How did the FA allow RD past the fit and proper test to be an owner in England?

stoneygrove

As well as ruining our club he is also putting the dignity of the FA at stake, I doubt the FA even considered the possibility of an English club becoming a feeder club into account, but I bet they may change the criteria in the future, so that this can't happen again. If RD gets away with this it could happen all over the country.

cafcfan

We've done this before to an extent.

First, it's not the FA's - it's the Football League's fit & proper test.

Second, the test's provisions are very weak and somewhat obtuse. For example, one is likely to be rejected if one has ever tried hacking a sky box to try to watch a game without paying Sky; while, without a criminal conviction, there's nothing they can do about rejecting an individual with an obvious money laundering history or doubts about the source of that individual's money.

Third, even if the rules were tightened up, it is very doubtful indeed that RD would do anything but pass with flying colours. Any attempt to impose restrictions on the number of clubs an individual could hold across the EU would almost inevitably lead to a challenge in the Courts to the relevant football authorities rules as it would amount to a restraint of trade. (The rules about the number of clubs you can hold within one country would probably be seen as reasonable because of the issues regarding conflicts of interest.)

PassItToLeaburn

Largely because the test goes something like:

1. Please show us your bank balance
2. Do you really
promise that you're a good guy?

Congratulations, you've passed!

MrLargo

The Fit and Proper Persons Test is an absolute farce, and far worse than Roland have already got through. People who don't actually exist bought Notts County (Mungo Finance I think they were called, Eriksson, Sol Campbell both victims of the con), people who don't have any money bought Portsmouth (more than once I think), and various shady types like Vincent Tan, Carsten Yeung, Thaksin Shinawatra (the latter two both now familiar with the taste of porridge). There's also the likes of Peter Risdale - what sort of fit and proper test allows someone to take Leeds to the brink of extinction, walk away whilst the club has to deal with the consequences of your actions for the next couple of decades and then plot up again and Cardiff and nearly take them into admin, and then turn up again at Plymouth.

Basically, there is a Fit and Proper Persons Test, but you'd have to be more evil than Hitler, Ghengis Khan, Pol Pot and Peter Sutcliffe to have any chance of failing it (or have watched a game on Sky Sports without paying for it, as @cafcfan correctly points out).