Footballers are becoming the new rock stars.
And the two worlds are “overlapping” with a new generation of Premier League stars making moves into music, fashion and beyond. The showbiz manager who guided the likes of Dua Lipa and Lana Del Ray to superstardom is now helping the likes of Manchester City £45m new boy Kalvin Phillips realise his full potential.
Top showbiz manager Ben Mawson, of Tap Management, is now helping footballers maximise their potential while also teaching agents to expand their knowledge on a UEFA “masters style” Player Agent Programme. It is designed for current agents, former players and would-be agents to learn how to increase the marketing and commercial value of their stars and there is a growing move towards management but also players branching out into music and fashion.
Mawson said: “Kalvin is very handsome, the fashion press like him a lot and he’s got a good personality, down to earth, Leeds born and bred and now he’s got his big money move to Manchester City. He’s a hard worker but his focus is still football. But a club like Manchester City enhances his opportunities. It would be nice if he came home with a winner’s medal in December! It’s amazing the UEFA are doing this programme where agents get a broad coaching and that can only be a positive. Historically, agents haven’t always had the best reputation but things are modernising.
“The most important thing for any player is to perform well and they can concentrate on their football. But I feel strongly you need to control the commercial deals and you have to be able to say no but yes to the right things, the things that work strategically. I knew football was a very different world and there’s a lot of people in football who say they do management but they’re not really. It’s still more traditional agent. There’s plenty of examples in American sport about good management, particularly in basketball.”
Mawson went to school with Liverpool legend Sir Kenny Dalglish’s son Paul, became a barrister but then moved into the music industry when Lana Del Ray asked him to be her manager in 2009. But it was when Dua Lipa performed her hit One Kiss - which has now been adopted by Liverpool fans as their anthem - at the 2018 Champions League final in Kiev when he made contacts with UEFA and expanded his move into sport and particularly football. It is a far cry from the days of Chris Waddle and Glenn Hoddle singing Diamond Lights or Gazza’s brief foray into becoming a pop star with players now starting their own fashion labels but also taking advice from the showbiz world.
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Mawson said: “Funnily enough, I’ve been talking to some Belgian agents about football but while talking they wanted me to help with their artist Gala who has a song Freed From Desire and now that song is at every football match in Europe. This 1996 dance hit has become a huge sporting anthem. Dua Lipa’s One Kiss has been adopted by Liverpool fans. The way songs are picked up in football is an interesting crossover between football and music. Football and fashion are becoming more relevant with players on the catwalk, Jack Grealish has a tie-up with Gucci and all these worlds overlap. Hector Bellerin has his own fashion label. There’s a few interesting ones out there. Apparently there’s a young kid in the Chelsea academy who has got big potential and that might be one to watch and a long way from Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle or Paul Gascoigne!
“Others have made a success of it already. Beckham was managed by a music manager. In football, Kelly Hogarth has done a great job with Marcus Rashford because he’s been a great success because of his outside activities and that’s not a commercial thing - it’s who he really is.” Mawson will now give advice and speak to wannabe agents on the UEFA course with established agents already signed up with former players and figures from across the game.
It is done to help a changing world of sport and showbiz but also to help not just the agents but to secure the future of players as, incredibly, UEFA stats show that around 40 per cent of players are broke within five years of retiring. Mawson added: “I knew the stats were bad, but that is shocking and they get a lot of money when they’re very young but that’s something we’re putting attention on because there’s some sad examples out there who are spending their cash on the wrong things. You need good advice from the best people and it’s not just players but agents as well as clubs who want advice with their brand.”
