The League checks out all potential owners. “We get reports,’’ continued Clarke. “Often it says: ‘No criminal convictions, not been struck off as a director, but there’s loads of scuttlebutt and rumour’. Those doubts won’t stand up in a court of law. The guy’s got potentially £1 billion and he’s saying to us: ‘OK, you’re going to besmirch my name by saying I’m not a fit and proper person. Go and speak to my QC and we’ll see what evidence you have against me.’ We get threatened a lot. If it was money-laundering, and we could prove it, we’d say ‘no’, and be straight on to the FSA, police and say ‘money-launderers, get after them.’ But we have to be careful what we say and act only on fact, otherwise we’d get sued.