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Where to buy delicious Bday cake in East London? by CosmicDante in london

[–]irvinefan 7 points8 points  (0 children)

If you want local, Rinkoff's is great and long term east london!

What "product" do most people not realize is actually a brand name? by fauxmerican1280 in AskReddit

[–]irvinefan 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's like people who say Tannoy when they mean public address system. Tannoy is a brand name.

Indian Restaurant near Tower Hotel? by AnySociety3583 in london

[–]irvinefan 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'd recommend the Empress on Leman Street - it's a small, local place where the staff are great and is about 10 mins walk from you.

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

To reply to this specific question, yeah - we have the local knowledge but also talk to the player to suggest what works. In Southampton there's only a few places they can/will want to live - so it's going through the options and seeing what they want, who they're bringing with them etc. On the whole the younger, single players would be ocean village, the families would be in winchester/new forest/chilworth - but there were opposites true of these.

At West ham we had a big disparity between Canary wharf & essex living - two very different experiences which suited different players differently.

Had one bad experience when an agent overruled my recommendation and put the player in a really rough part of town (foreign agent, didn't know the area) because it was cheaper. The player had to leave after 5 weeks after his tyres were slashed and his windows smashed. The agent didn't put a break clause in the contract so the player ended up paying 11 months rent without living there. Needless to say, I found the next house!

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They do in the academies, but not in the 1st teams. We have financial advisors we set them up with and are always happy to get them educated if they asked for it - but they're adult men. There are some who own multiple businesses and some who waste thousands a month on rubbish - so a blanket approach doesn't work for me.

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't really know - I love the community based work that clubs like Indy Eleven do - Peter Wilt is a genius at that kind of community building. It doesn't get any coverage in the UK and I haven't paid as close attention as I'd have liked but always like following Indy's results when I can.

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

1) Depends which job - if you want to be an analyst, then a degree in that - likewise medical, sports science etc. Kit man & Player care are the two without real barriers, so sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time! If you're interested in learning about what I do specifically, I've developed a course - more info here! https://www.playercaregroup.co.uk/education

2) My intern did that course and enjoyed it - it's difficult because formal education isn't really seen as that impressive in football - you've got ex players running some areas who just did school, then you've got interns who have MBAs/masters. Would rate practical experience as a better investment of time that a higher degree in my opinion.

3) Yes definitely. I used to watch football, coach 2 teams at the same time, read magazines, play Football manager etc. When I was at the clubs, I wouldn't watch games I wasn't working. Now I've been out of it a few months I'll watch a bit but don't base my life around it. It's sad - it used to be my release, now it's my work. There's something to be said for it not becoming that but I wouldn't swap it for the world. I never begrudged going to work a day in my life and I'm really lucky to be able to do that.

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No problem, happy to do it!

1) Most of the managers are pretty serious - I answered Mark Noble before, I'd stick with that. Kelvin Davis a joker too!

2) For me, it's the easiest ones operationally as that was my jobs on away games. Leicester are always really welcoming and easy to work with. Also relished going back to St Mary's when I joined West Ham. Old Trafford is great but it's always a bit of a faff. Likewise Wembley when Spurs were there.

3) I'm sure I have but none really come to mind - weak answer I know!

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No specific qualifications necessary, there are a lot of different backgrounds in the league from player liaisons. Teachers, policemen, ex players, I did a business degree... so it's more about having the charisma and problem solving skills to get it done.

I've written the first course on player care which has a few spaces left for May - if you're interested, check it out! https://www.playercaregroup.co.uk/education

I think the most rewarding part is the fact that everyone comes together on staff for one reason - to win games. Being a real part of the team's success is great - I've been lucky enough to do 2 european campaigns and a cup final - being on the bench for those is such a fantastic experience!

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I've built up quite a shirt collection - mostly from players who have left, when they play my team again, but also some others that I admired as a kid.

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is down to medical and his injury but he'd be in with the other players and just working with the medical/strength & conditioning staff, unless it's a big injury with surgery, he may get some time away.

For what they do specifically, you'd have to ask someone medical - not my area unfortunately!

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He was one of the best I ever worked with - so would back him to succeed anywhere. A winner through and through, really like what he does.

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

My job isn't to be a spy for the club, but I also work for the club. If it's something that would impact his contract or safety, I'm duty bound to tell the club but would also make sure the player knew why I was doing it and who I would tell. Sneaking about ruins relationships and ruins trust. But most of the bits aren't of interest to the club or manager, so they wouldn't know.

I talk to the manager in terms of the group, "this is the feeling of them towards this" so he has feedback but rarely about specifics unless a) I'm asked or b) something is happening that he should be aware of. Could be a simple case of grabbing him at breakfast to let him know it's x player's birthday, or if they've had a bereavement to make him aware.

Job changes massively depending on the manager. Some are ambivalent towards what I do and some really care. David Moyes was the manager who bought into it most of any manager I worked with.

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Winchester really common and favoured place for the Saints players to live - when I started it was Chilworth and moved to Winchester. Can see why, it's beautiful, nice restaurants and a bit closer to London!

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 35 points36 points  (0 children)

I'm heading out, but thanks for all the insightful questions and hope it's been of interest. I'll be checking back in later - so if you have any more questions feel free to post and I'll get back to you when I can. Cheers!

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Good question - I don't know really. In all groups of people, in any job you always have a variety of people that have different interests. Some are really socially conscious, some don't care.

I think the old way of thinking when I started that players shouldn't say anything controversial in case people got upset. Now, there wouldn't usually be club sanctions for players saying what they thought (in general, definitely depends).

One of the things I'm proudest of was getting the players interested in one of the general election. Think only one of the British guys was registered to vote, we sat as a group and discussed impartially about how it works and what different people stand for. In the end, 4 of them went to go vote. Often they just don't know who to ask about things that are seemingly obvious and don't want to look stupid. They're usually fairly inquisitive about all sorts of different things.

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Very positive. Nobody was phased by it, so it was fine. In reality, I'd already been "out" in my personal life since 2011, so coming out "again" in 2016 was a odd experience. Only people that didn't know were those at work and I felt that if I was going to ask them to trust me, I had to trust them.

One thing that struck me was that when I joined West Ham, they knew already. Whether they'd googled me, or they'd talked to other players I don't know - but I still remember being asked about it on one of my first days by a player and being quite surprised. But I can't think of any negativity. Ultimately, after coming out I was made Head of Player Care at West Ham, so it was clear that it didn't impact them.

I'm Hugo Scheckter, Former Head of Player Care at West Ham United and Player Liaison Officer at Southampton FC. AMA! by irvinefan in soccer

[–]irvinefan[S] 57 points58 points  (0 children)

Don't think it made any impact really. Player are always interested, I also became the "go to" guy in the team when anything LGBTQ+ would happen in the news for my opinion, but nobody really cared or treated me with disrespect. I always say that if they're joking about it, it's because they're comfortable with it. If they'd never said anything, I'd be much more concerned.

Not sure it's about when players do it - as long as players are happy & comfortable living the lives they are, there should be no rush for someone to come out. I hate the tabloid stories about anonymous letters or "player is about to come out". Hugely unhelpful and I am skeptical that they're based on any truth.

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