Spiders have snared best in business
Leeann Dempster has been backed to drive Queen’s Park to the top of the Scottish game by two of her biggest fans.
Motherwell CEO Alan Burrows and former Hibs boss Alan Stubbs reckon the Spiders have pulled off a masterstroke by making Dempster chief executive.
Burrows credits her for being the reason he went from diehard Well fan and PR man to head honcho.
And Stubbs insists he has never worked with anyone better in football.
Burrows said: “I owe it all to Leeann. She basically taught me the business side of the club.
“I was in the comms and PR side of things so we worked very closely for a good number of years and she gave me a real insight into running that side of things. She felt it was important for everyone to learn all aspects and that prepared me for what was to come in future years.
“She’d been working for John Boyle’s Zoom Airlines and came in initially in a consultancy role. We had similar views on how to run a football club and similar views on society in general.
“One of the things I admired was that she said that she wasn’t afraid to ask the silly questions.
“Leann was always asking why we were doing certain things and she used my experience as a fan.
“She asked me what would be easy ‘ wins’ in terms of getting supporters onside. One of the f irst things she did was take the Cooper Stand from visiting Old Firm fans and gave it back to home supporters.
“That was a great PR win. People might laugh but we a l s o brou g ht ba c k Chapman’s pies because, of course, John Chapman had been the former owner.
“The club had gone to other providers so we made a big deal of that and the fans really loved it.” It was
Dempster – along with head of footbal l operations George Craig – who convinced Hibs to charge Stubbs with resurrecting the club in 2014 after their disastrous relegation under Terry Butcher.
Within two years they ended their 114-year wait for Scottish Cup glory and the following season, under Neil Lennon, got promotion back to the Premiership.
Stubbs said: “She was a brilliant chief executive, by far the best I have ever worked with.
“I had a good feeling about Leeann from the first time I met her and the plans she and George laid out were what I wanted to hear.
“They wanted to change the set-up at the club to a more European style in what was a complete rebuilding job.
“She and George were so supportive. If there was something Leeann was maybe not quite sure about, she would trust me on it which was fantastic.
“She did an amazing job at Hibs considering what she inherited to what’s she’s just left.
“The club’s in a fantastic position compared to what she took over.
“She always went that extra mile to help me.
“It was the same with trying to sign players, par t icularly when we brought in Scott Allan. She stayed strong when Rangers were trying to sign him. I’ll always be grateful for that.”