The candidate who was vetoed was reported to be the son of Don Howe (of Arsenal fame). Apparently the female who left after a few weeks has still not got another job. I wonder if anyone in the British press has the balls or the ability to investigate this properly. Don't hold your breath.
There was a major Governnment inquiry into football governance in 2010/11. One of the many reasons it was carried out was public concerns expressed about Liverpool and United having too much inappropriate influence on the game. Ironically one of the key advisers to the investigating Commons Committee was Rick Parry! It produced a long list of recommendations to clean up English football (see the link below). But nothing was ever done.
https://www.parliament.uk/business/...rt-committee/news/football-governance-report/
Fascinating read is that, cheers. A few paragraphs stood out for me, two of which are:
“Other examples of clubs which have struggled with debt since leaving the Premier League include Barnsley, Bradford City, Coventry City, Charlton, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Leicester City, Nottingham Forest, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Watford and Wimbledon. It is also the case that individual Premier League clubs have lived a precarious existence for a time, when they required new injections of investment to address levels of debt that their owners were struggling or simply unable to service. Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and West Ham United have all needed to be rescued in this way. Sean Hamil told us that "what went on at Manchester City with Thaksin Shinawata was absolute skin of the teeth escape from a financial disaster. The same thing up at Liverpool. Now, how long do you have to continue to be lucky?"
Andy Green accepted that, in "normal" industries, LBOs could possibly be defended on the grounds that they brought efficiencies and financial discipline to large companies. However, he argued that in a football context, they resulted in ticket price rises (to service interest costs) and reduced investment (for example, in Liverpool's case, deferral of plans to build a new stadium). It is also the case that, given the uncertainty of competition, some revenue streams cannot be guaranteed. Hence, Liverpool's failure to qualify for the riches of the Champions League contributed to a near default on its LBO debt, and the enforced sale of the club.
I’ll wager the football savvy public know about a lot of the above and how close we came to being gone, but have no idea how close to going the ‘istree boys’ were as well.....