Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Leeds United and football's super creditors

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 11; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14660970.2010.497368

1743-9590

Shaun Best,

Law, logistics, and international trade

Before the start of the 2007/8 season, the English Football League imposed a 15‐point ‘sanction’ on Leeds United for a breach of the League's insolvency rules. This article is a case study of the Football League's decision, the central elements of the Football League's insolvency policy, the reasons why the Football League chose to impose the additional ‘sanction’ and the possible implications for professional football in England of not applying the ‘sanction’. A central element of the Football League's insolvency policy is that ‘football debts’ must be settled in full. This has become known as the ‘super creditor rule’. The article traces the conflict between KPMG, the administrators in the Leeds United case, and the tax authorities in the UK, and concludes that that the Football League's insolvency policy is a misuse of UK law in relation to Creditor Voluntary Agreements as the method of English football clubs coming out of administration and continuing to trade.