From Production Agency to Premier League Glory: An Interview with Steve Parish
When Steve Parish sits down with DALIM SOFTWARE CEO Carol Werlé, the conversation feels less like an interview and more like two old friends rewinding the clock. Their relationship spans decades, industries, and a few unforgettable moments — including the day Parish drove a yellow Beetle from London to Strasbourg in 1999 to help take DALIM private.
“We’ve been through a lot together,” Carol laughs. “Back then you were running operations above me, and I was fixing things under a table. You went on to become a major figure in advertising — and eventually a Premier League chairman. Quite a journey.”
What follows is a candid reflection on technology, entrepreneurship, luck, crisis, and the strange way life connects the dots.
Early Encounters & the Technology That Changed Everything
Before he was chairman of Crystal Palace, before he led a global agency network, Steve Parish was just a young man in a rapidly changing industry.
“This company played a huge role in my career,” he begins. In the late 1980s and early 90s, digital production was chaotic. Designers worked in QuarkXPress, Photoshop, Illustrator — and nothing matched or reproduced consistently. Files were unpredictable, deadlines stressful, workflows fragile.
Then he discovered DALIM.
“At the time your technology was almost unseen — the plumbing of the industry. But it rationalised everything. Suddenly we had a way to check, correct, and manage files so they printed the way they were meant to. It was out of the ordinary.”
He remembers the first system he purchased. It cost upwards of £100,000 — a transformative investment. He didn’t just buy it; he demonstrated it, operated it, and built an entire business around it.
“We’d go into big London operations and ask for their most complicated job. Sometimes the system performed magic. Sometimes it didn’t — and we’d be chased out of the building with the box. But that’s how you learn.”
Those early years taught him everything: profit and loss, persuasion, risk-taking, digital production, and leadership.
Falling Into an Industry by Chance
Parish admits he entered the graphic arts world “by accident.”
“I was putting up ceilings for a living,” he says. “Hard, manual work. My father said, ‘Go and apply for this job — you can’t keep doing that.’ He had a contact in the industry, so I went along.”
That moment changed everything.
“Suddenly I found myself in a business transitioning from craft to digital. I’d taken one computer class at school — one Apple II for the whole class — but that tiny bit of experience made me the one-eyed man in the land of the blind.”
He mastered traditional retouching, masking, and studio techniques early on, then moved to another firm just as Macintosh computers revolutionised production.
“Age didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was whether you could deliver.”
Buying Companies & Building a Global Technology Powerhouse
The company Parish worked for eventually ran into financial trouble, but the part he ran — selling DALIM technology — was profitable. So he bought the distressed firms and took on both the production business and a technology integration business.
This became the foundation of TAG, the global agency he would later lead.
“We were obsessed with collaboration long before it was mainstream,” he recalls. Using DALIM’s next-generation platform, TAG developed CMD — one of the earliest systems for remote collaboration, workflow automation, and online review.
“Looking back, we were probably too early. If we’d taken another path, we might have built something like Shopify. Instead, we built a global digital asset management and workflow platform operating in 13 countries with around 3,000 people.”
TAG became one of the world’s largest marketing production agencies — and DALIM software sat at the core of its infrastructure.
The DALIM Management Buyout — A Defining Chapter
In 1998, DALIM faced financial strain despite having exceptional technology. Carol and Parish both understood the issue:
“You were never a failing business,” he says. “Just a good company pushed too hard, too fast.”
Together with Jim Salmon, Carol orchestrated a management buyout supported by investors from Germany, Japan, the U.S., and TAG — the very first investor to join.
“We didn’t really have a choice,” Parish jokes. “We relied on the technology. Our clients relied on it. If DALIM fell, our business fell.”
The acquisition anchored DALIM as a stable, independent global player — and powered TAG’s global growth.
From Creative Pressure to Football Pressure
Carol gestures toward him with a smile.
“So, what’s more stressful — launching a global brand campaign or defending a 1–0 Premier League lead in the 90th minute?”
Parish laughs.
“Stress changes with age. When you’re young, work feels heavier — the hours, the travel, the habits, constantly scanning for threats.
In business, everything is shades of grey. In football, it’s binary — win or lose.”
And the stakes?
“Relegation can take you from £200 million revenue to £20 million overnight. Emotionally brutal. But in some ways, physically easier than running a global agency — far less travel.”
Rebuilding Crystal Palace: Culture Starts With Foundations
When Parish bought Crystal Palace, the club was on the brink of extinction.
“It was on the floor,” he says. “Portable cabins for offices, infrastructure falling apart.”
One moment crystallised the problem:
“A coach told me he was trying to instill professionalism in the players. And as he’s saying it, a radiator literally fell off the wall behind him. You can’t talk about professionalism when the environment itself is collapsing.”
Parish recognised the need for a complete rebuild — not just facilities, but culture, communication, expectations, and ambition.
It was the same philosophy he used to rebuild production studios and agency operations.
Wembley. 90,000 Fans. Millions Watching. A Historic Moment.
Years of work culminated in an extraordinary day: Crystal Palace reaching the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
Over 90,000 fans filled the stadium. Millions watched worldwide. And nearly half the stadium — around 45,000 supporters — were cheering for Palace.
“I was born minutes from Selhurst Park,” Parish says. “To stand in Wembley, hearing that wall of Palace fans, with millions watching across the world… unbelievable.”
It was not just a victory for the club — but a symbolic completion of a rebuild that began the day he saw a radiator fall off a wall.
Closing Reflections: Lifelong Impact
Carol ends with gratitude.
“There are so many people here who owe their careers to the journey you helped shape. That small startup grew into an international technology company — and your role mattered.”
Parish nods and reveals a gift:
A Crystal Palace FA Cup winners’ shirt, worn on the pitch and signed by the entire squad.
“We didn’t have many of these,” he says. “But I wanted DALIM to have one. This place is a big part of my journey.”
Editor’s Note
This interview has been lightly adapted for clarity and narrative flow. All stories and statements remain genuine and faithful to the original conversation.