Now Gerrard backs review into Taylor
THE calls for change at the Professional Footballers’ Association received heavyweight backing yesterday, when Steven Gerrard said he would welcome an independent review and suggested anyone stopping the players’ union from modernising should ‘step aside’.
Earlier this week, under-fire chief executive Gordon Taylor bowed to pressure from PFA chairman Ben Purkiss by agreeing to an independent, QC-led review, having been accused by Purkiss of ignoring his requests for one in the past.
As Sportsmail revealed last week, it has led to a power struggle between the two most senior figures in the organisation.
Purkiss has received widespread support from fellow players since speaking out, with a group of more than 300 ex-professionals calling for Taylor to resign after it emerged he could be in breach of trade union and PFA rules by serving as chief executive for 37 years without standing for re-election.
Rangers manager Gerrard seized the opportunity in his press conference yesterday to address the issue. Indeed, he encouraged the subject to be raised, with reporters not necessarily interested in talking to him about a political crisis in the English game.
Gerrard said: ‘I’ve been asked to take sides by many players who are texting me and saying, “Can I put your name forward for this, this and this”, but I said to them, “Look, I’ll be sitting in front of the press in Glasgow on Friday, so I’ll have the opportunity to say what I want to say then”. My opinion is that when you have an organisation as big as the PFA and a union as big as it is, and so many lives are affected, there should be a review of the union every so often.
‘Whether that be (every) two years, four years, five years, I don’t know, but by doing that you make sure that the organisation is running smoothly and healthily.
‘At the moment, it’s obviously very split, so I welcome a review of the process and if there’s anything in there that shouldn’t be there — working in the union — you need to step aside as soon as possible and get people who can move the union forward healthy and in the right place.’
Gerrard was asked about Taylor’s £2.3million salary.
‘I’m not here to talk about people’s salaries and what they earn, like I wouldn’t want anyone to talk about my salary and what I earn,’ he said. ‘The union, if it’s not functioning properly, then an independent person or people should come in and review it. And if anyone is overpaid or underperforming, then get them out. I’d welcome that.
‘The PFA does a lot of good things — I’ve only had good experiences with the PFA from a personal point of view.
‘But I also understand people have been let down seriously in other areas and if that’s the case then there needs to be an inquiry and a process where it doesn’t happen again.
‘I have an understanding and an appreciation that people have been let down and I understand the topics raised in the last 10 days. If they need to be addressed then I’m for backing the people that need the agreement to change.
‘Instead of getting involved in details about racism or dementia and different stuff, I’d simply welcome a review — and not just because it’s come up now, but because it should happen every two or three years, where every single person who works there gets reviewed to see how they are performing. That’s the only way we stop situations like this coming about.’
It is understood some of the biggest names in English football have considered speaking out, but Gerrard is the first to do so.
Alan Shearer, who presented an emotive documentary about the possible links between dementia and football, has so far remained silent when Purkiss has complained about the lack of PFA funding in that area, but he did like a social media post put up by his agent, who questioned whether the PFA should have been acting as financial advisers to members.
The agent’s tweet included a link to a Sportsmail story.
This newspaper can also reveal that the Charity Commission has now opened a ‘regulatory compliance case’ into the PFA Charity, and will be looking into its governance arrangements as well as the charity’s accounts. This is a significant escalation from earlier this week when the Commission, which regulates charities in England and Wales, said it was aware of concerns regarding the expenditure of the charity and would speak to trustees to establish the facts.
Last night, a spokesperson for the Charity Commission said: ‘The public rightly expect charities to live their values, acting at all times to maximise their positive impact on beneficiaries.
‘We have opened a regulatory compliance case into the Professional Footballers’ Association Charity to examine concerns about the governance arrangements and to clarify a number of issues relating to the charity’s financial arrangements and accounts.
‘We will be engaging with trustees on these issues and cannot comment further at this time.’