Slowly the inefficient crumble away. English football clubs go into administration, the Football League fines them and they get docked a truckload of competition points. Brutal stuff.
I have been reading about the recent problems with Southampton Football Club. Building a new stadium then several seasons in lower leagues after falling out of the premier league after 27 years dragged the club down. Even having the genius player contract clause that slashed wages by 50% upon on relegation from the premiership couldn’t help.
Things have come to ahead and the club is now in Administration. Several parties took an interest but exclusive negotiation rights had been given to the Pinnacle Group. This group was basically a guy called Michael Fialka, who apparently made his money in property. Saints fans seem to be cautious but the trump card for the bid was that it is fronted by the club’s greatest legend Matt Le Tissier. A man whose motives are surely beyond question.
The group has now pulled out of negotiations and one of the main stumbling blocks was the 10 competition point penalty that the Football League has imposed and does not seem to want to remove. So, staff are not getting paid, a great club may not exist and all this because the FL won’t budge on a 10 point penalty, even though the Administration happened in the previous season. The FL argue that they need to make sure that all teams starting the season end it, and that is a fair call.
Pinnacle were banking on the fact that the parent company and not the club itself went into administration, but I think it should not even come to such a technicality. If a new potential owner comes to the table and offers to save a club then surely a points deduction can be forgiven. It is fair that certain criteria are met; the owners should prove they can reasonably finance at least one season and that they have nothing to do with those that dragged the club down (assuming mismanagement was a factor).
Leeds was put into administration in 2007, one round before the end of the season. One of the biggest creditors Astor Investments, based in a tax haven, was prepared to write off it debts IF the club was sold to another tax haven domiciled company Forward Sports Fund and also only IF Ken Bates was maintained as chairman. The end owners of both of these companies was not known and Bates denied any ownership or knowledge. Yeah right are we to believe they just liked the cut of his jib? Anyway it has now come to light that Bates has ownership in Forward Sports Fund. Shock.
In the end the administrators did sell the club to Forward Sports Fund and it is true the points deduction was maintained.
I believe these two cases are vastly different.
The Leeds situation was a farce and deserved to be treated with contempt, the Saints potential buyers were clearly identifiable and not linked to previous ownership. Surely in such circumstances there is argument for relief.
Largely agree Fist. My only thought here is that if the potential financiers of Southampton reckon they can put out a capable football team/club, then a ten point penalty probably won't be an issue in the FL. They play mass amounts of games and could claw their way back to mid table/play - offs with a decent side. So, the FL maintain their integrity by standing by their penalty, and Southamton, a grand old club, start afresh.
ReplyDeleteYou would like to think so Ben but 10 points is huge when a club is crawling back from the brink and all the morale issues surrounding that. There is always massive risk in throwing money into a football club which is compounded when you are behind from the start.
ReplyDeleteLeague 1 2008/09 – 49 points got you the last relegation spot. 7 clubs were within 10 points of that number. So if you had won the same points as 14th placed (of 24 teams) Leyton Orient had which were 56 points (take off 10), then you would have gone down.