Project and Quality Management
.

Liverpool Football Club Case Study
Liverpool football club is the most successful English club in European football, with five UEFAChampions League titles. The most recent victory was 2005, when Rafael Ben?tez’s team fought back from 3-0 down at half-time to defeat AC Milan in Istanbul. Their domestic campaign, however, has not been very successful since the forming of English Premier League (EPL) in 1992: the Merseysiders claimed their 18th and last English crown in 1990, without winning any league title in the EPL’s 20- year history1. After finishing in 8th position in the 2011-12 season, the worst league finish in 18 years,Brendan Rodgers was appointed the new manager. Rogers promised that he would “fight for his life”to bring success and ultimately the title to Anfield2.
After nine EPL matches, Liverpool is at 12th place on the table – 12 points behind leader Chelsea, and 6 points behind local rival Everton, whom they drew 2-2 on Sunday 28th October 2012. Included below is the news coverage from Liverpool Daily Post on 29th October 20123: Rodgers’s men surrendered a two-goal lead before the interval as they were held to a 2-2 draw at Goodison in the 219th meeting with Everton yesterday.
But the visitors could have snatched a winner in the fourth minute of injury time when Luis Suarez converted a Sebastian Coates but saw the effort wrongly disallowed by assistant referee Simon Bennett.
“Instead of being a well-deserved and brilliant win for us, we are left feeling frustrated,” saidRodgers.
“At the same time I am very proud because of the way my young team performed in a real cauldron. They stood up in that atmosphere.
“I was bitterly disappointed at not getting the winner. It was a brilliant game and I thought we stood up well. I am so disappointed it didn’t count because it was an easy decision. ”
It was the latest in what Rodgers believes is a series of calls to have gone against Liverpool, but he added: “I am not going to keep going on about officials because it has been happening to us all season. But that one at the end was quite straightforward.”
Young trio Raheem Sterling, Suso and Andre Wisdom – along with Joe Allen, NuriSahin and Coates –  all made their derby debuts yesterday.
And Rodgers added: “I am very proud when you look at the team today with Raheem at 17, Suso 18,Wisdom 19, JonjoShelvey 20, while Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson are 22.
“They are all young players who will only grow and get better. They played against a team with great experience at this level. ”
1 http://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/teams/club=7889/profile/index.html
2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18294032
3 http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/sport/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2012/10/29/brendan-rodgerssays-liverpool-fc-should-have-won-merseyside-derby-99623-32121793/2/

Assignment Task
Element 1: A Quality Report:
You are required to produce a report (maximum 1500 words) to:
1. Provide realistic aims and objectives in terms of appropriate improvement in overall club performance.
2. Outline the quality system options available, comparing and contrasting their relative merits and suitability for this application.
3. Produce realistic timetable for improvement and a methodology for measuring change.
4. Recommend a methodology and timetable for improvement providing justification for your approach.
You may use the theory taught on the module to support your ideas but this should only form abasis of your work. Remember this is a research task and as such you must conduct further readingto find the appropriate level of detail that you may need. You may wish to consider:
• Set aims and objectives in terms of club improvement. You should produce realistic expectation and your report should explain your reasoning.
• You should compare and contrast alternative quality approaches and suggest an appropriate methodology to deliver the results that support your expectations.
• Investigate the key aspects which contribute to the success of football clubs and other relevant organisations.
• You should recommend a strategy for, as well as a method of, introduction.
• You may wish to investigate previous results to analyse performance and suggest ways to improve. However, this should concentrate on club management as opposed to say team strategy or training techniques.
• You should consider any area you think appropriate as long as you can make it relevant to the topic. Your report must be professionally presented and provide a well-balanced argument for change.