Football should Reassess relationship with Money

[QPR Report]

Makes some valid points.


Telegraph/Paul Kelso - Football asked to 'reassess its relationship with money'

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham stepped up the pressure for reform of governance and financial scrutiny in football yesterday, calling on the game to “reassess its relationship with money”.

Fuelling the debate started last week by Football Association chairman Lord Triesman, Burnham effectively called for a review of financial regulation in the game, asking the FA, Football League and Premier League to respond to his concerns over indebtedness and ownership by the new year.

In a striking address to the Supporters’ Direct conference in London, Burnham outlined his belief that the rush of new money and owners to the Premier League has endangered football’s links with supporters and communities.
“I do feel the game is at something of a crossroads,” he said. “If it continues on the path it has followed for the last

10 years for the next 10 years then the game risks further losing touch with the supporters and communities from which it draws its strength.

“The game is becoming increasingly polarised and the top clubs are in danger of losing touch with the communities that sustain them. The time has come for football to reassess its relationship with money. We need to ensure that the levels and means of servicing debt are sustainable and realistic.

“It should be proportionate with the level of funds being received and further the game as a whole.”

Burnham called for: more consistency in financial regulations; more transparency and scrutiny of club ownership and debt levels; rule changes for clubs in insolvency; a reconsideration of rules forcing insolvent clubs to pay football debts first; a strengthening of the fit and proper persons test for club owners; the promotion of a competitive balance and a re-examination of the case for a quota for home-grown players.

Burnham’s concerns tally closely with those raised by Triesman last week, and the pair clearly share misgivings about the spiralling levels of debt at the top of the game.

Triesman’s intervention last week caused anger at many Premier League clubs, but with the government clearly backing his drive for reform they will have little choice but to engage with the informal review demanded.

There is also significant pressure from Uefa to address the issues, and the league faces a challenge in squaring the interests of regulators with those of the 20 clubs and their benefactors.

Triesman said he would discuss Burnham’s seven-point plan with the FA board and rejected the suggestion that the pair had effectively ambushed the Premier League. “I hope that we can have a grown-up discussion and not feel this is simply jostling in some kind of turf war. This isn’t about the Premier League. I keep thinking as people say that, surely they can look a bit deeper through to the bottom of the Football League and into the pyramid.

“The question of the survival of clubs that are in trouble comes up time and again. Clubs on the edge of receivership or going into administration or whatever, these issues are important right the way through the system.”

The Premier League said they would respond to Burnham’s request. “We are in regular dialogue with government on a wide range of issues so we are aware of the Secretary of State’s concerns.

“We haven’t yet received his letter, but when we do we will give serious consideration to the issues he raises, discuss them with the Football League and Football Association where appropriate, and respond to government accordingly,” a spokesman said.


www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/columnists/paulkelso/3212727/Football-asked-to-reassess-its-relationship-with-money-Football.html

[QPR Report]

And From David Conn/The Guardian

Burnham poses seven questions for football's authorities

The government made its long-awaited intervention in the running of English football yesterday when the culture secretary, Andy Burnham, called on the game's authorities to respond to a variety of threats to its long-term future.

Speaking at the Supporters Direct conference in Westminster yesterday, Burnham said that while the Premier League is "the world's most successful domestic sporting competition," it risks becoming too predictable on the field, not developing sufficient homegrown players, and, more broadly, "losing further touch with its traditional supporter base" if it continues on its current path.

Restating his view that "football needs to reassess its relationship with money", he asked the FA as well as the Premier and Football Leagues to consider whether:

· The rules governing finances can be made consistent between the leagues

· There can be greater transparency and scrutiny of clubs' ownership, including the amount of debt used to finance a takeover and whether that debt is "sustainable and in the wider interests of the game"

· The rules which penalise clubs falling into insolvency can be reviewed

· The rule which requires insolvent clubs to pay football debts in full, unlike other debts, should be reviewed

· The fit-and-proper-person test for club directors and 30% shareholders needs to be strengthened

· "Competitive balance" can be promoted, "preventing the game becoming too predictable"

· "Everything possible is being done to bolster the national side" and there is "a case for introducing a specified number of homegrown players" into club sides.

The issues, relating to the ownership and financing of clubs, the financial inequalities which determine playing success and the suggestion of quotas for homegrown players, are hugely controversial, because the Premier League, in particular, is not expected to be keen on any interference with its commercial approach, which has reaped rich rewards for its clubs. Burnham insisted yesterday that the government is right to raise concerns because of football's importance to supporters, the communities in which clubs are based, and the public at large.

"I am inviting the three football authorities to take a co-ordinated and in-depth look at the questions I have laid out and respond with their thoughts in the New Year," he said.

The FA chairman, Lord Triesman, also speaking at the conference, welcomed Burnham's intervention, appealing for the three bodies to work constructively together: "I hope we can have the discussion in a grown up fashion," Triesman said, "and not feel this is simply jostling in some kind of turf war."

Lord Mawhinney, the Football League chairman, agreed, saying: "The secretary of state has listed important questions and we will certainly consider them in a constructive spirit."

The Premier League were more restrained, saying they had not yet received a formal letter from Burnham.

"When we do," a spokesman said, "we will give serious consideration to the issues he raises, discuss them with the Football League and FA where appropriate and respond to the government accordingly."

www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/oct/17/premierleague-andyburnham