The Kings Speech confirmed that the Government are not backing down on their promise to introduce an Independent Football Regulator to the game, so is this good news for football fans across the country ? Here we take a look at what it will mean.
In his speech King Charles said:
"The Football Governance Bill, which will introduce a regulator, will safeguard the future of football clubs for the benefit of communities and fans".
This is expected to include strengthened owners & directors testing as well as measures to prevent clubs going out of business and also more supporter input into the game.
The catalyst for these proposals came in April 2021 when six clubs from the Premier League attempted to rip up more than a century of tradition by creating a European Super League(ESL) along with a several other clubs from across Europe.
There was a big backlash from football supporters across the country, with the biggest outcry surprisingly coming from those who followed the six clubs involved in the ESL.
The protests were led by the The Football Supporters Association who helped the Government shape their fan led review of football and who also supplied much of the policy ideas and collated evidence from over 130 supporters groups.
The Chair of the FSA, Malcolm Clarke has issued the following statement:
"We have argued for many years that an independent regulator was needed to protect our historic football clubs and ensure long term financial stability across the game.
"That now looks set to happen as a regulator will be given powers to intervene at all levels when a bad owner, through incompetence or worse, threatens a club’s very existence.
"There have been far too many clubs in crisis throughout the pyramid and they cannot be allowed to fail – supporters deserve better and this represents a very significant step forward.
"No-one cares more about a club than its supporters, they’ll be there after others are long gone, and supporters should be at the heart of their club’s decision making processes.
"We will continue to work constructively with the Government and football authorities to give supporters a stronger voice and establish an independent regulator with the powers it needs to protect our clubs.”