[2] He joined them as group advertising director, but went on to spend his last three years with the Thomson Corporation in the United States as senior vice president responsible for all their newspaper operations in the southern and eastern U.S.

[3] Scudamore was accountable for all elements of the League's operations and his core responsibilities included regulatory, legal and political matters, and the sale of broadcasting and central commercial rights.

The ultimate decision-making authority of the Premier League remains the 20 member clubs who take all material decisions based on at least a two-thirds majority.

One of the first controversial incidents that Scudamore had to manage as chief executive of the Premier League were allegations that, in January 2005, Chelsea had made an illegal approach – widely referred to in football as "tapping up" – to sign Arsenal and England international defender Ashley Cole.

It was reported that Chelsea manager José Mourinho and Chief Executive Peter Kenyon had illicitly met with Cole and his representatives to discuss a move to the club.

Scudamore set up an independent commission to look into the matter which found that Cole, Mourinho and Chelsea were guilty of breaking Premier League Rules regarding unauthorized approaches.

In January 2006, former Luton Town manager Mike Newell[7] and then-manager of Queens Park Rangers Ian Holloway alleged that bribes were rife in English football.

In September of the same year, BBC Panorama broadcast a special programme[8] looking at corruption in football which had begun filming in August 2005.

In summary, the report stated: "there is no evidence of any irregular payments to club officials or players, and they are identified only as a consequence of the outstanding issues the inquiry has with the agents involved".

[citation needed] Third-party ownership became highly controversial in English football after the arrival at West Ham United of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano from Brazilian club Corinthians in August 2006.

It subsequently emerged that Tevez's economic rights were owned by Media Sports Investments (MSI) and a second company, Just Sports Inc.,{2} while Mascherano was jointly owned by Global Soccer Agencies and Mystere Services Ltd. All four companies were represented by Kia Joorabchian and the deal was brokered by MSI, whose president Joorabchian had been until June 2006.

[citation needed] In October 2007, it was reported that football's international governing body, FIFA, was acting to ban "third-party" ownership.

[12] However, following a significant amount of criticism from fans, the media and other football administrators including Sepp Blatter, the Premier League dropped the idea and have said several times since that there are no plans to reconsider it.

"[15] The Premier League subsequently introduced enhanced financial regulations in February 2013, Scudamore said of the new rules impact on clubs that they would "...further benefit the sustainable running of their businesses, while allowing secure owner investment, as well as enhance the reputation of the Premier League as an organisation that takes its responsibilities in the governance arena seriously.

[20] In the Middle East and North Africa, Scudamore said the Premier League's games would be distributed in a "comprehensive and innovative manner" by agency MP & Silva.