EFL Fit and Proper Owners Process | Vital Football

EFL Fit and Proper Owners Process

Stan_disher

Stan_disher

Vital Squad Member
Good afternoon all, Wigan fan here.

The reason for my post is to make you aware of a petition, started by Wigan fans, to get the EFL Fit and Proper Owners Process debated in parliament with the hope that the EFL will be forced to review, revamp and make it fit for purpose to protect the future of football clubs in England.

For those of you not familiar with Wigan Athletic's current problems, very briefly, Wigan Athletic was sold by one offshore business to a second offshore business during June this year. Within days of acquiring the club, the new owners put it into administration resulting in a 12 point EFL penalty and ultimately relegation from the Championship.

The club was well managed, did not have any outstanding bills, there was no notice or rumour that this was going to happen and currently no sensible explanation why this was done so quickly. However, the new owners had been approved by the EFL.

Subsequently, many people have lost their jobs, charitable projects have ceased, fantastic work within schools and the local area has been adversely affected and the whole community is in a state of shock and devastation. The club is having to sell players to pay wages and bills and even if we survive and win our appeal against the 12 point penalty, it is very likely that our current squad will be decimated.

If this can happen to Wigan Athletic, it can happen to any club.

In recent times we have seen other Football League clubs suffer similar problems, some even go out of business altogether (eg Bury) and each time the EFL states that we must learn lessons......... but nothing ever changes.

Wigan fans feel this is now a watershed moment. Many clubs are likely to experience serious financial problems due to the effects of the Covid 19 crisis. We need a governing body that will look after and protect its members in the best possible way, starting with the Fit and Proper Owners review.

If you feel you would like to support our cause then please follow the link below and sign the petition.

This is not about getting Wigan's 12 point penalty removed, it is about demanding the EFL take responsibility and become accountable for their actions.

Thanks for your time.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/331589
 
Question, where were Wigan fans when Blackpool fans did a similar Parliamentary petition a few years ago on EFL and Football governance? Answer - nowhere to be seen

As far as I can see Wigan have been overspending by £9m per year over the last 2 years and the owner wasn't able to continue to do that, so put the club into administration.
 
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Probably the wrong team to ask for support around chite owners. We held a judgement day protest when you won 4-0. Fans from Brighton and Charlton came to support us, most Wiggun fans stayed in the pub.
Bury were very sympathetic to our cause, as you can see ftom the picture below.
Funny how things work out.

Woke up this morning feeling fine.....Dead snd buried.jpg
 
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Fit and proper owners? You should know our answer to that BUT, as others have stated, where were you lot when WE needed backing on it?
 
The EFL are the culprits. Karl Oyston and senior, sat alongside them. Nobody knows pain until they feel it themselves. Thats the reality of that useless organisation.
Two wrongs don't make a right, so I have signed.
 
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Whilst I agree the EFL and other football governance authorities are generally weak and ineffectual, I do not think they are the root cause of Wigan's situation. That has been caused by Wigan running an unsustainable budget, particularly since the parachute payments dried up over the last two years (£18m overspend in the last 2 years alone). Maybe a slightly lesser scale but no different to Portsmouth, Bolton and many others living way beyond their means.
The failure of the football authorities (but also the clubs that make up the membership of the leagues), particularly over the last 30 years has been threefold. Firstly, allowing the PL to massively redistribute football income in their favour having been more evenly and sensibly distributed in the past. Secondly, removing any form of player wage cap and allowing wages to run rampant and get it ridiculous levels, even for very ordinary players. Thirdly, becoming overliant on TV income and allowing the TV companies to have too much influence on the game, including scheduling matches often at the most inconvenient times for their supporters if they have to travel. Clubs have become less related to their local roots and more about franchises (particularly in the PL), who could in thoery play anywhere. That is also one of the reasons that we have had so much foreign ownership in the upper echelons of football. Buying a marketing franchise not a football club.
Wigan are no special case and certainly ignored us when we asked for support for our petition and other protests, which was far better researched and the result of meetings with and presentations by BST to the EFL and others, protests and lobbying. At least at Wigan they have owners who have invested in the club and, up until now, have supported the club, even when they were making losses. At BFC, we had owners who invested as little as they could and who actively pilfered half of the PL monies, took supporters to court and ruined some of them!
 
I think you misunderstand me. I am not asking you to help Wigan Athletic. I am asking you to help ALL EFL clubs including your own.

This petition is not about Wigan Athletic, it's about protecting ALL football clubs. The EFL is unregulated. The only way to make change, unfortunately, is through government intervention hence the petition which requires 100,000 signatures before it gets debated in parliament.

If you are happy with the way the EFL operate then fine, but if you are not then this is a chance to make a difference.

BTW, just for clarity, the current Wigan Athletic ownership did not put a single penny into the club. It was bought then immediately put into administration. I know it doesn't make sense why a company would do that but it happened and unfortunately we will probably never know the real reason why.
 
One could speculate endlessly and interestingly about why what happened at Wigan did but the relevant thing is that the petition has merit. At a time when the future of many clubs is financially threatened some proper regulation would not come amiss. Putting aside any hint of parochialiasm I shall add my name to the signatories.
 
Just signed and am shocked to say that only 16, 323 or so have signed. I shouldn't be shocked really given the lack of support from the game as a whole against the Oystons. I guess society and football fans in general get the society politics and sporting culture they deserve due to their sheep like apathy.
 
Stan_disher said:
Good afternoon all, Wigan fan here.

The reason for my post is to make you aware of a petition, started by Wigan fans, to get the EFL Fit and Proper Owners Process debated in parliament with the hope that the EFL will be forced to review, revamp and make it fit for purpose to protect the future of football clubs in England.

For those of you not familiar with Wigan Athletic's current problems, very briefly, Wigan Athletic was sold by one offshore business to a second offshore business during June this year. Within days of acquiring the club, the new owners put it into administration resulting in a 12 point EFL penalty and ultimately relegation from the Championship.

The club was well managed, did not have any outstanding bills, there was no notice or rumour that this was going to happen and currently no sensible explanation why this was done so quickly. However, the new owners had been approved by the EFL.

Subsequently, many people have lost their jobs, charitable projects have ceased, fantastic work within schools and the local area has been adversely affected and the whole community is in a state of shock and devastation. The club is having to sell players to pay wages and bills and even if we survive and win our appeal against the 12 point penalty, it is very likely that our current squad will be decimated.

If this can happen to Wigan Athletic, it can happen to any club.

In recent times we have seen other Football League clubs suffer similar problems, some even go out of business altogether (eg Bury) and each time the EFL states that we must learn lessons......... but nothing ever changes.

Wigan fans feel this is now a watershed moment. Many clubs are likely to experience serious financial problems due to the effects of the Covid 19 crisis. We need a governing body that will look after and protect its members in the best possible way, starting with the Fit and Proper Owners review.

If you feel you would like to support our cause then please follow the link below and sign the petition.

This is not about getting Wigan's 12 point penalty removed, it is about demanding the EFL take responsibility and become accountable for their actions.

Thanks for your time.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/331589
Click to expand...
 
Stan_disher said:
I think you misunderstand me. I am not asking you to help Wigan Athletic. I am asking you to help ALL EFL clubs including your own.

This petition is not about Wigan Athletic, it's about protecting ALL football clubs. The EFL is unregulated. The only way to make change, unfortunately, is through government intervention hence the petition which requires 100,000 signatures before it gets debated in parliament.

If you are happy with the way the EFL operate then fine, but if you are not then this is a chance to make a difference.

BTW, just for clarity, the current Wigan Athletic ownership did not put a single penny into the club. It was bought then immediately put into administration. I know it doesn't make sense why a company would do that but it happened and unfortunately we will probably never know the real reason why.
Click to expand...

I think you missed my point as well. The previous petition and work by BFC Supporters Trust was also about EFL and football governance as a whole and protecting all clubs, including a request for an independent review of why such problems had arisen and putting in place such actions and processes to reduce the risk in future. Wigan fans were not activel supporters of that campaign at that time. The likes of Brighton and Charlton even travelled to Blackpool to support us. It is a pity you could not have done so at the time, but wait until you get problems before waking up to the issues.
I totally agree that football governance needs a complete overhaul but a petition for a debate in Parliament is not the effective way to do that (I think ours got 30k plus signatures). Most MPs do not see football as a big priority. It needs radical change from within football itself. Ironically, it is Covid and supporter behaviour (on TV subscriptions) that may lead to pressure for change. Player wages and transfer fees have been massively overinflated for years and supporters have ignored financial problems within their clubs provided that the owner has always covered the deficit.
 
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