England’s defeat to Germany in the 2010 World Cup triggered the inquiry into football governance, so humiliating was the nature of the 4-1 loss, and yesterday the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee which took on the inquiry proposed its solution to the questions thrown up by that humbling experience. It is this context in which their report on football governance should be seen; a means to an ends, that end being the success of English football, not just at club level, but internationally.
The headline suggestion of the report was the introduction of a licensing system for English clubs to be administered by the Football Association, possibly based on the principles of systems already in place in Germany and France, and which is now being set up in Spain.
Such a system would give the FA the authority to monitor the finances of the clubs participating in England’s professional leagues, and essentially to be pro-active in this area, rather than merely reactive in the form of imposing points penalties on teams going into administration.
A host of other recommendations were included, with a threat to use legislation if necessary to enforce the suggestion that the “Football Creditors Rule” – which ensures that a club’s creditors outside of the sport get paid last if a club finds itself in administration – is abolished, with much of the report dedicated to tackling potentially toxic levels of debt being carried by English football clubs.
With approximately £2.6 billion ($4.3 billion/€2.9 billion) worth of debt currently being carried among the Premier League teams alone, and the revenue to wage ratio increasing at an alarming rate, it is easy to understand why.
Yet if the committee looked a little south, they would notice there is a country with even bigger debts in its top flight – £3.1 billion (£5.1 billion/€3.5 billion). A league in which no fewer than six teams are currently in administration, with big money starting to flow into the competition from the Middle East. And in which there is a team who have been taken over by a man who has failed in his duty to make the debt repayments required of him, therefore forcing his side to become one of those six teams currently in administration.
That league of course is La Liga, with Real Zaragoza, Granada, Real Mallorca, Rayo Vallecano and Real Betis all in financial turmoil, and Racing Santander forced to apply for administration after their Indian owner Ahsan Ali Syed (pictured) failed to make good on the club’s debt repayments. And in which Malaga have been spending exorbitantly since being taken over by Qatari Sheikh Al Thani.
But Spain is of course home of the European champions Barcelona, widely recognised as not just the best team in the world today and recent years, but one of the best of all team. And Spain are the current World, European senior and under-21 champions.
That isn’t to say that the report’s efforts to tackle the toxic issue of debt is a waste of time; quite conversely it is a bold and necessary step. Just that when it comes to the purpose of the inquiry, it somewhat misses the point.
It is another key recommendation the report makes though which could be, if applied, significant in changing English football. That recommendation being for the FA board to be slimlined, and for the representation of the Football and Premier Leagues to be reduced.
The current 12 man board consists of three Premier League executives, but MPs want there to be just one representative from the top flight and the Football League respectively, and two more from the national game, i.e. regional FAs.
It would mean that FA and non-executive representatives would outnumber those from the professional and national game, thus limiting the ability of vested interests to block crucial reforms.
Those are the vested interests of course which former FA chief executive Ian Watmore attacked when he quit the post in March last year after just nine months at the helm, citing the Premier League’s influence as a chief gripe.
Such a reform, as well as the suggestion that members of the FA council have a limited tenure, could finally make a difference to football governance, but only if the government is serious about legislating to enforce such a change. The report was met with scepticism yesterday, as is ritual now after years of dissatisfaction with the FA’s seeming impotence and numerous chairpersons.
When a BBC reporter questioned the MPs present at the press conference in Westminster as to why they thought the FA would reform this time after many failed attempts to change its governance, Damian Collins MP shot back with words of warning. There would be no option to do nothing this time. Quite simply, the FA was faced with a choice, he implied. Either make changes or we will do so for you.
Collins is particularly enthusiastic about changing the governance of the sport, and after Sports Minister Hugh Robertson’s withering criticism of football authorities last year, the will in government to use legislation if necessary is there. Whether they use what could be called their nuclear option is another question.
Nuclear options are often threatened, but used less frequently. This is one which should be exercised if necessary, because English football has found itself entangled in a mess in which the three main bodies involved – the Football Association, Premier League and Football League – are too tied up in to resolve themselves.
If Government can finally restore the FA’s credibility as the governing body of English football, then it may start to make some more positive steps forward. One of those who could become involved with the FA board if the select committees recommendations are heeded is Sir Trevor Brooking, and his representation would be a positive step forward.
Brooking has spent years explaining English football’s underlying problems – a lack of technical skill, overly competitive football for children under the age of 14 and a tendency to play a rushed, long ball style of football – without getting anywhere thanks to the impossibility of making significant reforms at the FA. Had he been listened to earlier, we wouldn’t have had to fail to qualify for the European Championships, face the humiliation of defeat to Germany or employed two foreign coaches at significant expense before we realised precisely what he has been saying for years.
A reform of the structure at the FA to give it the power to finally make some changes, with the likes of Brooking and Gareth Southgate, the new head of elite development at the FA who shares many of Brooking’s goals, at its heart could start to address and do something about the deeper issues facing English football.
Let’s just hope politicians keep their word on this one promise.
David Gold is a reporter for insideworldfootball. To follow him on twitter click here