Why we built COPA

Independent regulation changes what is expected of professional football clubs. It also brings more scrutiny and real consequences where expectations are not met. But I have never believed the answer is simply more compliance.

Throughout my career, I have seen what good governance, risk and compliance can do for an organisation. I have also seen what happens when it is under-developed, disconnected or over-engineered. I have worked through the early stages too, with spreadsheets, manual processes and too much knowledge sitting with individuals, and helped build those arrangements into something more joined-up, useful and sustainable.

The lesson for me is simple. Good GRC should help people run the organisation better. It should support better decisions, protect what matters and give leadership more confidence to pursue its ambitions.

Football needs that same capability, but football is different. A club is a business, but it is also a sporting, cultural and community institution. The model has to respect that reality, its pressures and its priorities.

That is why we built COPA: to help clubs build the right level of capability for where they are today, strengthen it over time and operate confidently in regulated football, while keeping sporting and commercial ambition firmly in view.