Fans take aim at fat cat owners
GARETH SOUTHGATE made a point of emphasising the impact that fans had at Wembley for England’s last-16 clash with Germany on Tuesday evening.
Now the head of the Football Supporters Federation, Malcolm Clarke, hopes that fans can have a real say in the running of the game and control of wealthy owners.
A fan-led review launched in May in the fallout from the proposed European Super League is currently looking at the balance between the interests of supporters and a Premier League elite dominated by billionaire tycoons.
Clarke hopes the review will bring about genuine change, ensuring that clubs throughout the pyramid act in a far more responsible manner.
“This is without doubt the biggest opportunity for achieving real change in football in the 25 years that I’ve been involved in the national supporters movement,” he said.
“There’s a very real sense that we’re grateful to the greedy six.
“Because they and the European Super League pushed the reform of football to the top of the public debate and the political agenda in a way that I can’t remember before.
“I’m not naive, we’ve been round this block but I am optimistic that this can produce real change.”
One of the reforms Clarke would most like to see relates to the fit-andproper-persons test for prospective owners.
“We want to see that test strengthened,” he said. “We also want to see what they do with the football club much more closely monitored once they do own it.
“The tests are backward looking – they’re looking at someone’s suitability to takeover the ownership.
“We want to see much tighter financial monitoring to see how they behave. We want that to apply to both owners and directors.”