valencia-soccer news

Platinum One sports new office in Spain

FINTAN DRURY’S Platinum One sports and events management agency has opened an office in Barcelona. Drury has signed up La Liga clubs Valencia, Espanyol and Sevilla, the reigning Uefa Cup winners, and is seeking pre-season friendlies for the clubs.

Drury has hired Greg Davies, formerly of IMG, the world’s most influential sports management group, to head the operation in Spain, which he hopes will provide a springboard for business in continental Europe. “We hope to grow our franchise throughout Europe from Barcelona,” said Drury. “Greg has a lot of experience in professional

Drury plans to target football, golf, conferences and event management in Spain and hopes to work with sports federations across Europe. This is Drury’s second geographic expansion this year. In January, he acquired a sponsorship company owned by the former Scotland and Lions rugby captain Gavin Hastings, who now chairs that business. “We see the Spanish market as providing a mirror image of what we’re doing in Ireland and Scotland,” said Drury. Platinum One has about 30 staff. It is expected to post profits this year of up to €800,000 on turnover of about €6m. Drury represents a number of leading soccer and rugby internationals, including Liam Miller, Gordon D’Arcy, Shane Horgan and Denis Hickie. He has also acted as agent to Brian Kerr, the former manager of the Irish soccer team, and the FAI technical director Packie Bonner. The agency has worked with the PGA European Tour since 1994 and has been retained by Ryder Cup Limited since 1998 on the staging of the 2006 tournament in Ireland. Hastings’ company was involved in the successful bid to secure the Ryder Cup for Scotland at Gleneagles in 2014, an event that Drury is targeting. Drury is also chairman of Paddy Power and a non-executive director of Anglo Irish Bank. He stepped down as chairman of the RTE Authority earlier this year to avoid a potential conflict over television coverage of the Ryder Cup. RTE was seeking free-to-air rights for the event, which had been acquired by Sky Sports. The communications minister Noel Dempsey eventually decided against designating the event for terrestrial coverage.

golf and football in Spain, which are our two key markets.”