I think that this has relevence to both Saints and Pompey fans. The whole issue of points deductions needs to be reconsidered in my opinion. Whilst I agree that there needs to be a form of penalty when clubs negligently or corruptly trade beyond their means, the penalty should strictly speaking to levied against the directors and not the team . I don't think that Portsmouth actually deserve any deduction and Appleton has done a commendable job on threadbare resources. Deducting points does not seem at all appropriate in this circumstance.
The situation would be better dealt with if the distribution of cash within the game was more evenly spread. This would give teams more financial stability and I would like to see some kind of system where there was a degree of proportionality depending upon final league position and which league you are in. At the moment, everything is stacked in favour of larger clubs and even they struggle to get things right. If a club continues to trade knowingly at a substantial loss or knowing that the club is no longer viable, I think the directors need to be more accountable with the posibility of custodial sentences. Deducting the points from the football club targets the wrong individuals and also has a detrimental effect on fans who will see the fortunes of their club suffer. Given that the mismanagement of the club has also resulted in redundancies, I can't see that deducting the points punishes the individuals who unfrotauntely caused Portsmouth to loose so much money.
In Portsmouth's position, the position is compounded by the fact that a series of individuals have been given approval to buy the club when they should not have been allowed anywhere near the game. The FA has not done this the once - this has happened on a number of occasions within the last few years. This has even been acknowledged in writing by the FA and must surely be a breach of any Duty of Care owed? On top of this, the people who have sanctioned the purchase of Portsmouth has subsequently been involved in the two decisions to deduct points. Effectively, they are both the judge and the jury. Grounds for appeal? Portsmouth FC has been a grubby little business for a number of years but the FA have done nothing to ensure that the club cleans up it's act. My guess is this that this is because the problem in endemic.
I also am totally against points deductions. They are totally unfair to everyone. A club can be playing well but be mis-managed financially and then find itself facing relegation. Once in administration, the deduction of points automatically makes it less viable to a potential buyer and more likely that the value of the club will fall. It serves no benefit whatsoever in ensuring that the club remains viable and certainly makes things a lot more difficult. In addition, it also disrupts the league table and will mathematically favour certain other teams due to the fixture list. i.e. Forest have been abject all season but coiuld find themselves avoiding relegation due to non-footballing reasons.
The inability to allow Portsmouth to field a full 16-man squad and limiting them to the possibility of choosing from 14 men is an outrage. They should be allowed to augment the squad with loan players or players on a nominal fee. I can see the league and administrator's position in wanting to ensure that no further losses are incurred but it hands an unfair advantage to those other teams Portsmouth have yet to play. i.e. Portsmouth theoretically fielding a weakened line up. Teams who have played Pompey already will find that their competitors have an advantage when they next play PFC. Football is a sport and , in my opinion, sport is about everyone trying to compete without unnatural advantages. The business aspect must be kept seperate from the sporting one. Again, I don't feel that a points deduction is appropriate.
All in all, deductioning points is not a solution to tidying up the sport. The FA have failed to make football business more viable and have not tidied up irregularities by implimenting these measures. Football clubs remain some of the worst run business in the country and points deductions have not improved the situation. If anything , the situation has become worse since point deductions were implimented. It has caused clubs like luton to trop out of the league and ultimately punishes the fan more than the individuals who should be accountable. I would like to see money distributed more evenly in the sport, see failed /corrupr directors barred from football and a strategy whereby the viability of each and every club is monitored by the FA with effective assessments of potential buyers to ascertain who is fit and proper to own a club. This would be far more effective than deducting points and I would like to see this method of punishment replaced by something that is more appropriate to sporting ideals and hits the individuals who should be accountable. Any thoughts?
The situation would be better dealt with if the distribution of cash within the game was more evenly spread. This would give teams more financial stability and I would like to see some kind of system where there was a degree of proportionality depending upon final league position and which league you are in. At the moment, everything is stacked in favour of larger clubs and even they struggle to get things right. If a club continues to trade knowingly at a substantial loss or knowing that the club is no longer viable, I think the directors need to be more accountable with the posibility of custodial sentences. Deducting the points from the football club targets the wrong individuals and also has a detrimental effect on fans who will see the fortunes of their club suffer. Given that the mismanagement of the club has also resulted in redundancies, I can't see that deducting the points punishes the individuals who unfrotauntely caused Portsmouth to loose so much money.
In Portsmouth's position, the position is compounded by the fact that a series of individuals have been given approval to buy the club when they should not have been allowed anywhere near the game. The FA has not done this the once - this has happened on a number of occasions within the last few years. This has even been acknowledged in writing by the FA and must surely be a breach of any Duty of Care owed? On top of this, the people who have sanctioned the purchase of Portsmouth has subsequently been involved in the two decisions to deduct points. Effectively, they are both the judge and the jury. Grounds for appeal? Portsmouth FC has been a grubby little business for a number of years but the FA have done nothing to ensure that the club cleans up it's act. My guess is this that this is because the problem in endemic.
I also am totally against points deductions. They are totally unfair to everyone. A club can be playing well but be mis-managed financially and then find itself facing relegation. Once in administration, the deduction of points automatically makes it less viable to a potential buyer and more likely that the value of the club will fall. It serves no benefit whatsoever in ensuring that the club remains viable and certainly makes things a lot more difficult. In addition, it also disrupts the league table and will mathematically favour certain other teams due to the fixture list. i.e. Forest have been abject all season but coiuld find themselves avoiding relegation due to non-footballing reasons.
The inability to allow Portsmouth to field a full 16-man squad and limiting them to the possibility of choosing from 14 men is an outrage. They should be allowed to augment the squad with loan players or players on a nominal fee. I can see the league and administrator's position in wanting to ensure that no further losses are incurred but it hands an unfair advantage to those other teams Portsmouth have yet to play. i.e. Portsmouth theoretically fielding a weakened line up. Teams who have played Pompey already will find that their competitors have an advantage when they next play PFC. Football is a sport and , in my opinion, sport is about everyone trying to compete without unnatural advantages. The business aspect must be kept seperate from the sporting one. Again, I don't feel that a points deduction is appropriate.
All in all, deductioning points is not a solution to tidying up the sport. The FA have failed to make football business more viable and have not tidied up irregularities by implimenting these measures. Football clubs remain some of the worst run business in the country and points deductions have not improved the situation. If anything , the situation has become worse since point deductions were implimented. It has caused clubs like luton to trop out of the league and ultimately punishes the fan more than the individuals who should be accountable. I would like to see money distributed more evenly in the sport, see failed /corrupr directors barred from football and a strategy whereby the viability of each and every club is monitored by the FA with effective assessments of potential buyers to ascertain who is fit and proper to own a club. This would be far more effective than deducting points and I would like to see this method of punishment replaced by something that is more appropriate to sporting ideals and hits the individuals who should be accountable. Any thoughts?
