Could I Own a Club?

Back in December 2018, Steve Dale bought Bury FC for £1. One pound. That was what it took to own one of the oldest clubs in the world.

To protect clubs from any ill-wishers, the EFL deploy a ‘fit and proper’ test with which to approve prospective owners. It’s a test that frequently comes under scrutiny for lacking rigour to see if the wannabe owner actually has the required cash, and a test that - it has been reported - that Dale did not even properly pass.

The test is available to the public on the EFL’s website. It can be found here. In the wake of a £1 ownership disaster, I thought - seeing as I do happily have £1 to name - it would interesting to take a look and see if I would be given the green light by the EFL.

Association between clubs is listed as a ‘disqualifying condition’, something that would see a person fail the test. First off: “having the power to determine or influence the management of another Club or Premier League Club”. Ha! If only.

The other condition in this category could provide a bump: “holding or acquiring any Significant Interest in a Club while at the same time either directly or indirectly holding any interest in any class of shares or securities of another Club”.

Does me being a Morecambe fan stop me from taking over another club? Maybe that’s something to keep on the down-low. As long as the EFL don’t look through the Shrimp’s Facebook page or fan’s group, or discovers my alias on the fan’s forum, I should be safe.

After that brief scare, we come onto disciplinary matters. This section starts with “being subject to a suspension or ban or other form of disqualification”.

There are a number of bodies from sporting to accounting to law which are listed on the site. To the best of my knowledge, I have never received a ban from any kind of body. All good there.

This section also requires me to have not withheld any information while taking part in the test and also to have not broken any rules in regards to betting on football. So as long as I am polite and honest, and don’t get myself embroiled in any match fixing scandals, I’m still good.

Now onto the juicy stuff, the section on criminal matters. Well, not so juicy in my case. I don’t have any unspent, or spent, criminal convictions.

By their wording: “having an Unspent Conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction in England and Wales”. The section also clears up that this replies to convictions outside England and Wales, of which I also have none.

And finally: “being a Register Offender”. I’m very happy to say that I am not one. The EFL may let a few asset strippers through the net, but at least they can keep out sex offenders.

Next onto company disqualification matters: “a disqualification order as a director”. I’ve never been a director, I’ve never been disqualified as a director and I’ve never had any tangles with the “Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986”. Easy pass on that section.

Now for insolvency matters. The first part of this section is related to insolvency matters regarding to the individual, covering whether they themselves have been subject to a bankruptcy order or had debt troubles. Fortunately, neither apply to myself. I’m still ok in the EFL’s eyes.

The second part of this section refers to being involved with insolvency events at a football club. I’ve never owned a club before, so I am also able to sail through on this section.

This section is actually the most depressing to read. The EFL regards these two following conditions as being disqualifying ones: that a person has been a ‘Relevant Person’ of “at least two Football Clubs that have each been subject to or suffered unconnected Insolvency Events”, and “one Football Club that has been subject to or suffered two unconnected Insolvency Events”.

That’s right. If you’ve helped drive a club into insolvency once, you actually get a second chance to do it again. At least you will be stopped from doing a third time. Bravo, EFL.

Reporting requirements are then listed, with the decision guidelines listed below. At the bottom of this section lies a condition stating that a person cannot take over a club if “no funds or economic resources may be made available, directly or indirectly, to or for his benefit”.

This may be my sticking point. I do have the single pound that Steve Dale had, but my financial clout doesn’t stretch much further. My dream of owning a football club for £1 may be over.

You would think that making sure that a would be owner actually has enough money behind them would be quite high on the list. But it appears to be something that is pretty low down on the pecking order.

Perhaps my limited financial resources would ring too many alarm bells, but it seems too easy a test to pass for potential owners of football clubs - football clubs which are valuable community assets.

It pretty much boils down to not having a criminal record and not having received some kind of official dismissal or ban from business. The most shocking thing, though, is the fact that the EFL are willing to give people who have a previous track record of mishandling a football club a second chance.

The test has no rigour. There are some very basic requirements that have to be met, and finances are just a tiny part of it. No wonder it often proves to be such an ineffective device.

A more thorough fit and proper test is surely necessary and although this won’t solve every problem, it should help to put a cap on owners with mirky intentions.

Footballs governing bodies must start to step up, instead of dropping a shoulder to dodge the issue and wash their hands of any blame. More financial regulations are needed to cap the wild over-spending as well as a more rigorous test for new owners.

In its current form, the EFL’s fit and proper test is anything but fit and proper.