Glasgow 2014 snap up London 2012 director as new deputy chief ... - Insidethegames.biz

By Duncan Mackay

September 17 - Glasgow 2014 have made their first major raid on London 2012 following the conclusion of the Olympics and Paralympics to appoint Ty Speer (pictured) as their new deputy chief executive and he will lead the £100 million ($162 million/€123 million) commercial programme for the Commonwealth Games, the biggest event ever to be held in Scotland.

The 46-year-old American was the client services director at London 2012 where he led the development of key sponsorship properties, including the Olympic Torch Relay, Volunteer Programme, Cultural Olympiad and the Paralympic Games.

It marks a return to the Commonwealth Games for Speer who worked for Melbourne 2006 as its geeneral manager of sales and commercial.

He had been one of the longest serving members of London 2012 having joined the Organising Committee in August 2007.

As part of his role he headed up all client relationships with 55 sponsors and regular engagement with the British Olympic and Paralympic Associations and key public sector partners including the Greater London Authority, Visit London and UK Sport.

In addition, during the past 18 months Speer led the operational integration of the London 2012 commercial programme into the overall Games delivery operation.

Speer's appointment means that the top two positions at Glasgow 2014 will be held by Americans, as chief executive David Grevemberg is from Louisiana.

"Glasgow 2014 will be a world-class sporting and cultural celebration full of opportunities for Scotland and I am delighted to welcome Ty as part of our winning team," said Grevemberg.

"Ty brings with him a wealth of delivering experience at the highest levels of international sporting events.

"His knowledge, experience and leadership will all be great assets to the Organising Committee in delivering on our ambitions of an outstanding Commonwealth Games for Glasgow and for Scotland."

As client services director at London 2012, Ty Speer was involved in the commercial programme for the successful Olympic Torch Relay

Speer, who is from Atlanta and a graduate of Duke University in North Carolina, will officially join Glasgow 2014 in November when his contract at London 2012 ends.

In his new role Speer will lead the teams delivering the Games' commercial revenues across sponsorship, ticketing, international broadcast rights sales and licensing and merchandising as well as taking management responsibility for a number of other areas.

The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games have a budget of £524 million ($850 million/€648 million) of which the Organising Committee will raise £100 million ($162 million/€123 million) in commercial revenues.

Glasgow 2014 will be hoping that Speer proves to be as innovative as he was during Melbourne 2006, when he was involved in linking up with telecoms conglomerate ­Telstra and other partners to stream the event online and via mobile phones, at the time a revolutionary concept.

"Glasgow 2014 is a dynamic and exciting opportunity for Scotland and I am thrilled to be part of what will be a great success story for the city and for Scotland," said Speer.

It is clear from commitment shown and the enthusiasm generated that the Games already have a fantastic momentum.

"I look forward to maximising all opportunities to deliver an outstanding sporting and cultural celebration of which Scotland can be proud."

Several other senior figures from London 2012 are expected to relocate to Scotland during the next year to work for Glasgow 2014.

"Ty has made a valuable contribution to the overall success of the London 2012 commercial programme, both in generating income, and in providing delivery leadership for our Commercial Partners," said Chris Townsend, the commercial director of London 2012.

"I am sure he will commit himself to the success of Glasgow 2014."

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London 2012 security contract is one of kind, says G4S chief ... - Insidethegames.biz (blog)

By Tom Degun at the House of Commons in London

September 11 - G4S chief executive Nick Buckles told the Home Affairs Select Committee here that the unique nature of the contract his company signed with London 2012 to become security providers for the Olympic and Paralympic Games is the main reason why they failed to deliver.

G4S revealed it could not provide the required number of guards at the Olympics with just days to go to the start of the Games, forcing the Government to commit 3,500 military personnel to fill the security void.

It came after G4S signed a £284 million ($442 million/€361 million) contract with London 2012 to provide 10,400 security guards for the Olympics, but only 4,000 guards were trained and ready by the time of the opening of the Games.

But Buckles (pictured top), who admitted to the Home Affairs Select Committee in July that the episode had been "a humiliating shambles", said the contract signed with London 2012 was a major problem.

"The contract we signed is one of a kind," Buckles told the chairman of the Home Affairs Committee Keith Vaz as he was grilled on the high-profile failure.

"It is different to any other contract that has been carried out by any other private sector company in the world for security.

"There is no blueprint for it, there is no track record for it and there is no book.

"There is not another contract like it and when we signed it back in December; we clearly thought we could deliver on it.

"But it is a seriously complex project.

"These are not excuses, they are just explanations and there are of course regrets."

Only 4,000 G4S security guards were trained and ready by the opening of London 2012

Buckles reiterated the fact that G4S had made a £50 million ($78 million/€64 million) loss from the Games but said he still expects London 2012 to pay some of the contract, despite not having been paid by the Organising Committee since July 13 after admitting it could not deliver fully on the project.

"We have no profit at all, just a £50 million ($78 million/€64 million) loss," he said.

"But I still expect London 2012 to pay us in line with the contract.

"That is exactly what contracts are for; to make sure that you get a fair and equitable settlement.

"I'm not going to sit here and say we did a great job, I'm nowhere near saying that, but what I am saying is that we delivered a significant part of the contract and our people did an excellent job in securing the Games.

"But we are still planning to take a £50 million ($78 million/€64 million) loss on this contract because we failed to deliver in the way we expected to."

The G4S chief executive also pointed out that his company made a big donation to the services charity to recognise the fact that the military and the police stepped in at late notice to help G4S perform their security obligations as part of the contingency plan.

"We are certainly very keen to acknowledge the support that the military gave us, and the police," Buckles said.

"So after consulting with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) about the best way to deal with that, we did make the decision to donate £2.5 million ($4 million/€3 million) to the services charity in recognition of the fact that we certainly have disrupted a large number of people's summer and we certainly apologise for that."

Thousands of British troops had to be called in to cover the security deficit left by G4S

On his own role and whether the issue would force him to resign, Buckles said he would wait to see the results of an independent review into the issue before making any final decision, with the findings of the review due before the end of the year.

"I have been with the group 28 years and chief executive 10 years," he said.

"It has been a big investment for my whole career and my whole life and it [resigning] is not a decision I would like to take lightly.

"I expect the Board to listen to the findings of the review before we decide anything.

"But I am group chief executive and if a contract goes wrong, I take the blame for that as well the credit for the many, many contracts that go right.

"I care about this company significantly and it is very painful when we have all of these negative headlines.

"So for us, this wasn't good."

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Related stories
September 2012: Home Affairs Select Committee to grill G4S chief and Coe on London 2012 security
August 2012: G4S withdraws from bidding for Brazil 2014 and Rio 2016 security contracts after London 2012 shambles
July 2012: More than thousand standby Olympic troops deployed to protect London 2012
July 2012: Extra 1,200 troops put on standby for London 2012
July 2012: London 2012 security error "a humiliating shambles", admits G4S boss

Tonia Couch criticises GB diving chief Alexei Evangulov

By Brent Pilnick BBC Sport at the Plymouth Life Centre Tonia Couch has criticised British Diving's performance director Alexei Evangulov for the way he handled the decision not to pick her for the individual 10m event at London 2012.

Couch lost an appeal against the decision on Thursday.

"The manager didn't tell me himself," the 23-year-old told BBC Sport.

"Communication was needed and we didn't have any of that. Hopefully in the future he's learnt his lesson and maybe we'll start communicating."

Couch, who is back in training in her home town of Plymouth, considered appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but instead is concentrating on the 10m synchro pairs, for which she has been selected with partner Sarah Barrow.

They are the reigning European champions after winning the first female British gold medal for 74 years and have also been successful at the World Series and the World Cup.

Such a run of form makes them strong medal contenders for London, although Couch admitted the dispute over her non-selection for the individual event will leave a sour taste.

"Yes, I'm absolutely gutted, but there's nothing I can do.

"We already got told it was a 'no' from the boss and then we got told it was a 'no' again on the appeal," she added.

"We didn't want to take it any further because I just want to focus on what I have to do and put everything else to one side.

"We can do really well, we've had a good year, but there's six people fighting for those three medals so it's going to be tough.

"We'll have to see how it goes on the day, our training's going really well, we got a British record at the nationals, so fingers crossed that everything goes into London and we do well."

Tonia Couch criticises GB diving chief Alexei Evangulov

By Brent Pilnick BBC Sport at the Plymouth Life Centre Tonia Couch has criticised British Diving's performance director Alexei Evangulov for the way he handled the decision not to pick her for the individual 10m event at London 2012.

Couch lost an appeal against the decision on Thursday.

"The manager didn't tell me himself," the 23-year-old told BBC Sport.

"Communication was needed and we didn't have any of that. Hopefully in the future he's learnt his lesson and maybe we'll start communicating."

Couch, who is back in training in her home town of Plymouth, considered appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but instead is concentrating on the 10m synchro pairs, for which she has been selected with partner Sarah Barrow.

They are the reigning European champions after winning the first female British gold medal for 74 years and have also been successful at the World Series and the World Cup.

Such a run of form makes them strong medal contenders for London, although Couch admitted the dispute over her non-selection for the individual event will leave a sour taste.

"Yes, I'm absolutely gutted, but there's nothing I can do.

"We already got told it was a 'no' from the boss and then we got told it was a 'no' again on the appeal," she added.

"We didn't want to take it any further because I just want to focus on what I have to do and put everything else to one side.

"We can do really well, we've had a good year, but there's six people fighting for those three medals so it's going to be tough.

"We'll have to see how it goes on the day, our training's going really well, we got a British record at the nationals, so fingers crossed that everything goes into London and we do well."