THIS IS MADNESS
● EFL clubs reject loan offer from the Premier League ● Neville calls for body to fill ‘ leadership void’
GARY NEVILLE has accused the Premier League of a “void of leadership” after EFL clubs rejected the rescue plan it took them seven months to produce. After Project Big Picture was rejected, the top flight offered Leagues One and Two an initial £ 20million grant plus a £ 30m interestfree loan facility.
But it was turned down because it was too little too late. And Salford City owner Neville, who is leading a group trying to force the Government into setting up an independent body to take control of football, said: “It takes the Premier League seven months to come up with a £ 20m rescue package when they spent £ 1.24bn in the transfer market – it’s madness. I see the desperation in the faces and
EFL club owner, broadcaster, former Premier League player and England alumni.
Gary Neville believes he has a responsibility to get involved in football’s current implosion into civil war.
“I could sit there thinking, I am happy with a nice little football club, I am set on Sky, I played Premier League football and went to eight great tournaments with England where everything was great and I loved the hotel rooms,” he said.
“So I could sit here in a postcareer moment and say everything is great in football. It is not. And it needs to be said. I’ve had enough. Enough is enough. Football has got to change.”
To that end, he is fronting a group of administrators and politicians determined to get the Government to intervene and set up a new independent body to oversee a fairer financial deal for the game.
Former FA executives David Bernstein and David Davies, former sports ministers Andy
Burnham – now Mayor of Manchester – and Helen Grant MP, together with Lord King, former governor of the Bank of England, athlete Denise Lewis and lawyer Greg Scott have been working for eight months on a plan to seek help from Westminster to bang football’s disparate heads together. They hope to meet sports minister Nigel Huddleston next week to outline their proposals and, if they fail to ignite interest from central government, they will look to raise a private member’s bill. Neville said: “There has to be a body that sits independently and shakes this lot together in a way that puts the fabric of what football is in this country at the heart of decision- making.
“I have benefited from the Premier League, so it is not me biting the hand that fed me. But what the Premier League proved this week with the Big Picture is that they can distribute more wealth through the game and still maintain a competitive position. Do I want the Glazer family or Roman Abramovich or Daniel Levy or John Henry running football in this country and being able to do what they want? No, I don’t.
“But if you look at the spectrum of Project Big Picture, there are bits I like, bits I don’t.
“I really think non- League should be included, fans should be included and for fans to have more of an affordable experience. If anyone believes that the status quo is acceptable then I don’t believe they would if they have a crumb of knowledge around nd football.”
At the same time, the e failure of the FA to shrug off the ‘ blazers’ of the FA A Council means they have e run out of chances to sort ort the game out themselves.
“The reality is the FA don’t have the power to act in a way they ordinarily would,” Neville added.
“But if they had the power and investment I’m not sure they would deal with it correctly. They are a perfect example as to why independent regulation is required.”
Independent regulation is required
Avram and Joel Glazer, left, and Andy Burnham, right, who is part of Neville’s group