Post by QPR Report on May 18, 2010 6:43:02 GMT
The Times/Matt Hughes
May 18, 2010
Football has until end of summer to reform, warns Government
England’s football authorities were given a strong warning from the new Government last night that they must reform their governance and power structures or face the prospect of external regulation.
As the aftershocks of Lord Triesman’s humiliating resignation as chairman of the FA and England’s 2018 bid continued to be felt, Hugh Robertson, the Minister for Sport, told The Times that unless the FA, Premier League and Football League take co-ordinated steps to modernise the Government will be forced to intervene.
The FA finds itself under the greatest scrutiny because Triesman’s departure as chairman follows a period of instability in which the governing body has had five chief executives in ten years, but Robertson favours a tripartite approach to solving the sport’s problems.
The Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent called on the FA to work with the Premier League and Football League to eradicate the conflicts of interest that have undermined all three organisations in the past and done considerable damage to England’s bid to host the World Cup.
It had been thought that a Conservative administration would not countenance the notion of a regulator for football, but even allowing for the possibility that his intervention is no more than a timely threat, Robertson’s words suggest that the football authorities cannot afford to be complacent.
Robertson has set a deadline of the end of the summer for football to demonstrate a willingness to reform. The Government’s main concerns are the divisions between the FA and Premier League, which led to the resignation of Ian Watmore as FA chief executive this year, and the FA’s antiquated power structure, with a board of directors comprised of representatives of the amateur and professional game who are answerable to the 92-strong FA Council.
There is also concern about a lack a leadership at the top of the organisation, given that it is without a chief executive and a chairman. “In terms of structural reform it’s pointless looking at the FA without also reforming the Premier League and the Football League,” Robertson said. “If you weaken one part of the tripod, then one of the other organisations will just step into the vacuum.
“We’ll give football the chance to sort itself out first by seeing how they plan to reform over the summer, and if it doesn’t work then the Government will step in. We need to take a serious look at reforming the governance and structure of football in this country.”
Despite the drive for changes, Robertson is convinced that the FA should still have an independent chairman, one of the few recommendations of the 2005 Burns Report into structural reform to be implemented. David Sheepshanks and Roger Burden have been installed as joint-acting chairmen, with Sheepshanks and Lord Mawhinney, the former Football League chairman, among the contenders to get the job on a permanent basis.
“You need an independent chairman,” Robertson said. “It didn’t work with Lord Triesman because he did something ill-advised. It’s an important principle that the FA should have an independent, non-executive chairman and they should go and recruit the best person for the job.”
The contenders
David Sheepshanks The former Ipswich Town and Football League chairman, after several years on the FA board, is joint-acting chairman
Lord Mawhinney The former Conservative Cabinet Minister recently stepped down after seven years as Football League chairman
Niall Ferguson The Reuters chairman is a football fanatic
Martin Broughton Outgoing chairman of BA was recently appointed chairman of Liverpool, but will be free when the club is sold
Mervyn Davies The former chief executive of Standard Chartered is available after losing his position as Trade Minster at the general election
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article7129193.ece
May 18, 2010
Football has until end of summer to reform, warns Government
England’s football authorities were given a strong warning from the new Government last night that they must reform their governance and power structures or face the prospect of external regulation.
As the aftershocks of Lord Triesman’s humiliating resignation as chairman of the FA and England’s 2018 bid continued to be felt, Hugh Robertson, the Minister for Sport, told The Times that unless the FA, Premier League and Football League take co-ordinated steps to modernise the Government will be forced to intervene.
The FA finds itself under the greatest scrutiny because Triesman’s departure as chairman follows a period of instability in which the governing body has had five chief executives in ten years, but Robertson favours a tripartite approach to solving the sport’s problems.
The Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent called on the FA to work with the Premier League and Football League to eradicate the conflicts of interest that have undermined all three organisations in the past and done considerable damage to England’s bid to host the World Cup.
It had been thought that a Conservative administration would not countenance the notion of a regulator for football, but even allowing for the possibility that his intervention is no more than a timely threat, Robertson’s words suggest that the football authorities cannot afford to be complacent.
Robertson has set a deadline of the end of the summer for football to demonstrate a willingness to reform. The Government’s main concerns are the divisions between the FA and Premier League, which led to the resignation of Ian Watmore as FA chief executive this year, and the FA’s antiquated power structure, with a board of directors comprised of representatives of the amateur and professional game who are answerable to the 92-strong FA Council.
There is also concern about a lack a leadership at the top of the organisation, given that it is without a chief executive and a chairman. “In terms of structural reform it’s pointless looking at the FA without also reforming the Premier League and the Football League,” Robertson said. “If you weaken one part of the tripod, then one of the other organisations will just step into the vacuum.
“We’ll give football the chance to sort itself out first by seeing how they plan to reform over the summer, and if it doesn’t work then the Government will step in. We need to take a serious look at reforming the governance and structure of football in this country.”
Despite the drive for changes, Robertson is convinced that the FA should still have an independent chairman, one of the few recommendations of the 2005 Burns Report into structural reform to be implemented. David Sheepshanks and Roger Burden have been installed as joint-acting chairmen, with Sheepshanks and Lord Mawhinney, the former Football League chairman, among the contenders to get the job on a permanent basis.
“You need an independent chairman,” Robertson said. “It didn’t work with Lord Triesman because he did something ill-advised. It’s an important principle that the FA should have an independent, non-executive chairman and they should go and recruit the best person for the job.”
The contenders
David Sheepshanks The former Ipswich Town and Football League chairman, after several years on the FA board, is joint-acting chairman
Lord Mawhinney The former Conservative Cabinet Minister recently stepped down after seven years as Football League chairman
Niall Ferguson The Reuters chairman is a football fanatic
Martin Broughton Outgoing chairman of BA was recently appointed chairman of Liverpool, but will be free when the club is sold
Mervyn Davies The former chief executive of Standard Chartered is available after losing his position as Trade Minster at the general election
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article7129193.ece