Torquay's Problems Raise Broader Issues - 21/01/2007

Current difficulties at the Football League's bottom club, Torquay, raise broader issues about how someone is deemed to be a fit and proper person to run a football club. Torquay has been taken over by someone with no prior experience of running a club and with no apparent personal wealth. New chairman Chris Roberts has used a loan from the personal pension of a Walsall fan by the name of Michael Sadler to finance his part-purchase of the club. He is buying shares from owner Mike Bateson over a four year period. When the payments are complete, Bateson's 51 per cent controlling stake will be released to Roberts. His past includes a spell as a young player in Czechoslovakia, running a wine import business that was wound up and working as a British Rail guard. One of his first actions was to bring in a Czech manager with little knowledge of English lower league football.

What is the attraction of Torquay, a club that faces long travelling distances from its resort home which hardly qualifies as a hotbed of football interest? Nevertheless, Torquay are one of the few clubs without debt and last year made a profit of £11,000 because of a good FA cup run and player sales. The real attraction, however, is the prospect of building a £20m development on the Torquay seafront including a multipurpose stadium, hotel and shops. The small-scale but attractive Plainmoor ground could then be sold for housing for £5 million. Torbay Council has said that it will only consider the plan if it has community support.

All you have to do to qualify as a 'fit and proper person' in the eyes of the Football League is to sign a certificate testifying that they have no convictions for fraud and dishonesty, are not banned by the governing body of a sport or disqualified as a director. There is no test about experience or available funds. The League assumes that if something is fishy, the club, the media or the fans will find out.