Graham Kelly: New job, same problems as Mawhinney tackles in-fighting and club politics
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir Brian Mawhinney would no doubt find it trite to compare the Northern Ireland peace process, which he commenced as a member of John Major's government, with the recent turbulent history of the Football League. However, the new independent chairman of the League knows after only three weeks in the job that he will have to bring to bear all his experience gleaned from years of political in-fighting if he is to wipe out the formidable legacy of distrust which has pervaded the League since the ITV Digital débâcle.
Even before ITV Digital dealt their hammer blow to the clubs, there had been the abortive move 18 months ago by a number of First Division clubs to set up a new Phoenix League, and most chairmen outside the First Division remain convinced that, had the Premier League been prepared to offer a safe and lucrative berth to the First Division, they would have been off like a shot.
Keith Harris, Mawhinney's predecessor, advocated radical restructuring, including regionalisation of the lower divisions and an extension of the play-offs, before ITV Digital came along to put everything on hold. Even when the League bosses salvaged a deal with Sky it was not sufficient to save Harris and chief executive David Burns from the wrath of the First Division clubs, and Harris, on departing the scene, remarked that he was leaving the asylum to the lunatics.
Enter Mawhinney, keys not noticeably jangling, one of whose first duties was to impose himself on a recent meeting of First Division chairmen at Leicester. The starting point for all the unrest and the genesis of the Phoenix idea was the massive financial gulf between the Premier League and the First Division. This, despite the buoyancy of League attendances, leads forceful administrators such as Ipswich Town's David Sheepshanks, recently re-elected to the League's board, to campaign for change.
At first glance, the proposal Mawhinney took to last Thursday's meeting of club chairmen at Wigan on behalf of the reconstituted League board (Theo Paphitis of Millwall and Terry Robinson of Sheffield United have joined Sheepshanks as the First Division representatives), did not seem too radical: the First Division clubs wanted to appoint their own managing director, so as to enhance the First Division brand and to raise additional income for the top division. And a chief executive would be appointed for the League as a whole.
The First Division chairmen are seeking a slimmer, sleeker commercial vehicle for their ambitions, something more akin to the Premier League, with its two-man board and dynamic moneymaking set-up. But many, not all, of those in the lower echelons see the proposed new managing director as a Trojan horse, who, once inside the League stables, will commence a clear-out of epic proportions.
They doubt the authenticity of a separate First Division brand, pointing to the collective strength of the League as a whole and fear the League's own commercial personnel could be competing with one another in the same market place. The more cynical believe it is fruitless to try to ape the soaraway Premier League anyway.
Mawhinney was eventually authorised to press ahead with the appointment of a chief executive, as there have been four candidates waiting on a short list for some weeks, but as for the First Division appointment, he will continue talks within the framework outlined last week. If necessary, he will call the clubs together again before the next scheduled meeting in April.
The wage-capping proposals were also deferred, in order to allow clubs more time to consider the details. In the meantime, the paper from the Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor, in which he made clear his union's opposition to the principle of wage capping, was issued to the clubs.
Mawhinney, previously a union official himself, believes he can do business with Taylor. Taylor's alternative to wage capping, one which would prevent clubs getting into financial difficulty in the future, is a financial propriety committee with representatives of the PFA, the League Managers' Association, the government and the Football Supporters' Federation to ensure all clubs are accountable for the way they manage their affairs.
Currently the League only suspends a club's membership for financial problems when they petition for administration. The League should be supplied with copies of every club's management accounts. If this code of conduct was breached, financial problems would thus be identified much sooner, and the League could intervene. Any club resisting would be subject to disciplinary action.
I can see no reason whatsoever why clubs should not comply, for the real strength of the League lies in the collective power of the 72 clubs, who, like a chain, are only as strong as the weakest link. It is in everyone's interests to ensure that weaknesses are identified at the earliest opportunity, wherever they exist.
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