Muckle LLP: The YouTube Series Solving Clubs’ Growing Governance Concerns
New YouTube series launches to help football clubs with their governance.
England Football’s recently revamped ‘Club Hub’ YouTube channel has launched a specialist series to support grassroots and National League System (NLS) clubs with their finance, legal structures and risk management.
The four-part ‘Extra:Time’ series, in partnership with leading legal firm Muckle LLP, helps simplify the daunting world of governance for thousands of volunteers in football clubs across the country.
The free resource walks club representatives through complex topics such as data management, club structures and budgeting. In the series, both Muckle’s sports team and football clubs from across the country share invaluable advice and insight into the challenges – common to many – that they have faced in this area.
Post-COVID, up to 60% of NLS clubs reported that they were not aware of their legal structure or entity. With over half of all football anticipated to be played within clubs that have 20+ teams by 2028, it’s essential that clubs are financially robust and have great governance at their core so that they can continue to thrive in a sustainable way.
Based on these insights, the Club Hub team responded with a series that offers a deep-dive into risk management and data protection (episode 1), legal structures and incorporation (episode 2), leadership and operational structures (episode 3), finishing on financial controls and budget management (episode 4).
The series is the latest to launch on the new-look ‘Club Hub’ channel which, through ‘Extra:Time’ and ‘In The Box’ episodes, has already supported clubs for over five years on a broad range of off-the-pitch areas, and provides best practice examples from clubs to inspire the country’s hardworking volunteers.
Tom Lee, co-host of the channel’s two series, Extra:Time and In The Box, explains: “By blending real-life examples and industry leading advice, we wanted to demystify governance in this series and help those clubs who need a bit of a helping hand. That is what our Club Hub is there to do, whilst inspiring people to make positive change at their own clubs.
“In this series, we bring insights from some of our expert FA Club Consultants who have supported hundreds of volunteers with similar challenges so that every club can, first, feel reassured and second, start to get the guidance they need.”
Alison Jones, sports lead at law firm Muckle LLP, adds: “This Extra:Time series is designed to bring to life some key areas that are crucial to running a successful and sustainable football club, including financial controls and legal structures.
“Led by experts from Muckle and The FA, the series comes at a time when the grassroots game is more popular than ever and is therefore a valuable resource in mitigating the challenges associated with this continued growth and love of the sport.”
As part of England Football’s Accredited Club Programme support on this area, clubs also benefit from a host of further resources and videos drilling down into these specific topics. These are available on the England Football website and Muckle LLP’s dedicated hub.
Clubs looking to get started on improving their governance or simply wishing to learn more about this essential area of running a football club are encouraged to head to @TheFAClubHub on YouTube and all major social media channels.
