Football Governance

Written evidence submitted by Steve Beck, York City Supporters Trust (FG 21)

In this document I will cover the following questions:

1. Should football clubs in the UK be treated differently from other commercial organisations?

2. Are football governance rules in England and Wales, and the governing bodies which set and apply them, fit for purpose?

3. Is there too much debt in the professional game?

4. What are the pros and cons of the Supporter Trust share-holding model?

5. Is Government intervention justified and, if so, what form should it take?

6. Are there lessons to be learned from football governance models across the UK and abroad, and from governance models in other sports?

Response:-

1. I have always held the belief that football should be treated the same as any other commercial industry, most of footballs’ problems stem from the fact that the majority of clubs are not run by Boards and Chairmen as they would their own companies. We also have the absurd situation with regard to employment law which seems to be applied to employees of UK companies, but not football clubs; in that contracts can be signed by players and managers/coaches then just ripped up by Clubs and then players and managers can request a transfer or to have their contracts settled. I clearly remember being told on my first day as York City chairman by the then Chief Executive that there was no business like the football business, I did not believe him. I do now. I am sure there are many former company owners who wish their debts to HMRC and other creditors could have been dealt with in the same way as some football club, they may still be in business.

Unless football is treated in a similar way to other commercial industries the situations as we see time and time again at Clubs will continue and the smaller non-league go to the wall for relatively small amounts, but the larger (more high profile clubs survive)

2. I firmly believe that the governance rules and the ruling bodies are not fit for purpose, we have a structure whereby the F.A Board have ultimate control of the game, they also set up the Premier League and following the Government Task Force report in 1999 that made many recommendations, so many still remain unimplemented. Whilst I was a football league chairman in 2003 the fit & proper person test was introduced - it was and still is in my opinion toothless. I had personal experience of dealing with an owner, who went on to try and obtain ownership of at least three other league clubs over a period of years and would have passed the fit & proper persons test after almost bankrupting my club.

The whole structure of football governance from top to bottom needs to be reviewed. I would prefer this to be from the bottom up, the game has never had so much money but this does not filter down to the small local lower league clubs where with improvements in coaching skills (possibly by using coaches from Premiership and Football League clubs) could improve the development of our younger player, making them a more viable prospect for clubs higher up the pyramid which would ultimately feed through to the national team which the F.A holds so dear.

3. Absolutely; there is too much debt in football. We only have to look at any media source, be it TV, Press or Internet almost on a daily basis to read about another club in crisis, winding up petitions being served upon Clubs, players not being paid. This situation has got worse since I experienced it in 2002/2003 when York City went into administration and was rescued by the supporters. The position of the clubs involved in are now higher up the football pyramid, the desperate situation that played out at Portsmouth only went to show this. There are too many club chasing the ‘pot of gold at the end of the rainbow’ Leeds United fell foul of this in recent years – going from Champions League semi-finalists to League One status in a few seasons.

Clubs incur costs in terms of players and managers contracts which are not sustainable; it only takes a owner to take his money out of club for the ‘pack of cards’ to collapse. I believe that there is only one debt free club in the four English leagues and referring back to Q1. no other industry could operate in this way.

Referring back to Q2. as I said there is more money in football than there has ever been but where is it going? I remember clearly on the day York City was informed as we had been relegated from the Football League we were to lose our Youth Funding of £ 118,000 per annum, the now England team captain had signed a contract extension for a reported £ 125,000 per WEEK. At York the parents of our Youth players raise funds and along with generous sponsorship keeps the Youth scheme going in difficult times.

4. The main pro of the Supporters Trust share-holding model is that of a feeling of helping to support the club in many ways, it might be to have a voice within the club to share the ideas, suggestions and yes the complaints from fans to be heard by the Club. On the reverse whilst Trusts may be able to obtain a share-holding in their clubs, this does not always guarantee that the Club Boards will firstly recognise how the Supporter can help the Club and a misgiving in most cases that confidential matters may be divulged makes things difficult between the two bodies. This can only be allayed by dialogue between the Boards of the Club and Supporters’ Trust. It cannot and will never be the same at any two clubs. But the Clubs have to wake up (and some slowly are) to the fact that the fan base can offer so much more than just cash at the turnstiles.

5. I feel that Government intervention may be justified, this is our national game and I believe as I said earlier in my submission, there have been so many reports and recommendations ignored in the main by the governing bodies it is time for these bodies to be called to account and be informed that they are to implement changes for the good of the game.

6. As I do not know enough of the governance models of football in other countries or from other sports I am unable to give a detailed answer to this point, however I would mention that other countries seem to able to produce young players that end up at Academies and Youth schemes from Premiership down, but we seem to be able to produce so few, I remember seeing a BBC report presented by Gary Lineker following last years World Cup highlighting how the coaching of young players in Europe was helping their national teams, the players being mentioned were the likes of Van Persie, Fabregas and Torres, all now plying their trade in the Premier League, but of course unable to play for England.

In summation I would like to mention in slightly more detail how York City Supporters Trust was formed, what its goals were and what it has achieved over the years.

I along with a group of like minded supporters formed the Trust back in 2002, when the then Board were looking to circumvent a F.A rule to asset strip the club (namely to sell the ground we played on to property developers) The club was then sold for £1 to a businessman who promised much, but delivered nothing and only succeeded in taking the club into administration. Through the hard work and support of York City supporters UK and world wide along with the support from many other football fans we were able to acquire the club from the administrators in March 2003 with a majority 85% share-holding, unfortunately due to the financial state we inherited we had to reduce our playing budget to cover outstanding debts, this resulted in my proud club losing it’s Football League status after 75 years. This of course to any club this is devastating and many more have suffered this fate and worse since.

In 2004 the Supporters Trust had to in order to secure the long term funding of the club found it necessary to sell the majority share-holding to the minority shareholder (who is however a life member of the Trust) This did cause some concerns within the Supporters Trust Board and amongst members. But as we pointed out at the time one of the aims was to help keep professional football in York (now the only professional club in North Yorkshire, England’s largest county) we had little option. It was the need for on-going funding year on year that we simply could not sustain.

I am proud of the part that York City Supporters Trust is playing in the history of our club, I firmly believe without it our club would no longer be around. But due to the lack of proper financial control at all levels of the game, having clubs living beyond their means in order to be one of the few successful clubs or trying to avoid relegation and its resultant financial impact it makes the chasing that ‘pot of gold’ all the more worrying.

January 2011