No 100% backing for football review
BUT SPORTS MINISTER AGREES ‘IN PRINCIPLE’ TO CREATION OF INDEPENDENT REGULATOR
THE Government will “work at pace” to deliver a new independent regulator for football, a minister has said.
However, sports minister Nigel Huddleston told MPS that the Government could not “commit 100%” to all the recommendations set out by a fan-led review of the English game.
The minister’s comments came after his boss Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, announced yesterday morning that she supported the principle of setting up a new regulator.
But after questions from MPS about whether the Government would accept other proposals laid out in the Crouch review, Mr Huddleston told MPS: “I cannot commit 100% to all the proposals today.”
He added: “The report shows that fundamental change is needed in our national game and fans deserve that. We are at a turning point for football in this country.
“The review is a detailed and worthy piece of work that will require a substantive response and plan of action from across Government, but the primary recommendation of the review, that football requires a strong independent regulator, is a recommendation that I and the Government endorse in principle today.
“The Government will now work at pace to determine the most effective way to deliver the independent regulator and any powers that might be needed.”
Labour shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens said she was “somewhat concerned” to see Ms Dorries’ support for the proposed regulator was only “in principle”.
Ms Stevens added: “Can the minister allay my fears and confirm that the Government accepts both the principle and the detail of the independent regulator recommended by the review and that it will be enshrining that in primary legislation? Because the Secretary of State’s and the minister’s words just now appear to suggest something less than that.”
She described the recommendations of the review as a “package” that needs to be accepted all together, warning: “Anything less would be a botched job.”
The fan-led review of football governance, chaired by former minister Tracey Crouch, concluded that a regulator is required to provide financial oversight in English football.
The purpose of this watchdog would be to ensure clubs are run sustainably and for the benefit of their communities through a licensing system.
Other recommendations of the Crouch review include a transfer levy of up to 10% on Premier League clubs signing players from overseas or from other top-flight clubs, a pilot on the sale of alcohol in sight of the pitch at selected National League and League Two matches, better support for young players released from academies, and a separate review of women’s football.