The EFL have confirmed that Burnley FC’s chief executive David Baldwin is set to move to the governing body in the same capacity in June 2020, where he fills the vacancy left by former Leeds United director Shaun Harvey.
Harvey's time in charge of the EFL came to a close back in June, with fans taking to Twitter at the time to share some of their 'highlights' of Harvey's time in office.
The University of Liverpool's Senior Teacher in Accountancy, Kieran Maguire, an expert on football finance, began what he called the Shaun Harvey Appreciation Thread (using the hashtag #SHAT) on Twitter listing some of the lowlights from Harvey's tenure as chief executive of the EFL. Fans from clubs across the EFL were only too keen to add their own thoughts which led to #SHAT trending across the UK.
Here's a look at some of Harvey's career highlights.
Life before the EFL
Before being appointed to the EFL, Harvey had overseen four separate administrations - two during his spell as Managing Director of Bradford City and two as chief executive at Leeds United under Ken Bates which saw Leeds docked first 10 and then 15 points.
During Harvey's spell as Chief Executive, Leeds dropped into League One, the first time in the club's history that they had been in football's third tier. In 2010 he told a House of Commons select committee inquiry with a brief to support fan ownership in football that he didn't know who owned Leeds United.
He was appointed by the Football League in June 2011.
The EFL's Owners' and Directors' Test
Formerly known as the Fit and Proper Person test, this way of approving new football club owners and directors has given the green light to people who have proved to be anything but fit and proper.
The most recent example of how this test has failed is Ken Anderson who has put Bolton into administration which has brought with it a 12 point penalty and relegation to League One. Employees have gone unpaid leading to staff visiting food banks while Anderson has been paid £525,000 by the club as a consultant.
Other clubs with who have suffered financial issues after their owners and directors passed the test include Bury, Blackpool, and Leyton Orient who have dropped out of the football league altogether. Not forgetting that both GFH and Massimo Cellino were passed as fit owners of Leeds United while Harvey was in post at the EFL.
FFP
Accountants for clubs in the EFL have found loopholes to exploit the Financial Fair Play regulations which have included Derby County selling Pride Park to their owner and allegedly paying Tom Ince's mum £700,000 as a scout because it doesn't count towards FFP.
At the FT Business in Football summit, Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani described this Pride Park sale as 'cheating', saying: "I wish that the execs in FA/EFL can shake this system to find a way to make the rules clear and the same for everyone."
EFL profit/loss per division
Harvey's penultimate season in charge of the EFL saw Championship clubs (2017/18) post a total loss of £316 million (League One clubs posted £63 million loss and League Two a total loss of £8 million). That's only expected to get worse for 2018/19 when the figures are published next year.
The total net losses posted by Championship clubs during Harvey's time as EFL Chief Executive are £1,177,278,000 (£4.5 million a week) and again, this will get worse once the 2018/19 accounts are released.
The Sky TV deal
The Sky TV deal negotiated by Shaun Harvey for the Championship teams led to Radrizanni leading a group of Championship club owners to threaten to break away from the EFL. The new deal is worth £590million, a 36 per cent increase on the existing deal which saw Leeds United - and every other Championship club - paid £100,000 for every home game that a club hosts on Sky Sports, with that figure going up to £120,000 for games being played on a Sunday and £140,000 for Thursday games.
Visiting sides are awarded £10,000 per game.
Former Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino was also not a fan of the Sky TV deal, an issue which culminated in the club not letting any Sky representatives into the ground ahead a game scheduled for television against Derby County in December 2015. The debacle saw Shaun Harvey sitting outside the ground in his car refusing to confirm to journalists that he was in fact Shaun Harvey.
The Carabao Cup
The league cup's sponsorship by a Thai drinks company has seen the draws take place at 4am UK time.
The Checkatrade Trophy
What used to be the Johnstone Paints trophy now sees 48 EFL teams take on 16 teams from category academies from the Premier League and Championship. Attendances have plummeted for a format that struggled to work for fans or clubs. Last season saw a record-breaking lowest attendance in the history of the competition as a Middlesbrough academy team took on Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium in front of a crowd of 202.
In his own words
But what has Harvey himself had to say about this stint in charge of the EFL?
"Consistently during my time, I have always looked to push boundaries to make the maximum positive impact for clubs, whether this be from a financial perspective or by generating value in another way," he said after confirming he was standing down this season.
"I have always held the view that the strength of the EFL is its clubs and no club, or indeed individual, is bigger or more important than the collective or the EFL itself.
"The time is right for the EFL to move in a different direction having concluded a number of commercial contracts that leave the League in a stable position."
