Burnham Wades In To Football Ownership Row

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has stepped into the debate over foreign ownership of football clubs by demanding The Football Association implement tighter regulations on such deals.

Stated Burnham: ‘The game needs to reassess its relationship with money. If the game continues along the same path for the next 10 years it risks losing touch with traditional support.’

The Culture Secretary’s comments come following a host of foreign buy-outs in British football over recent years, with Manchester United, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Portsmouth all now in the hands of overseas owners.
 
The latest high-profile takeover has seen Arab company Abu Dhabi United Group buy a majority stake in Manchester City at the start of September.

Burnham outlined his views in a speech in Westminster and expressed concerns that a club’s place in the community must be preserved.

‘This is not an attack on foreign ownership. It doesn’t matter what nationality they are, what matters is their intentions for the club they seek to take over and whether or not they have the game’s wider interest at heart.

‘It’s not wrong that people should make money out of football, but it should be done in such a way that promotes the interests of the game.

‘Does there need to be a single fit and and proper persons test applied before someone takes over, rather then retrospectively as it is now?

‘Does there need to be a greater level of scrutiny about how the takeover is going to happen? We need to ask ‘is this takeover in the best interests of the club and of football in general?’.

‘It is right for me to say ‘come on FA, step up to the plate’. My worry is if we don’t ask these awkward questions it will be too late and something very precious will have been lost.’