- Labour plans stronger safeguards for football fans
- New independent football regulator to be established
- Ensuring fair financial flow between leagues
Labour will strengthen football fan safeguards, including restrictions on stadium relocation or team name changes, and commit to enforcing “fair financial flow” between the Premier League and the English Football League.
The king’s speech includes a return to the football governance measure, which the previous government could only pass after the election. According to Labour sources, the new draft would strengthen protections for club heritage and impose standards on responsible owners.
As recommended in the last law, a new independent football regulator will be established, and rules will ensure that plans like the catastrophic European Super League’s closed shop for elite teams have no future.
According to a government briefing document, new statutory safeguards for club names would be implemented, as would a requirement that clubs seek regulator clearance before selling or relocating their stadiums.
The bill is expected to give the new independent financial regulator backstop powers to force a resolution between the Premier League and the EFL, whose discussions are currently stuck. In March, top-flight clubs postponed negotiations for increased EFL money to focus on new Premier League financial regulations.
Rick Parry, chair of the EFL, stated in response to the announcement that they hoped the law would move fast.
He stated that the football pyramid is essential to those inside and outside the game, as seen by several conversations after the general election result. It is English football’s distinct strength, and we are prepared to collectively protect it through increased regulation and improved financial distributions to continue to serve the best interests of clubs, supporters, and the communities in which they live for many years to come.
A Premier League spokeswoman stated that proportional and effective regulation of this highly successful enterprise ensures that English football remains world-class and delivers for millions of fans.
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Niall Couper, CEO of Fair Game, which represents 34 men’s professional football clubs across the English football pyramid, stated, “Football’s financial flow is seriously flawed—the gaps between divisions have grown wider and wider over the last twenty years.”
For every £1,000 paid to a Premier League club through the existing television contract, only 14p goes to a club in the National League North or South. But the devil will be in the details. The concept of backstop powers requires additional development. The new regulator must also be able to ensure that any new agreement between leagues solves football’s problematic financial flows. Without it, football is condemned to replicate its previous mistakes.
The measure will pass the previous government’s proposals, including forcing clubs to demonstrate vital basic financial operations and protect the club’s essential assets and worth, such as the stadium.
The government stated that the measure would address the “underlying fragility of the English football pyramid,” particularly for lower division clubs, which face a “high and growing risk of financial failure.” Net debt for the Premier League and Championship combined was £4.7 billion in 2023.
