Bill Gleeson: Liverpool plc may yet steal TMP’s thunder

Jul 11 2007 by Bill Gleeson, Liverpool Daily Post

LAST week, Lorraine Rogers went on to BBC Radio Merseyside and insisted reports in Businessweek about the hours she would be working at her new job at The Mersey Partnership were inaccurate.

The Tranmere Rovers chairwoman has just been appointed as the new chief executive of TMP and will take up her new post in mid-August. Her appointment comes after the job was readvertised because the first round of applicants failed to produce anybody of sufficient calibre, we are told. Arguably, though, some of the names that were reported to be in the frame first time round would have been more relevant.

Businessweek reported that Lorraine would spend 1,500 hours a year, or 80% of her working time, carrying out her duties at TMP. A salary of £120,000 a year has been agreed. In addition, Lorraine would be free to continue in her role as Tranmere Rovers chairwoman.

So why did Lorraine take the opportunity presented to her by the Snelly programme to deny the accuracy of our figures? I would hazard the guess she was concerned that our figures implied she would be forced to reduce her commitment to Tranmere, something the club’s management and fans may not be happy about.

Having sufficient humility to think my figures might have been wrong, I went back to my sources at TMP, who insisted the figures were exactly right and they didn’t understand why she denied them. "It’s causing some concern here," one source said.

There are two separate issues that have given rise to concern about Lorraine’s appointment. The first is that she hasn’t sufficient appropriate experience for the job. With the exception of a short stint as chairwoman at Greater Merseyside Enterprise before it was disbanded, she hasn’t worked much in the field of economic development, which is first and foremost what the TMP job is all about. Some people think this is sufficient reason not to recruit her to the post. However, I think there is a case to be made for giving her a chance. She is clearly an energetic and intelligent character, and these qualities are more important than the subject she got her degree in.

But working part- time is an issue that cannot be overcome so readily. The role of chief executive at TMP is a full-time job. I’m sure if you were to ask the previous incumbents of the post, they would tell you it is 150% of a full- time job. The idea that she can do it properly while holding on to another demanding role is nonsense, and somebody on the board at TMP needs to come to their senses quickly to change this decision.

Lorraine could still become the next chief executive, but only if she resigns from Tranmere Rovers and an associated role on the board at the Football League.

On top of everything else, it emerged yesterday that the new "Liverpool plc" – being set up by the city council to act as a rival inward investment agency – has advertised its job at a higher salary than that being paid to Lorraine. Liverpool is offering £150k, but I guess the city will want a full-timer for that sort of money.

With Liverpool offering more money, they may attract the sort of high-calibre individual TMP failed to find with its first advert.

Such an individual may even do a better job at winning investment for the city than TMP. Who knows, the new Liverpool plc may one day outperform TMP for results?

Maybe that is Liverpool’s strategy. After all, TMP has not covered itself in glory when it comes to inward investment in recent years.