Fan Led Review Report Published

TwelveAngryMen

Well-known member
Still digesting but extracts from the Times report below

Seems like Tracey Couch has adopted many of the recommendations BST has been championing including the independent regulator !!

Personally as an ex-youth coach very glad to see the 10% levy It’s criminal how much money goes out of the game whilst grassroots struggles to even provide the basics

Well done all those who have worked so hard to get this to where it is

Seems a long time since we met the EFL at the Village and had to listen to Shaun Harvey waffle about the ODT not being retrospective in application despite it saying just that and telling us he saw the EFL as being there to represent its members not to regulate !

The Report

Premier League clubs should pay about £160 million a year in the form of a 10 per cent levy on top-flight transfers, a fan-led review into English football governance has recommended.

The 162-page report, written by Tracey Crouch MP with the assistance of an expert panel, calls for the formation of an independent regulator for English football with powers that would extend to seizing control of a club from their owner. The government will give its public support to the formation of a regulator, which would also introduce a single owners’ and directors’ test that would have placed the controversial takeover of Newcastle United by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund under far greater scrutiny.

Included within the new owners’ and directors’ test would be what the report terms an integrity test. Crouch told The Times: “I don’t know all the details of the [Newcastle] takeover but the integrity test would certainly have stressed it a bit more than what happened. The character aspects and relationship aspect of the integrity test, which is what is relevant in the security services, for example, is something that I don’t think exists within the current test.”

The transfer levy, designed to distribute more cash to lower-league clubs and the grassroots of the game at a time when the Premier League has secured a £2 billion American broadcast rights deal, is likely to be met with resistance by top-flight clubs.

But Crouch is confident that any attempt to block the formation of the regulator, either by the Premier League or the Football Association, will fail.

“They can stick their fingers up but there would be a parliamentary process that sees legislation enact an independent regulator,” she said. Crouch predicted that the regulator would be fully operational by the start of the 2023-24 season.

The review panel was formed in the wake of the thwarted attempt by the Premier League’s “big six” clubs to join a European Super League. It included the Everton chief executive, Denise Barrett-Baxendale, the former England manager Roy Hodgson and the former Professional Footballers’ Association chairman Clarke Carlisle. Together they listened to more than 100 hours of evidence from fans’ groups as well as key stakeholders.

These are the details of the most significant proposals:

The 10 per cent transfer levy


The attempt to take money from Premier League transfers to redistribute down the pyramid is certain to be a battleground. Top-flight sources were privately pointing out that such a levy already exists: it is set at 4 per cent, with the money distributed between a player pension fund and the Premier League and EFL academies.

The independent regulator


The regulator’s board would be appointed by experts independent of the government and supported by a staff of experts in various fields. The call for a regulator is a devastating judgment on the FA, which the report says is old-fashioned, unwieldy and not a reflection of modern football fans.

Owners’ and directors’ test


Motivated principally by the demise of Bury, the review seeks to protect clubs by introducing a more stringent test for owners and directors, replacing the tests operated separately by the Premier League, EFL and FA.

Golden share


The report recommends the foundation of a community benefit scheme for supporters, with a “golden share” that will protect key aspects of a club’s heritage.

Under the “golden share”, owners will require the consent of fans before selling the club’s stadium, relocating the club outside of the local area, joining a new competition such as a European Super League and changing the club’s name, badge or home shirt colours.



The FA and Premier League issued statements saying they welcomed the review but would need time to study its contents. The Football Supporters’ Association said the recommendations “represent a massive step forward”.

Crouch said: “What’s really important is this is not an à la carte menu. This has to be done holistically. This is a whole package of reforms.”

Crouch said change would begin with the formation of a “shadow regulator” in the new year. “That means it can start soon,” she said. “And then I would suspect that we could get this fully operational by 2023.”
 
Blackpool fans can be very proud of the part we have played. Our experience and outstanding campaign at our own club has featured significantly in helping to make this a reality.
Tracey Crouch and the review panel have been impressive in their understanding of the bigger picture and their grasp of the problems football faces.
Every football fan can help push this through Parliament by contacting your MP and letting them know you support this and expect them to do so!
We'll be discussing this at the BST AGM on 4th December with Clarke Carlisle, who was on the review panel and with Paul Maynard MP.
 
Blackpool fans can be very proud of the part we have played. Our experience and outstanding campaign at our own club has featured significantly in helping to make this a reality.
Tracey Crouch and the review panel have been impressive in their understanding of the bigger picture and their grasp of the problems football faces.
Every football fan can help push this through Parliament by contacting your MP and letting them know you support this and expect them to do so!
We'll be discussing this at the BST AGM on 4th December with Clarke Carlisle, who was on the review panel and with Paul Maynard MP.
Blackpool fans can indeed be proud... of the role BST have played in all of this. TAM rightly points out above how much of what BST is striving for has been included in the report. BST fought hard for our club, our dreams have really come true👍but there was always a much, much bigger fight for all fans and BST have been the, go to, source of support and advice.... you must all take credit for your tremendous efforts. Thank you👏👏👏👏👍🧡
 
Tracey Crouch and her panel have produced a very impressive piece of work, with a commendably wide range of proposals.
As well as the key details outlined by TAM, the review also includes....
- Putting standard promotion and relegation clauses into player contracts to help clubs’ finances
- A government review of how agents are regulated
- A review of the welfare for players exiting the game, particularly from academies

The owners’ and directors’ test would be more stringent, with stipulations against “offshore hedge funds with unclear ownership acquiring clubs” and having finances and character regularly reassessed after they have initially passed the test (which from a BFC viewpoint could have seen the earlier downfall of the rotten regime).

Laughably, the Premier League welcomed the “significant work” of Crouch and her panel but warned: “It is important to everyone that any reforms do not damage our game, its competitive balance or the levels of current investment.”
Statements like that show that there's an urgent need for these reforms.

The response has been very encouraging.
Now it needs the political will to drive it through.
 
Good thread. Still reading it, what is the craic with Shadow Boards, don't remember seeing that before? And a shadow regulator - who makes that happen?
 
Tracey Crouch and her panel have produced a very impressive piece of work, with a commendably wide range of proposals.
As well as the key details outlined by TAM, the review also includes....
- Putting standard promotion and relegation clauses into player contracts to help clubs’ finances
- A government review of how agents are regulated
- A review of the welfare for players exiting the game, particularly from academies

The owners’ and directors’ test would be more stringent, with stipulations against “offshore hedge funds with unclear ownership acquiring clubs” and having finances and character regularly reassessed after they have initially passed the test (which from a BFC viewpoint could have seen the earlier downfall of the rotten regime).

Laughably, the Premier League welcomed the “significant work” of Crouch and her panel but warned: “It is important to everyone that any reforms do not damage our game, its competitive balance or the levels of current investment.”
Statements like that show that there's an urgent need for these reforms.

The response has been very encouraging.
Now it needs the political will to drive it through.
Oxymoron definition in the dictionary will now change.

Premier League competitive balance.

Of course they don't want it to change.
 
Well done everyone who has given up time to work on this. It deserves to be the lead story in the sporting press for a few days - but already the likes of Villas chairman are trying to shut down the debate. Presumably he was chosen by the EPL to speak first as he isn’t from one of the Super League shysters
 
Lovely stuff, great effort all concerned. I'm looking forward to Phil's response to this, I hear the Sky chopper is winging its way toward Prestatyn as we speak 😎
 
Still digesting but extracts from the Times report below

Seems like Tracey Couch has adopted many of the recommendations BST has been championing including the independent regulator !!

Personally as an ex-youth coach very glad to see the 10% levy It’s criminal how much money goes out of the game whilst grassroots struggles to even provide the basics

Well done all those who have worked so hard to get this to where it is

Seems a long time since we met the EFL at the Village and had to listen to Shaun Harvey waffle about the ODT not being retrospective in application despite it saying just that and telling us he saw the EFL as being there to represent its members not to regulate !

The Report

Premier League clubs should pay about £160 million a year in the form of a 10 per cent levy on top-flight transfers, a fan-led review into English football governance has recommended.

The 162-page report, written by Tracey Crouch MP with the assistance of an expert panel, calls for the formation of an independent regulator for English football with powers that would extend to seizing control of a club from their owner. The government will give its public support to the formation of a regulator, which would also introduce a single owners’ and directors’ test that would have placed the controversial takeover of Newcastle United by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund under far greater scrutiny.

Included within the new owners’ and directors’ test would be what the report terms an integrity test. Crouch told The Times: “I don’t know all the details of the [Newcastle] takeover but the integrity test would certainly have stressed it a bit more than what happened. The character aspects and relationship aspect of the integrity test, which is what is relevant in the security services, for example, is something that I don’t think exists within the current test.”

The transfer levy, designed to distribute more cash to lower-league clubs and the grassroots of the game at a time when the Premier League has secured a £2 billion American broadcast rights deal, is likely to be met with resistance by top-flight clubs.

But Crouch is confident that any attempt to block the formation of the regulator, either by the Premier League or the Football Association, will fail.

“They can stick their fingers up but there would be a parliamentary process that sees legislation enact an independent regulator,” she said. Crouch predicted that the regulator would be fully operational by the start of the 2023-24 season.

The review panel was formed in the wake of the thwarted attempt by the Premier League’s “big six” clubs to join a European Super League. It included the Everton chief executive, Denise Barrett-Baxendale, the former England manager Roy Hodgson and the former Professional Footballers’ Association chairman Clarke Carlisle. Together they listened to more than 100 hours of evidence from fans’ groups as well as key stakeholders.

These are the details of the most significant proposals:

The 10 per cent transfer levy


The attempt to take money from Premier League transfers to redistribute down the pyramid is certain to be a battleground. Top-flight sources were privately pointing out that such a levy already exists: it is set at 4 per cent, with the money distributed between a player pension fund and the Premier League and EFL academies.

The independent regulator


The regulator’s board would be appointed by experts independent of the government and supported by a staff of experts in various fields. The call for a regulator is a devastating judgment on the FA, which the report says is old-fashioned, unwieldy and not a reflection of modern football fans.

Owners’ and directors’ test


Motivated principally by the demise of Bury, the review seeks to protect clubs by introducing a more stringent test for owners and directors, replacing the tests operated separately by the Premier League, EFL and FA.

Golden share


The report recommends the foundation of a community benefit scheme for supporters, with a “golden share” that will protect key aspects of a club’s heritage.

Under the “golden share”, owners will require the consent of fans before selling the club’s stadium, relocating the club outside of the local area, joining a new competition such as a European Super League and changing the club’s name, badge or home shirt colours.



The FA and Premier League issued statements saying they welcomed the review but would need time to study its contents. The Football Supporters’ Association said the recommendations “represent a massive step forward”.

Crouch said: “What’s really important is this is not an à la carte menu. This has to be done holistically. This is a whole package of reforms.”

Crouch said change would begin with the formation of a “shadow regulator” in the new year. “That means it can start soon,” she said. “And then I would suspect that we could get this fully operational by 2023.”
That's as good as we could have hoped for Tim and thanks for cheering my day up.🤗
 
Some mixed responses notably from the MU Supporters Trust and also the Level Playing group who represent disabled fans,and there has been a glaring omission on how to deal with stadia that are not/will not be in clubs' hands come the legislation implementation.

Its great of course that something is happening but the devil really is in the detail, and the EFL clubs would have to vote on the impact/loss/reduction of parachute payments-some of which has been already earmarked in order to meet financial rules.

From an engagement perspective the FSA have called for the Trusts to be the 'gateway' group,that would mean they are the principle and controlling influence at clubs; no problem with that providing its transparent and of course they only stick to governance and have an agenda that benefits all. I know that some Trusts had their sticky fingers on ticket allocations such as Exeter where Trust individuals received preferential treatment, and also with regards to the appointment of multi SLOs (which Barnsley introduced)

Having stadia as an 'asset of community value' was a great idea initially when proposed by the FSA some years ago,but many clubs have disposed of theirs and/or have made provision to have it as a separate entity.I'm not sure how the new proposals would (say) work at Derby who's stadium is now costed at an extortionate value, or if retrospective rules are possible to bring grounds back into club hands (if you recall this was the heart of the Bury debacle)

Sounds great and obviously a vote winner for the politicians but in reality its going to take some serious work to get to a 'ground zero' , and someone has to tell the 'top 6' that they are going to have to renounce TV agreements/payments and alter the longer term contracts.
Should be interesting where they have long term commitments such as Spurs with their stadium, or Man Utd and Man City who have long term yet (at present) sustainable debt.
 
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