Bristol Rovers Head of Football Administration John Stanley speaks to BRTV about his responsibilities at the Football Club, 2024 successes and plans for 2025...
Please could you introduce yourself by telling us your name and job role?
“I’m John Stanley, I’m the head of football administration at the Club, working mostly down at the training ground alongside George Friend, the manager, coaching staff and players.”
What would you say your job role entails?
“To be honest, my job role is a little bit of everything, realistically. I think it’s one of those things where the less you hear from me, probably the better the position the Club is in. So, for instance, the headline things that I would look after would be any responses to EFL or FA regulatory charges. If a player is going out on loan or if we’re signing anybody, it would be me who would draft and execute those agreements and make George and the manager aware of any quirks that come up in association with them.
“So, people may not know, but there are about six different types of loans you can have in, and you can have going out. Each one has a slightly different impact on the squad that you have, whether or not they may or may not be able to play, whether or not you may or may not be able to recall them and what kind of level they are going to as well. It’s making sure that George and the manager are aware of what’s going on and that they are up to speed with everything that they need to know.
“My remit also encompasses things which nobody really thinks about, but in terms of players' drug whereabouts. We’ve got to give an hour a day where our players are, where for instance, if a drug tester were to come along, they can test them appropriately. Obviously, the repercussions of a lot of it are quite severe, so it’s something that everybody needs to be on top of and that’s my role, to draw different plates together.
“The other item as well that falls under my remit is the women’s team as well. They were obviously brought into the Club in the summer, which is fantastic. I make sure that essentially, they have everything they need to function, succeed, push up the table and obviously we go again with the FA Cup next season after a record-breaking run this year.”
With so many different responsibilities, that must make every day different...
“Absolutely. I think I can probably plan about 25 per cent of my week and then the other 75 per cent is reactionary, to a point. I’ve obviously got to be as prepared as possible for everything, particularly now during a transfer window where we can have players coming in, we could have players going out with half an hour's worth of notice.
“One of the things that I do have in place to make sure that I can react as quickly as possible and as well as possible is to have legally approved, drafted template agreements for the different types of transactions that can occur. So, whilst I can only plan 25 per cent of my week, I can be ready for whatever is coming through.”
Tell us about your career and experiences and how they brought you to Bristol Rovers...
“I actually had no intention of working within football. I trained as a teacher whilst at university and realised pretty promptly, to be honest, that teaching wasn’t for me. I was lucky enough to get a job at the Football Association, which was my first role out of university and stayed there for about nine years.
“It gave a really, really good foundation to understand football governance, football rules and regulations, and also build up a very good bed of contacts for me to go to if there’s ever any query that I don’t quite understand or anything that I need clarification on. My final role at the Football Association was in the player status team, so registering players, looking and overseeing contracts and making sure they adhered to all the FA’s rules and regulations. My particular specialism was work permits. So, any player coming outside the EU at the time would essentially come through myself and my team and that role led me into club football.
“From there, I went to Brighton as their assistant and then acting club secretary for a couple of years during COVID, it was pretty tricky. So, a lot of my role kind of changed very, very rapidly and after that I went back home to south London and joined up with AFC Wimbledon as their club secretary and was there for a little over three years, hopefully leaving them in a really good place at the moment.
“That led me to here. I think at Wimbledon; I had accomplished pretty much everything that I could have there. The board have an incredible ambition at this Club. They are putting together really, really good sets of executive staff and the plans they have for the training ground and for the stadium, it’s a really exciting place to be. Obviously, we need to push up the table a little bit. But irrespective of on-the-pitch matters, off-field, everything is going really, really well, and that’s what we need to try and push for.”
What did you and your team achieve in 2024?
“I don’t know who I would currently count as my direct team, but ultimately, the people that I work closest with are George Friend, our director of football, I’m with him pretty much every day and then the manager as well.
“I think my first three months in the role, so only joined in the middle of September, was to get my feet under the desk and try to understand what the football club needs, what’s running well at the football club, and there are an awful lot of things that are running extremely well. The training ground is an incredible place and an incredible environment to be in, but what improvements can we make? Then, try to identify those aspects. I think is what I’ve been brought in to do.
“How do we tweak things a little bit to make them better? Within our transfer agreements, how do we get one per cent more out of them? Whether that’s through FIFA solidarity or training compensation methods. How is it that we can get our players out on loan better and easier? How is it that we can get them in and out to make them available for us or available for another team?
“So, there are a lot of things that I am trying to put in place, but I think 2024 was me just trying to understand the position of everything and what it is that people need in order to move the footballing side forward.”
Finally, what do you hope to achieve in 2025?
“On the pitch, I think playoffs is still achievable. It’s a long way, but we continue. I think off the pitch, which is where, ultimately, my remit lies, it’s trying to make sure that players, coaching staff, the manager, and executive staff don’t have any excuses so that they can fully focus on what they need to do on the training pitch five days a week. What they need to achieve at The Mem on a Saturday afternoon, and I think that’s, ultimately, where I want to get to.
"The less that people hear of me, ultimately, the better. Whether that’s internal staff or anybody else, if things are running smoothly, there shouldn’t be a reason for me to be getting involved in matters, and realistically, that’s where I want to get to. Making sure the players and the staff can focus on the job at hand, and that’s moving up the table and getting this Club to the best position possible."
