Chelsea, Man Ut, Liverpool - "Financial Doping"

[QPR Report]

AP - Man U, Liverpool accused of 'financial doping'

Heavily indebted Premier League clubs Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool were accused by a British parliamentary committee Monday of engaging in "financial doping."

In 27 recommendations at the end of a yearlong inquiry, legislators urged England's soccer authorities to curb "ludicrous levels of borrowing" and the use of profits to service large debts.

The All Party Parliamentary Football Group is calling for heavy scrutiny of business plans ahead of any club takeovers, echoing the agenda of soccer's world governing body FIFA.

The group also backed FIFA's "six-plus-five rule" that would impose limits on foreign players, urging the British government to lobby the European Union to overlook its treaties on free movement.

The key warning in the report is that while soccer appears to be weathering the initial impact of the recession, the meltdown in the markets that has claimed major financial institutions operating risky business models should serve as a warning to the clubs.

"The financial world has learnt a serious lesson in the last year that living by the old adage, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' can lead to catastrophic results," said governing Labor Party legislator Alan Keen, who chaired the inquiry. "There is a real danger that English football could go the same way. Corrective action needs to be taken now to address serious weaknesses in the governance of the game as well as severe financial imbalances.

"Lack of proper governance and financial instability are the two fundamental vulnerabilities to the success that English football has enjoyed in recent times. Our report includes tough measures to improve the way the game is run and to combat 'financial doping' whereby short term success can be bought at the expense of long term financial stability."

msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/9476786/Man-U,-Liverpool-accused-of-

See Parliamentary Football Committee
www.allpartyfootball.com/

Presumably further details later.

[QPR Report]

Past Hearings can be read
ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY FOOTBALL GROUP

Inquiry 2008/2009

Inquiry into English Football and Its Governance

Overview | Transcriptions | Written Evidence | Report

The All Party Parliamentary Football Group launched its first ever inquiry in 2003 titled Football and its Finances.
With the financing of football appearing more precarious at that time than ever before, it was agreed by the Group that this should form the first inquiry.
Four years later the group has reviewed that state of tha game and is about to embark upon a second indepth inquiry titled "English Football and Its Governance"

The All Party Group wishes to extend special thanks to the BBC Parliament team for their valuable time in recording and broadcasting some of the sessions on the BBC Parliament Channel.

Inquiry Overview
Examination of Witnesses 2008/09
Panel Members 2008/09
The inquiry panel 2008 has been taken from the 150 members of the APFG.
Oral Transcriptions
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
Session 5
Session 6
The session recordings and transcriptions uploaded here are transcriptions from the digital session recordings.
In some cases further evidence has been submitted in written format.
Please see additional submissions from witnesses.
If you wish to question any witness content then please contact the witnesses or organisations directly.
Additional Written Submissions

Howard Wilkinson
The FA
The Premier League
UEFA
Professional Gaming Board
NADS

Recommendations and Report
To be announced Monday 20th April
Report Launch – House of Commons - Monday 20th April 2009 – Contact Office of Alan Keen MP for more details.
The All Party Football Group wishes to thank
THALES for supporting the publication of the report.
www.allpartyfootball.com/inquiry8.htm

[QPR Report]

Reports not yet online but various press reports. Just one

MPs warn over takeover debt
By PA Sport April 20, 2009

An inquiry into football by a group of MPs has called for rule changes to prevent new owners saddling clubs with huge amounts of debt.

The recommendations by the all-party Parliamentary Football Group would, if implemented, prevent similar takeovers to the Glazer family at Manchester United and Tom Hicks and George Gillett at Liverpool.

The MPs, who have no power to enforce any changes, also want loans to clubs by owners such as Chelsea's Roman Abramovich to be treated as debt.

In their report on English Football & Its Governance, the MPs say the current 'Fit and Proper Persons' test should be changed so that it also takes into account whether any prospective new owner is preparing to raise debt on the club's assets.

Other recommendations include for English football to adopt FIFA president Sepp Blatter's 6+5 rule for a maximum of five foreigners in any starting XI.

Group chairman Alan Keen MP said: "We are saying that before someone can take over a club they have to pass a test, and should be financing the takeover on money they put in and not on debt.

"We are worried about incidents where people have taken over clubs such as Manchester United where the Glazers, who have never in the past shown any interest in football, and used the club's assets to secure loans for the takeover.

"If people come into a club simply to make money, or just gives the club a loan, we are worried that at some point they will take it out and threaten the existence of that club.

"A lot of money goes from the Premier League down into the grass-roots and if someone comes in purely to make money they might decide they do not want to give any more money to the Football Foundation.

"Clubs are not mere companies and Manchester United is different from British Home Stores. Supporters feel they own the club. They deserve more than clubs just being cash cows."

www.givemefootball.com/premier-league/mps-warn-over-takeover-debt

[weavie]

if man utd ever appoint a manage like sousa they would go broke

[QPR Report]

The Guardian/Owen Gibson

Ps call for curb on football clubs' financial doping

• Owners must be prevented from 'ludicrous levels of borrowing'
• Mohamed Al Fayed wants footballers' wages capped

Tough new rules must prevent owners loading football clubs with "ludicrous levels of borrowing", a Parliamentary report into the future of football said yesterday. A group of MPs likened the leveraged buyouts of Manchester United and Liverpool and the hundreds of millions of pounds in "soft loans" advanced to Chelsea by Roman Abramovich to "financial doping" and claimed they threatened the game's future.

Following a year-long inquiry, the All Party Parliamentary Football Group yesterday made 27 recommendations that it claimed would strengthen the governance of the game, boost the development of home-grown players and correct "severe financial imbalances".

"The financial world has learnt a serious lesson in the last year that living by the old adage, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' can lead to catastrophic results," said the group's chairman, Alan Keen. "There is a real danger that English football could go the same way. Corrective action needs to be taken now."

The group, which has no power to enforce any changes, also recommended the adoption of Fifa's controversial 6+5 proposal to guarantee starting places for home-grown talent, and reform of the Premier League board to add more non-executive directors.

Mohamed Al Fayed, the Fulham chairman, also weighed into the debate. "Our expenses bill rose by 17% last year. How can it be right for top players to be earning £15m-20m a year? It's crazy. These wages need to be capped," he said. "But I worry that it won't happen because the Premier League and the FA are run by donkeys who don't understand business, who are dazzled by money."Last year, the culture secretary Andy Burnham wrote to the Football Association, the Premier League and the Football League, posing seven questions around the future of football. The Premier League's response is believed to include proposals around strengthening its fit and proper persons test, but the Department of Culture, Media and Sport is still awaiting a response from the Football Association and the Football League.

Of the report, a Premier League spokesman said: "We will take time to consider the content and recommendations. However, it comes at a time when the quality of the English game, both on and off the pitch, has arguably never been higher and we are committed to ensuring this remains the case going forward."Premier League chairmen will meet on Thursday but it is understood that plans for a revamped competition with two divisions and limited promotion and relegation, first suggested by the Bolton chairman, Phil Gartside, last year and aired again in reports at the weekend, are not on the agenda.

www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/apr/20/premier-league-club-borrowing


And The Times
MPs want to curb overspending in football
Roman Abramovich
Kevin Eason, Sports News Correspondent

Politicians have demanded tighter regulations governing the financing of football that would prevent owners such as Roman Abramovich and Malcolm Glazer taking control of the top clubs in England.

The All Party Parliamentary Football Group called last night for a strengthening of the much-criticised “fit and proper persons test” that is supposed to weed out owners who could damage clubs. But it goes farther by saying that the test should also scrutinise the financing of takeovers and the future bankrolling of clubs.

The parliamentary group points out that the Glazer takeover of Manchester United resulted in the club flying from one extreme, of being almost debt-free, to the other of being laden with £750 million of debt as the Glazer family leveraged their buyout with credit, now being paid off by the club.

The group also wants to outlaw “soft” loans, such as the £578 million handed to Chelsea by Abramovich after the Russian bought the club.

“The financial world has learnt a serious lesson in the last year that living by the old adage, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' can lead to catastrophic results,” Alan Keen, the parliamentary group's chairman, said. “There is a real danger that English football could go the same way.

“Corrective action needs to be taken now to address serious weaknesses in the governance of the game as well as severe financial imbalances.

“Lack of proper governance and financial instability are the two fundamental vulnerabilities to the success that English football has enjoyed in recent times. Our report includes tough measures to improve the way the game is run and to combat 'financial doping', whereby short-term success can be bought at the expense of long-term financial stability.

“We are concerned that this type of financing is unfair to other clubs who live within their means. The level of debt in the English game is now a matter of great concern, especially in the current economic climate.”

If the rules had been tightened and implemented some years ago in the form the MPs and peers demand, Abramovich and Glazer would not have been able to infiltrate English football with big-money takeovers of two of the clubs now dominating the game.

In the case of United and some other clubs, debts have to be met by supporters paying higher prices at the turnstiles. The parliamentary group warns that fans could be priced out of following their teams and calls for clubs to allow one supporters' representative to sit on its board.

Although the parliamentary group has no formal power, it could provide a powerful voice in the long-running squabble between Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, the world governing body, Michel Platini, the Uefa president, and Premier League executives over its clubs' dominance in Europe.

Both men are studying ways to curb the power of English football, with Platini threatening to crack down by contriving rules that would prevent clubs laden with debt from entering European competition. The parliamentary group's recommendations back Platini's tough line, calling for a licensing system, from the Blue Square Premier upwards, which would force clubs to exercise financial prudence or risk losing their licence to compete. They would, in effect, be forced to spend only what they earn.

The politicians also fall into line behind Blatter's controversial so-called “six plus five” proposal, which would force clubs to field six players who are eligible to play for the national side of the league's host association. Blatter's idea has been rebuffed on all sides because it is said to contravene European Union law on the freedom of movement for workers. But the parliamentary group calls on Andy Burnham, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, to lobby the EU Parliament for an exemption for football to encourage clubs to field more English players.

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article6135828.ece