Parliamentary report demands changes from English football

, 29 January, 7comments  |  Jump to most recent
Described by sports minister Hugh Robertson as "the worst governed sport in this country," English football has come under attack from a culture, media and sport select parliamentary committee which has criticised the game's failure to introduce new financial controls and increase the influence of fans.

The committee's report accuses the Football Association, the Premier League and the Football League of a "very disappointing" response to its July 2011 recommendations that had followed a wide-ranging inquiry into the governance of the game.

The committee says that governmental legislation should be enacted "as soon as practicable" if there is not "clear progress" in 12 months on its proposed measures, which included a restructuring of the FA, a more representative FA Council, the introduction of tough new rules on financial regulation, and an increase in the influence of supporters on how their clubs are run.

» Read the full article at The Guardian



Reader Comments (7)

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Tony J Williams
1 Posted 29/01/2013 at 09:09:47
Tell Parliament to go feck themselves...... the MP's are probably just jealous of the high wages.

It's a sport and nothing to do with polictics.

Matt Traynor
2 Posted 29/01/2013 at 09:14:39
Parliamentary Select Committee's are compulsive viewing when they're broadcast. It's like an audition for X-factor, or a Big Brother episode with all of these fame-hungry attention seekers crying "Look at me, look at me!"

The Select Committee into phone hacking was laughable, and only "bettered" by the one looking at the Olympics and the G4S fiasco.

One of these days a witness will take the opportunity to point out, "live", how ill-informed and badly advised these grand standers are. They should remember that Parliamentary Privilege only extends to the chamber, and not to the committee rooms.

Kev Johnson
3 Posted 29/01/2013 at 09:18:48
Conversely, I completely agree with the parliamentary report. They should set a players salary limit of £100,000 a year (not week) and force clubs to be financially responsible/accountable. Let's have an ever so slightly level playing field, please!

"There is a worrying trend as financial interests take hold that the game is becoming remote from the communities from which the clubs originated" (Clive Efford MP, Shadow Minister for Sport) You're not wrong, Clive, you're not wrong.

Mike Webb
4 Posted 29/01/2013 at 09:25:14
Yes Kev, and maybe revoke the passports of the English players to stop them moving abroad, like all the foreign players would?

Or maybe this is your plan - force all of the current pros overseas, so you get to make a comeback?!?

Patrick Murphy
5 Posted 29/01/2013 at 09:38:37
Whilst politicians are not the most popular people in the world, they must think that the public has concerns about the way the game is run, otherwise it wouldn't be worth their while taking an interest in the governance of the game.

When vested interests such as sponsors and big business has the FA in its thrall, we as supporters can only stand and watch as these interests dictate the way the game is run, usually without regard to supporters wishes, in that respect parliamentary scrutiny is justified.

Football is not above politics or the law and neither should it be, we don't want politicians to dictate how the game is run either, such as happened in the blanket ban on English clubs competing in Europe in the mid-1980s, when football became a political football.

There is little doubt until a major club succumbs to the financial pressures and goes completely bust, the game will continue along the self destructive path it has been on for the past decade.

When the king of wheeler dealers Harry Redknapp is complaining about the 'gang-war' environment of football agents, - you know that the peripheral people with little interest in the game wield too much influence and extract far too much money out of the game for the benefit of nobody but themselves and their clients,

From this perspective Parliamentary scrutiny is welcome, however, it has very little chance of influencing the way the FA is run or how the FA controls the game.


Derek Thomas
6 Posted 29/01/2013 at 10:09:56
The only people in the country LESS fit to run the FA or ANYTHING would be the government (maybe the EU, UN and BK).

Steavey Buckley
7 Posted 29/01/2013 at 10:09:35
It's not just about capping salaries, it's the big taxes as well. That's why players ask for more. Kaka does not want to re-sign for AC Milan because of the tax situation. So player, club and supporters all miss out. And if anyone complains about footballers big salaries, Lewis Hamilton earns far more and is a tax exile in Switzerland. But it does not put off his supporters supporting him such as myself.

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