The Big Interview: Martin Keown

Footballer turned pundit Martin Keown speaks to sportindustry.biz about his involvement with the McDonalds Grassroots kit scheme, as two of his former teams – Arsenal and Aston Villa – prepare to face each other in the FA Cup final.

Tell us a little about your involvement with McDonald’s, what attracted you to it?

I am head of English football for McDonald’s and work on the joint initiative for grassroot football that the FA has with McDonald’s. We’ve re-launched the kit scheme again, which was very successful last year, through until next season. Last time we had 50,000 shirts, and this time we have 70,000 shirts to give out.

I have been going around the country, most recently to a small place in Birmingham where we got to see it all first hand. When the players got their new kit you could see them ooze with pride when they were wearing the crisp new shirt. Of course we wanted to off-set the costs to parents, but when you see the pride the kids have wearing their brand new kit, feeling like professional footballers, copying their superstars from TV, it’s incredible the see the psychological impact a new kit can have. We want as many people to benefit from this as we can. If you’re an FA affiliated club, just go on the website and you can apply for the kit.

What state do you think the grassroots level of the sport is in right now?

Of course a lot more can be done. It’s why McDonald’s and the FA are involved in it. Especially with the new TV deal, there’ll be billions of pounds going into this level of the game over the next few years. That’s gamechanging. I wanted to get behind this scheme particularly because McDonald’s wanted to invest money into grassroot soccer. It’s vital we do this. Football survives because of volunteers, so we need to create a model to sustain how this all comes in. Far more can be done, but it’s a great initiative and a good start.

You have moved away from football pitch, heading down a few different paths, did you see yourself in the media when you were playing?

When I stopped I wanted to rest! It never really worked out that way though. I worked with Arsene Wenger for a year, and then sort of fell into the media because I needed my footballing fix. Now it is a full-time job.

I’ve got my coaching badges but I’m only using these at the moment to support my son. I like doing what I’m doing now and the variety of what I’m doing. It’s very interesting moving from game to game and being involved in the business things too. If someone said to me tomorrow go and coach and manage, if it was a challenge, then I’m not saying I wouldn’t do it, but right now I enjoy the media.

Arsenal have enjoyed an impressive run of form in the last few months, but the club has also enjoyed success off the field. Did the way the business was run ever felt in the changing room?

They could have taken more risks. No-one can complain about the business model and how financially how sound they are, they just missed their chance a bit. Financial fair play wasn’t on the horizon when the business plan was put together and they bought their stadium, and as it happens this has come to the rescue of Arsenal. Just look down the road to Spurs, they’re now trying to maximise the money they can make from within, because you can’t artificially fund a huge investment like that anymore.

Arsenal really should be able to compete now, and they are. They have spent £120 million in the last two seasons – not net spend – so they really should be in a position to compete. They haven’t been serious title contenders, so it’s been a long season, but there’s an awful lot still to play for this year.

The likes of Wilshere, Debuchy, Walcott, they can’t walk straight back into the team, which shows how strong the team is now. Competition for places is a great thing and above all else this is what is making Arsenal play with extra urgency and winning games.

As a fan, this is what you want. Wenger has two more seasons to go, they’re winning trophies again and I think he will be there to finish this job off. You have to be respectful, it won’t be easy.

Martin Keown was speaking on behalf of the McDonald’s Kit Scheme 2015, find out more here.