New football regulator could see teams thrown out of the league and stadiums closed down – the game doesn’t need it
FOOTBALL has flourished for a century and a half.
It is the world’s biggest sport and certainly one of its greater preoccupations.
It is loved by players, spectators, TV viewers and children from an early age.
It gives £8billion to the Treasury every year.
And it provides livelihoods, dreams and dramas, excitement and disappointments.
To some it is a life in itself.
So, what does it need?
It is easier to tell you what it does not need — a regulator as judge and jury of professional clubs.
Problems are plentiful — they always have been — and our first occupant is due to take their bow fairly soon.
There is no question a revolution is on its way and a heck of a lot of money to go with it.
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It will become law towards the end of the year.
The bill passed through the House of Lords this week and they sent it to the Commons.
I sit in the Lords and the debate convinced me that the introduction of a regulator for professional leagues will bring little reward and a lot of work and expense.
Our game has been settling wrangles forever.
A regulator hasn’t been required before and isn’t now.
He or she will have considerable power in granting each of the 116 clubs a licence to operate — each with separate conditions governed by the law of the land.
Breaches of licence conditions could result in teams being thrown out the league, stadiums being closed down or even a stint in jail — although a few nights in the Scrubs do not seem likely.
However, a serious offence could result in a named director being fined as much as £75,000 a day.
The regulator also has a duty to ensure that each club is sustainable.
If it is not, the club may look to sell assets, probably stars players.
That’s when the riots could start.
Regulators have a patchy record. One of them, Ofwat (the water services regulation authority), has been paddling round the question of dumping waste into many rivers, lakes and the sea.
Swimming filthy rivers such as the Wye has become a risk to health.
And the post under Ofcom has become slow and indecently expensive.
Regulators are seen by many politicians as a cure-all.
But, frankly, they would, wouldn’t they?
Many fans may also feel this way although I suspect there will be considerable mind-changing when they realise what interference might do to their club.
The Premier League’s riches and status have caused envy elsewhere — most obviously within the EFL.
Many EFL clubs I speak to hate the idea of being answerable to a regulator with untold powers to tell them what to do and how to run their clubs
This is partly understandable — even if Championship clubs are reasonably well off.
That is, after all, the sixth richest league in the world, having just signed a new £1billion TV rights deal.
But while nine clubs in that division are owned by billionaires, quite a few in the lower divisions are hard up.
Accrington Stanley, one of the founding members of the Football League, have not had a home crowd anywhere near 3,000 this season.
And for one League Two night game in September their gate was just 791.
Of course such poor relations should be propped up — and most Premier League clubs appreciate the fact.
That is why we send £1.6BILLION down the pyramid while the PL Stadium Fund has contributed more than £207m towards projects including 577 clubhouses and changing rooms, 832 stands, 682 floodlights and 480 pitch improvements.
Further talks on an alternative to politicians’ pet scheme should be held between the FA, the Premier League and the EFL.
Many EFL clubs I speak to hate the idea of being answerable to a regulator with untold powers to tell them what to do and how to run their clubs.
The initial plan for the new regulator is that a report will be published on the state of the game.
This will take 18 months but there is such a lack of detail and clarity in the bill that the bundles of legal challenges will be a nightmare!
Neither are the outcomes at all promising.
And who would pay for the grandiose schemes?
Well, it will be the Premier League of course.
Every penny spent on the regulator is a penny taken away from all the good causes, and all the pyramid funding.
And, that’s the real tragedy.