Former vice-chairman of the FA David Dein says he wants to see a fresh start for Premier League clubs under new revised financial rules as Manchester City await a verdict from their ongoing battle with the top flight’s governing body.
Newcastle United are among the Premier League clubs eagerly awaiting a verdict after the reigning champions were charged with more than 115 alleged breaches of financial fair play. City are accused of breaking the rules over a decade, with the most serious of those allegations regarding the misrepresenting of their finances over nine seasons.
If found guilty, they could face a huge points deduction, relegation from the top flight and expulsion from the competition, along with fines in a verdict that would shake English football to it’s core. City have repeatedly stressed their innocence and claim to have irrefutable evidence to back up their case, as the rest of the top flight awaits a verdict.
Former Arsenal director and vice-chairman, Dein, one of the founding fathers of the Premier League as we know it today, believes the current rules should be scrapped and club’s should start again with a new formula.
“I am very uncomfortable with the bickering that is going on at the moment, much of it over Financial Fair Play,” Dein told the Times. “I want to see the children playing nicely in the playground. At the moment it’s not happening. Whatever little I can do to ameliorate that situation, I am happy to do.
“Personally I think the rules as they are now should be scrapped and we should start again with a new formula. At the moment it is not working. Man City recently had a case against the Premier League which they won. Now there’s going to be another case, and after that we will have the decision on the 115 charges.
“Every club that goes to a Premier League meeting now brings a lawyer with them. I watched the Liverpool v Aston Villa game recently and it was a fantastic advert for the game. I want people talking about the football, not swamped by legal issues.
“You’ve got the league taking action against their own members, that doesn’t sit well with me. I know the game has moved on from the time when I would have blazing rows with Ken Bates or Ron Noades or Sam Hammam [the former owners of Chelsea, Crystal Palace, and Wimbledon and Cardiff City respectively] and afterwards we would have a cup of tea and shake hands.”
Newcastle are one of the club’s shackled by the current Premier League financial fair play rules, unable to spend despite their status as the richest club in world football. So what does Dein suggest?
He added: “That’s what I would do,” (a general amnesty with a fresh start under revised rules). “That’s what I think it needs but the legal action has a life of its own now and it is taking up a lot of Premier League time. It is costing the league £50million and I would rather see that money going into grassroots football. What’s happening is crazy.”
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/start-again-new-man-city-31115949
