Regionalisation is the key - Harris

Scrapping professional football in the lower divisions is not the way to safeguard the future of the game, according to former Football League chairman Keith Harris.

Manchester United chief executive Peter Kenyon has claimed only half the clubs in England can survive the current financial state of football and the league should be restructured to leave just 40 professional teams.

But while Harris, who resigned along with chief executive David Burn in the wake of the ITV Digital fiasco which has left some clubs facing financial ruin, agrees the game needs radical changes he maintains it can be done without seeing smaller clubs go to the wall.

“I am not sure that semi-professional is the answer,” Harris told BBC Radio Five Live.

“I was pushing for strong regionalisation for the Second and Third Divisions, because I think that would have engendered more enthusiasm in the game, less costs and still recognise the fact football has a massive role in the community.”

Player wages are crippling many clubs, both in the Barclaycard Premiership and Nationwide League.

However, Allan Leighton, deputy chairman of Leeds United plc, reckons a change to the way in which clubs finance their playing staff could lead to massive savings.

“Some clubs have big squads of 25 to 30 players who are paid whether they play or they don‘t, whether they are fit or they are not, whether you win or you don‘t,” said Leighton, who is also chairman of Consignia, the Post Office group.

“I think one of the things I would like to see coming much more into the game, the same way as it is in many other businesses, is performance-related pay.”