Collymore: The problem with Leeds, Birmingham and Sheffield Wednesday - and how to fix it

Collymore says bad owners, such as Cellino and Yeung, are to blame for English football's problems

 

STAN COLLYMORE says more must be done to stop clubs with "big supporter bases" from falling prey to "charlatan" owners.

Former Liverpool striker Collymore believes the Premier League too heavily favours the same rich sides.

He pointed to what he considered bad ownership at fallen clubs with large fan bases, such as Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United and Birmingham, as the reason for problems at the top of the game.

"The league needs to have strict ownership criteria and make owning a big club not the preserve of egotistical billionaires who practice the economics of boom and bust, but who must adhere to strict rules and regulations which guarantee medium to long term stability," he wrote in his boylesports column.

"They must give huge fan bases a say in their club and hey presto guarantee us a situation where smaller clubs who practice financial stability can dream of entering the Premier League while protecting and enhancing the central planks of what made the league in the first place - namely big clubs, big supporter bases, big atmospheres and competition.

"We need Leeds United, the two Sheffield clubs, East Anglian derbies, Black Country and Tyne-Wear derbies not only to add traditional spice, rivalry and colour to the Premier League but also to maintain a competitive balance at the top.

"The only way at the moment of breaking into the top four or realistically being successful is to either find a billionaire to overspend and go perilously close to extinction.

"That is unacceptable and trust me, in future years it will only mean one thing. The absolute antithesis of competition.

"Before we say “what about Leicester, Bournemouth, Southampton, Swansea etc”, they all nearly had to go to the wall and find a different way of operating before their success came."

 

 

Leeds endured financial meltdown a decade ago and went into administration in 2007 with spiralling debts.

The West Yorkshire club are currently majority owned by Italian businessman Massimo Cellino, who has twice failed the Football League's fit and proper persons test.

Birmingham were relegated from the Premier League in 2010/11 - the same season they won the Capital One Cup - and two seasons ago came within a minutes of dropping down to League One.

Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung took over the club in 2009 when they were promoted to the top flight but stepped down in February 2014.

In May this year he lost an appeal against a conviction for money laundering.

Sheffield Wednesday last played a top-flight game in 2000, while city rivals United languish in League One. Both clubs have had problems off the field.

 

Sheffield Wednesday last played in the top flight back in 2000

On club owners, Collymore added: "Newcastle United, Sunderland, Villa, Leeds, Wolves, Forest, Ipswich, Derby, Sheffield Wednesday, Bolton, Preston, Burnley, Birmingham etc., they have all had varying degrees of woeful ownership over the years and the reason is simple.

"They are a target for charlatans, schemers and reckless chancers because of their size.

"Let's make the term ‘fit for purpose’ actually mean something. That way they can run properly, spend properly, safe from the Cellinos of this world. And they can be competitive.

"Why? Because Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal and co need proper competition rather than the annual procession.

"Because it means clubs won’t go prostituting themselves to the latest oligarch or despot as their only way of competing.

"Because for Scudamore the money man, the till simply will not ring as loudly for Bournemouth v Watford as it would for Leeds v Newcastle for long. And he knows this."

Read Stan Collymore’s latest blog here