25 metrics for premier performance
- publish258
- Oct 21
- 4 min read
After eight seasons in the Premier League, 25 metrics keep Brighton moving ahead, says the club’s chief executive, Paul Barber
In 2017, Brighton & Hove Albion reached football’s promised land: the Premier League. As chief executive, it’s Paul Barber’s job to keep them there and establish them as a top ten club. Or as he puts it ‘to bring the vision alive’.
It’s a dream that many other clubs have shared. Most haven’t lasted more than a season. Their hopes disappointed by the reality of competing against budgets well beyond their own, financed by sovereign wealth or venture capital.
Now in their eighth season, Barber realised Brighton would require a plan that was different, sustainable and cost effective, based on 25 different metrics on and off the pitch, which resonate with everyone in the club.
It all has to join together, he told an audience at an event for Sound Strategies at Rok Skool. ‘We can have the best vision, the best facilities, the best culture and the best people, but if you're looking to create a high-performance environment, it has to be holistic. You haven’t really got a chance when it comes to match day, if you have hundreds and hundreds of people working for you who don’t really know where you are going.’
So Barber asked them all about their expectations. ‘If we're going to reinvent ourselves, what kind of club do you want to be and what’s your kind of workplace? Our people gave us a set of values based on commonsense. Aim high. Treat people well. Act with integrity. Make it special.’
‘That’s the way we try to recruit the right players. As well as their professional and technical backgrounds, we ask whether they are the sorts of character who come into the dressing room and lives out our values.’
‘It’s not about paying the most money, but making sure we create a better environment that can become a pathway for where they go next. If people can see they have a chance to progress, it builds a sense of energy.
‘However, you always have to be ready to replace your top performers. Otherwise it’s too easy a hit a bump in the road when they go.’
What he finds hardest is the Premiership’s constant competition. ‘In elite sport, if you stand still, you go backwards. We have to keep moving.’
One of his biggest turning points was the early adoption of women’s football into Brighton’s vision. In 2016, even though the club had only been involved in girls’ football, it became apparent that it made no sense to exclude 50 percent of their potential community. So the vision for the club changed: become a top ten club in the Premier League and to establish itself in the top four in the Women’s Super League.
The size of that commitment is now being followed through in the construction of a purpose-built stadium for women. If they play at the men’s ground, the facilities, even the pitch, aren’t designed for women to perform at their best.
‘My job is to make it as easy as possible for our teams, plural, to win football matches. In elite sport, it’s the small margins that make a difference. It’s my job is to find those differences.’
So what are the metrics that Barber is pursuing to give the club a chance of continuing to perform at the top level?
Live the vision.
Ask your people what your values really are.
Bring in the best people, not by paying the most, but by creating a better environment.
Give everyone a pathway up and be ready for when they go.
Make sure your strategies connect up and make sense to everyone.
Be relentless in your implementation and don’t let yourself be distracted by outside noise.
Be ready to adapt, evolve and pivot.
Build world-class facilities to give yourself the chance of winning games.
Processes matter just as much off the pitch as on it.
Let your fans know what to expect and how to behave.
Drive revenues hard … and tell the fans how it helps to beat Liverpool or Man U.
Manage costs religiously.
Be aware of the changes around you, such as the arrival of the football regulator.
Engage with fans directly and consistently … answer their emails too.
Engage with your community and celebrate the difference of being somewhere like Brighton.
Build the brand … even when you go eight games without a win.
Recruit top-level partners who complement your brand.
Reward staff, as well as players, for the club going up.
For high performance, take tough decisions early and treat people well.
Help young players get started in a new country, shut out the noise and find their way forward.
Stay humble … you can always fall back down.
Celebrate your difference as a club and reflect your community.
Invest ahead of the curve … like purpose building a women’s stadium.
Create equity value for the club and the owner.
Join it all up to create an environment that makes it as easy as possible to win football matches.
• Paul Barber, chief executive Brighton & Hove Albion, was speaking at ‘The Performance Playbook: Lessons from Music and Sport’, a conference by Sound Strategies at Rok Skool, January 2025
