Re: Birmingham refused to sell players last January

Jim

The officers of the Football League have made such a mess of their dealings with clubs over the last year or so that I'm surprised anybody actually still tries to defend them.

I agree, it seems strange to me that so many of us are willing to put on our hairshirts and give it the full mea culpa. There's no doubt that our owners are not doing a good job but equally, the EFL are thoroughly incompetent and have been proven to be so time and again.

When it suits the EFL to sit on their hands while clubs are run into the ground by their owners, they are just a "competition organiser", not a governing body. They knew for two years or more that Bolton and Bury were in serious trouble but did nothing at all.

When they want to punish clubs - not just us but also most recently Sheffield Wednesday - they are suddenly a governing body, with the full right to dictate what a private business does with its money.

Our owners are clearly incapable of navigating the nuances of the EFL's rules, but is that a complete surprise? There's one rule for some clubs, and another for other clubs. Look at the recent Wednesday case for evidence of that, as well as our own seemingly ongoing case. Why does no one really know what the punishment for the latest infraction will be? It's because the EFL are totally haphazard in the way they act and it's surely no surprise that clubs fall foul of rules which have no clear logic.

Wednesday are suing the EFL and I hope they take the "competition organiser" to the cleaners.