Football Governance

Written evidence submitted by Keith Blagbrough (FG 22)

1.1 About Me

My name is Keith Blagbrough

1.2 Background

I am retired from employment after a series of employment with firms such as Glaxo, Tarmac, Reckitt and Colman and finally the BBC. My background is in IT and finance. I have played, enjoyed and supported football for virtually all my life and my club is Wycombe Wanderers. I was a founder member of both the Official Supporters Association and also the Supporters Trust. For nearly four years I was also on the Board of Directors of the Football Club, elected as a Supporters Director.

1.3 Why I am submitting this document.

I have for many years observed football, as a passionate supporter and also for a period as a supporter elected Director of a Football Club and once again as a supporter. I have seen the game evolve and change over the years from football and supporter oriented, to one dominated by business and used to further unrelated self interests. I have noted steadily increasing costs of attending matches, and the domination of a select few clubs who by their control of finance protect their own position to the exclusion of others. Many clubs particularly in the pyramid are struggling to survive. Many have gone. Others have been saved by their supporters for example Brentford, Notts County and Exeter.

I have seen supporters and particularly families priced out of attendance due to these influences. We are creating a generation of young people whose only exposure is to watch the same teams on television and who rarely attend a match.

I have seen the number of quality players available for the England Coach to select for the national side decreasing, and this is reflected in the performance and recent results.

This trend is not healthy for the game, and no one listens to the real supporter. Some clubs have a Director elected by the supporters on their Board of Directors. If these directors are listened to and effective that is fine, but too often they are there to pay lip service to the principle and decisions are taken elsewhere, and merely rubber stamped at Board meetings.

I have attempted to outline below areas where I think things could be improved. Many of these views will not be popular and may need legislation, but unless things change soon, the game will be taken away from supporters and will be another game that many used to enjoy but only the few can.

2.1 Summary of concerns and recommendations

The committee have outlined the areas for consideration and I have followed this structure in my submission.

2.1 Football Clubs

They should of course be required to conform with the provisions of the Companies Act but in addition should be required to:-

(a) Ensure that there is Supporters Representation with a minimum of at least one Full Board Director . This should be on the lines of that recommended by the organisation known as Supporters Direct, elected by supporters, and not nominated by the Football Club.

(b) The ruling that a proportion of developed players should be home produced should be rewritten to ensure that the definition of home produced means that they are eligible for selection for England. This should also be extended to a fixed proportion of any club squad. (I note that this would need legislation to overcome EEC regulation)

(c) Live within their means. Debt must be sustainable and not allowed to accumulate especially with the so called soft loans. Soft loans must be controlled with stringent guarantees covering when and in what circumstances they can be called in. If allowed to sit, after a defined period, they should be written off, or it would make sense for the majority of these soft loans to be converted into shares, as this would demonstrate a long term commitment and would not destabilise the clubs balance sheet.

(d) Conform to ownership regulations, and appoint only Directors who conform to the fit and proper definition.

2.2 Football Authorities (See Paragraph 3.0 below)

Although in theory the Football Association is nominally responsible for all Football in England, in practice the Premier League and the Football League run autonomously with objectives that are inward looking and serving only the interests of their members. The three Footballing Authorities:- The Football Association, Football League and the Premier League should be reconstituted as a single authority who would be responsible for

(a) The objectives of the current Football Association, but take direct responsibility for the operation of the Premier and Football League.

(b) The current hierarchy of the Association is cumbersome and the FA Council should be scrapped. The New Authority should be run with a modernized structure which does not allow the current richest clubs to perpetuate their dominance but is representative of the wider needs of football. In particular it should have supporters representation at the highest level, and enable the needs of minorities to be heard.

(c) The negotiation of financial contracts for TV money and its distribution in a more equitable manner. To include the revision of match scheduling because the current scheduling of TV games militates against supporters traveling to matches, with kick off times at lunch time and shortly after 5.00 pm on Saturday being a particular disincentive to attend.

(d) Be able to audit all club affairs to ensure compliance with regulations such as the debt exposure, owners and Directors passing the right and proper persons test, the mix of the squad conforming to home produced players, and such other regulation as is determined by the authority. They should be able to impose penalties. Financial would be counter productive, points deduction more effective with the ultimate sanction of suspension or even expulsion being considered.

(e) The fit and proper definition should be revised to exclude individuals who have a conflict of interest with control of more than one club of any code sharing the same facility.

It should also be updated to change the rule that disqualification takes place when a Director has been involved with two insolvencies, to disqualification after only one. This would preclude the threat of making a club insolvent and then acquiring it from the administrator as a 100% owner.

If one reconstituted body is not possible, at the very least there should be one independent body (paragraph (d) above) which deals with all financial regulation and governance issues. This would address many of the points discussed above. It would have to exist independently from, and without the vested interests of the Premier, Football League and Football Association Boards of Directors who are responsible for decision making in their own areas.

3.0 Current Structure

The current way the game is structured has evolved rather than having been designed and placed with specific objectives being defined.

The result of this is that self interest and self preservation has created a condition where overall power and control has been placed in the hands of a few clubs who monopolise the income coming into the game, to the detriment of the game as a whole. I have repeated at some length the current structures, to illustrate deficiencies and anomalies

3.1 The Football Association

The FA, the governing body of football in England, is responsible for developing and regulating the game at all levels from international football to the grassroots.

It is committed to making football accessible, enjoyable and safe for everyone, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexuality, background or ability.

Its objectives are:-

· Promoting the development of the game amongst all ages, backgrounds and abilities in terms of participation and quality. This also involves promoting the availability of the sport to the greatest possible number of people.

· Regulating the game on and off the field of play through the "Laws of the Game" and the "Rules of The Association".

· Sanctioning, either directly or indirectly, all matches, leagues and competitions played in England.

· Overseeing the administration of the disciplinary system.

· Organizing a number of senior men’s, youth and women’s national competitions (including most notably The FA Challenge Cup) and the participation of England national representative teams in international matches.

· It is also responsible for governing the game, in areas such as disciplinary, compliance, refereeing, agents, financial matters and doping control.

Its organisation which has developed over many years is run by a Board:-

Chairman, Two Vice chairmen, (One of whom is Premier League representative, the other from the National Game), 3 National Game representatives, 3 Premier League representatives, 2 Football League representatives.

At this level there is no supporters representation.

Below this is the F.A Council which has a structure:-

Chairman, 2 Vice Chairmen, 2 Senior Vice Presidents, 6 Vice Presidents, 54 Representatives of various county associations (including Cambridge and Oxford Universities, the 3 armed services, Independent Schoolsand 1 representative from Womens football), 7 Premier League, 8 Football League, 2 Conference, 1 each from Isthmian League, Northern Pemier League,Southern League, Professional Footballers Association, League Managers Association, Referees, Race Equality, Disabled Supporters, and finally 1 representative of supporters. There are also 10 Divisional representatives. This is an organisation which has just grown over the years and is overdue for a radical overhaul.

3.2 Football League

The Football League is the world's original league football competition and is the template for leagues the world over. With 72 member clubs, it is also the largest single body of professional clubs in European football and is responsible for administering and regulating the npower Football League, Carling Cup and Johnstones Paint Trophy as well as reserve and youth football.

Through the work of The Football League Trust, all parts of the community are encouraged to enjoy league football through community inclusion programmes.

The League is also responsible for generating the commercial revenue that sustains and fuels football's growth and encouraging the next generation of football supporters to watch their local Football League club.

It is run by an elected Board consisting of Chairman, Independent Non executive member,

and 6 elected football club representatives, consisting of 3 from the championship, 2 from Division 1, and 1 from Division 2.

In spite of an objective to encourage the next generation of supporters, it is noted that there is no representation from supporters, or other groups such as disability, liaison with other leagues or womens football.

This is an inward looking league which is structured to favour the Championship who take the majority of TV generated monies.

3.3 Premier League

This League is run by and on behalf of its 20 members at any one time who each have one share. They are responsible for taking decisions based on the objectives below.

The Football Association is also a special shareholder. They have the right of veto in certain crucial areas, such as the appointment of Chairman and Chief Executive and promotion and relegation, but have no say on other areas of Premier League work.

The day-to-day business and statutory company responsibilities are handled by the Board of Directors, which comprises of Chairman and Chief Executive, and the full-time members of staff at the Premier League.

Objectives are :-

· Manage, continually improve and be regarded as the world's best league football competition - on and off the field.

· Increase interest in our competitions, promote accessibility to live games and ensure that media exposure is used to optimum effect.

· Generate increased commercial value, using the resulting revenues to further enhance our competitions and strengthen the long-term future of the Premier League and its clubs.

· Use our power and influence responsibly to improve the game in this country and abroad through partnership with the FA, UEFA and other bodies.

· Create a quality of competition that provides a platform from which our member clubs can achieve unparalleled success in European or World competitions.

· Use our resources to develop playing talent that will provide for international success with the England team at all levels - with the status of World Champions being the realistic goal.

Membership of this League is inward looking and is confined only to those clubs within the League. Its objectives are to further its own interests, and when it comes to a conflict of interest for example with releasing players for the England team, their own interest will take priority. The ideal of having the England team as World Champions is more observed in the breach rather than compliance, indeed in developing talent for the International Squad few young promising players qualified for England are selected for the first Teams, with either established overseas talent being purchased, or promising young players from abroad who are not qualified for England now being recruited to develop in this country in preference to home grown talent. This is designed to get round the potential ruling that any proportion of named players in squads have to be 'home grown', in its self a sensible approach to bolster the future of the National Team.

It is noted that there is no supporter representation and no representation from other areas such as disability or womens football.

They take the lions share of monies from Television and skew the Transfer market by paying exorbitant transfer fees, and wages. Money also is drained out of the game into the pockets of agents. This situation is exacerbated by the clubs benefiting from 'soft loans'. This is practice which should be curtailed, because it leads to one or two clubs dominating and distorting the whole system, and also gives specific individuals who may not have the best interests of the club at heart but who have other priorities. They can then hold power over the club, and can utilise the clubs assets to further those other interests. This is not confined to the premier league and is a trend being noticed in the lower leagues,

4.0 Supporters

'Owners, Directors, Players and managers come and go but supporters are there for life'

Unfortunately they are also very much taken for granted. The current attitude by some management is that they only become supporters when they are through the turnstiles, up to that point they are treated as customers.

(a) The cost of admission keeps many supporters and particularly those with families away, and this is an age group needed to retain for the future.

(b) Merchandising policy is costly and for example the changing of shirt design frequently places a financial strain on supporters and parents.

(c) They are under represented at all levels in the game. Some clubs have had supporters representation on their Boards, and found their contribution assists them, other have been saved from extinction by their Supporters Trust.

Taking the football authorities as a whole we find that:-

Members Supporters involved

Football Association. Board 11 0

Council 101 1

Premier League 22 0

Football League 8 0

Totals 142 1

Out of the Football Authorities governing bodies with 142 decision makers only 1 is allocated to supporters.

(d) Kick off times and days are changed to suit the requirements of Television companies without any thought of the traveling and timing impacts o supporters, particularly evening scheduling.

January 2011