How Ted Lasso is getting ready for Martyn’s Law

Leslie Higgins sighed and looked at the sea of blank faces.

“Martyn’s Law. We need to be ready for it,” he said, gesturing to the Power Point presentation on the screen in front of them.

Ted nodded: “I agree, we need to be playing our part in keeping the fans of AFC Richmond, our staff, and the visiting teams and fans safe. Been reading up on it since the law got the Royal Assent…”

He turned to Trent Crimm who was busy making notes in his reporter’s notebook…

“…I love that the King gets to sign stuff, then it’s law. I bet he’s got a gold pen, or something…”

Trent laughed: “He’s not fond of leaking pens…”

Ted shrugged: “Look, I know for a lot of you it’s wake up, football, shower, eat, sleep, repeat. But you ALL need to know about this, whether you’re a player, ground staff, or sell replica shirts in the club store. We all need to work together on our plan. Go ahead, Leslie, do your Director of Football thing and tell us the main points…”

Leslie changed the slide to a shot of Ariana Grande.

“In May 17th 2017, 22 innocent victims were killed at the bombing of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester Arena…”

He swapped slides to show a picture of Martyn Hett.

“One of the victims was Martyn Hett. He’s the man this new law is named after. His mother Figen Murray campaigned for it for years.”

A new slide showed fans at the turnstiles in AFC Richmond’s ground.

“The law gives venues new legal responsibilities to protect the public and help prevent terrorist attacks,” Leslie continued.

“Football stadia like ours are covered by it and we’ll have to up our game with even more detailed risk assessments than the current ones, a thorough plan in the event something does happen, and effective staff training.

“We’ve got consultants from Penarth Management coming in next week to assess where we are exactly in relation to Martyn’s Law, and we need all of you to give them your time. They need to get a clear picture of what we need to do. 

“They’re also recommending an online compliance software package called Mango to cut down on the physical paperwork and allow us to access all the documents we need to wherever we’ve got an internet connection.”

Rebecca strode to the front. 

“I’ll be doing that from the spa, then! The most important thing is to be honest with the consultants. This needs to be a warts and all look at where we are,” she said.

Roy Kent humphed: “No need to worry on that score. I’m down to take them on a stadium tour. I’ll show them some warts…”

Everyone laughed.

Ted said: “Every day is a chance to be better than we were the day before, isn’t it?”

Rebecca smiled: “It is, Ted! Let’s get our stadium and club ready for those big matches. Ted and I are off to the FA Cup Final on May 17th, which is also, co-incidentally, the anniversary of the Manchester attack. We’ll be thinking of Martyn and his mum, and all the other people who died or were injured.

“One thing’s for sure. I intend to do my level best as club owner to prevent any of our AFC Richmond family suffering in the same way.”

• Find out how Mango’s online compliance software could help your sports club comply with Martyn’s Law. Book a free demonstration which will be delivered via Zoom. We can help you with a Martyn’s Law assessment, too. Call Penarth Management on 029 2070 3328 or email info@penarth.co.uk