Dehenna's Diary, Tuesday 6th March (Teesdale Mercury)
The towns and villages I represent are home to a wide range of football loyalties. The Geordies, the Mackems, the Boro and the Monkey Hangers (Hartlepool!) live here in harmony for all but ninety minutes of the week. My own support for Sheffield United remains as strong as ever, especially after their huge win over Spurs last week. We are also home to Bishop Auckland F.C, Shildon A.F.C, Spennymoor F.C and West Auckland F.C, titans of the amateur game.
What binds us together as fans is much stronger than our personal allegiances. That is a shared love of the beautiful game, and a mutual agreement that no fan deserves to lose their football club.
Sadly, perverse incentives have been eroding at the qualities that make football great.
Reckless financial overreach, poor fan engagement and a void of accountability is threatening our game, leading to the tragic demise of clubs like Bury and Macclesfield Town. The whole football community felt the pain of these respective fanbases, and something had to change.
Had we left the industry to it, football’s biggest clubs would have broken away and left the rest of the football pyramid to themselves. Unlike other free markets, loyal local fans would not just move to a global super league. They need long-term, sustainable solutions for English football.
In this context, the Government commissioned the Fan-Led Review in 2021. Since completed by my brilliant colleague Tracey Crouch, several recommendations were brought forward to the Government to fix football. Last month we published a White Paper which set out how these proposals will be implemented.
I am pleased to confirm that we will soon have a new Football Regulator to properly scrutinise the ownership, management and wider corporate governance of professional clubs, ensuring that any changes to these are in the best interests of the club as a whole. All professional clubs will be licensed subject to having adequate financial resources, fit and proper owners, consideration of fan interests and participation in approved competitions (preventing ‘breakaway’ leagues).
And for the lower-end of the football pyramid- forever earning a lower percentile of revenue compared to higher-up clubs- the regulator will obtain a power of last resort to help the industry redistribute revenue more evenly. Ideally, the Premier League and EFL will come to their own resolution, but this power encourages both sides to come to the table and find an industry-led solution.
These are the biggest changes to football governance since the Premier League was established thirty years ago.
As Levelling Up Minister, the White Paper is great news in maintaining the identity, investment and opportunities that local clubs bring to ‘left-behind’ areas. Indeed, two-thirds of English football’s top five tiers are in regions where the average disposable income is below the UK average.
As a proud resident of County Durham, it is also great news. I want to leave my job knowing the clubs that my constituents, their parents and grandparents loved, will still be there for their kids and grandkids. This White Paper comes closer to achieving that than any previous attempt
