Post by QPR Report on Dec 9, 2008 8:09:15 GMT
Off With His Head! 
Telegraph/Paul Kelso
Richard Scudamore to defend Premier League in Parliamentary inquiry into game
Richard Scudamore will defend the Premier League's standards of governance and regulation in Westminster when he gives evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry into the state of the game.
Richard Scudamore to defend Premier League in Parliamentary inquiry into game
The chief executive has been called to address the Parliamentary All-Party Football Group as part of their inquiry into the state of the English game, and will use the opportunity to emphasise the steps the League have taken to improve their rules and regulations. In their submission to the inquiry the Premier League have said they are the best-run as well as most popular league in England.
The Premier League have come under pressure in recent weeks from the Football Association and the Government over club ownership, financial transparency, debt levels among the clubs and home-grown players.
Culture secretary Andy Burnham has written to the League and other football authorities asking for a response to questions he has raised about governance and financing.
FA chairman Lord Triesman, who will also give evidence along with Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney, has been openly critical of indebtedness among Premier League clubs and a lack of transparency around ownership.
Scudamore's argument will be underpinned by an analysis of the Premier League rulebook, which has almost doubled in size in the last 10 years. The 1998-99 Premier League handbook had 342 rules, while the most recent edition has 777. The biggest increases have come in relation to youth development and financial affairs, now governed by 81 rules. Scudamore will argue that this demonstrates that, far from adopting a laissez faire attitude to regulation, the League is the most rigorous in British sport.
The most significant rule changes in the League's handbook relate to financial compliance and the regulation of directors.
Scudamore will point to the introduction of the much-criticised fit-and-proper test, which goes further than UK company law in regulating who is able to become a director of a club, as an example of the League's willingness to self-regulate.
A legal working party are deciding ways of strengthening the test which will be presented to the clubs in the near future. It is likely that the test will be re-named, possibly as the Ownership Qualification Test.
Areas that may be considered are broadening the test to include money-laundering restrictions and potentially making the test a condition of due diligence prior to clubs being purchased, rather than investigations being carried out retrospectively.
The Premier League have also asked the Government to consider introducing rules to require overseas businesses to make more complete disclosure of company structures and ultimate beneficiaries.
Scudamore will also cite the recent ban on the involvement of third-parties in transfers, prompted by the Carols Tevez affair, as evidence of a willingness to deal with areas of concern as they arise.
Clubs are also required to meet Uefa-standard licensing criteria in relation to their financial affairs that are well in excess of those that apply in the Football League.
Scudamore is also likely to rebut any suggestion that levels of indebtedness are excessive in the Premier League. In recent weeks he has argued that debt per se is not a bad thing, and that what matters is whether it can be serviced.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/3660487/Richard-Scudamore-to-defend-Premier-League-in-Parliament-Football.html
Telegraph/Paul Kelso
Richard Scudamore to defend Premier League in Parliamentary inquiry into game
Richard Scudamore will defend the Premier League's standards of governance and regulation in Westminster when he gives evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry into the state of the game.
Richard Scudamore to defend Premier League in Parliamentary inquiry into game
The chief executive has been called to address the Parliamentary All-Party Football Group as part of their inquiry into the state of the English game, and will use the opportunity to emphasise the steps the League have taken to improve their rules and regulations. In their submission to the inquiry the Premier League have said they are the best-run as well as most popular league in England.
The Premier League have come under pressure in recent weeks from the Football Association and the Government over club ownership, financial transparency, debt levels among the clubs and home-grown players.
Culture secretary Andy Burnham has written to the League and other football authorities asking for a response to questions he has raised about governance and financing.
FA chairman Lord Triesman, who will also give evidence along with Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney, has been openly critical of indebtedness among Premier League clubs and a lack of transparency around ownership.
Scudamore's argument will be underpinned by an analysis of the Premier League rulebook, which has almost doubled in size in the last 10 years. The 1998-99 Premier League handbook had 342 rules, while the most recent edition has 777. The biggest increases have come in relation to youth development and financial affairs, now governed by 81 rules. Scudamore will argue that this demonstrates that, far from adopting a laissez faire attitude to regulation, the League is the most rigorous in British sport.
The most significant rule changes in the League's handbook relate to financial compliance and the regulation of directors.
Scudamore will point to the introduction of the much-criticised fit-and-proper test, which goes further than UK company law in regulating who is able to become a director of a club, as an example of the League's willingness to self-regulate.
A legal working party are deciding ways of strengthening the test which will be presented to the clubs in the near future. It is likely that the test will be re-named, possibly as the Ownership Qualification Test.
Areas that may be considered are broadening the test to include money-laundering restrictions and potentially making the test a condition of due diligence prior to clubs being purchased, rather than investigations being carried out retrospectively.
The Premier League have also asked the Government to consider introducing rules to require overseas businesses to make more complete disclosure of company structures and ultimate beneficiaries.
Scudamore will also cite the recent ban on the involvement of third-parties in transfers, prompted by the Carols Tevez affair, as evidence of a willingness to deal with areas of concern as they arise.
Clubs are also required to meet Uefa-standard licensing criteria in relation to their financial affairs that are well in excess of those that apply in the Football League.
Scudamore is also likely to rebut any suggestion that levels of indebtedness are excessive in the Premier League. In recent weeks he has argued that debt per se is not a bad thing, and that what matters is whether it can be serviced.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/3660487/Richard-Scudamore-to-defend-Premier-League-in-Parliament-Football.html