A life in the day of..........

GARETH MORRIS - General Manager Warrington Wolves RLFC

When Warrington are playing at home my day starts early, much earlier than I think people would expect.  The game was a 3 o'clock kick off but I arrived on site at 9am.

First job.....a cup of tea, which helps me focus, I focus even better if it's made for me!  I then check the rooms, making sure that they are set correctly and to our standard.  I check that last minute changes have been acknowledged, that lights are all working, TV's are tuned in, all doors are opened, they are clean and as it was a hot day today, I opened all the windows and shut the blinds, just to make sure they would be cool to receive our guests.  This will be the last time I visit our guest rooms prior to my pre-match walk round with Andy Gatcliffe, WW RLFC's Chief Executive.   

On that point, Andy Gatcliffe I mean, we are blessed to have such a forward thinking Chief Executive, we as a supplier to the club feel as much a part of their team, we talk regularly and work together to achieve our common goals of making sure Warrington Wolves RLFC is the best it can be.

When I'm satisfied the rooms are perfect, I then prepare all the information that my team of staff will need for the day.  This I do with my management team, every General Manager is only as good as the team that backs him up, my team is my back up.  They are made up of event managers, supervisors and back office support. Claire, Michelle, Anthony, Ian, Mike, Dawn & Emma. We, that is management team and Ian and his chefs then discuss the day, ensure we all know the menus, the final numbers, the specific diets, etc. (we always know this as Dawn and Emma, our Business Office Team wouldn't sleep at night if they thought we didn't know every tiny detail before an event!)

 This includes making up the floats of change for all the bars, preparing the signing in sheets, allocating the staff into their teams and preparing the staff brief.

Our staff, one of our most valuable commodities, are regular, the majority of them have been here as long as me, that's February 2005.  They have grown with us and are a real asset to our company.  The staff briefings for a match day normally remain the same, with slight changes incorporating special guests, specific dietary requirements, targets, I'll also use this opportunity to feedback guests comments to them from previous events, these have always been brilliant - I am a proud man.

11am is here before I know it, that is when my team of staff arrive, I like to welcome them personally so make sure I have a 10 minutes or so free to greet them, not only to say hi and how are you but also to ensure they are looking Heathcotes Great, uniform clean, pressed, no outlandish hair, jewellery etc. I'm sure you all know the score!

11.15am staff arrived, looking good and in the right places for their team briefs, I enjoy a lovely cup of tea, just a quick one though!

12.00noon Hospitality opens.  My role on a matchday is a roving one.  My management team are allocated areas that they oversee, I go everywhere!  I like to see all our guests are receiving lunch and drinks, that our food looks fantastic.   

I like to catch up with our regulars, Andy and the Board, our guests , new visitors to us and special guests.  During this time I may jump in to "service" that is give a team a little push if they need it, go behind the bar and dispense some drinks, service some drinks, jump onto a food team or whatever.  I do like to keep close to the commercial team at this time, just in case there's any last minute changes or "banana skins".

Kick off comes round ever so quickly on a match day, yep it's approaching 3pm!  I make sure all our guests know where they are going to see the game and then check our teams are good, are having a good service and are servicing the rooms, removing any dirty glasses, cutlery, changing table linen if required etc.  ½ time comes round ever so quickly and yes our teams are busy making sure all our guests have extra drinks and food, we don't have long to fit all this in so our staff are flat out at this time.  I check and will base myself in the area that I feel could be under most pressure or could do with my help.

Its 5pm the game is over, and we've won, another fantastic effort from our team.  I remain "front of house" for a while to say goodbye to our visitors and with my team we plan the "turnaround" for the following day.  We don't start this until a room is empty, I really don't like stripping a room in front of guests.  Today we have quite a few needed for tomorrow morning so once the team are underway with this job and our guests have gone, I make my way to the office or "back of house".  Time for another cup of tea!  I oversee the float returns and bid farewell to those staff that are leaving.  When I am comfortable that the room turnarounds are happening and that the team remaining on site are comfortable I go home to my wife Helen and son James (if he's still up!)

It's 7pm.

Matchday is not finished there though, the next day - 8am.  I balance the tills from yesterday, this includes counting cash, reconciling the credit cards and totalling the accounts that need to be issued.  Once completed all the figures are processed that is the staff figures and forward it all to head office.  As this match has fallen at the end of a week, I check on our sales figures for the period and double check how our costs are looking in line with our budget.  All done for 9am - I go to see Andy Gatcliffe, a few reasons, he needs to approve any club accounts from yesterday but also to catch up with how he felt yesterday went and to gather any feedback he has.