The EFL has handed over sole responsibility for assessing the suitability of potential owners to the Independent Football Regulator (IFR), raising concerns among some clubs over whether the new government-backed body has the resources and expertise to make such judgements effectively.
The Premier League, in contrast, will continue to operate its own Owners’ and Directors’ Test, which it used effectively last season to block the proposed purchase of Everton by American businessman Josh Wander, whose company, 777 Partners was subsequently hit with legal action over an alleged $350m fraud.
The IFR last month published its plans for a new Owners, Directors and Senior Executives test, which it claimed would raise standards by increasing powers of enforcement, as well as widening the scope of those assessed to include all a club’s senior employees.
Rogue owners could be imprisoned for the most serious violations of the Football Governance Act, specifically destroying documents, while other possible sanctions include fines of up to 10 per cent of a club’s revenue and being forced to sell.
The new test is not yet in operation, but City AM has been told that the EFL is already making plans to wind down its own test, which was most recently used to approve the takeover of Morecambe by the Panjab Warriors consortium in June.
The IFR has been running in shadow form for more than a year, with media rights expert David Kogan and former EY partner Richard Monks formally appointed as chair and chief executive this week.
EFL sources confirmed that it sees no need to run two tests in parallel and that it is happy to hand over responsibility to the Regulator, but the Premier League is taking a different approach.
“The Premier League O&D Test is one of the most stringent in world sport and it will be retained,” a source said. “It has been very effective in the past in keeping out rogue owners, and evolves all the time.
“The Regulator is consulting with the clubs over their test, but it would be hasty to give them sole responsibility immediately. The stakes are very high. If you look at the clubs who have got into serious financial trouble and experienced bad owners historically it is those in the EFL, yet they appear to be handing over responsibility.”
Another club source questioned whether the IFR would have sufficient resources to enforce a test it claims have been “significantly tightened”.
While existing owners, directors and staff will not be assessed initially, the IFR has given itself scope to scrutinise incumbents when concerns arise, including undertaking checks with domestic and international banks and working with law enforcement agencies.
The IFR’s initial annual budget has been set at around £10m, which will be funded by a graduated levy on the 116 clubs it is charged with regulating, from the Premier League to the National League, with those in the top flight paying the most.
City Football Group’s J-League future in doubt
Manchester City’s long-term ownership position at Yokohama Marinos is uncertain due to the financial problems of partners Nissan, which is looking to sell its 75 per cent stake in the J-League club.
City AM has learned that City’s parent company, City Football Group (CFG), has been given the opportunity to increase its stake in Yokohama by purchasing shares from Nissan, which has also given notice of its intention to end a long-term sponsorship deal with City.
CFG has no plans to become a majority shareholder at Yokohama, but Nissan’s financial issues and the resultant uncertainty has led to internal discussions about its ongoing role at the club.
City sources say that CFG remains committed to supporting Yokohama but declined to discuss the specifics of its ownership due to commercial confidentiality.
The current arrangement between CFG and Yokohama, who receive access to the group’s coaching, management, medical and sports science expertise, is closely tied to the Nissan sponsorship, however, so new terms may need to be negotiated if it is to continue.
Nissan reported losses of £3.2bn and announced plans to cut 20,000 jobs earlier this year, leading to a wider cost-cutting operation with implications for CFG.
Yokohama were the third club to join the CFG stable in 2012 after New York City and Melbourne Heart but, unlike most of the other partners in a group that now includes 13 clubs, CFG’s investment has remained a minority holding.
Although CFG did not confirm the size of its stake at the time it has been widely reported to be 20 per cent, with Nissan owning 75 per cent of a club it originally founded as its in-house corporate team in 1972.
While CFG has no immediate plans to buy out Nissan or sell its own stake it is monitoring the situation closely. Nissan is understood to have had talks with several potential buyers, leaving CFG with a dilemma over whether to stay on and work with the club’s new owners.
CFG’s other clubs are Girona, Palermo, Troyes and Lommel in Europe, Mumbai City and Sichuan Jiuniu in Asia, and Montevideo City Torque, Bahia and Club Bolivar in South America.
CFG declined to comment.
Florida cities mull joint 2044 Olympics bid
Orlando, Tampa and Miami are in the early stages of exploring a joint bid to host the Olympics in 2044.
Returning to the USA so soon after LA 2028 would be unusual for the International Olympic Committee, as would moving to a multi-city hosting model but, given the significant growth in both the size of the Games and the staging costs, the US cities believe they could make a compelling bid.
After LA 2028 the Games will move to Brisbane in 2032, while the contest to host in 2036 appears to be a straight fight between India and Qatar.
Liverpool basketball team KOd by row
A proposed new professional basketball team in Liverpool was the collateral damage in the ongoing feud between Super League Basketball (SLB) and the sport’s governing body, the British Basketball Federation (BBF), which appears destined to be settled in the High Court.
City AM has learned that SLB wanted to add a Liverpool team to its nine-club competition this season, and even got as far as securing a venue in the 12,000-capacity Liverpool Arena, but uncertainty over player recruitment exacerbated by the BBF’s threat to block visa applications led to the expansion plan being shelved.
SLB is suing BBF over what it claims was an illegal tender process to create a new professional league, the GBBL, which is due to launch in 2027.
The Hundred sticking with double headers
The Hundred will retain double-headers featuring men’s and women’s matches on the same day in next year’s competition in a move that is set to be confirmed at a board meeting next week.
While there is appetite among the new franchise owners to trial some standalone women’s fixtures in future years, particularly in London, they appear to have concluded that as the current model is delivering capacity crowds it would be unwise to risk changing it as the competition continues to grow.
Holding individual women’s games would potentially bring in additional revenue but also present logistical issues in terms of the packed schedule, while broadcast partners Sky Sports and BBC would also have to approve the change as they have a contract to screen double-headers until 2028.