Written evidence submitted by Keith Blagbrough
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. 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. 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), three
National Game representatives, three Premier League representatives,
two Football League representatives.
At this level there is no supporters representation.
Below this is the FA Council which has a structure:
Chairman, two Vice Chairmen, two Senior Vice Presidents,
six Vice Presidents, 54 Representatives of various county associations
(including Cambridge and Oxford Universities, the three armed
services, Independent Schools and one representative from Womens
football), seven Premier League, eight Football League, two Conference,
one each from Isthmian League, Northern Pemier League,Southern
League, Professional Footballers Association, League Managers
Association, Referees, Race Equality, Disabled Supporters, and
finally one 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 six elected football club
representatives, consisting of three from the championship, two
from Division 1, and one 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. 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
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