By Duncan Mackay
November 14 – Jonathan Ford (pictured), a senior executive with Coca-Cola, has been offered the £100,000 a year job of chief executive of the Football Association of Wales (FAW).
The 39-year-old, who has also worked with music channel MTV, was one of 91 people who applied to replace David Collins, who retires in January when he is 65.
Ford, who is English but has Welsh family connections, has worked at Coca-Cola since 2000 and was latterly their European sports sponsorship manager, leading campaigns at the Olympic Games, World Cup and Wimbledon.
The FAW wants Ford to help them grow their income through sponsorship and match day revenues.
Ford has extensive experience in football having managed Coca-Cola’s marketing strategy at Euro 2000 in Holland and Belgium, Euro 2004 in Portugal and the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
He has also worked on the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
Ford was previously head of sponsorship and promotions at Atlantic 252 radio station after four years at MTV.
The Hull University graduate was headhunted by Atlantic 252 in December 1998 where he finished as MTV’s project director where his role included the sale and delivery of the prestigious MTV Europe Music Awards and their movie equivalent.
FAW president Phil Pritchard refused to officially identify the successful candidate.
He said: “We are waiting for loose ends to be tied up.”
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