Political football

Much has been written in recent years about governance in the areas of political science, public policy, local government and international relations. However, little research effort has been devoted to examining the term in relation to the organisation, administration and management of sports bodies. This paper is concerned with the way sport is governed, and in particular evaluating the utility of the concept of governance in understanding aspects of the management and policy process in English professional football. The research finds that governance broadens our conceptual repertoire, introduces greater sensitivity and subtlety into policy analysis, and highlights problems of coordination across sports' governing bodies, interest groups and policy actors