Premier League fires first shot to show it has teeth
It had taken the Premier League four years and two months to break its silence on investigations into Manchester City’s alleged financial doping. Then, at around 10am yesterday, top-tier executives finally fired their shots – just 48 hours before the Prime Minister was due to wrest control from their grasp.
An announced charge sheet of 115 allegations may eventually mean the club are expelled, but the conclusion of the investigation could also help preserve the wider competition’s status quo.
Within an hour, Whitehall sources confirmed to Telegraph Sport that the announcement of a new regulator for football had been pushed back a fortnight.
The plan, until yesterday morning, had been for the Prime Minister to launch the long-awaited White Paper tomorrow. Rishi Sunak was said to be due to appear at AFC Wimbledon to launch a vision that has been bounced around in government since the failed breakaways of Project Big Picture and the European Super League.
The conclusion of the City investigation was an exquisite chance for the Premier League to show it has teeth after all.
Inevitably, City supporters reacted with scepticism to the timing of the announcement. However, Kieran Maguire, a lecturer in football finance at the University of Liverpool, agreed with the club’s point that there was a clear political advantage to announcing the conclusion of the inquiry this week.
“The Premier League is putting this out as part of their attempt to ensure that an independent regulator doesn’t go ahead,” Maguire said. “But in my view, the opposite is true. The fact that it’s taken them four years of investigation to make charges shows they don’t have the capacity, they don’t have the skill sets to regulate their own. And, therefore, it would be better if there was an independent regulator.”
Insiders at the club also said they felt it was part of a strategy by the Premier League to show it is capable of adequate governance. “This is tactical,” one source said.
Those claims will be flatly rejected by Premier League executives. Sources point out that the charges levelled against City are an extensive piece of work. It is suggested the charges would have been published six months ago if the intent was to influence the Government or see off a regulator.
“Manchester City FC is surprised by the issuing of these alleged breaches of the Premier League Rules, particularly given the extensive engagement and vast amount of detailed materials that the EPL has been provided with,” City added in a statement.
While the wording of the White
Paper launch may now change, Whitehall sources maintained there were no plans to water down legislation.
Lucy Powell MP, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said the Government should have gone ahead regardless. “We urgently need proper football regulation,” she said. “Bury has already collapsed. Many other clubs have been pushed to the brink. Labour supports the fan-led review recommendations, which should be implemented in full.”
Tracey Crouch MP, the chair of a review panel, last year sent the Culture Secretary an interim report in which she planned to grant supporters a “golden share”, giving them a veto over the sale of a team’s stadium and changes to a side’s name, badge and kit colours.
Crouch, a former sports minister, is also among those frustrated by delays. Speaking to BBC Radio 5
Live last week, she said: “It is frustrating that we’ve had this delay. But I am still confident that even if there are things missing in the White Paper that were in the review I still think they will come over time because I think that’s the way that football is going anyway. The prize is the independent regulator and we have got that.”
Powers to block any future European Super League and police club ownership will be cited by the Prime Minister when the White Paper is published in two weeks.
The Premier League’s charges against City will be just one of a host of moves to show ministers it is capable of keeping the right safeguards in place, however.
Behind the scenes, the Premier League has been working with human rights groups to add measures into its directors and owners’ tests in the wake of the Newcastle United takeover by Saudi Arabia.
There is also hope that the “New Deal for Football” offer to the EFL will help restore harmony across the pyramid. But, in terms of limelight-stealing moves, none will be as stark as the agenda-topping decision to announce the charges against City this week.