Imps chief executive Liam Scully recently visited Parliament as part of the EFL’s support of the Fan Led Review recommendations.
The Government’s long awaited White Paper on football governance is now imminent and publication is expected before the Parliamentary recess on 9 February.
Within, the White Paper will set out the Government’s plans to legislate on football governance issues following the recommendations of the Fan Led Review chaired by Tracey Crouch MP. It is expected the Paper will include the creation of an independent statutory regulator for football and a number of other reforms.
Since the publication of the Fan Led Review, the EFL has been engaged in discussions with the Government on these issues for many months, as have clubs who have had regular dialogue with local MPs. To convey clubs’ collective position to Parliamentarians about the need for reforms in the game, earlier this month, the EFL held a series of regional meetings in Parliament at which clubs were invited to attend along with their local MPs.
In total, more than 50 MPs and peers from all the major political parties attended with many more indicating their support for reform of the game’s financial and regulatory model.
Scully was joined by Lincoln MP Karl McCartney at the meeting. To date, the EFL is the only one of the three football authorities to have supported the Fan Led Review’s key recommendations and welcomed the Government’s response published in April 2022.
An overriding objective of the EFL is to ensure the financial sustainability of football clubs throughout a thriving and competitive pyramid that will enable clubs to live within their means and continue to serve their supporters and communities long into the future.
English professional football needs a major financial reset and the Government now has a once in a generation opportunity to protect our nation’s football clubs, our national sport and our communities from a gathering existential crisis. In doing so, we need a long-term solution to the issue rather than a short term fix.
The EFL’s route to sustainability is to narrow the financial gap between the bottom of the Premier League and the top of the Championship, this will require a fairer redistribution of the game’s revenues throughout the football pyramid from which all EFL clubs will benefit.
The EFL is clear that any new approach to financial re-distribution will also need to be accompanied by suitable financial controls to ensure that any additional money does not simply fuel player wage and transfer inflation but instead helps clubs to live within their means.
With the Government seemingly committed to legislation to introduce a new regulator, the EFL now wishes to see the Government deliver on its commitment to increased financial redistribution across the pyramid in the forthcoming White Paper given the huge financial disparities that exist in the game.
For its part, City will continue to support the push for reforms that will protect our club, the football pyramid and our community for generations to come.