FAIR GAME gave a cautious welcome
to the commitment to football legislation made by the Government today,
but warns that this cannot represent another false dawn where
bureaucracy kicks the change the sport needs into touch. They added that
any long-term change must come with reform to how monies in the game
are distributed.
A Fair Game study published
earlier this year found that in 2020 – that’s before the pandemic – 52%
of our top clubs were technically insolvent. This means a club is only
one bad owner or risky decision chasing football’s riches from ceasing
to exist.
Niall Couper, CEO of Fair Game, said: “Football is in crisis. The announcement at last offers a real opportunity to save our game.
“The
argument for an independent regulator is now over. There is huge
cross-party political support for it and the ideas put forward by Fair
Game and the Fan-Led Review.
“What we need now is a firm timetable for change. There can be no more delay or dithering.
“If
reform is allowed to be kicked into the long grass, it will represent
the death knell to the hard-working clubs at the centre of our towns and
communities.
“The financial situation at most clubs is
perilous. For too long the challenges in our national game have been
booted down the road by the football authorities and successive
governments putting our clubs on the edge of ruin.
“Let’s end the
culture of gambling that has seen clubs spend more than they earn, a
culture that sidelines the views of fans, pays no more than lip service
to equality standards, and is devoid of any financial scrutiny.
“Legislation has the power to change football and protect our community clubs for the generations to come.
"In
the meantime, the Football authorities must now grow up and create a
financial system that rewards hard-working community clubs and stops
giving money to failed Premier League clubs through parachute payments.
"We
need a Sustainability Index. A system which grades clubs according to
how they score on four criteria - financial sustainability, good
governance, equality standards and fan & community engagement. The
higher they score the more money they get.
"The devil is in the
detail of course and it is disappointing that at first glance there is
no mention of a new international transfer tax."
Dan Plumley, Senior Lecturer in sports finance at Sheffield Hallam University and an advisor to Fair Game added: “English
football needs a financial reset. Covid-19 has left a huge hole in club
revenues across the EPL and EFL but financial sustainability has been a
problem for much longer. Revenue distribution, cost control,
pan-European competition prize money and the threat of a European Super
League remain the biggest challenges to financial sustainability and
competitive balance and legislation is needed to protect the game.
“Such
legislation needs to make football more financially sustainable, better
governed, with proper equality standards, and real fan and community
engagement. Fair Game’s Sustainability Index is a proposal that could
help clubs achieve this.
“Such an index, alongside proper cost
controls, wider governance reforms and independent regulation could
transform football and begin to bridge the financial gap between leagues
and clubs that has increased over the last 30 years. The time for
collective action rather than self-interest is now, and football needs
to work together to protect the long-term future of the whole industry.”
Niall Couper added: “Looking
at regulation across different industries, the best results come where
businesses are incentivised to improve rather than being threatened with
punishment. The Sustainability Index is the mechanism to do that in
football. It is an approach that has consistently worked in other
regulated industries, and it would transform football.”
Fair Game
is committed to working with Government to ensure the white paper
represents the needs of clubs throughout the pyramid and delivers in
levelling up the playing field in our national game.