“Always be prepared for the unexpected” and “be a couple of steps ahead”, are just two crucial parts of ESEM’s philosophy. Both of these were tested during our first Champions League group stage match project of the season in Manchester, where European football event number 383 in the history of our company turned into a particularly memorable one.

We always tell our clients, that apart from the weather and the result of the match, we can control and influence all aspects of the project. When the team, officials, sponsors, guests and journalists of Borussia Mönchengladbach departed their hotels on a mild Manchester September evening, nobody could have envisaged what was to unfold in the coming hours.

The sky had been turning a very dark shade of grey, but that wasn’t anything too unusual in a city like Manchester. When the rain started, we all assumed it was just a sharp shower, but things got worse by the minute. By the time the team and other delegations had arrived at the Etihad Stadium, torrential rainfall, thunder and lightning were greeting them.

With the scheduled kick-off approaching, things were getting worse. The playing surface at the Etihad Stadium was flooded and attempts by the match officials to kick a ball on the pitch proved unsuccessful, the ball got stuck in huge puddles.

At this stage we decided to look a couple of steps ahead and inform our drivers, guides and project assistants to be on standby, just in case the decision had to be made to cancel the match. We contacted the hotels, where the delegations were supposed to return after the match and informed them about the situation. We asked them to check their availability for the next day, should the team and other delegations have to extend their stay in Manchester for the re-scheduled match. We also informed our transport companies and asked them to make provisions to provide all the vehicles the next day all over again, should the match be postponed and re-scheduled.

Just after 20.00 hours the local authorities in Manchester decided to cancel the match, due to safety concerns for the supporters around the stadium, as parts of the city had been flooded by the rain and a lightning strike had temporarily stopped the local Metro service. As our staff and drivers had been in their position since the first indication of a possible postponement, things happened very quickly now, the team and other delegations returned to their vehicles and returned to their hotels to await the news on when the match would be played.

The team hotel brought the post-match dinner for players and staff forward to 21.00 hours, so as soon as the team returned to the hotel, they immediately ate and even managed to catch up with the ongoing Champions League matches on television.

When it was decided that the match would be played the next day at 19.45 hours local time, the Borussia Mönchengladbach’s organisation staff, their travel partners from Liga Travel, a representative from the charter airline and the ESEM team gathered in the team hotel to take the appropriate actions. Flights were booked and re-scheduled, as some guests had to leave Manchester before kick-off the next day due to other commitments; hotel allocations were extended until just before kick-off, the team decided to stay in Manchester for another night, so bedrooms, dining space and meeting rooms were secured for another day. A new warm-up training session was organised for the next morning, so the team would have the same routine as on the original match day. Groundhog Day!

Our transport companies were advised of the new schedule for the match day and by 23.00 hours, just an hour and a half after the scheduled end of the original match, everything was in place for Match Day 2.0, which turned into a warm and sunny day and everything went ahead as scheduled just 24 hours earlier.

The close cooperation between all parties involved in the project, from the club, to their travel agency, the charter airline, to the ESEM team and our carefully selected partners, including hotels, transport companies, guides and project assistants was the basis for the smooth handling of this very unusual situation. We are grateful for the outstanding collaboration and were delighted with the excellent feedback from the club and our client after this event.