Andy Anson
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Andrew Edward Anson (born ) is a British businessman primarily known for his work in the sports and media industries. He is the CEO of the British Olympic Association and chairman of Lancashire Cricket Club. Prior to joining, Anson was president of Fanatics International (formerly
Kitbag Kitbag Ltd. is a England sports retailer. The company was purchased by Fanatics, Inc. from Findel PLC in February 2016 for £11.5M, previously the company was purchased by Findel PLC in October 2006 from European Home Retail plc. Stores ...
), where he spent five-and-a-half years.


Early life

The son of a bank manager, Anson was born at the Boundary Park Hospital in
Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
, and grew up in nearby
Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
. He began playing
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
at a young age and, despite being a fan of Manchester United, played for
Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
's schoolboys team after being spotted in a game for the Oulder Hill School team. He did not pursue football as a professional career and earned a place at
Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...
, where he attained a second-class degree in
mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, even sharing a tutorial with child genius
Ruth Lawrence Ruth Elke Lawrence-Neimark ( he, רות אלקה לורנס-נאימרק, born 2 August 1971) is a British–Israeli mathematician and an associate professor of mathematics at the Einstein Institute of Mathematics, Hebrew University of Jerusale ...
at one stage. He continued to play football at university, however, and eventually earned his
Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...
.


Career

After leaving Oxford, Anson returned to the north-west of England to work for
Andersen Consulting Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accentur ...
, where he represented various clients, including
North West Water North West Water was a water supply, sewage disposal and sewage treatment company serving North West England. It was established as the North West Water Authority in 1973, and became North West Water plc in 1989, as part of the privatisation of t ...
. However, in the early 1990s, he left Andersen to enrol on a
Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
(MBA) course at
INSEAD INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...
in
Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...
. To cope with the costs of attending INSEAD, Anson returned to consulting at the end of the course, working for the Kalchas Group. However, he was soon headhunted by
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
, and he moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
for three-and-a-half years, working for Disney's consumer products division. In this capacity, he was responsible for the licensing of all clothes and toys for the company. During Anson's time in the consumer products division, the company generated $7 billion in revenue, and he was promoted to the position of chief financial officer. At the end of his time with Disney, Anson returned to the UK, where he took a position as
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
's Head of Strategic Planning. He later became the managing director of Channel 4 Interactive. While at Channel 4, Anson was heavily involved in the launch of its sister channel, E4. In 2002, Anson left Channel 4 to work at the London office of
management consulting Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...
firm, OC&C Strategy Consultants, becoming a partner in the company, responsible for Media and Entertainment. Anson was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(OBE) in the
2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...
for services to sport, particularly during Covid-19.


Manchester United

In 2003, Anson was approached by his childhood football club, Manchester United, to become their new Commercial Director in the wake of David Gill's promotion to chief executive, after
Peter Kenyon Peter Kenyon (born 1954 in Stalybridge, Cheshire) is a British businessman who has served as the chief executive of English Premier League football clubs Manchester United and Chelsea, where he has been involved in contentious transfer dealings. ...
departed to
Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
. The appointment was confirmed in December 2003, and Anson started work in February 2004. While at Manchester United, he was responsible for signing the club's then-record shirt sponsorship deal with AIG.


Association of Tennis Professionals

In March 2007, Anson became the new chief executive of the
Association of Tennis Professionals The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, an ...
in Europe (ATP Europe), replacing the outgoing Horst Klosterkemper. He remained in the role for two-and-a-half years. He also served as chairman of the
ATP Finals The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results th ...
at
The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...
in London and co-CEO of the
ATP Champions Tour The ATP Champions Tour is a men's tennis tour intended for former tennis professionals, who have since retired from mainstream professional tennis touring (The ATP). The Tour brings together many of the greatest tennis players in history for no ...
, a tournament for former professional players.


England 2018

In 2008, Anson was named as the chief executive of England 2018 Ltd, the company behind
The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...
's bid to host the
2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...
. He began work in his new position on 1 January 2009 and remained in the position until the company dissolved in 2011 following the unsuccessful bid results. The
England 2018 England 2018 was the Football Association's unsuccessful bid for the right to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. FIFA invited bidding countries to bid for either the 2018 or the 2022 finals, or both. The FA initially decided to bid for both, but with ...
bid received recognition as the best all round technical bid However, England lost out to Russia in a process beset by corruption, leading to Anson criticising
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
president
Sepp Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result of ...
for influencing the members of the committee that voted on the World Cup hosts against the English bid.


Fanatics International (formerly Kitbag)

After a short break, in the summer of 2011, Anson was appointed chief executive of sports retailer
Kitbag Kitbag Ltd. is a England sports retailer. The company was purchased by Fanatics, Inc. from Findel PLC in February 2016 for £11.5M, previously the company was purchased by Findel PLC in October 2006 from European Home Retail plc. Stores ...
. In February 2016, following the successful turnaround of Kitbag, Anson oversaw the sale of the business to US market leader
Fanatics Fanaticism (from the Latin adverb ''fānāticē'' ren-''fānāticus''; enthusiastic, ecstatic; raging, fanatical, furious is a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal or an obsessive enthusiasm. Definitions Philosopher George Santayana ...
. He remained with the business for 12 months ensuring the successful transition.


Teneo

On 1 March 2017, Anson was appointed global president of Teneo Sports, the sports arm of New York-based international C-suite advisory firm and investment banking platform
Teneo Teneo is a public relations and advisory company. The company was founded in June 2011 by Declan Kelly, Paul Keary, and Doug Band, and currently has more than 1,450 employees located in 40 offices. In 2019, Teneo sold a majority stake to CV ...
.


Goals Soccer Centres plc

April 2018 saw Andy appointed as CEO of Goals Soccer Centres plc


Non-executive directorships

Anson has also served as a non-executive director of Belfast-based
UTV Media Wireless Group Limited is a radio and digital broadcasting network with headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland and with radio operations in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. It currently operates five stations in Ireland and ...
, the British Olympic Association and the Racecourse Media Group.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anson, Andy Living people Accenture people Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford INSEAD alumni Channel 4 people Disney people English footballers Oxford University A.F.C. players Manchester United F.C. directors and chairmen Footballers from Oldham Footballers from Rochdale Association footballers not categorized by position Year of birth missing (living people) Officers of the Order of the British Empire