He approached fellow professional golfers Derrick Cooper, Denis Durnian, Phil Harrison and Carl Mason, and agreed a deal to manage their careers, operating with an initial £10,000 overdraft from a back room at Mere Golf Club.

Flintoff went on to propel Chandler and his company into the spotlight during the 2005 Ashes series, while Fairbrother took a post at ISM himself after retiring from cricket in 2002[7] before setting up Phoenix Management in 2018.

The increasing success of ISM, and particularly the original golf sector, became apparent in 2010 and 2011; after the victory of longtime client Darren Clarke at the 2011 Open Championship, ISM had represented four of the previous five major championship winners, namely Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Rory McIlroy and Clarke himself.

[8] McIlroy regretted his decision in 2010 to give up his PGA Tour card, and skipping the 2010 Players Championship at Sawgrass that year.

Chandler's aversion to the PGA Tour was cited by McIlroy as one of the main reasons for their split.