Massimo Cellino will not sell up at Leeds
Massimo Cellino has said that he will not sell up at Leeds United despite having failed the Football League’s fit and proper person test.
Article Taxonomy: Football Governance
The woes of Hereford United
Investigative sports journalist David Conn takes an in depth look at the woes of Hereford United. It doesn’t make for happy reading, particularly in terms of the background of the public face of the club, Andrew Lonsdale. His previous involvement with a non-league club, Feltham FC, apparently involved dumping large quantities of waste on the ground.
Feeder clubs by stealth?
Greg Dyke has dropped his idea for a League Three which Premier League ‘B’ teams could enter and progress as far as League One. Even Premier League clubs that backed the idea have now withdrawn their support. However, the second set of recommendations from his commission on the future of the English game is expected to include a proposal which may also prove controversial.
Non-EU players to be banned in Football League
The Football Association is proposing to ban non-EU players from playing in the Football League as part of a package of measures to give greater opportunities to domestic players.
Football and the referendum
It was bound to happen: someone would write an article about football and the Scottish referendum. Fortunately it’s soccer economics guru Stefan Szymanski who writes perceptively about these issues.
His main focus is on the existence of four national teams in the UK which is resented elsewhere (although a combined UK team would be more of a threat). He considers what would happen if there was a yes vote or a no vote. A yes vote might lead to demands for a ‘rUK’ national team.
Blatter to stand again
It’s no great surprise to hear that Sepp Blatter is to stand again as President of Fifa. Nevertheless, football fans broke open the champagne and danced in the streets as they heard that their hero would be continuing his blend of high quality decision-making with being a scourge against corruption in the world governing body. Without Blatter we may never have got the 2022 World Cup in Qatar!
How much are fans entitled to know?
I was intrigued by a recent posting on a fans’ board by someone with informal connections with a club. She argued that the price of an admission ticket simply entitled fans to watch the game, it did not give them the right to know what was going on ‘behind the scenes’.
Of course, if they purchase a programme, they will find features like ‘Dressing room diaries’ or features on particular players which provide exciting insights on banter between players, who shares a car to the training ground with whom and player nicknames.
Salisbury City ‘stitched up’ by FA and Conference
Salisbury City fans understandably feel aggrieved after their appeal against expulsion from the Conference South was dismissed by the Football Association a few days before the start of the season. They consider that they were ‘stitched up’ by the FA and the Football Conference.
Fans not happy with the way clubs are run
This is not, of course, a surprising headline given the pessimism and negativity that often seems to characterise football fans. However, Supporters Direct have carried out an interesting survey which finds that 18 per cent of fans thought their club was well run financially and 41 per cent did not.
Wenger gives it large on Lampard
Arsene Wenger has suggested that Manchester City’s loan deal for Frank Lampard could be a way to get round financial fair play regulations. However, City have responded by stating that they will pay Lampard’s wages in full. Nevertheless, he will count as one of the home grown players in City’s restricted Champions League squad of 21.