As a life-long Sheffield United supporter, I care passionately about football but the Beautiful Game has changed dramatically in recent years.
Inflated player wages, leagues within leagues, rows between club and country, “bung cultures” and teams without home-grown players have become as much a part of fans’ conversations as who their club should sign or who should play up front.
The game has also become more European, with the result being that top clubs are in reality now competing with their counterparts in Spain, Germany, Italy and France more than they are with some clubs in their own league.
But in Europe, the major decisions about the future of the sport are being made by the courts, not football. We have already seen with the Bosman ruling how this can change the game dramatically.
Now we have Charleroi, the Belgian club backed by the G14 group of the largest clubs, taking Fifa to the European Court of Justice to claim compensation for paying the wages of Abdelmajid Oulmars while he was out of action after being injured on international duty.
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This could leave lasting damage on the international game. The result could end with football associations in small and emerging countries going bankrupt or domestic clubs refusing to release players for their national team.
The Charleroi case, and the threat of others, hangs over football like the sword of Damocles.
Only yesterday, reports suggested that the FA’s new rules on agents could be challenged in the courts. It is surely wrong that football’s future is being played in the courtroom, not at Old Trafford, the San Siro or the Bernabéu.
I believe football has reached a crossroads: in one direction lies an inclusive, transparent and accountable sport; in the other is an exclusive and elitist sport, strangled by over-commercialisation, plunging from one crisis to the next.
Politicians like me care about this because sport is more than just a business. Its role in communities and the wider society cuts across such policy areas as health, education and social inclusion. This special role has been recognised by heads of government and that is why earlier this year, under the UK’s presidency of the EU, I initiated the Independent European Sports Review.
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Drawn up by José Luís Arnaut, the senior Portuguese politician, it makes a series of recommendations about the way football should be run in Europe. Its central principle is that sporting bodies, such as Fifa, Uefa and the FA, are the proper authorities to run the game and wherever proper and reasonable, the EU and national governments should leave them to do that without undue interference. Among the review’s proposals are new rules on home-grown players, improved controls on agents, greater financial transparency and rules to improve financial stability through cost controls.
On Monday, I will be discussing the review in Brussels with my ministerial colleagues from across the EU. I hope to secure agreement that the issues it raises and the direction it takes will be central to a European White Paper on sport. If this happens we will have a clear way forward to ensure a better future for football in Europe.
If properly harnessed, football’s commercial success can be a force for good at every level of the game. But left unchecked, the beautiful game could turn ugly.