Aston Villa Supporters TrustAston Villa Supporters TrustAston Villa Supporters TrustAston Villa Supporters Trust
  • Home
  • About
    • About AVST
    • Our Objectives
    • Our Achievements
    • Your Executive Team
    • Our Patrons
    • Our Partners
    • Club Liaison
  • Join Us
    • Join AVST
    • Become A Partner
    • FAQ’s
    • Member Zone
  • News
  • Campaigns
  • Community
  • Media
    • AVST In The Media
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
  • Meetings & Events
  • Contact

Too big to fail to notice

    Home AVST News Too big to fail to notice
    NextPrevious

    Too big to fail to notice

    By Admin | AVST News | Comments are Closed | 24 October, 2010 | 0

    An insightful piece by Dave Boyle, Supporters Direct

    When clubs like Chesterfield and Exeter became owned by crooks, people didn’t seem to care that much, because neither were big clubs, like Liverpool.

    When Portsmouth’s owners turned out to have been functionally innumerate, or broke, or maybe to not even exist (or maybe all of those things), people didn’t seem to care much because Portsmouth were just a small club which seemed bigger just by dint of the league it played in. It wasn’t a big club like Liverpool.

    And now we have Liverpool. No-one could have foreseen just how messy it would end up being, but that the club was fundamentally in grave difficulty was foretold. The only counter to the predictions was that it couldn’t happen to a truly big club. Something would turn up, someone would come forward. They were too big to fail.

    So it was with a perplexing degree of incredulity that the world’s media watched as the team who share the record for most English championships, third in the all-time European Cup honours board, were fought over by lawyers desperately trying to keep Hicks and Gillett in the box seat and lawyers trying to keep the club out of administration for unpaid purchase debts they should never have had in the first place.

    The drama was end to end stuff, but with no pause for breath and reflection, the wider lessons were never reflected upon. Once the saga had unwound, it was time to start the football again, and lest anyone start to get notions of thinking this through, along came Rooney to keep people’s minds of it.

    What minds need to focus on is that the unedifying spectacle is exactly what regulation by the market looks like. Being intensely relaxed about who owns clubs, why they own them and how they own them ends in courtrooms because English football has acted as if it were somehow unseemly to do something as have a view for the wider good. The absence of any comment whatsoever from the FA, as one of the jewels of the game they are charged with protecting was undermined so publicly, was as depressing as it was predictable. Maybe the silence is the calm before a storm, before a raft of regulations are proposed to ensure that leveraged takeovers can’t happen again, but there’s a point where having hope over experience ceases to be optimism in the face of adversity but insanity.

    As so we have Tom, one of the new US owners of Liverpool said they’d not be having any debt at the club from their purchase of it, but the last American called Tom who owned them said that too. One way they could help reinforce the sense that they’re different is to adopt the Arsenal approach and open their shares to fans. At their AGM, club Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis underscored his reputation as the most progressive administrator in the game by drawing attention to their model of stable ownership and sustainable finances, and linked the two to their support for fans having a place in the ownership of clubs.

    We know their approach has won admirers in government, but we’ll be pushing for the government’s policies to be something that can help trusts at all levels, not just that very small number with public quoted markets in their shares. No club is too big or too small to be immune from leveraged buy-outs, appalling owners after satisfying their own financial interests first, asset strippers and ego trippers. That’s why people in trusts have to have a role in the club, on the board, in the AGM, and doing all they can to bring some sanity to a game in great need of it.

    Supporters Direct website

    No tags.

    NextPrevious

    Legal Stuff

    Aston Villa Supporters’ Trust is the trading name of the Aston Villa Supporters’ Society Limited, a registered Industrial and Provident Society (29250R). We are also governed by the Financial Conduct Authority.

    Privacy Policy

    Donate to AVST

    Help us achieve our community objectives by donating below.



    Recent Posts

    • Tommy Docherty RIP

      Aston Villa Supporters’ Trust extends heartfelt condolences to friends and family of

      1 January, 2021
    • Lee Child and Simon Inglis on their 58 years of support for Aston Villa

      Million-selling author, Lee Child (Jim Grant), best-known for his Jack Reacher series

      22 December, 2020

    Membership

    Copyright 2019 Aston Villa Supporters' Trust | All Rights Reserved
    • Home
    • About
      • About AVST
      • Our Objectives
      • Our Achievements
      • Your Executive Team
      • Our Patrons
      • Our Partners
      • Club Liaison
    • Join Us
      • Join AVST
      • Become A Partner
      • FAQ’s
      • Member Zone
    • News
    • Campaigns
    • Community
    • Media
      • AVST In The Media
      • Podcasts
      • Videos
    • Meetings & Events
    • Contact
    Aston Villa Supporters Trust
    We use cookies on our website to improve your experience. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies, though you have the option to Opt-Out if you wish.
    Cookie settingsACCEPT
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled

    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

    Non-necessary

    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.