For over a century in a myriad of sports players would experience decisions going against them in games, but over a season it would often even itself out, as some decisions would end up going your way.
There have been very few batsmen who have not been given out caught behind when they didn’t touch the ball, there have also been many given not out when they have!
There have been tries scored when the try-scorer’s foot has touched the touchline, and goals disallowed as the ball has been deemed not to have crossed the goal line.
England’s third goal in the 1966 World cup is still much debated. Did it as to cross the line or not? The late Alan Ball, the player who crossed for Geoff Hurst to score told Not The Footy Show when he appeared on the show that from where he was, he believed it did not cross the line.
Today when sport is played at the highest level we have video and computer technology to supposedly ensure that no longer can there be any debate over such decisions. The officials will use this technology to make the right decision. Yet as we have seen as recently as the semi-finals of the Euros debate still rages on, should the penalty awarded to England that saw them progress to their first ever European final have been given?
The system is not perfect. The reason being that sport is not an exact science. It is not always that simple.
What is interesting is that while there is a system in place to review decisions and incidents on the field of play it appears in many sports and especially football there is no such review system when it comes to the running of the game.
Those in power make the decisions and they are set in stone. There is often no going back. No review as to how that decision was reached and on what information the decision was based and whether those making the decision had all the relevant facts.
The reason that we have video technology in sport today has nothing to do with fair play and everything to do with money. It would appear that one of the reasons that there is no review of some of the off field decisions is the same. It comes down to cronyism and money.
This week the English Football League placed an embargo on eight of its clubs, a month before the start of the 2021/22 League season.
The embargoes limit a club’s ability to make signings, with sanctions preventing transfer fees being paid.
Both Derby County and the team that I support, Swindon Town have been given this punishment for not complying with the following EFL regulations:
Regulation 16.2 – Failure to provide audited annual accounts
Regulation 16.3 – Annual accounts not filed with Companies House
Regulation 17 – Default in payments to Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs
Both clubs are also responsible for other breaches of Football League regulations.
Yet here is where to the average fan things become confusing.
Ever since the Football League allowed clubs to become subsidiary companies of unscrupulous businessmen and women in the 1980’s and early 1990’s many felt that the game, or more specifically thise running it had sold its soul.
In 2004 the Football League introduced a test whereby anybody who wants to take over a club, runs one, or owns over 30% of its shares must be assessed as to whether they are a fit and proper person to own a football club.
It was we have been told designed ‘to protect the image and integrity of the relevant league and the clubs that play in it.’ Yet has this test really achieved what it was intended to do?
If it was truly working then why are so many clubs being stripped of their assets by these supposed business people? Why are so many clubs facing the prospect of closing their doors if these supposed business people were running the clubs in a fit and proper manner?
The English Football League states on its website its aspiration. “The EFL delivers against the aspirations of every supporter, club, player and stakeholder to excel within the game. The ambition of our clubs, players and fans is at the heart of the competition, with every game important in the battle for promotion, or to avoid relegation.“
They go on to say that, “All EFL member clubs have a prestigious place within the heart of their respective communities. They actively represent the interests of their towns and cities coming together on a local and national level to positively impact on the societies they serve for the betterment of all.”
Most football fans would agree with that statement, yet few would believe that those at the English Football League actually believe it. If they did why are they not pushing for all club owners to have far more local involvement? More importantly why are they punishing member clubs for the failings of the owners that they deemed fit and proper to run a football club?
Take Swindon Town at the present time.
The club is at present owned by former professional footballer Lee Power. However the club it is hoped is going to soon be taken over by Australian businessman Clem Morfuni.
The company that Mr Power has listed as being the owner of Swindon Town is Swinton Reds 20 Limited.
It could be argued that it is that company that has failed to comply with the Football Leagues regulations, as it is this company that is running the club. Therefore surely a review should be carried out as to how and why the club finds itself in such a predicament.
If following that investigation they find that the owner has failed in their duties and obligations then surely they should be the ones sanctioned rather than the clubs?
A review should then be taken as to the process that deemed them to fit and proper to run a football club. Who at the EFL carried out that assessment? Were they impartial or did they have a conflict of interest? Did the prospective owner simply supply information to obtain ownership and then ignore all other rules and regulations? When did the mismanagement commence? Was it as soon as they took control?
Depending on the outcome of the investigation some of these individuals should be banned from ever being involved in football again.
The fact that so many clubs are finding themselves victims of bad management and a failure to comply with Football League regulations highlights that something is very, very, wrong in the process that approves owners to be ‘fit and proper.’
If decisions on the field of play can be reviewed why can’t decisions made by the Football League be reviewed? It would appear that decisions made by those in power at the EFL require the same intensive scrutiny as some on the pitch.
Will this ever happen? It is most unlikely, for the cronyism of yesteryear may be found to still be alive and well. Or the game may uncover far more than it should.
Clearly the League cannot allow clubs to fail to produce audited accounts and pay taxes. They cannot allow these owners to stop paying their employees, but are the punishments being handed out the right ones for the sport or the league?
As hard as the embargoes are on the clubs and their fans they make sense, as the EFL are preventing others from ending up being victims of the mismanagement and not being paid.
Yet the deduction of points once the league season gets under way simply exacerbates the tough situation that the club already finds itself in. Swindon Town does not even have 11 players at the moment, let alone a manager! One could almost argue that these punishments fly in the face of the ‘aspirations’ promoted by the League.
In 2019 we saw one of the Football League’s founding clubs Bury FC wound up. At the time many felt that the Football League could have prevented their demise.
The fact that eight clubs have had embargoes placed upon them confirms that the process currently in place is flawed. It also highlights the need for football clubs to be returned to their communities. It has been these communities that have sustained the clubs over the past hundred years, and these communities must be given a say in the running of the clubs moving forward. Owners may come and go but these communities will always be there. The outside owners should have to have as part of their ownership clause a plan to work with the local community. It has to work both ways.
It is also time that many of the towns and cities that these clubs represent begin to realize the place these teams have in the community and how they are a major link to the identity of that place. (A Cry For Help For “My Club” And More Like It).
If these businessmen are to be given the keys to the historic clubs that make up the English Football League then they must be made to ensure that they safeguard that community and they too commit to the community.
