Post by Macmoish on Jul 29, 2011 5:36:10 GMT
Guardian/Owen Gibson
The FA to be given a year to reform or face change through legislation
• Select committee report will seek to extend the FA's power
• The Premier League would resist increases in the FA's remit
The government is due to give English football a deadline of shortly after the 2012 Olympic Games to undertake a radical overhaul of its governance arrangements or it will legislate to force change.
A long-awaited report from the culture, media and sport select committee is on Friday expected to call on the Football Association to completely reorganise its structures, slimming down and adding more independence to the main board while modernising the FA Council. If the FA carries out the reforms, the government would aim to establish it as the national game's ultimate governing body.
It is believed the report will recommend the FA takes on overarching responsibility for a new licensing system that would give it control of a consistent set of rules on club ownership and finances, and could lead to it administering a regime along the lines of Uefa's financial fair play idea.
That would be resisted by the Premier League, which would argue there is effectively a licensing system in place through the Uefa process, which is administered here by the Premier League and signed off by the FA. Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, would argue that his organisation is best placed to regulate its members and must retain the independence to make changes unilaterally. It will point to the progress made in strengthening its rules since the implosion of Portsmouth and argue the FA should concentrate on the England team, the grassroots game and coaching rather than expanding its remit. Such a response would not be welcomed by the government, which is determined to make progress on the issue.
The report is likely to herald an intense period of negotiation between the FA, the Premier League and the Football League over the best way forward.
There is support within the government for the moves made by the FA's chairman, David Bernstein, in standing up to Fifa and introducing nonexecutive directors to the FA board, but a belief he needs to go further. Bernstein favours incremental change that will take the majority of the organisation with him.
But the FA also raised the prospect, in evidence to the committee, of overseeing a domestic version of Uefa's FFP break-even rules and playing more of a "supervisory role" in relation to the Premier League.
"On this and a number of other areas, we believe the FA's supervisory role should be increased. Perhaps we have allowed some of these things to drift away from us," Bernstein said. "We think self-regulation by the leagues is absolutely right, but our supervision over the way that's done could be upgraded."
After the select committee, chaired by the Conservative MP John Whittingdale, issues its report on Friday the government is expected to respond by the autumn. It is likely to adopt the majority of the recommendations and threaten legislation if significant progress has not been made within a year.
The report is likely to recommend that the football creditors rule is scrapped, that the next Premier League chairman – replacing the divisive Sir Dave Richards – is limited to a fixed term, and that the disciplinary process is overhauled.
There will be support for more fan representation in the mould of the Arsenal Supporters Trust scheme, which gives privileged access to club accounts and regular dialogue with the board. But that may not go far enough for many fans' organisations, which hoped that a promise made in the coalition's policy blueprint would give rise to more radical moves.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jul/28/the-fa-reform-legislative-change
The FA to be given a year to reform or face change through legislation
• Select committee report will seek to extend the FA's power
• The Premier League would resist increases in the FA's remit
The government is due to give English football a deadline of shortly after the 2012 Olympic Games to undertake a radical overhaul of its governance arrangements or it will legislate to force change.
A long-awaited report from the culture, media and sport select committee is on Friday expected to call on the Football Association to completely reorganise its structures, slimming down and adding more independence to the main board while modernising the FA Council. If the FA carries out the reforms, the government would aim to establish it as the national game's ultimate governing body.
It is believed the report will recommend the FA takes on overarching responsibility for a new licensing system that would give it control of a consistent set of rules on club ownership and finances, and could lead to it administering a regime along the lines of Uefa's financial fair play idea.
That would be resisted by the Premier League, which would argue there is effectively a licensing system in place through the Uefa process, which is administered here by the Premier League and signed off by the FA. Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, would argue that his organisation is best placed to regulate its members and must retain the independence to make changes unilaterally. It will point to the progress made in strengthening its rules since the implosion of Portsmouth and argue the FA should concentrate on the England team, the grassroots game and coaching rather than expanding its remit. Such a response would not be welcomed by the government, which is determined to make progress on the issue.
The report is likely to herald an intense period of negotiation between the FA, the Premier League and the Football League over the best way forward.
There is support within the government for the moves made by the FA's chairman, David Bernstein, in standing up to Fifa and introducing nonexecutive directors to the FA board, but a belief he needs to go further. Bernstein favours incremental change that will take the majority of the organisation with him.
But the FA also raised the prospect, in evidence to the committee, of overseeing a domestic version of Uefa's FFP break-even rules and playing more of a "supervisory role" in relation to the Premier League.
"On this and a number of other areas, we believe the FA's supervisory role should be increased. Perhaps we have allowed some of these things to drift away from us," Bernstein said. "We think self-regulation by the leagues is absolutely right, but our supervision over the way that's done could be upgraded."
After the select committee, chaired by the Conservative MP John Whittingdale, issues its report on Friday the government is expected to respond by the autumn. It is likely to adopt the majority of the recommendations and threaten legislation if significant progress has not been made within a year.
The report is likely to recommend that the football creditors rule is scrapped, that the next Premier League chairman – replacing the divisive Sir Dave Richards – is limited to a fixed term, and that the disciplinary process is overhauled.
There will be support for more fan representation in the mould of the Arsenal Supporters Trust scheme, which gives privileged access to club accounts and regular dialogue with the board. But that may not go far enough for many fans' organisations, which hoped that a promise made in the coalition's policy blueprint would give rise to more radical moves.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jul/28/the-fa-reform-legislative-change