The governance and regulation of professional football

Political Quarterly

Volumn 71, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 184-191

  Michie, Jonathan ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0034165322     PISSN: 00323179     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1467-923X.00293     Document Type: Article

References (16)

1. 1 On the establishment and running of the Football Task Force, see A. Brown, 'Thinking the Unthinkable or Playing the Game?', in S. Hamil, J. Michie and C. Oughton, eds, A Game of Two Halves? The Business of Football, Edinburgh, Mainstream, 1999. On the Task Force's deliberations on the crucial issues of regulation and fan ownership, see A. Brown, 'The Football Task Force and the "Regulator Debate"', in S. Hamil, J. Michie, C. Oughton and S. Warby, eds, Football in the Digital Age: Whose Game is it Anyway?, Edinburgh, Mainstream, 2000.
2. 1 On the establishment and running of the Football Task Force, see A. Brown, 'Thinking the Unthinkable or Playing the Game?', in S. Hamil, J. Michie and C. Oughton, eds, A Game of Two Halves? The Business of Football, Edinburgh, Mainstream, 1999. On the Task Force's deliberations on the crucial issues of regulation and fan ownership, see A. Brown, 'The Football Task Force and the "Regulator Debate"', in S. Hamil, J. Michie, C. Oughton and S. Warby, eds, Football in the Digital Age: Whose Game is it Anyway?, Edinburgh, Mainstream, 2000.
3. 2 See Department of Media, Culture and Sport, Eliminating Racism from Football (1998), Improving Disabled Access (1998) and Investing in the Community (1999). The last of these three documents contains the support for supporter shareholding trusts. The fourth and final report contained majority and minority recommendations, the football authorities being in the minority, and at the time of writing (February 2000) these are under consideration by the government.
4. 2 See Department of Media, Culture and Sport, Eliminating Racism from Football (1998), Improving Disabled Access (1998) and Investing in the Community (1999). The last of these three documents contains the support for supporter shareholding trusts. The fourth and final report contained majority and minority recommendations, the football authorities being in the minority, and at the time of writing (February 2000) these are under consideration by the government.
5. 2 See Department of Media, Culture and Sport, Eliminating Racism from Football (1998), Improving Disabled Access (1998) and Investing in the Community (1999). The last of these three documents contains the support for supporter shareholding trusts. The fourth and final report contained majority and minority recommendations, the football authorities being in the minority, and at the time of writing (February 2000) these are under consideration by the government.
6. 3 On the structure and operation of the supporters' trust at Northampton Town FC, see B. Lomax, 'Supporter Representation on the Board: The Case of Northampton Town FC', in Hamil et al., A Game of Two Halves?; T. Clarke, 'The Future of Football: Safe in Whose Hands?', in Hamil et al., Football in the Digital Age. Brian Lomax was the elected director for seven years and remains chair of the Trust. Tony Clarke is the current elected director. (He also happens to be the Member of Parliament for Northampton Town, although his involvement in the supporters' trust predates his election to Parliament.) The case of Northampton Town FC is discussed further in the text below.
7. 3 On the structure and operation of the supporters' trust at Northampton Town FC, see B. Lomax, 'Supporter Representation on the Board: The Case of Northampton Town FC', in Hamil et al., A Game of Two Halves?; T. Clarke, 'The Future of Football: Safe in Whose Hands?', in Hamil et al., Football in the Digital Age. Brian Lomax was the elected director for seven years and remains chair of the Trust. Tony Clarke is the current elected director. (He also happens to be the Member of Parliament for Northampton Town, although his involvement in the supporters' trust predates his election to Parliament.) The case of Northampton Town FC is discussed further in the text below.
8. 4 This proposal was put in a private member's bill to Parliament in 1999 by Gerry Sutcliffe MP; see G. Sutcliffe, 'Why Football Needs an Independent Regulator', in Hamil et al., Football in the Digital Age.
9. 5 Jonathan Michie, A Golden Goal? Uniting Supporters and Their Clubs, available from the Co-operative Party, Victory House, 10-14 Leicester Square, London WC2H 7QH.
10. 6 When referring to the management of football clubs we mean the activities of the board of directors rather than the team manager or coach (who may not even be a member of the club's board of directors, and is even less likely to be a member of the PLC board, where there is one). For an early call for the mutualisation of football clubs, see A. Gamble and G. Kelly, 'All We Are Saying is Give Us Control', New Statesman, 28 March 1998.
11. 7 What arrangements will be made for Scotland remains to be seen. The Football Trust's remit included Scotland, but the Department of Culture, Media and Sport's does not. There is already a great deal of interest in supporter-shareholder activity in Scotland, including at Glasgow Celtic, Dundee United, Hibernian and Hamilton Academicals. The fans group at this last club ran their own candidate in a recent by-election, receiving more than 1,000 votes in a generally low turnout.
12. 8 On the FA's Rule 34 see D. Conn, The Business of Football, Edinburgh, Mainstream, 1997, and Brown, 'The Football Task Force and the "Regulator Debate"'.
13. 8 On the FA's Rule 34 see D. Conn, The Business of Football, Edinburgh, Mainstream, 1997, and Brown, 'The Football Task Force and the "Regulator Debate"'.
14. 9 Lord Justice Taylor's Final Report on the disaster at Hillsborough football stadium, in which 96 supporters of Liverpool FC were crushed to death, included the following conclusion: 'As for the clubs, in some instances it is legitimate to wonder whether the directors are genuinely interested in the welfare of their grass-roots supporters. Boardroom struggles for power, wheeler-dealing in the buying and selling of shares, and indeed of whole clubs, sometimes suggest that those involved are more interested in the personal financial benefits or social status of being a director than of directing the club in the interests of its supporter customers' (Lord Justice Taylor, The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster: Final Report, Cm 962, London, HMSO, 1990, para 53).
15. 10 For a discussion of how the various stakeholders could be properly included in the running of a football club, see M. Goyder, Tomorrow's Football Club: An Inclusive Approach to Governance', in Hamil et al., Football in the Digital Age.
16. 11 On the importance of match-going fans, see R. Scudamore, 'The Restrictive Practices Court Case: Implications for the Football Leage', in Hamil et al., Football in the Digital Age. At the time he wrote this piece, Richard Scudamore was Chief Executive of the Football League. He is now Chief Executive of the FA Premier League.