Mawhinney: Countered Bates criticism
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Mawhinney warning for FL clubs
Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney has warned the 72 clubs that Leeds' 15-point penalty stands as a warning to spend within their means.
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Leeds chairman Ken Bates has demanded Mawhinney's resignation after the club last week lost an appeal to an arbitration panel against the points deduction.
Mawhinney has now written to all club chairmen to counter that criticism.
Leeds were docked the points after failing to secure a company voluntary agreement because HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) refused to accept their offer on £7.7million owed in tax and national insurance.
Mawhinney said in his letter: "Clubs which do not pay PAYE and NIC relating to their players are, in effect, spending more than they can afford on players.
"As a result, those clubs that live within their means are at a competitive disadvantage. Whilst discussions with HMRC will continue, our focus should be on ensuring that all clubs meet their obligations to HMRC as and when they fall due."
The four-page letter details the key findings by the arbitration panel and seeks to counter Bates' criticisms.
Mawhinney added: "Despite the fact that the Football League board's actions and decisions were overwhelmingly upheld by the arbitration panel, and in doing so Leeds United were also ordered to pay the costs incurred by the Football League in defending its actions, certain criticisms continue to be made of the board and it is only right that these are addressed."
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Your Comments
MIGHTYWHITES123 (Leeds United fan)
"only 1 club would be used as a exaple and that one club had to be leeds united what a joke"
mcmackin (Leeds United fan)
"Milan mandaric is one the worst chairmen ive ever sen. Bates needs some praise for the work he's done!"
sajenkin (Leeds United fan)
"Mahwinney is talking about an idealogical nirvana that is unlikely to become reality. The plain facts are that clubs are under immense pressure to compete - managers and chairmen are roundly criticised for a failure to "be ambitious". In order to match that expectation they have to acquire players who are frankly living in another world. The top echelons of the premiership set the standar for wages in the game, but their wages are paid for not by gate receipts but by other means (e.g abramovich's billions, or manure's international franchise sales). Until the spending of all clubs is directly related to their income at the gate, there will always be clubs that in trying to compete will default in some way. I agree with Mahwinney that clubs should be encouraged to live within their means, but under the current system that means that for the majority of clubs there is little hope of matching the aspirations of their fans. My real problem though is that once clubs DO get into financial difficulty (and to suggest that such a situation is inevitably the club's fault is living in cloud cuckoo land given the relationship between the FL and HMRC) they need protecting by the FL, not punishing. The fate of Leeds is the fate of a host of clubs in the future, unless the FL change their rules and accept that football creditors need to take their place in the queue like every other creditor, and not bully their way to the front and raid the cash pot as they do now. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the Leeds saga (and I am not so naieve as to think that us Leeds fans were fed the whole truth) it is plain that the FL's insolvency rules work against the survival of clubs. If the FL had a beef with Ken Bates then they should have told Leeds that he had to go. Instead they dragged the club and its fans through the mire."
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