Corbyn on Ashley
CORBYN HITS OUT AT TOON OWNER IN SPEECH AT CITY HALL
A LABOUR government would enforce tighter controls on billionaire Premier League bosses, Jeremy Corbyn told Newcastle United fans furious with their own club’s owner.
Many Magpies supporters are angry with St James’ Park chief Mike Ashley following the departure of manager Rafa Benitez and years of teased takeovers.
And meeting with a small group of supporters, Mr Corbyn pledged to give fans like them greater control over their clubs.
Speaking to members of Newcastle United supporters Trust, Ashley Out, the Magpie Group and the NUFC Foodbank, he revealed plans to help fans buy shares in their clubs and give them control over at least two board members.
Following a rally at Newcastle City Hall on Saturday, he also promised to boost the profile of the women’s game and improve access for disabled fans.
The Labour leader – who has criticised Mr Ashley in the past and attacked the use of zero-hours contracts at Sports Direct – told the backstage meeting that clubs like NUFC were “too important to be left in the hands of bad owners like Mike Ashley” who, he said, “put their business interests ahead of everything else, marginalise supporters and even put the financial security of clubs at risk”.
He heard how fans believe the mood and economic success of the city is linked to the football team’s success.
One told him: “What’s important for me as an individual fan, apart from any group, is that if Newcastle United does badly, my fellow citizens do badly – it might sound a bit far-fetched, but we have to protect Newcastle for its community.”
And Arsenal supporter Mr Corbyn agreed: “It’s the mentality in the community that comes from the club.”
One season ticket holder of 27 years claimed the club’s owner was the reason he no longer attends matches.
He said: “What we were talking about, about community, he’s the opposite of that... My money is going directly into his pocket, it is not going towards the betterment of my club.”
Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah, who has raised the issue of the club’s ownership in Parliament, added: “To see the club treated like a capital asset, like something that can be assetstripped, we don’t see where the money is going. What Mike Ashley owns is the land, is the club, and he can do what he wants with it without any transparency or visibility for the fans who actually make the club work.”
Under the policy, if elected a Labour government would:
Legislate to give supporters’ trusts the power to appoint and remove at least two members of a club’s board of directors;
Legislate to enable supporters’ trusts to purchase shares when clubs change hands;
Review all aspects of football governance, including fan participation;
Make the Premier League invest 5% of income from television rights into grassroots football;
Enforce anti-bot legislation to crack down on ticket-tout websites selling at “vastly inflated prices”, and implement the recommendations of the Waterson Review into secondary ticketing;
Ban zero-hours contracts and guarantee a Living Wage of at least £10 per hour for all staff, including those working at football stadia on match days;
Add women’s sporting events, including the Women’s Football World Cup, to the list of key sporting events to be broadcast free-to-air;
Improve access provision for disabled sports fans by ensuring that rapid improvements are made and by prioritising action to make clubs comply with obligations under the 2010 Equality Act.