A BILL which would establish a new independent regulator in English football has moved through to the committee stage in the House of Commons following a second reading in Parliament on Monday, April 28.
MPs voted on the bill following the reading, with an overwhelming majority voting in favour (342 for, 70 against), meaning it will now go forward to the committee stage.
It seeks to address growing concerns over the ownership of English football teams, with Reading’s own team having suffered at the hands of its owner, Dai Yongge.
It would implement an independent football regulator (IFR) which would regulate a licensing arm which would set standards that club owners would be required to comply with, including financial obligations and protection of the heritage of clubs.
As well as corporate standards, the bill would also be granted the power to stop clubs from joining competitions unfairly or at risk to their heritage, as well as powers to ‘intervene’ as a last resort on financial distribution between clubs.
The government has emphasised that the IFR would have no impact on day-to-day rules or commercial decisions, and would seek to avoid any impact on competitiveness.
The implementation would mean new tests for owners and directors to determine their suitability, as well as requiring pre-approval for sale or relocation of their stadiums, and a regular ‘state of the game’ report, which would act as a market study of English football.
It would cover the top five tiers of men’s clubs only: the Premier League, EFL Championship, League One, League Two, and the National League.
It comes as Reading FC has been docked a total of 18 points in three separate incidents since Yongge took control of the club in 2017 as a result of financial mismanagement,
Dai Yongge was given an extension on closure of a sale of the club– for which fans, including fan advocacy group Sell Before We Dai, have been calling for around two years.
After the bill was put forward for its first reading in the House of Lords in October last year, it passed through the committee and report stages, moving into the House of Commons in back in March.Monday marked its second reading in the Commons, which saw Reading Central MP Matt Rodda speaking in favour of the bill.
Addressing Parliament, Mr Rodda said: “I want to speak in favour of the bill, which I hope will prevent what happened to our club, Reading FC, from ever happening to any other English club.
“Reading is one of the oldest clubs in the EFL, with a proud history of two spells in the Premiership… and holds [the record for] highest number of points ever scored in the Championship.
“This has all been put at risk by really irresponsible ownership, which has led to points deductions and relegations, threatening the very future of the club.”
He paid a tribute to Sir John Madejski before he explained that Mr Dai has “drawn out” the process of the sale of the club.
“With current rules, there’s little that the league can do… I would urge members of the house to rethink their position and consider how an effective regulator would have prevented this awful situation, which we’ve had to suffer for far too long.”
The bill is now set to go through to the committee stage, which sees a group of MPs consulting evidence-based examination of the bill to consider whether any changes need to be made before a final reading in the Commons.
The date of this is to be announced in the coming weeks.
