Alan Hardaker - As Football League Secretary

As Football League Secretary

One major change which took place at the Football League two years after Hardaker's appointment was a shift in location for the organisation's headquarters. The Starkie Street premises were little more than a converted town house, and the incoming League President at that time, Joe Richards, decided to ask Hardaker to look for more appropriate offices outside Preston.

The unanimous choice, after consideration of Blackpool and Leamington Spa as possibilities, was the former Sandown Hotel in Clifton Drive, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, and this was purchased for £11,000. Hardaker was heavily involved in the six month renovation of the building to make it suitable for purpose, and this was completed at a total cost of £40,000. The previous premises sold for £3,250.

When Hardaker first joined the staff of the League, they numbered six as full-time employees. As a measure of the expansion and diversification achieved during his time as secretary, by 1977 this had increased to 25. He enjoyed the complete confidence of the Management Committee, and was delegated by them many powers to act independently concerning certain matters. In his autobiography, he claims that, due to this measure of autonomy, he was perceived as "arrogant and high-handed" and had "frequently been called a dictator" by some club officials. He maintained, though, that his one aim in football had always been to "see the League prosper".

Following the passing of the Copyright Act 1956, he suggested to the Management Committee that the lists of League fixtures published each year should be subject to copyright for use by companies such as football pools promoters. He was duly given the go-ahead to implement a test case against Littlewoods Pools in 1959, and this the League won, meaning that a source of income would be secured for the clubs, as the Pools companies now needed to pay for the privilege of printing the fixtures on their coupons.

Hardaker was also required to attend the House of Commons in London to address members of Parliament regarding the ending of the maximum wage for football players, which Jimmy Hill, the ex-Fulham player and then chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association, had led a campaign for. The PFA won their members' pay freedom in 1961. However, this did not affect the transfer system, which still allowed clubs to retain players, even when their contracts had expired.

When an application to the High Court was made in June 1963, submitted by the out-of-contract Newcastle United player George Eastham, Hardaker was called to give evidence. Despite him arguing in favour of the contract structure as it then was (the League Management Committee had instructed him in how he should proceed), the case was lost, and thereafter the players could move more easily from club to club.

Hardaker was instrumental in designing the 1957 "Pattern of Football", which would have seen the existing 92 clubs, then occupying the four divisions of the League, increased to 100, with 20 teams in each of five divisions. The purpose of this was to reduce the number of weeks in the football season, allowing for less fixture congestion. At the same time, there would be more opportunity to accommodate extra competitions, such as the Football League Cup, which had been introduced during the 1960-61 season. The proposal was defeated after a vote by the member clubs, and the Pattern was discarded.

Although it is widely reported that the League Cup was Alan Hardaker's idea, in his autobiography he actually gives the credit to Sir Stanley Rous, who was at that time secretary of the Football Association. He relates the tale of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, which was a joint exercise by the FA and League to help regenerate football in Britain at the end of the Second World War. Sir Stanley apparently designed a separate knockout competition, to be entered by those clubs beaten in the early rounds of the FA Cup proper, but the plan was never approved. It was this idea, in tandem with the blueprint of the already-implemented Scottish League Cup north of the border, which prompted Hardaker to formulate the English League Cup.

The Press were not kind to Hardaker when the League Cup was first announced. He openly admits that the proposed competition received criticism not only from Fleet Street, but from the League clubs themselves - entry into the competition was not compulsory, and Arsenal, Luton, Sheffield Wednesday, West Bromwich Albion, Wolves and Tottenham all refused to participate during the inaugural season.

However, the signing of TV contracts for the 1961-62 competition, and the money this would generate, helped persuade many of the abstainers to take part the following year, although various clubs still declined to enter each year. The award by UEFA of a European cup competition place for the winner of the League Cup each year, plus the attraction of Wembley as a final venue, were also strong incentives for all the clubs to join, and this was achieved by 1967.

A much-quoted line from Alan Hardaker goes: "The FA Cup is football's Ascot, the League Cup its equivalent of Derby Day at Epsom".

Hardaker was asked to give advice to the League clubs when they were ordered by the FA in 1965 to sign statutory declarations regarding payments to amateur players - in other words, to guarantee that no illegal dealings were being entered into, and thus leaving themselves legally vulnerable. His advice consisted of a recommendation that they (the League clubs) resign from the Football Association "as a matter of extreme urgency", in order to force the FA to back down on the issue. Having held a meeting in Manchester, they duly handed in their resignations, all except for a few unnamed clubs.

After a meeting between the Football League Management Committee and the FA in London, the demand for professional clubs to sign the declarations was withdrawn, and it was decided that only amateur clubs would be required to do so. The resignations were ignored.

In 1970, when a group of Midlands club chairmen proposed that the Football League handle its own disciplinary affairs, Hardaker was asked by them if this would be possible under FA regulations. He pointed out Association Rule 1(b), which gave provision for the game to be administered for amateur and professional clubs separately. This meant that the League could have full control of its own administration, but would stop short of a breakaway from the FA. Although the Rule was never implemented, when the League Management Committee brought the matter up with the FA, they were able to negotiate many concessions, both financial and in terms of the disciplinary system, which changed as a result.

Many other incidents of note came under his influence during his time as Football League secretary. In 1969, he was asked to comment on the planned introduction of pensions for those professional players over 35 years of age - he claimed that the reported comment "I wouldn't hang a dog on the evidence of people like that" was actually in answer to the proposal that former professional footballers should sit on disciplinary committees, and not about pensions.

At the start of the 1971-72 season, the League Management Committee issued a directive reminding referees of their obligations regarding maintaining discipline on the field of play. Unfortunately, the Committee neglected to circulate the information to the Press or the League clubs, and there was widespread confusion when referees vastly increased the number of cautions and dismissals during matches.

The threat of withdrawal of League clubs from the FA Cup in 1973, following an argument over the fee for televising the 1972 European Championship (qualifying) quarter-final first leg between England and West Germany, was eventually averted.

Television companies made several attempts to secure contracts with the Football League to show football matches live, in 1955, 1956 and 1967, but this would never happen in Alan Hardaker's lifetime, and he offered the opinion in his book that "regular live football would undermine the game's health". Before the start of the 1974-75 season, there was even the possibility that no League football highlights would appear on television, due to the League chairmen initially rejecting a three-year deal in 1973, worth £750,000. After protracted negotiation, they finally accepted the offer.

In 1976, there was friction over the handling of the player registration of ex-Manchester United and Northern Ireland international George Best, following his transfer from Los Angeles Aztecs of the United States to Fulham. It was discovered that, due to the terms of the contract and the method of registration, Aztecs might actually retain first call on the player. Hardaker acted to counter this situation "to protect the interests of all the Football League clubs".