The Football League admits that "it is powerless to intervene to halt the mismanagement which has caused Blackburn Rovers' rapid decline, with the club still to agree a pay-off for sacked Manager Michael Appleton," according to Herbert & Dathan of the London INDEPENDENT. The League's Memorandum of Association states that it exists to "regulate the activities of member clubs and their respective officers, employees, registered players and agents" -- a mandate which "has led the League Managers' Association and others in the game to urge the governing body to act," after the High Court farce which led a judge to order the payment of £2.25M ($3.5M) to sacked Manager Henning Berg a week ago: £39,473 ($61,400) a day for each of the 57 days he was in charge. Football League Chair Greg Clarke has not responded to The Independent's request "to discuss the Blackburn situation," but the body has now issued a statement declaring that it simply has "no mandate to intervene in the running of individual clubs." Football Supporters' Federation Chair Malcolm Clarke said Tuesday night that "the lack of power available to member organisations," such as the Football League, to intervene, should compel the FA "to introduce new rules to stop clubs being ruined, as Blackburn are" (INDEPENDENT, 5/8).
