Richard Scudamore
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Richard Craig Scudamore
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(born 11 August 1959) is an English sports executive. He was the Executive Chairman of the
English Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
from June 2014 until his retirement in November 2018. He had previously served as chief executive since November 1999.


Biography

Scudamore attended
Kingsfield School King's Oak Academy, formerly Kingsfield School and Kingswood Grammar School, is a Mathematics and Computing College located in Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, Kingswood in Bristol, England. The education authority Ofsted rated it as "good" in 2 ...
in Kingswood,
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, where he was Head Boy in his final year and which he left in 1977. He studied law at the
University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...
but never went on to qualify or practice law. He then spent nine years at
Yellow Pages The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for ...
, a division of British Telecom, progressing through sales and marketing, business planning and regional management to the position of sales director.


Newspaper career

Prior to his career in football, Scudamore worked for ten years in the newspaper industry, mainly for
Thomson Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mic ...
. He joined them as group advertising director, but went on to spend his last three years with the Thomson Corporation in the United States as senior vice president responsible for all their newspaper operations in the southern and eastern U.S. He also managed all advertising, sales and marketing activity for the entire company. This assignment followed a number of general management roles within Thomson, covering a range of media.


Football League

From 1997 to 1999, Scudamore was chief executive of the Football League. This saw him responsible for the organisation of, and broadcast and commercial rights sales for, the Football League First, Second and Third Divisions and the Football League Cup.


Premier League

Scudamore was appointed CEO of the FA Premier League in November 1999, and was reputed to earn in excess of £900,000 per annum. Scudamore was responsible for negotiating broadcasting and sponsorship contracts worth in excess of £5.5 billion. He is also a founding board member of the Football Foundation, overseeing more than £230 million of Premier League contributions to the grassroots football charity. The total value of British Premier League television rights negotiated under Scudamore have risen from £1.2 billion for the 2001–04 season to £5.134 billion for the 2013–16 season. Scudamore was accountable for all elements of the League's operations and his core responsibilities included regulatory, legal and political matters, and the sale of broadcasting and central commercial rights. The ultimate decision-making authority of the Premier League remains the 20 member clubs who take all material decisions based on at least a two-thirds majority. In 2018, Scudamore retired as executive chairman. The league is currently led by chief executive Richard Masters with Claudia Arney taking over the role of chairperson of the board.


Ashley Cole and Chelsea

One of the first controversial incidents that Scudamore had to manage as chief executive of the Premier League were allegations that, in January 2005,
Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
had made an illegal approach – widely referred to in football as "tapping up" – to sign Arsenal and
England international The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...
defender
Ashley Cole Ashley Cole (born 20 December 1980) is an English football coach and former player who is currently a first-team coach at Premier League club Everton. As a player, he played as a left-back, most notably for Arsenal and Chelsea. Cole is cons ...
. It was reported that Chelsea manager José Mourinho and Chief Executive
Peter Kenyon Peter Kenyon (born 1954 in Stalybridge, Cheshire) is a British businessman who has served as the chief executive of English Premier League football clubs Manchester United and Chelsea, where he has been involved in contentious transfer dealing ...
had illicitly met with Cole and his representatives to discuss a move to the club. Scudamore set up an independent commission to look into the matter which found that Cole, Mourinho and Chelsea were guilty of breaking Premier League Rules regarding unauthorized approaches. Cole was fined £100,000, Mourinho £200,000 and Chelsea were fined £300,000 and given a suspended three-point deduction. Cole's agent, Jonathan Barnett, was punished with a £100,000 fine and suspension following a separate investigation by
The FA The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...
.


The Bungs Inquiry

In January 2006, former
Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...
manager Mike Newell and then-manager of
Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...
Ian Holloway Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English professional football manager, former player, media personality and television pundit who was most recently the manager of Grimsby Town. A midfielder, he notably played in the Premier League ...
alleged that bribes were rife in English football. Scudamore told BBC Radio 4, "He has a duty to the game to tell us exactly what he knows and if there has been wrong-doing it will be taken up. If he can substantiate his claims, it could be fantastic evidence." In September of the same year, BBC '' Panorama'' broadcast a special programme looking at corruption in football which had begun filming in August 2005. In response to the ''Panorama'' programme and other allegations, Scudamore and the Premier League appointed independent investigations agency Quest, led by former Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Stevens, to investigate Premier League transfers. On 20 December 2006, Stevens presented his preliminary report, which found that the level of corruption within English football was not as high as had been anticipated. There were still causes for concern with seventeen transfer deals were still subject to further scrutiny. On 15 June 2007, Lord Stevens' inquiry issued its final report which raised concerns over issues involving 17 player transfers, involving five clubs, three managers and numerous agents and other third parties. In summary, the report stated: "there is no evidence of any irregular payments to club officials or players, and they are identified only as a consequence of the outstanding issues the inquiry has with the agents involved".


Third-party influence and ownership

Third-party ownership became highly controversial in English football after the arrival at
West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
of
Carlos Tevez Carlos Alberto Tevez (; born 5 February 1984) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. A quick, tenacious, powerful, hard-working and dynamic forward in his prime, Tevez was capable of playing as a striker, as a wing ...
and
Javier Mascherano Javier Alejandro Mascherano (born 8 June 1984) is an Argentine professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Argentina national under-20 team. As a player, he played as a centre-back or defensive midfielder, most not ...
from Brazilian club
Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...
in August 2006. On 31 August 2006, Tevez and Mascherano both joined to West Ham for an undisclosed fee. It subsequently emerged that Tevez's economic rights were owned by
Media Sports Investments Media Sport Investment Limited (MSI) was a London-based international investment fund that was headed by the Iranian-born, British-educated, businessman Kia Joorabchian. It has attracted considerable attention for its partnership between 2004 and 2 ...
(MSI) and a second company, Just Sports Inc., while Mascherano was jointly owned by Global Soccer Agencies and Mystere Services Ltd. All four companies were represented by
Kia Joorabchian Kiavash Joorabchian ( fa, کیاوش جورابچيان) is an Iranian-born British-educated businessman largely involved in association football. In the register of directorships at Companies House in London, Joorabchian gives two nationalities ...
and the deal was brokered by MSI, whose president Joorabchian had been until June 2006. Once Scudamore and the Premier League became aware of these allegations an independent commission was formed to look at whether rules had been broken and, due to irregularities in the player's contracts, and it being clear that West Ham United officials had lied to the Premier League, West Ham were eventually fined a record £5.5 million. Despite the fine, Tevez was allowed to continue playing for West Ham. Both players remained in England after the controversy; Tevez moved to Manchester United while Mascherano went to play for
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
. Manchester United failed to agree a price with Tevez's owner and he left for city rival Manchester City in summer 2009. Joorabchian subsequently claimed that many Premier League players and teams conceal their third-party ownership of players. The Premier League took steps to outlaw third-party ownership at its AGM in June 2008 with new rules L34 and L35 to outlaw any type of third ownership of players from the beginning of the 2008–09 season. The league's rule U18 had previously stated that the third parties were not permitted to "materially influence" a club's "policies or the performances of its teams". In October 2007, it was reported that football's international governing body, FIFA, was acting to ban "third-party" ownership. Article 18 of FIFA's Rules on the Status and Transfer of Players does restrict the practice, at least as far as a third party's influence is concerned, stating that, "No club shall enter into a contract which enables any other party to that contract or any third party to acquire the ability to influence in employment and transfer related matters its independence, its policies or the performance of its teams." In September 2014,
UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
announced they were going to tackle the issue. Later that month, FIFA announced they would ban the practice. In July 2015, a Belgian court rejected an appeal against the banning of third-party ownership.


Game 39

In 2008, Scudamore, along with the 20 Premier League club chairmen, opted to explore the opportunity of Premier League clubs playing one additional league match per season overseas, commonly known as
Game 39 "Game 39" or the international round was a proposed extra round of matches in the Premier League to be played at neutral venues outside England. The top football league in England, the Premier League is played on a double round robin basis, wher ...
, during January. However, following a significant amount of criticism from fans, the media and other football administrators including Sepp Blatter, the Premier League dropped the idea and have said several times since that there are no plans to reconsider it.


Financial Regulations

Scudamore has driven forward numerous initiatives to improve the sustainability of Premier League clubs On the financial viability of Premier League clubs, Scudamore has said that the "majority of clubs are within sensible percentages" regarding their ratios of income spent on wages and said it is a "stable situation". Scudamore has said that he wishes clubs to live "within their means" and was in favour of improving the financial regulation of clubs in light of UEFA's Financial Fair Play Regulations, claiming in November 2012 that, "If clubs are going to make a loss then we need to check if that is sustainable and if their owners have a long-term vision. Our biggest responsibility is to make sure that clubs are run sustainably for the long term." The Premier League subsequently introduced enhanced financial regulations in February 2013, Scudamore said of the new rules impact on clubs that they would "...further benefit the sustainable running of their businesses, while allowing secure owner investment, as well as enhance the reputation of the Premier League as an organisation that takes its responsibilities in the governance arena seriously."


Foreign ownership

Scudamore has defended foreign owners of Premier League clubs on several occasions. In 2013, he told a
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...
Committee that the League is still "quintessentially English" and that foreign owners buy into that when they invest in clubs. Scudamore believes foreign ownership is a form of inward investment, stating, "If you want to do business abroad, you've got to be prepared for people to come and do business here. You have to act and look and sound like global commercial citizens. That's what we do." and "The idea that there's a clutch of clubs who'd want to go away and do something different feels less likely now than at almost any time." The list of Premier League club owners includes Russian billionaire
Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the ...
, who owns Chelsea, and
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan ( ar, منصور بن زايد بن سلطان آل نهيان; born 21 November 1970), often referred to as Sheikh Mansour, is an Emirati politician who is the deputy prime minister of the United Arab ...
, who owns Manchester City. Manchester City recently announced the first Chinese investment in an English Premier League club with
China Media Capital China Media Capital ( Chinese: 华人文化) is a public equity and venture capital firm specializing in growth capital, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, corporate restructuring, management buyouts, and mergers & acquisitions. The fir ...
taking a stake in their parent company,
City Football Group City Football Group Limited (CFG) is a holding company that administers association football clubs. The group is owned by three organisations; of which 81% is majority owned by Newton Investment and Development LLC, 18% by the American firm Si ...
.


International interest

Scudamore has also overseen the international commercial expansion of the Premier League, describing the "exponential growth" of the league's audience and revenue in India, and has stated that football is India's fastest growing sport. In the
Middle East and North Africa MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia (or a ...
, Scudamore said the Premier League's games would be distributed in a "comprehensive and innovative manner" by agency
MP & Silva MP & Silva Limited was an international sports marketing and media rights firm based in London. Founded in 2004 by Italian businessmen Riccardo Silva and Andrea Radrizzani, the company was primarily involved in the acquisition and international ...
. Scudamore said of foreign expansion that "...as long as the football remains compelling then I don't see any reason why the world won't want to continue to watch us". Scudamore has also described the Premier League as an "iconic British business" and described it as "a big and important economic entity" for the UK. On 7 November 2013, Scudamore was awarded the "Outstanding Contribution to Football" Award at the Football Business Awards


Leak of private emails

In May 2014, emails written by Scudamore were leaked by a former temporary PA to the '' Sunday Mirror''. Scudamore immediately apologised and said that the emails were "...an error of judgment that I will not make again", also saying that they were "private emails exchanged between colleagues and friends of many years". The emails were condemned by MPs
Tracey Crouch Tracey Elizabeth Anne Crouch (born 24 July 1975) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chatham and Aylesford since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party, she gained the seat from Labour's Jonathan S ...
and
Gloria de Piero Gloria De Piero (born 21 December 1972) is a British television and radio presenter, and former Labour Party politician. Prior to her political career, she was the political editor of GMTV. A member of the Labour Party, she was first electe ...
. Crouch, a qualified football coach and manager of a girls' football team, said that, "It's disappointing at a time when he's trying to encourage more women to play football that he is using derogatory terminology like this...it's important that somebody who is promoting the women's game shouldn't be using this sort of language." The emails were also criticised by
Minister for Sport and the Olympics The Minister for Sport and Civil Society was a junior minister in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for sport and Civil Society in England. In 2020, the role merged with tha ...
Helen Grant.
Karren Brady Karren Rita Brady, Baroness Brady, (born 4 April 1969) is a British business executive and television personality. She is a former managing director of Birmingham City F.C. and current vice-chairman of West Ham United F.C., and an aide to Al ...
, West Ham's vice-chair, said she had known Scudamore for 20 years and he was "categorically not sexist".


Personal life

Scudamore is married to Catherine and has five children: Jamie, Chloe, Patrick, Ned and Lara. A qualified level 5 referee, Scudamore is a lifetime
Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...
fan.Football Focus, BBC ONE - 12 January 2008


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scudamore, Richard 1959 births Living people Alumni of the University of Nottingham British chief executives British Telecom people Businesspeople from Bristol Association football executives People educated at King's Oak Academy