TRIO ADDED TO REVIEW PANEL

Lord Wasserman, Jane Aldred and Martin Henlan have been named as the three independent members of Basketball England’s review committee on the British professional league.

The board of Basketball England has taken the decision to amend the terms of reference for the committee to enable the inclusion of Lord Wasserman as the committee’s head. As MVP revealed, it means there will be a party of five who will conduct the initial review of the licence; two from the Basketball England Board – Manchester Giants’ coach Jeff Jones and Barking Abbey Academy director Mark Clark – and three independent appointments who will be able to compile a report on the options available including retaining the BBL or going with a consortium backed by Gl0bal Investment Markets, an equity fund  whose website trumps its  capital in sex shops and pawnbrokers. Their involvement was first revealed in The Express.

Jones: compiling panel

“We’re delighted we can appoint such a wealth of experience in the key aspects of the professional licence review in the independent board members chosen,” said Jones. “We’re thankful to them for giving up their time to contribute to the process and we’re confident we can reach a conclusion which we can all agree will benefit the sport and drive it forward to the next level.”

Head of the committee, Gordon Wasserman, is an internationally recognised expert in policing and criminal justice, and was the Adviser on these subjects to the Prime Minister and Home Secretary from May 2010 to March 2012. In January 2011, he joined the House of Lords as Lord Wasserman. He has been active in basketball since he played for his high school in Montreal. He served as Vice-Chairman of the English BasketBall Association (1983-85) and is now a Vice-Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Basketball.

Martin Henlan joins the panel with 15 years experience playing in professional basketball and multiple caps for England and Great Britain. He has also had successful experience of launching digital and TV services and has strength in television production and international distribution of broadcast rights on all media platforms. He has a keen understanding of the opportunities across the media landscape and the revenue growth this can generate.

Finally the third independent committee member, Jane Aldred, is a solicitor at Switalskis Solicitors in Leeds. She specialises in family law, particularly children’s work and is qualified for the Law Society’s Children Panel. She has gained Higher Rights of Audience [Civil] and provides advocacy before the Family Proceedings Court, the County Court and the High Court. Jane also serves as a specialist member of The National Safeguarding Panel and is a qualified legal mediator. She is the Chair of Basketball England’s Appeals Panel and a former table official and current Chair of Jerry Clay Academy PTA.

It is understood that a two-week timeframe has been set to report back to the BE board although neither the BBL or their supposed rivals for the premier league franchise, the BBall UK consortium, have yet to schedule a meeting with the committee.