THE CITY VIEW

frustrations created by the FCA or Ofgem or whoever else, few genuinely believe markets should operate without some sort of arbiter. By ensuring there is a level playing field –ideally with only as many rules as absolutely necessary –the best performers can still thrive. But what of a busted market, like English football? Our columnist Paul Ormerod argued yesterday that the incentives –spend big, win big, and to hell with the consequences –mean that a regulator is unlikely to stop the excesses of modern football. Fan ownership may even exacerbate them without board members willing to say ‘no’. On matters of ownership and ‘heritage assets’, the English Football League and the Premiership of course already have the powers to stop ‘unfit’ owners taking charge of community clubs, albeit those powers are left largely unused. Should a regulator step in to stop a community club, with new ownership, pursuing promotion at all costs –only to fail to do so, and risk a century-long institution going pop as a result? Instinctively, it doesn’t seem so –just as it wouldn’t have been right for regulators to stop the

OFF THE RAILS With no resolution imminent, London Underground drivers yesterday confirmed that more industrial action will go ahead next month on budget day, 15 March