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Football Governance - change is on the way
Fan consultation and financial stability are at the heart of proposed new regulations
GOVERNANCE
Niall Couper
Chief Executive, Fair Game UK
Niall Couper
Chief Executive, Fair Game UK
Issue 76 | February 2025
The Football Governance Bill has been making its way through parliament over the last few months. So, what would regulation of our national game actually mean in practice?
There will be a new licensing system, a new code of governance, a new Owners and Directors Test, a regular State of the Game report, and potentially a new financial distribution deal.
On the face of it that sounds like a lot of paperwork. And to some extent that is true. But a lot of that is already covered by existing practices and processes – and certainly well-run clubs should not have too much to fear.
Testing times
The Owners and Directors Test for example tightens up the current tests and will introduce a single overriding one for the top three leagues: the Premier League, the Football League and the National League.
The Leagues will still have the option to keep their own tests, but the regulator’s test will effectively trump all the others. The new test will also be able to call on support from other agencies to check the suitability of potential owners, including any criminal record.
And of course, it will be interesting to see how transparent the test will be. At the moment, the existing tests are at best opaque and it is not clear what questions are asked and how they are evaluated.
Cracking the governance code
On the code of governance, while this is a new area, other sports already have such codes in place and Campbell Tickell – working with Fair Game – have looked at several of these and produced our own template.
Naturally, any code should be tiered dependent on the size and revenue of a club to ensure it is not over-burdensome. But again, many of the areas being covered are already monitored, either internally by the leagues – particularly around finance and board governance – or through voluntary codes and metrics, such as the Green Code and the Fair Game Index.
So again, for the well-run clubs it should be a case of consolidation rather than added bureaucracy.
Fan favourite
One big change will be around consultation of fans. Again, a number of clubs already do this, but the legislation will put this on a statutory footing. This then leads to the thorny issue of what is a fan? And of those fans, who should have the right to be consulted on key issues such as club name, colours, badge and location?
It is an area Fair Game is looking to define, but one thing is certain: there will be no one size fits all answer as no two clubs are the same.
Financial goal
All of the reasonings behind these changes are common sense and bring football into line with other sectors. And the Bill is a good attempt to try and halt a culture which at times can be described as reckless – indeed 58% of the top 92 clubs are technically insolvent.
So, the biggest change could be around financial flow. Currently this is controlled by the Premier League. And given that, perhaps it is unsurprising that the financial gaps between the divisions have grown wider and wider over the last 20 years.
Indeed, the gap between the average annual revenue of a Premier League club and that of their Championship counterparts has soared from £61m in 2007 to £270m now. It is a trend that is played out across all divisions.
To compete, clubs often prioritise the wages of a third-choice left-back over stadium improvements, community projects, or backroom staff. And all too frequently over-stretch themselves. Since the start of the Premier League in 1992, clubs in the top 92 have gone into administration on 64 occasions.
To ensure good governance and financial sustainability for the long-term then, the regulator will need to get a grip on financial distribution.
