REPORT DOESN’T GO DEEP ENOUGH

Harris laments a void after Step 2

NORTHERN Premier League chairman Mark Harris fears the Fan Led Review doesn’t grasp the nuances of football from Step 3 and below.

Harris was invited to present to the panel as part of the process that has gone into Tracey Crouch MP’s 162-page publication.

But while he feels, other than distribution of monies, there isn’t much to change in governance at the NPL’s level of the pyramid, he has mixed feelings on the report.

“First and foremost, there is no question change has to happen,” Harris told The NLP. “Change should always happen in football.

“My biggest frustration is we have been reliably informed these changes are only going to apply to the professional game and to Steps 1 and 2 of the National League System.

“If you work on the basis it is only going to apply down to Step 2, that implies there isn’t a problem, for example, with preventing rogue owners getting involved in Non-League football. Clearly there are plenty of cases that suggest we do have that issue.

“But, for me, there are two big problems. The first is the age-old chestnut of distribution of funds.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘Oh, it’s great, money is going to flow throughout the Pyramid’. No it isn’t! You’ve got four levels of the National League System, and Step 7 below it, that is, apparently, not going to benefit by this.

“We could be forgiven for thinking there is a fundamental lack of understanding at some levels how Non-League football operates and how a substantial number of secretaries at our level are in their 70s or 80s and increasingly being asked to carry out tasks for which they are not properly equipped. We rely completely on volunteers.

“That is a very different mandate and a very different operating model to when you are employing people.

Insult

“It is becoming increasingly frustrating we don’t get taken seriously. Despite the fact the Alliance Committee, which works closely with the Leagues Committee, are on the same page, there are a number of examples through lack of understanding or consultation that our level of the game is not being served the way that it should.

“We continue to hope we may well see a distribution of monies through the Football Foundation. We don’t know as yet.

“But it is still enormously frustrating for our club chairs, particularly at Step 3 who are a hair breadth away in terms of scale and spend from what happens at Step 2.

“If this means perpetuating the elite football and non-elite football distinction, I think that’s completely wrong for the game.

“We operate as one National League System. It’s not right in my personal view – and I work very harmoniously with Mark Ives and the team at the National League – that there is a distinction between elite and non-elite football, particularly as we emerge from Covid.”

The elite football tag allowed Step 1 and 2 to play their play-offs in 2019-20 and continue behind closed doors during the pandemic, while the rest of NonLeague System shutdown.

“To a degree I think it’s a red herring to say this has come about through the collapse of Bury,” Harris said. “This has come about because some clubs at Step 2 were unhappy with the way the pandemic was handled and gained access to a particular MP.

“If that’s the catalyst to bring about the review, that’s good.

“What isn’t quite so good is some of the positive things that have been identified as beneficial to the whole game, are not being applied to the whole game.

“Once again, it perpetuates the perception that 800-plus clubs from Steps 3 downwards do not matter. And that is an insult to the volunteers, supporters and everybody who keeps those community assets going.”

You’ve got four levels of the National League Step 7 System, and below, apparently benefit not going to from this Mark Harris