Governing Bodies and Leagues are Worse than Bad Owners

Bad owners or bad regulators which is worse. It's something which is very rarely discussed. Fans and pundits alike will quickly blame the owners (rightly so), but the very fact they are allowed to make a difference is down to the governing bodies, they are the real issue and yet face very little backlash.

To explain my point I am going to use a local club to me...Sheffield Wednesday.

In 2014, Dejphon Chansiri bought the club from Milan Mandarić. At which point he would have been subject to the fit and proper test or as I like to call it, the micky mouse tick box. He passed this easily I am lead to believe and here is the first issue. The test isn't fit and doesn't prevent bad owners and for some reason this test is never changed. It's simple really, when you sell a business you do your due diligence, you review the business plan and you assess the funds available. The EFL in this instance should have performed a stress test on the business plan and ensure that even if you remove owners funding it was sustainable. That way, if the owner has a change of heart the club doesn't suffer.

Anyway, we move on with the story as in 2020 the club were in breach of EFL spending rules and as such eventually received a 6 point deduction. This point for me is the biggest failure from the EFL. When they give a points deduction out they should then provide oversight and monitoring of the financial record for a set period. This way they can ensure that the club is being sustainable and not spending above what it should as it has previously. But when actually happens is points deduction given, lax oversight in the future and the cycle repeats itself. Why not provide stricter oversight after a points deduction.

Three turbulent years passed in which included an interesting tactic of selling the stadium for over the market value before in 2023, there was the first missed payments to HMRC. At this point Chansiri was under pressure from the fans and his response? Ask them to raise the money. Alarm bells or what? Well according to the EFL this episode didn't warrant a punishment, but a second missed payment the year after only landed them an embargo anyway. Did the EFL step in? Did they ask for a reviewed business plan? No, of course not, they allowed all to carry on.

We now reach the present time, a club on the brink. Missed payments to staff, not just players but the receptionist, the accountants etc. Two months, no pay. A unsafe stadium and a lack of drive to sell. Have the EFL stepped in? No, they have simply put the club under more embargos. This is where they should step in, force the owner to sell and disqualify him. It happened before with a certain Premier League club, in fact they were forced to sell before they were even formally linked to the wider issues, so why not now? Was Bury and Reading not enough?

Whilst I have spoken about Sheffield Wednesday, this story is repeated across the game and all leagues and governing bodies are responsible. It's happened with Bury, Blackpool, Charlton, Reading to name a few. All over the World the governance and regulations are poor, but the leagues and federations wash their hands and say the responsibility is the owner.  

The punishments dished out by the regulators punish the fans and the club, not the owners who cause the issues. Honest people without jobs because of the incompetency of the rich. It is frankly embarrassing and not good enough.

This new Government bill won't solve anything, it's the same people in control of it as in control of the leagues etc. Until there is proper reform and accountability nothing will change.