Legislate for the creation of an independent regulator for football

Legislate for the creation of an independent regulator for football. Given what is happening in football and the inept governing bodies be it EFL or FA and the PFA!

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/268665

 

Signed the petition & you??

 

More Background information.

We petition HMG to legislate for the creation of an independent regulator for football and subsequently to oversee the implementation of such a body.

We assert that the finances and administration of football are in crisis, that self-regulation has failed and that, without a new independent body, there is a serious risk that clubs will begin to fold.

A year on from the government’s refusal of an independent regulator, the situation for clubs has deteriorated to the extent that we believe the decision needs review.

A year on from the government’s refusal of an independent regulator, the situation for football clubs, especially in the lower leagues, has deteriorated to the extent that we believe the decision needs reviewing.

– Over 10% of EFL clubs failed to pay their players on time at least once in the 2018/19 season.
– On 29th July 2019, Bury FC were prevented by the EFL from starting the season, due to issues surrounding the takeover of the club in December 2018. The current owner has run the club for over six months without satisfying the criteria for the EFL’s own Owners and Directors test.
– In April, Bolton Wanderers FC were also unable to complete their fixtures for the 2018/19 season as the ownership of Ken Anderson collapsed. The club’s players went five months without being paid. Mr Anderson himself had been approved by the EFL despite being previously barred from running any UK company for eight years after eight of his former companies went bust.

These are just a few examples of the increasingly widespread financial problems in football as the gap between the richest clubs at the top of the Premier League and the rest of the game grows ever larger.

The EFL, one of the bodies which should be taking responsibility for resolving the situation appears incapable of grasping the scale of the problem, let alone addressing it, and continues
to insist it is nothing but a ‘competition organiser’.

There is little to suggest a desire for owner-led reform either. Instead, a small number of larger clubs have mooted a breakaway league, while others seek loopholes on spending limits to try and reach the Premier League. (Astoundingly – and with complete disregard for the long-term future of their teams – club owners recently approved a proposal to allow the sale-and-leaseback of their own grounds to related parties to help them circumvent the very Financial Fair Play rules designed to protect clubs from unsustainable spending.)

The game is in the grips of a Wild West mentality, with club owners – many of whom have no long-term connection to the communities in which their clubs are based – pursuing reckless spending that threatens the very existence of football clubs.

The bodies tasked with safeguarding the future of the nation’s favourite sport – the FA, the EFL and the Premier League – stand uselessly by, hobbled by the inability or unwillingness of club owners to agree on the need for collective action to restore some sanity to the sport and ensure that clubs, treasured community assets, are preserved for generations to come.

Football needs to hold up its hands and admit it has lost control. Self-regulation has failed in football.

The future of the game depends on urgent government action. We, the undersigned, urge you to take it.

 

The wording suggests that legislation is passed to have an Independent Regulator, so apart from Government, the Regulator would not be part of a government body or even a quango. So I would assume that it would satisfy FIFA’s requirements?

 

There already is an Independent Football Ombudsman, who do a reasonable job, within their remit. https://www.theifo.co.uk/ The Independent Football Ombudsman (IFO) has been established by the football authorities (The Football Association, The Premier League, and The English Football League), to investigate complaints that have not been resolved by these bodies.
However it is limited in what it can do in my experience. It has few powers to enforce an organisation to change.

To have full independence from the Football Authorities, it would be the Government. This wording seems to encapsulate the system, ‘An ombudsman is usually appointed by government or by parliament, but with a significant degree of independence. Their role is to represent the interests of the public by investigating and addressing complaints or a violation of rights’.

So in the first instance the Government, it could include a committee to advise the Government in which I would assume a number of interested parties could be involved, but must have a significant involvement of Supporters organisations.

 

I suppose that I struggle to see how it is Government interference if it is to appoint an Independent regulator. Unless there was gross unprofessional behaviour by the regulator, and they operated within their remit, then my view would be that they would be free of Government ‘interference’. The Governments role would be restricted to the establishment of the office and possibly be involved in the initial appointment. Can you provide the direct link with the precise FIFA wording?