Gary Clifford Email & Phone Number

Greater Reading Area

Founding partner now responsible for strategic business development operating in an advisory capacity to provide a professional football coaching service to the grassroots and semi-professional community . Extensive experience in the management & development of successful 16 to 19 football & education academies working in partnership with key stakeholders.

Surrey Heath

• Project managed a £550k facility development, consisting of the procurement of the feasibility & planning application contract, production of a business case with a 5 year financial forecast, identified and developed partnerships with key stakeholders, drafted an executive report to secure £250k of SHBC capital funds and submitted a funding application to secure £250k from Football Foundation all within project timescales.• Identified a lack of control and accountability by the Leisure Grants process. Developed a robust application, award, monitoring and evaluation process that implemented SMART objectives, Service Level Agreements, Quarterly and Annual reports to monitor progress. • Project managed delivery of the annual Surrey Heath Sports Awards (SHSA) that was attended by over 400 people. Identified & executed £2k (33%) cost savings to deliver the SHSA through ‘in-house’ marketing, removal of third party suppliers and partnership development with the voluntary sector. Increased sponsorship by 50% from private sector investment to create a financially sustainable model.• Annually programme managed the Surrey Youth Games (SYG) sports participation project for 500 young people aged 7 to 16 and 38 coaches in 13 different sports. Improved the quality (coaching) & quantity (number of sessions) of the SYG product through stakeholder relationships with the voluntary sector (local sports clubs) whilst saving £2.5k in venue, coaching and marketing costs. Results were a year on year increase of 11% in participation and improvements in performance at the SYG, finishing 9th in 2010 to 3rd in 2012 & 2013.

Hertfordshire

• Programme managed the £150k p.a. Positive Futures Project (PF) across the borough of Watford on behalf of WFC and the Home Office (HO). Line managed 10 full & part-time members of staff who engaged 1000 young people aged 11 – 19 on a weekly basis through diversionary activities, education and training. The introduction of PF in Watford saw a 16% decrease in ASB and 22% decrease in all crime. Recognised at County level by winning the 2008 Herts Crimebeat Award and at National Level in the FRANK Stakeholder Awards (Runners-up). PF was expanded from 1 to 4 estates over a 2 year period by personally securing £50k p.a. additional funding from key stakeholders in the private (CSR funds from Total UK) and public (Watford Borough Council, Herts Constabulary) sector. • Used the Home Office online reporting system ‘Substance’ to produce monthly project board and bi-annual stakeholder reports that analysed data and produced statistical evidence to measure objectives. The HO awarded the project GOLD status recognising it as one of the top 14 in the country (out of 142) for Quality, Achievement and Sustainability.• Sales, Marketing & Co-ordination of Matchday Packages (MP) that involved 250 children receiving coaching and a ticket for first team home games. Increased revenue from £12k to £48k as a result of a marketing campaign I introduced that targeted a specific demographic (youth football teams) and utilised websites, flyers, adverts in publications and social media – 75% of fixtures were fully booked.• Head Coach for the Academy U’14’s which required the interpretation of a set syllabus to deliver a challenging learning environment for elite footballers three times per week in addition to fixtures. Monitoring performance, identifying areas for development and providing feedback were fundamental. Proud to say over 20 players I coached are now playing professional football from the Premier League down.