The Griffin Report: From dugouts to boardrooms with Intercity CEO Charlie Blakemore
He was the manager of the lowest-ranked team in the English footballing pyramid ever to reach the third round of the most famous cup competition in the world, the FA Cup. Yet CHARLIE BLAKEMORE still found time to be a successful, globe-trotting businessman. JON GRIFFIN discovers more about the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce non-executive director.
Charlie Blakemore looks back on his days as a globe-trotting international businessman and non-league footballing giant-killer with wry amusement…
“I was in charge of 7,000 people in the UK munitions business with seven sites. At the same time I was trying to manage Chasetown’s FA Cup run. It was crazy.”
In the lengthy annals of footballing and business history the CE0 of Birmingham-based IT specialists Intercity may well hold a unique career record combining boardrooms and dugouts, company acquisitions and last-minute goal heroics.
The Wolverhampton-born IT boss boasts a stellar CV which has seen him hold down international executive posts with global giants BAE Systems – at the same time as plotting giant-killing footballing exploits as manager of non-league Chasetown.
Charlie has led teams of thousands in the rarefied executive world – jetting around the globe at the helm of major BAE corporations. But in the rather less exclusive world of non-league football he will always be the man who steered little Chasetown to FA Cup glory, beating Football League outfits Port Vale and Oldham and giving Cardiff City a mighty fright on a dank winter’s day in Staffordshire back in January 2008.
The Intercity CE0 may have notched up plenty of successes at boardroom level – but in the wider world of grassroots sport he is remembered as manager of the lowest-ranked team in the English footballing pyramid ever to reach the third round of the most famous cup competition in the world, the FA Cup.
Even today, after more than 40 years of business success which saw him climb the ladder from shopfloor apprentice with GKN to lead teams of up to 13,000 at executive level within BAE Systems, the pitchside memories burn equally brightly for the former Chasetown boss.
And for a man who has mixed with Prime Ministers, senior government figures, top military brass at home and abroad and other VIPs, Charlie still considers his all-time dream job would have been manager of his beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“Wolves would have been a top, top dream for me. I have been a Wolves fan since I was a young kid and grown up with them, the frustrations, the highs and the lows. I would have absolutely loved the Wolves job.”
But while Charlie – who combines his Intercity CE0 job with a non-executive directorship at Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) – never made to the Molineux dugout, he’s enjoyed an extraordinary business career which has taken him all over the world in a variety of prestige roles, notably with BAE Systems.
Throughout, he has always prided himself on an ability to get on with people at all levels, a habit he first developed growing up in his late father’s pub in Codsall Wood, where as a football-mad youngster he first encountered journalist legend Denis Sunley, West Bromwich Albion reporter for the Express and Star for many years.
“Denis used to come and have a pint in there. I was fascinated because I was football-mad from the minute I could walk. He was such a lovely guy – he used to tell me he had just met Derek Statham, Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham, Ron Atkinson…I was in awe of Denis doing his job.”
Decades later Charlie would achieve awe-inspiring achievements of his own in business and football – but his career started in humble surroundings as a technical apprentice with the then GKN Defence.
As he quickly progressed through the ranks with the defence group, which later became Alvis Vickers before being taken over by BAE Systems, so his talents as a goal-scoring striker took him to schoolboy honours with Shropshire and a distinguished playing career at non-league level with the likes of Shifnal Town, Rushall Olympic, Stourbridge, Bridgnorth Town, Bilston and his beloved Chasetown, where he went on to play over 300 games.
“There are a lot of analogies that I have pulled from sport into my business career. That journey of starting as an apprentice and working with the shopfloor guys and understanding that everyone in the business has a part to play, was invaluable to me.
“The thing with football is that you are in front of 11 players from all different backgrounds. Different things motivate different people – it is the same as business. It’s not one size fits all with people, it needs to be tailored.”
As his business career progressed, so his footballing CV flourished, managing Shifnal Town’s Under-18s at the age of just 21 and later coaching at the Wolves Academy under the wing of highly regarded ex-Wolves player Rob Kelly.
Meanwhile, by the time of the Alvis takeover of GKN Defence, he had progressed to Project Manager level.
After completing a five-year Master’s Degree at Warwick University, he was appointed to the board of Alvis Vehicles, a £300m turnover business, by the age of just 30. As operations director he found himself running a 400-strong team based at Telford.
“It was the most fantastic learning experience – I was mixing with Major-Generals, I was having to have difficult conversations on programmes with Colonels. Then we bought Vickers, so I did my first big acquisition and integration of Alvis to Vickers. Then in 2002 BAE Systems bought the lot.
“All of a sudden this lad who has come up from the shopfloor in Telford is now being exposed to the opportunities that this huge business can offer – and also some of the challenges.”
Charlie’s career under BAE Systems had reached new heights, leading its £20m turnover military bridging division in Wolverhampton before running operations for the UK munitions arm whilst also taking the manager’s job at Chasetown in 2004.
“How I did it, I don’t know. I had two phones, a work one and a football one. They were both red hot.”
After five years with the munitions business, he was promoted to MD of the global combat systems business, a £1.2bn turnover concern with a 13,000-strong workforce. “I was spending four to five days in Washington a month as well as running Chasetown in the FA Cup and FA Trophy runs.”
Eventually his business commitments forced him to step aside from the Chasetown dugout in 2013 leaving behind a host of wonderful memories – and after spells at executive level in the shipyards and air sectors he was offered a non-executive director’s role at Birmingham IT firm Intercity by owner Andrew Jackson.
Seeking to spend more time with wife Charlotte and daughters Emily and Lily he jumped at the chance.
“After two or three years Andrew asked me to run the business. I was made up as group MD. We were at £29m turnover in 2021, and we have gone to £60m after three years of incredible growth. I have a vision to take the business to £100m turnover and over 500 employees by 2030. We have got this business bouncing, it’s brilliant.”
But Charlie admits football remains his biggest passion outside his family. He is a season ticket holder at Wolves, occasionally goes to watch Chasetown and still plays five-a-side and veterans’ football, at nearly 57. “I banged in a goal the other day,” he says, with a broad grin.
This article first appeared in the July/August 2024 edition of Chamberlink magazine.
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