Lisa Nandy has warned the mega-rich Premier League is standing on “crumbling foundations.” The Culture Secretary insists that the new Football Governance Act will give fans “real power” to stop famous old clubs like Sheffield Wednesday from following Bury’s demise. But she has a stark warning for the top flight’s billionaire owners who she says tried desperately hard to block the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) from coming into force.
The Government has issued a new list of pledges to guard against “rogue owners”, protection for a club’s identity, and to stop future breakaways like the ill-fated European Super League. Yet the Premier League has still not agreed a new “deal” with the EFL and the rest of the football pyramid, with the clock now ticking before the IFR imposes its own rules.
Nandy: 'A shining example on crumbling foundations'
Nandy said: “The Premier League is a shining example of how you create one of the best sporting experiences in the world, but it is standing on foundations that are crumbling. So we have got to make sure that we get that deal right, and get the money flowing through the pyramid. The deal is really important because if we do not improve the financial flow throughout the football pyramid, then the entire game will suffer.”
She added: “We had huge resistance towards the regulator in some parts of various leagues who did not want us to do it. We had campaigns in national newspapers with highly personal and critical attacks on both me and the sports minister as we took it through parliament. It was a personal fight for me, and there was no way that we were going to lose.”
Personal connection to football
Nandy is a genuine football fan, a passionate supporter of Wigan Athletic, and her stepfather was a Bury season ticket holder, so she knows that story all too well. She says Wigan is the “glue” which holds together her constituency, and football remains at the heart of communities, which is another reason why clubs must be protected.
Sheffield Wednesday are one of English football’s most famous old clubs, yet their demise through bad ownership has been a severe wake-up call for the game. After points deductions, transfer bans, and being relegated to League One, Wednesday finally appears to be coming out of the other side. Hillsborough was sold out on the final day of the season, and there was a countdown clock on the giant video screens in the ground to mark the points deduction being removed by the EFL. There is finally light at the end of the tunnel, but Nandy insists the IFR is there to help fans and protect clubs to make sure such disasters do not happen again.
She said: “Fans have been fighting for decades to have more say in the running of their clubs, to deal with bad owners, and to be able to step in when they are in real moments of peril, as we saw in Morecambe recently and Sheffield Wednesday. Pushing the football regulator was really all about your club strip, where your ground is, the inheritance assets that are part of a club. These belong to the fans.”
“I have been in politics now for sixteen years. I thought I had seen it all, but when Wigan Athletic went into administration, it lifted the curtain on what happens behind the scenes in football. And it was genuinely breathtaking. We had a succession of rogue owners, people who were fronts for various different operations all over the world. We had people who were just complete chancers who had no real money to their name. They were playing at wanting to be football owners. Complete time wasters. We had the lot. And what we did not have at that time was the football regulator that we have put in place. I was so pleased that when Sheffield Wednesday was being brought to the brink by an owner who was refusing to put the money in, but refusing to sell up, we had a football regulator in place. It means the fans now have real power.”
World Cup and Euro 2028
Nandy has pledged the Government is keeping a close eye and is campaigning on behalf of fans over ticket prices for this summer’s World Cup. That has caused outrage, and that fight may already be too far down the line, but Euro 2028 is being held across the United Kingdom, and her passion is obvious when it comes to making that “home tournament” a success on every level.
She added: “It is a chance for kids in every part of the country to get up close to some of the best football in the world. And we have a bill in the King’s Speech that will not only make it easier for us to deliver that amazing tournament, but we do not see the sort of vastly inflated ticket prices that we have seen previously. Time is up for the ticket touts, and we are going to clamp down on them. And make sure that when we bring this incredible moment to the UK, fans will genuinely get to be a part. I think we saw it in London 2012. What it did for the whole country, it brought us together. It made us proud of who we are, and you know when it comes to football, we really are great at putting on great tournaments.”
What the Football Governance Act means for fans
- You will be heard. Clubs have to, by law, involve their fans in a meaningful way before they make decisions.
- Your club’s heritage is now protected by law. Your badge, colours, and name cannot be changed, or ground sold off, without proper consultation.
- New, tougher ownership tests will protect your club against unsuitable owners who put your club at risk. Anyone who wants to buy your club will have to show they have the finances to run it.
- You will finally know who is calling the shots at your club. The new Independent Football Regulator (IFR) can identify those individuals putting a club at risk and has the power to remove them if necessary.
- Your club’s financial future will be protected. The IFR’s licensing system will guide clubs to a more secure financial footing. Clubs must provide financial plans to the Regulator, showing they have the means to operate and could withstand relegation.
- You will be able to see where the money goes in football and how it flows through the leagues, in the unprecedented State of the Game report.
- The Independent Football Regulator has the power to veto breakaway competitions to protect the football pyramid.
