The influx of foreign owners into the Football and Premier League and uncertainty over who actually owns Leeds United and Notts County, as well as doubts over Flavio Briatore’s involvement with QPR, has brought the ‘fit and proper person’ test in to focus. But what is it?
The ‘fit and proper persons test’ was first introduced in 2004 as a way of safeguarding clubs against falling in to the ownership of unscrupulous owners, with nothing in place before that time to stop those previously convicted of offences such as fraud from buying and running clubs.
Rules were established jointly between the Premier League, Football League and the Football Conference that any prospective director of a football club or someone looking to buy over 30 per cent of the club’s shares needed to satisfy.
The details of the test are myriad but the most important points forbid anyone with unspent criminal convictions relating to acts of dishonesty or someone who has taken a football club in to administration twice from taking charge of a football club.
The only person currently known to have fallen foul of the restrictions is Dennis Coleman, who as director of Rotherham United was responsible for twice taking the Yorkshire club into administration.
The exact criteria vary between the Premier League and the Football League after government pressure saw the former tighten up it’s rules while those of the latter remain in their 2004 form. However, the Football League’s chairman, Lord Mawhinney is seeking to correct this imbalance, in agreement with other interested football bodies.
The Premier League now asks members to publicly declare the names of anyone who owns over 10 per cent of the club. The Football League asks for names of owners of clubs but does not currently make them public. The Premier League also seeks assurances about where money is coming from to fund a club.
An important difference remains that the Premier League applies the test before a takeover is approved whereas the Football League garners information only after a deal has gone through.
Premier League fit and proper person test – disqualifying events in full:
A person shall be disqualified from acting as a director and no club shall be permitted to have any person acting as a director of that club if:
- Either directly or indirectly he is involved in or has any power to determine or influence the management or administration of another club or Football League club
- Either directly or indirectly he holds or acquires any Significant Interest in a club while he either directly or indirectly holds any interest in any class of shares of another club
- He becomes prohibited by law from being a director
- He is convicted on indictment of an offence set out in the Appendix 12 Schedule of Offences or he is convicted of a like offence by a competent court having jurisdiction outside England and Wales
- He makes an Individual Voluntary Arrangement or becomes the subject of an Interim Bankruptcy Restriction Order, a Bankruptcy Restriction Order or a Bankruptcy Order
- He is a director of a club which, while he has been a director of it, has suffered two or more unconnected events of insolvency
- He has been a director of two or more clubs or clubs each of which, while he has been a director of them, has suffered an Event of Insolvency.
Schedule of offences:
- Conspiracy to defraud: Criminal Justice Act 1987, section 12
Conspiracy to defraud: Common Law
Corrupt transactions with (public) agents, corruptly accepting consideration: Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, section 1
Insider dealing: Criminal Justice Act 1993, sections 52 and 61
Public servant soliciting or accepting a gift: Public Bodies (Corrupt Practices) Act 1889, section 1
Theft: Theft Act 1968, section 1
Obtaining by deception: Theft Act 1968, section 15
Obtaining a money transfer by deception: Theft Act 1968, section 15A + B
Obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception: Theft Act 1968, section 16
False accounting: Theft Act 1968, section 17
False statements by Company Directors: Theft Act 1968, section 19
Suppression of (company) documents: Theft Act 1968, section 20
Retaining a wrongful credit: Theft Act 1968, section 24A
Obtaining services by deception: Theft Act 1978, section 1
Evasion of liability by deception: Theft Act 1978, section 2
Cheating the Public Revenue/Making false statements tending to defraud the public revenue: Common Law
Punishment for fraudulent training: Companies Act 1985, section 458
Penalty for fraudulent evasion of duty etc: Customs & Excise Management Act 1979, section 170
Fraudulent evasion of VAT: Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 72
Person subject to a Banning order (as defined) : Football (Disorder) Act 2000, Schedule 1
Forgery: Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, section 1
Copying a false instrument : Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, section 2
Using a false instrument: Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, section 3
Using a copy of a false instrument: Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, section 4
Cheating the Public Revenue/ Making false statements tending to defraud the public revenue: Common Law
Punishment for fraudulent training: Companies Act 1985, section 458
Penalty for fraudulent evasion of duty etc: Customs & Excise Management Act 1979, section 170
Fraudulent evasion of VAT: Value Added Tax Act 1994, section 72
Person subject to a Banning order (as defined): Football (Disorder) Act 2000, Schedule 1
Forgery: Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, section 1
Copying a false instrument: Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, section 2
Using a false instrument: Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, section 3
Using a copy of a false instrument: Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, section 4
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