English Football

Baroness Taylor of Bolton Excerpts

Wednesday 8th May 2019 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Taylor of Bolton]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the governance of English football.

[Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very pleased to have secured this debate. The timing is quite incredible because the football club I support, Bolton Wanderers—my noble friend on this occasion, the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, supports Bolton too—faced winding-up orders in the High Court today. I will come on to that later.

Many problems surround the governance of football and many issues cause concern, such as the Premier League’s influence on the Football Association, the operation of the financial fair play rules, the FA’s response to racism, safeguarding and the operation of agents—I could go on. The Government need to be more proactive in taking a stand on these problems, which are important to so many people. Football is massively important to the UK economy but we cannot treat it simply as a business. It is much more important than that: it is part of this country’s heritage and affects the lives of millions of people on a weekly, if not daily, basis. The rules of governance are not adequate and need to be changed, particularly to recognise fans as stakeholders in the sport.

I declare my interest as a lifelong football supporter. For many years, I have received hospitality as a guest at the FA or various football clubs, but my main interest is that I am a season ticket holder at Bolton Wanderers and have been for most of my adult life, as have my husband and my children. We are also all members of Bolton Wanderers Supporters’ Trust. The experience of Bolton Wanderers at the moment is my primary concern, but I suggest that it is an example of what could befall many clubs. The structure of governance is inadequate and has made some of our problems worse.

The problems of Bolton Wanderers go some way back. We all remember the heady days of the Premiership, even European competitions, under Sam Allardyce and with fantastic stars such as Jay-Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff, Guðni Bergsson and Per Frandsen. We still have a fantastic stadium—perhaps one of the best in the country. It is certainly the best in the lower leagues, and is considered by some lower-league clubs as an alternative to Wembley. We also must not forget that Bolton Wanderers was one of the founding members of the Football League in 1888.

For many years, Bolton Wanderers was fortunate enough to have the personal and financial support of the late Eddie Davies, a locally born businessman. His commitment was behind much of our success. When he felt that he had to leave after bankrolling the club for many years, our real problems started. Dean Holdsworth, one of our former players, tried to put together a package to ensure the club’s well-being. It seems that his efforts backfired when Ken Anderson took over. Since then, the club’s problems have escalated beyond belief. We have seen debts in the revenue to Bolton Council, to Greater Manchester Police, to the ambulance service, to players and to other staff mount up and go unpaid. The club’s training ground was closed because of a lack of food and power. We have heard that stock was taken from the club’s shop because of unpaid bills. The hotel, an integral part of the stadium, has been closed. The Professional Footballers’ Association has had to step in at times to pay players’ wages. Perhaps most worryingly of all, the stadium’s safety certificate was threatened because the stewards had not been paid. In the end, a strike by players led to the cancellation of our last home game and points will be deducted next season because of the failure of the present owner, Ken Anderson. It is a mess and a tragic state of affairs.

I believe that it relates directly to the problems of football governance. First, it relates to the fit and proper person test, which is neither fit nor proper and is now called the “owners and directors test”. It is supposed to protect against corruption, protect the image of the sport and keep unscrupulous people away from football. The experience of Bolton Wanderers and some other clubs is that this rule does not work—that it is either not adequate or not applied properly. I am sure that we need better, proper and stated standards, proper compliance procedures and greater transparency.

My second concern is about the English Football League. I cannot understand how the chief executive of the EFL, Shaun Harvey, could make the statements he did about the ownership of Bolton Wanderers under Ken Anderson and give the assurances he gave, for example to the Supporters’ Trust. On 14 February, Shaun Harvey said to the Bolton Wanderers Supporters’ Trust:

“Following recent discussions, the EFL remains satisfied that the club”—


Bolton Wanderers—

“has the source and sufficiency of funds to meet its obligations as a member of the league at least until the end of the season”.

Yet within 14 days of that statement by the chief executive of the EFL, the club failed to pay its players. That was after the previous month, in January, when the chairman of Forest Green Rovers publicly reported that Ken Anderson had said to him in respect of a disputed transfer:

“You can seek a winding-up petition, you can bankrupt the club. I don’t care, I’m a secured lender. I’ll get my money back”.


Surely that report from one of its members should have set alarm bells ringing at the EFL. Shaun Harvey went on to talkSPORT and praised Ken Anderson because the club’s debt has been reduced. The club’s debt has been reduced but that is no thanks to Ken Anderson. It was reduced because the previous owner, Eddie Davies, had written off the vast amount of money that he had loaned the club. It was, to say the least, very strange to praise Ken Anderson. Today, the failure of Ken Anderson to pay those debts has led to Bolton Wanderers being in the High Court and notice has been given of the intention to appoint an administrator.

Tempting though it is, I am not asking the Government to step in and bail out Bolton Wanderers, but the issues of the lack of governance have, I believe, compounded our problems. What do we need from the Government? The first thing is a recognition that the 2017 changes to governance by the FA were not enough. Secondly, we need a recognition of the wide problems that I mentioned at the beginning, such as the role of agents, dealing with racism and the “fit and proper” rules. I believe that all of these issues should be of concern to the Government. Moreover, they need to insist that in every sport, but particularly in football, we have comprehensive rules, proper compliance and greater transparency. It is, after all, 2019.

Next, we need a greater recognition of the role that football fans can and should play in the governance of the game. I would like the Government to take this issue far more seriously because good proposals have been put forward by Supporters Direct and others. Further, I think that the frustration felt by many fans is very real. I would also like the Government to encourage the designation of more sports grounds and facilities as assets of community value. I must praise the Bolton Wanderers Supporters’ Trust and indeed Bolton Council because they have ensured that this has happened in Bolton. Without that designation of our football ground, I hate to think what the current owner might have done with that asset. All of this needs to be done with a sense of urgency. Too many of these problems are cropping up, and if you look at the number of clubs that have got into trouble recently, it is indeed alarming.

There are, of course, good owners. One such, Dean Hoyle at Huddersfield, who has just stepped down, is a great example. But too often the chairmen of football clubs—they usually are men—control the body that regulates them, and that cannot be good. UEFA recently recognised supporters as key stakeholders and Supporters Direct has been trying to push that forward, but others within football and, I believe, at the EFL, have actually been trying to stall that.

The experience of Bolton Wanderers shows that governance is inadequate. Of course that is my main concern, but football as a whole needs better governance or other clubs will end up in the same situation and suffer the same fate as Bolton Wanderers today.