Owners or Administrators. Are Any of Them 'Fit and Proper'?

For those of us who include a study of the league tables as part of our Sunday morning ablutions, tracking the form of clubs has become rather more convoluted over the last few seasons by the need to refer constantly to one or more asterisks alongside various teams throughout the league tables.

Even those of us who like to think that they are football ‘savvy’ are left in some bewilderment – Crystal Palace minus 10 points, Southampton minus 10 points, Chester minus, don’t know they’ve disappeared, Luton minus 30 points, Leeds minus 10, then another minus 15, Portsmouth about to be deducted 9 points etc.

What’s striking about the deductions is their variability. Why the different deductions? They are all for basically the same thing. They overspent and, quite rightly, this is tantamount to cheating. But why the disparities? What exactly are the rules governing points deductions and why have they been applied with additional sanctions in some cases? Yes - RTG knows that additional rules have been broken in the method and circumstances of clubs facing administration – hence more points deducted – but you would need to be a forensic financial analyst to understand exactly what rule is being broken. Why will Portsmouth get a nine point reduction as opposed to the ten points for other Football League clubs?

All this does is illustrate that there is a paucity of clarity from the FA, Premiership and Football League. Equally so, it represents not just the bust phase of the football boom and bust show, but the total lack of leadership from those that govern football.

"We have to be careful we don't adopt Michel Platini's and the French view of debt, which is that it is bad. Debt is inevitable. You say debt is not healthy but debt, of course, to a degree is healthy. If we are not careful we'll end up where no one is allowed a holiday in France who has a mortgage in England."


Richard Scudamore, October 2008

So Richard Scudamore, like so many fat cats – sorry – corporate professionals – is happy to sit back and do almost nothing to pick up large six figure salaries and large six figure bonuses (pushing his salary well into seven figures) for doing basically nothing. He believes that football is a corporate dog eat dog world and that clubs that are mismanaged will be punished for their profligacy. For some reason, he doesn’t seem to realise that his organisation has an active role in ensuring clubs have the right management with the Premiership’s (alleged) ‘fit and proper’ tests. How is it then that these tests allowed four (or is it five?) different and clearly not fit owners to take over Portsmouth in a few months? Clearly the Premiership applies rules which are meaningless at best, bordering on criminal at worst.

On top of that, two of the world’s biggest clubs, Manchester United and Liverpool, have been allowed to mortgage their very existence to allow a handful of disinterested American ‘carpet baggers’ to enrich themselves at the expense of loyal supporters. It is in the ownership and continuing health of all clubs that Mr Scudamore should be judged.

"We have a cosmopolitan approach to players and a cosmopolitan approach to ownership and that is paying off."


Richard Scudamore, January 2007

His last re-signing of the Sky TV deals, a deal that merely continues a 20 year association with Sky at a slightly raised fee (which earned him a £250k - £500k bonus according to whichever report you believe) are the easy parts of his job. The hard parts are to have leadership in the areas which are causing supporters the most anguish: How to ensure a fair and exciting competition? How to prevent the carpet baggers? In reality, how do you ensure the future health of the game? It’s the easiest thing in the world to fly around in first class and sign deals which are just inflation adjusted contracts for the same things. In truth, clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United have done just as much, if not more, than Mr Scudamore in spreading the word to foreign fields.

Mr Scudamore, earn your millions by tackling the difficult issues!

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The Keeper

...he's got it covered!

We’re all trembling with anticipation and tension as the final stages of the season draw out to decide who will be crowned champions of “the most exciting league in the world”™. Entering the final stages, it was a three way race between the three clubs who have won 16 of the 17 “most competitive league in the world”™ titles. Entering the final weekend, it is a race involving the two clubs who have won the last 5 titles between themselves. How those Scottish fans must be envying us!

And if that’s not enough excitement for football fans, we’ve got the FIFA World Cup™ coming up in about six weeks time. It’s come around so quickly again – feels like a matter of months, rather than the four years since Germany’s 2006 tournament when we England fans were sweating over the fitness of several players, including the now obligatory metatarsal troubles, as well as the English media’s wildly optimistic expectations of an England win. Or was that 2002? Or 1998? Plus ca change, as they say on Groundhog day.

Talking of World Cups and South Africa 2010, recent reports following the death of apartheid advocate Eugene Terre’Blanche seem to suggest that the world cup will be played out during a civil war. In fact, the threat of violence is being used to explain poor ticket sales for the Greatest Sporting Event in the World™. Trust us it has absolutely nothing to do with airlines doubling/tripling flight prices, ditto hoteliers for rooms (if available at all) and ticket prices that make Wembley seats appear like a day out to watch your local pub team compete in the inter-brewery play-offs. FIFA don’t even have the comfort of over priced sales to corporate saps because of the global slowdown. Our hearts bleed!

But hurrah! It might just be wishful thinking on the part of certain areas of the media but talk is that Capello wants to take David Beckham along as a motivation to the rest of the selected England squad. That may just be the managerial stroke of genius that could propel England to the world title. After all, wouldn’t you be inspired by someone who gets paid five to 10 times as much as you do for playing intermittently for an English League 1 side and who acts as a Milanese seat warmer in between? Imagine all that invaluable experience of last 16/quarter final exits: the missed penalties, the jumping out of tackles, the petulant sending offs, the shirt sales. On the downside, the players might just be overawed by the presence of this high achiever. But hey – here’s another inspirational idea: why not complete the Hello! package by getting Mrs Beckham to come along as squad dietician. At least no-one will be puking before a match with nerves!

Those of you out there who desperately want to see England win something before you shuffle off this mortal coil—yes you who would dare to suggest that 11 players out on the pitch who are fit and possess the in-built belief that they can actually win something would be a better tactic to follow, can only hope, like us, that Capello really is the man to shake off the shackles of FA mismanagement and make the difference this year. Otherwise will we once again be contemplating the usual FA post-mortem in July that, no doubt, will sound something like the closing scene in the movie ‘Burn After Reading’ where the CIA superior is talking to his underling:


CIA Superior: What did we learn, Palmer?
CIA Officer: I don't know, sir.
CIA Superior: I don't fuckin' know either. I guess we learned not to do it again.
CIA Officer: Yes, sir.
CIA Superior: I'm fucked if I know what we did.
CIA Officer: Yes, sir, it's, uh, hard to say
CIA Superior: Jesus Fucking Christ.

Jesus Fucking Christ indeed!