DIVS' MELTDOWN BEGINS
From the Guardian:
David Bernstein resigned as Manchester City's chairman amid familiar acrimony at Maine Road yesterday. After spending £46.3m on 17 players during Kevin Keegan's tenure he earned the sympathy of the fans, but will not be missed by a manager with whom he was barely on speaking terms.
Keegan thought Bernstein, who has been ousted after months of boardroom infighting, was too conservative in the transfer market and failed to match his own ambitions.
The manager will see yesterday's events as a personal victory although others will reflect on the loss of the man who gave City stability after the Francis Lee regime.
It leaves City faced an uncertain future, although that is nothing new for a club who have endured three decades of boardroom upheaval.
The catalyst for Bernstein's departure was the resignation of Chris Bird as joint managing director last week citing a personality clash with the chairman.
This prompted City to call an emergency board meeting yesterday and when Bernstein established how far his popularity was plummeting he released a statement beforehand announcing his resignation.
"On my appointment I emphasised three factors: unity, stability and professionalism," he said.
"Until recently we have successfully worked together to achieve these but over the last few months there has been a divergence of views on fundamental strategic issues, particularly finance and management structure. I believe this has inhibited my ability to direct the club in the way I would wish."
Bernstein's only remaining ally was the finance director Alistair Mackintosh, who agreed with him that City risked significant financial difficulties if they did not show more caution. Keegan has spent £32m on eight players since they won promotion last season and the club announced a record half-year loss of £5.4m last month.
Bernstein has cited the financial problems that have beset Leeds as the reason for his financial prudence. However, this did not fit in with Keegan's thinking and the relationship between chairman and manager has been at breaking point ever since Robbie Fowler's proposed £7m transfer from Leeds collapsed in January. Although the deal was resurrected, Keegan was incensed when he discovered Bernstein had demanded that Leeds lower their asking price.
Also in the Guardian:
The Football Association is reviewing its funding of anti-racism programmes because of the financial crisis within the organisation.
The FA's acting chief executive David Davies, speaking yesterday at a Uefa-organised anti-racism conference at Chelsea FC, revealed that the annual £75,000 given to Kick It Out, football's anti-racism group, was being reconsidered because of the wider financial problems at Soho Square.
"We are assessing everything that we currently spend money on, and quite rightly so," Davies said. "It is no secret that we have real commitments that we didn't have a short time ago.
"Having said that, our commitment is quite clear. We recognise the responsibilities that we have and I have no evidence that any of my colleagues are less committed to use the power of football against racism than they were last week or last year."
Kick It Out officials say they are monitoring the situation. "It's crucial that the FA maintains its commitment to Kick It Out," a spokesman said. "Racism has not gone away within the game and we have to make sure that it is tackled and prevented from hurting football."
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