide to make it in the sports industry!
Each week we share how people made it in sports and tease out their career decisions, work habits, skills, and everything they do that makes them great.
All so you can learn how to get in, get promoted, and get thriving in the sports industry.
Meet Tom Wilkins, Head of Research at City Football Group for Manchester City FC
City Football Group are one of the biggest sporting bodies in the world, who own and operate Manchester City FC, Melbourne City FC, New York City FC, Mumbai City FC and 9 other clubs across 5 continents.
Tom’s role as Head of Research involves helping the club understand fans to make better decisions across Fan Engagement, Strategy, Marketing and many more.
Basically if a department has a research question they need solved, they turn to Tom and his team.
In this podcast we cover why this role exists internally, key projects Tom has been involved in, asking good questions, setting research briefs, being a strong moderator and remaining objective.
We also dive into Tom’s career journey and how this Man City fan landed in his dream job.
In this episode we cover:
(06:30) Welcome to the SportsGrad Podcast Tom!
(07:51) Quick-fire questions
(015:26) What does the ‘Head of Research’ at City Football Group do, and what does a day in the life look like?
(17:20) Why does this role exist?
(18:01) What are some of the key projects that Tom has been part of?
(21:05) How to ask good questions when conducting research interviews, to ensure that you receive the more relevant and in-depth results
(25:45) How do they create project briefs?
(30:18) How does Tom remain objective when conducting new research?
(34:10) What sort of learnings do you get out of Moderator Training?
(36:53) How does Tom learn from other industries and sports?
(40:27) How does Tom’s career transpire to make it to Manchester City?
(44:50) Does Tom act proactively in his career growth or has it happened naturally?
(46:32) What does Tom enjoy most about working at City Football Group?
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