The Football Association are facing calls from a number of clubs to take over the operation of the owners and directors test from the Premier League and the Football League (EFL).
Under the ‘fit and proper person’ test, prospective owners must demonstrate to the respective league they have funds to run a club and are not otherwise disqualified by such things as filing for bankruptcy before their purchase can be completed.
However, there are concerns that the Premier League and EFL are compromised by their need to keep bringing new investment into the English game.
The financial problems experienced by lower-league clubs such as Bury, Bolton, Macclesfield and Southend over the past 12 months have made this a problem for the EFL, who face the difficult balancing act of checking that all prospective new owners have the resources to make good on their various promises while ensuring there are enough people willing to bankroll their 72 clubs — 71 since they expelled Bury.
The FA have no such vested interest and there is a growing view that as the game’s regulator the governing body should take a more active role in policing the test.
Zaha keeps up the changes
Wilfried Zaha has made another significant change to his support team after dumping long-term agent Will Salthouse for Pini Zahavi, as revealed by Sportsmail last week, as he seeks to secure a smooth departure from Crystal Palace over the next two transfer windows.
The Ivory Coast forward has appointed leading agency The Sports PR Company to help look after his public relations, which may prove a difficult task in some areas of south London if he is able to force a move from Selhurst Park.
Baggies eye cash injection
West Brom are looking for outside investment to help their attempts to return to the Premier League and to be competitive in the top flight if they succeed.
Manager Slaven Bilic has been told that transfer funds will be extremely limited this month despite the excellent work he has done in facilitating their promotion push.
The Baggies are level with Leeds at the top of the Championship and have a nine-point gap to third-placed Brentford.
With money tight, West Brom are understood to be talking to a number of City banks about identifying fresh investors.
Chinese businessman Guochuan Lai paid £200million for the club four years ago but unlike his compatriots at neighbours Wolves has not spent heavily on the team.
Streaming deal has unexpected consequences
An unexpected side-effect of the FA’s controversial streaming deal with Bet365, which has effectively been dismantled as a result of the Daily Mail’s revelations this week, is that managers, coaches, players and administrators were the only people in the country unable to watch live coverage of 22 of the 32 FA Cup third-round ties last weekend.
As participants in the game they are prohibited from placing bets so those with most to gain by watching their rivals were unable to access Bet365’s live stream.
Agents were also unable to monitor the performances of their clients for the same reason.
Southend's kids derailed
Southend’s failure to pay several players’ wages that were due on December 31, as revealed by Sportsmail this week, had a very real impact on some of their youth team in particular.
A number of youngsters have been so short of cash that they were unable to pay rail fares to get themselves to training over the past couple of weeks.
Several staff and stewards had also not been paid by the club, which led to fears that Saturday's League One clash with Tranmere at Roots Hall would not be played. It will now go ahead as planned.