The Labor Party has challenged the UK government to hurry up and introduce an independent regulator for football or the opposition will make it “an election issue” in constituencies where clubs are affected by the crisis.
Speaking during a parliamentary debate on Thursday, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell asked her counterpart Penny Mordaunt why the Government had not yet brought forward the Football Governance Bill promised in the November King’s Speech, the official declaration of the government’s intentions. legislative program.
“The much-needed and heralded legislation to regulate English football is still nowhere to be found,” Powell said.
“Just this week the Premier League set aside new financial regulations for the football pyramid and the English Football League (EFL) is responding today. Does (Mordaunt) not agree that new powers to impose a fairer deal on smaller clubs cannot come soon enough?
“Fans of Bury, Macclesfield, Derby, Reading, Scunthorpe and, might I add, Portsmouth want their precious clubs saved.
“If the Conservatives want to make this an election issue in these places, then I say ‘go for it.’ Because let’s be very clear: if they don’t want to regulate football governance, then we will. »
The six clubs mentioned by Powell have all suffered serious financial problems in recent years, as Portsmouth MP and fan of the football team Mordaunt is well aware.
The timing of Powell’s question also requires no further explanation, as the Premier League confirmed on Monday that it has failed to agree on an improved support package for the EFL and is indefinitely postponing negotiations on the so-called “new deal for football”.
Reading fans protesting against club ownership (Warren Little/Getty Images)
It was a blow both to the EFL – whose 72 clubs have been waiting for an official offer from the Premier League for months – and to the government, which hoped the threat of regulation would be enough to persuade the elite English to share more of its huge media rights revenue with the rest of the game.
But the Premier League’s 20 clubs are so divided on the issue – and other related topics – that the league’s board never even put the “new deal” to a vote.
Powell’s call for action was echoed by John Cryer, Labor MP for the Leyton and Wanstead constituency in London, who said: “Many of us on both sides of the House have clubs in our ridings are on the verge of bankruptcy and this situation will only get worse.
“Could we bring the putative bill before the House as soon as possible?
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Mordaunt responded by reminding Powell that the government had “launched” the “work programme” which should result in the creation of an independent football regulator. as this was the main recommendation of the “fan-driven review” in the governance of the game led by former Sports Minister Tracey Crouch in 2021.
The context for the decision to review football governance was widespread concern about the number of insolvencies in English football and fear that more might follow during the pandemic, although the immediate impetus for Crouch’s work was the attempt by the six biggest Premier League clubs to join in. a separatist European Super League.
Mordaunt told Powell that the government would “present the bill soon”, then reassured Cryer that “it is very important that we present this bill – the football pyramid at all levels must be supported” .
She, however, gave no indication of when the bill would be introduced, with many wondering if this government still has time to introduce new legislation. The Easter break is now less than two weeks away and MPs will not return to Westminster until mid-April.
An article in PoliticsHomea media outlet specializing in the minutiae of life in Westminster, said on Thursday it understood the government would dedicate time in Parliament for the bill to be read and debated before the summer recess at the end of July.
He cited an unnamed Conservative MP with a role in government who said: “It doesn’t matter whether (the Premier League) agrees or not, whether the Premier League likes it or not: the bill is coming. »
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(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
