Kelly Simmons says there are no current FA concerns over another Coventry United situation in the women’s game | Football News

The FA’s director of the women’s professional game, Kelly Simmons, has told Sky Sports they are constantly monitoring the budgets of clubs to help prevent another club from facing liquidation.

Coventry United were deducted 10 points by the FA for entering voluntary liquidation last month but are set to be saved by businessman Lewis Taylor, who is aiming to complete his purchase of the Women’s Championship club next week. Taylor says he will “absolutely” appeal the points deduction.

Some have questioned the severity of the deduction which sees Coventry drop to -4 points and fall to the bottom of the division, 10 points behind 11th-placed Watford.

When asked whether the system was flawed, given the Championship only has 12 clubs playing just 22 games, Simmons spoke about the difficulty of operating in the existing rules.

“In our rules, [if you are] deemed to suffer an insolvency event, it’s an automatic 10-point deduction,” Simmons told Sky Sports’ lead WSL presenter Caroline Barker.

“There is a right of appeal that could outline the situation as a result of a force majeure [clause included in contracts to remove liability for natural and unavoidable catastrophes] and that process is still going on, so it’s probably not appropriate to talk specifically about Coventry.

“I think in terms of the rules, generally they are there in professional football across the board and take non-payment by football creditors and creditors very seriously. Part of fair play is making sure that clubs spend within their means. We probably need to see how the next few days play out and whether the club wants to step forward and appeal.”

Simmons herself spent many hours over Christmas dealing with the Coventry situation, with player Katie Wilkinson acknowledging the ‘numerous conversations’ had with her during that time.

On the points deduction, Wilkinson tweeted ‘better roll our sleeves up then’ – so does Simmons acknowledge points deductions could unfairly damage players and not former owners?

“In most situations, I think that is football in that you might be able to sell a club, but the league and the governing body deals with the club. Therefore, unfortunately when you are a new owner coming, that is the situation you buy into and you inherit.”

The question is whether the deterrent will work going forward. Simmons says given Covid and the global situation, it ‘would be naive not to think there would be ripples into the women’s game’.

She added: “Hardly any business is immune. I wouldn’t want to predict there won’t be some bumps in the road going forward. We are working with our clubs every day, we know there are new investments coming in… we haven’t got any concerns currently.”

As for the immediate impact on the rest of the league, Covid has seen a number of games called off already, but despite that, Simmons says they are still on track to complete the season.

She said: “We are obviously doing everything we can with clubs to get the games played. [The FA has] a number of scenario plans… but at the moment, we are on track. Our priority is the safety of the players but if the club has the required number of players, they are expected to play.”

Despite the setbacks of the last two years, Simmons says she is looking forward to a promising 2022 and a future where the WSL stands independently of the FA.

“We are making really positive progress and the discussions we are having with the clubs and their future ownership review,” Simmons added

“Looking at what is the optimal ownership for the Women’s Super League and Championship long-term, the FA is there to agree with the clubs on what is the best and most appropriate way for those leagues to be run.

“We are discussing the creation of a new standalone company in its own right, rather like there is in the men’s game. We’ve done a lot of work on what that might look like. Those discussions are ongoing and probably by the summer, we should have some more on that.”