Luton chief executive Gary Sweet has hit out at the EFL and Football Association’s handing of Wigan’s ownership “sham” and called on an independent authority to keep football in check.
The Latics were last week placed into administration, a month after being taken over by new owners, with the game’s fit and proper persons test coming under fire from supporters of all clubs.
Sweet was part of the 2020 consortium that rescued the Hatters after a third administration in nine years, threatened the existence of the club.
He’s confirmed that, despite Luton feeling the effect of the Coronavirus pandemic, they’re not at risk of following Wigan into administration.
Writing in Luton’s match day programme on Saturday, Sweet said: ‘Their shock administration this week teaches us that no club should be complacent and apparent stability isn’t all it seems.
‘There are so many issues that can be discussed with this calamity of a situation that I don’t know where to start. They’re good guys at Wigan. Decent people who we’ve got along very well and people I genuinely feel for at this time.
‘However, recent decisions around their approval of ownership leave a lot to be desired, as does the EFL and FA’s inability to recognise and block such a sham. And for the administrator to claim that their crash had been brought about by a pandemic is farcical.
‘It’s about time an independent authority was appointed to control licence to own shares in football clubs. If you need a licence to own a dog, you should need a licence to be responsible for such an important community asset that is so important to the vitality and viability of our own towns and cities.
‘To be clear, we don’t take pleasure in seeing this happen to other respectable clubs and deeply sympathise with their supporters. But football is rapidly becoming morally corrupt and any club spending 168p on wages for every £1 of income cannot claim sympathy from those trying to operate sustainability.
‘Clubs at every level are too greedy and self-serving, and so-called owners are way too egotistical and self-promoting to give a damn about the wider game.
‘Our apparent beautiful game must be seen as a single living organism, if it is to survive, which means clubs and owners must think of themselves and take responsibility for their club and the game as custodians.
‘Wigan may be the first during our virus-hit world, but the signs have been there for year and they won’t be the last. I would welcome external intervention by a more responsible party to govern our sport. If football cannot keep self in check somebody else needs to.’
