Today, historic legislation was proposed in Parliament to restructure the management of men’s elite football in England and restore the role of supporters in the sport.
The Bill is introduced at a crucial time for English football, with the planned breakaway European Super League and several high-profile instances of financially mismanaged or completely collapsed clubs having recently occurred.
Beyond the promises made in the government’s campaign, the legislation being tabled today creates a new “Independent Football Regulator” (IFR) that is apart from both the government and the football authority.
The organisation will have strong authority centred on three main goals: enhancing clubs’ financial sustainability, maintaining league-wide financial stability, and preserving English football’s legacy.
Under the Football Governance Bill, new owners and directors will face stronger tests to stop clubs falling into the wrong hands, and face the possibility of being removed and struck off from owning football clubs if they are found to be unsuitable.
The Bill also includes new backstop powers around financial distributions between the Premier League and the English Football League (EFL). These powers mean that if the leagues fail to agree on a new deal on financial distributions, then the backstop can be triggered to ensure a settlement is reached.
For the first time, clubs from the National League (Step One in the football pyramid) all the way to the Premier League will be licensed to compete in men’s elite football competitions in England. The proposed licensing regime will be proportionate to any problems, size and circumstances and involve a system of provisional and full licences, to give clubs time to transition.
It follows a number of issues in recent years including financial mismanagement, breakaway plans for the European Super League, and changes to club names, badges and colours against the wishes of fans.
In addition, today’s Football Governance Bill sets out further detail on how the IFR:
• will produce a periodic State of the Game report setting out an evidence-based analysis of any issues around financial sustainability and systemic resilience in English football.
• will assess all new owners and directors and be able to disqualify owners/officers, in the case of persistent and wilful non-compliance.
• will require clubs to meet licence conditions on fan engagement, where guidance for clubs will set out areas requiring fan consultation.
• will not be overly-interventionist and will adopt an advocacy first approach, but backed up by a broad suite of powers to investigate suspected non-compliance, compel information, and enforce if necessary.
• will have no input in on-field decisions and will act in a way that minimises any impact on sporting competitions.
The Football Governance Bill is the result of the Government’s commitment to deliver a fan-led review of football governance. Triggered after the attempted breakaway European Super League competition, the review sought to examine the industry in detail following the failure of at least 60 professional football clubs since the advent of the Premier League in 1992.
The key recommendation from the review chaired by Tracey Crouch MP was the introduction of an independent regulator of elite men’s football in England.
In parallel with the Bill’s introduction, the Government has today confirmed plans to stand up a shadow regulator that will be operational as the IFR is formally set up.
Decisions will be taken on the location of the IFR, the Chair of the regulator and other board members in the weeks and months ahead as the bill makes its passage through Parliament. This follows the appointment of the interim chief operating officer Martyn Henderson OBE in January, who will work with a team on the frameworks, policies and guidance required for the formation of the regulator.
English football remains a global success story and the Premier League is the envy of sporting competitions around the world. The Government remains fully behind its continued success.
Even with this achievement, at the end of the 2020–21 season, the combined net debt of Premier League and Championship clubs was at £5.9 billion. The Championship revealed an average wage-to-revenue ratio of 125 percent for that same season, which amply demonstrated how far clubs were pushing themselves.
With clubs and leagues all over the world modelling themselves after the success of our national game, which continues to be one of the UK’s greatest cultural exports, the government is now taking the necessary and targeted steps to ensure that continues for generations by introducing the independent football regulator.
