Uefa are threatening to ban debt ridden clubs from their competitions. This is a major threat to leading English clubs to whom Champions League football is a key slice of their income. Some might feel that the move is motivated by continental jealousy at the success of English clubs in the Champions League. Others might feel that Uefa are trying to tackle a genuine problem facing football.
Uefa are threatening to ban debt ridden clubs from their competitions. This is a major threat to leading English clubs to whom Champions League football is a key slice of their income. Some might feel that the move is motivated by continental jealousy at the success of English clubs in the Champions League. Others might feel that Uefa are trying to tackle a genuine problem facing football. So what arguments have been put forward by David Taylor, former secretary of the Scottish Football Association, but now the second most powerful man in European football as general secretary of Uefa? His experience in Scotland has clearly had a big impact on Taylor. He referred specifically to the collapse of Gretna. He also recalled the controversial Italian lawyer Giovanni di Stefano who stepped down from the board of Dundee five years ago before the club went into administration with debts of more than £20m after initially parading himself as a saviour.
Entry to the Champions League and Uefa Cup is subject to licences issued by European football’s governing body. Taylor says clubs must address debts or face ‘the ultimate sanction’. He explained, ‘There would be forms of communication, even warnings or reprimands, before one got to a situation of exclusion but it is absolutely possible.’ If Uefa did exclude a club on these grounds, they might well find a law suit winging in their direction. However, Taylor believes that clubs with huge debts are putting their future in jeopardy and feels they have to bring their finances under control. ‘There is concern about these numbers, particularly in an era of financial crisis,’ Taylor said. ‘Debt in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Just because I have a mortgage doesn’t mean I’m bankrupt. But the debt does have a requirement to be properly serviced. Clubs must work within all available means and they must not expose themselves to such an extent that the whole future of the club is jeopardised unless some white knight comes over the horizon with millions and millions of pounds.’
On one level that sounds sensible enough and Taylor did succeed in making his case in a more reasonable way than some of the other individuals who have jumped on the regulatory bandwagon. However, some of his remarks have a hint of ‘four legs good, two legs bad’. He stated, ‘There are a number of English clubs being touted to Russians, Americans and Nigerians. Which do you want to choose from the list?’ A harsh critic might say that such a remark could be seen as a little xenophobic. Or to put it another way, the owner of Gretna was British. A British owner can be irresponsible and a foreign owner can be responsible. What is really needed is an effective ‘fit and proper person’ test which involves a more than superficial examination of a person’s credentials. For example, one might scrutinise with some care individuals from countries with a known history of corruption or ‘crony capitalism’.