Ever wonder which Premiership clubs are guided by motives other than self interest? Have a long term vision? Show clarity of purpose? Remain engaged with fans and the community? Have ownership that are committed to good stewardship and transparency for their club and football in general?
Forceforgood has developed an index akin to good corporate governance based on these above five areas. Aston Villa, Arsenal, and Wigan are the top three clubs.
Randy Lerner's taekover of Villa has proved to be the best thing for the club and the index gives high scores to his stewardship.
Arsenal gets high marks for its long term vision and clarity of purpose.
" As percentage of turnover the lowest wage bill in Premiership! Prudently refusing to enter the transfer merry-go-round. Invested in youth and stadium, and keep faith with their management. Potential bidding war among new shareholders. Older shareholders had until all recently maintained stewardship with "lock-down" agreement. Debt two thirds of Chelsea or Man Utd but aggravated by property slump."
Wigan gets the same marks as a club that gives "best value for money" to the fans.
Man Utd ranks 13 obtaining poor marks in putting club first, engagement with fans, and passion and commitment. The Glazers high levels of debt are an issue and so is their lackluster engagement with fans.
They are better than their derby counterparts City who rank a place below Sheikh Mansour Al Nahyan's passion and commitment to good stewardship especially in question.
Chelsea come in 15th getting the worst marks out of all the Premier League teams in clarity of purpose with Roman Abramovich's single minded obsession leading to the highest level of debt and a culture of undermining managers.
Liverpool is 19th just one place above bottom of the barrel West Ham which became a victim of Iceland's economic meltdown. The Reds get the worst score in putting club first because the American owners have shown that they are nothing more than carpetbaggers. Surprisingly, Portsmouth which I think has the poorest stewardship or more realistically, none at all is ranked 17th. They rank above Spurs who get poor marks for Daniel Levy's high handedness and inflated transfers.
Debate away.
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