Former EFL chief Shaun Harvey has defended himself from critics of his reign, stating he simply did the job he was asked.
The unpopular former head of the EFL oversaw a number of controversial decisions, including holding the Carabao Cup draw in the Far East, allowing the sale of club stadiums and the £595m Sky Sports TV deal that threatened a breakaway.
However, Harvey remains adamant that he did not do anything wrong and believes he has been treated unfairly.
“I got hammered by supporters for actually doing the job I was paid to do, which was to run the league for the benefit of the clubs,” he told the Telegraph.
“I’d like to think the league was a better place when I left that when I arrived.”
He also denies that a 2016 rule change which opened the door for clubs to sell their stadium for the purposes of complying with Financial Fair Play regulations was an ‘oversight’, saying it was for clubs themselves to decide whether the practice is closed again.
Harvey also wants to see further changes brought in to improve competitive balance across the game, including the slashing of parachute payments for relegated clubs and introducing mandatory wage cuts to their players, which could be paid as a ‘bonus’ if they go on to earn promotion.
Keeping the 72 clubs in the EFL "is an impossible task", he admitted, but some will question his approach - particularly after he revealed that he planned to host a Carabao Cup draw above the earth’s atmosphere.
“Genuinely, we opened up discussions with the International Space Station,” he said about the plan to host the draw for the 2017/18 semi-final in the orbit of the planet.
Further criticism towards Harvey and the EFL emerged after Bury’s expulsion from the Football League last month, although he insists that the problems were not caused by the governing body.
“People will blame you because they need somebody to blame,” he explained.
“But the problem at Bury wasn’t created by the league, wasn’t created by the regulations. It was created by a period of overspending and the club not having the money to meet the financial commitments that it made.”
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