From the latest Trust newsletter.
Fan-Led Review – lobby your MP
With the Queen’s Speech looming, there’s been a renewed push to ensure that a commitment to establishing an independent regulator for football is included, along with a firm timetable. That has prompted a flurry of activity around the issue of governance, a subject brought into even sharper perspective after Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine. The war, of course, raises far bigger issues than football club ownership, and we’re going to restrict ourselves here to the impact of the latest developments on the game.
The obvious issue raised is around how wise it is for any club to be completely reliant on one individual, and Chelsea’s sudden switch from a dominant force to an organisation unable even to sell tickets for its own games underlines why many have been warning of the dangers of current ownership structures for years. Organised sections of Chelsea’s support, most notably the Trust and Chelsea Pitch Owners, have correctly said that a requirement for any new buyer must be to commit to providing proper representation for supporters in the running of the club, including a commitment to the Golden Share measures outlined in the Fan-Led Review.
We’re conscious that many Spurs fans, and those of other clubs, will be aware of the irony here. But Chelsea’s current troubles prove the point many of us have been making for years, and now provide a golden opportunity for fan representation to be embedded at the heart of football clubs. It’s important to consider the bigger picture and back progressive measures to improve the game and boost the influence of fans. That would help defend principles such as the English football pyramid and qualification for competitions based on current success – measures that Chelsea fans stood with the rest of us against when the self-appointed Big Six of English football tried to form a European Super League.
The Chelsea situation has focused thinking, so it’s really important that as many of us as possible contact our MPs.
The government has not yet formally responded in full to the recommendations of the Fan-Led Review of Football Governance chaired by Tracey Crouch MP, published in November 2021. The recommendations included the creation of an independent regulator for professional men’s football in the English leagues. Legislation will be needed to create the regulator and give it the necessary powers to enforce the recommended new requirements on football clubs in relation to ownership, finances, governance and supporter engagement.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on 23 March 2022, Boris Johnson agreed that an independent football regulator should be created. Earlier that month, the Sports Minister said to a parliamentary committee “we’re going to set up a regulator and that will require primary legislation. The timing of it is something that we are discussing at the moment.”
THST supports the full implementation of all the recommendations of the Review, including the creation of the regulator and giving fans a Golden Share in our clubs. We’ve published our response to the recommendations. We believe that urgent action is needed and that the legislation should be brought forward without delay. The need for prompt action has been emphasised by the situation at Chelsea, the previous debacle around the European Super League and the disappearance of clubs like Bury FC.
Working with the Football Supporters’ Association, we have written on behalf of the Trust to the opposition spokespeople on sport and to MPs who support Spurs. We have also encouraged Trust members to write to their own MP and have provided a template for you to do so. It asks MPs to call upon the government to bring forward legislation in the Queen’s Speech in May 2022, which will set out the programme of laws to be introduced by the government in the next year. If you have not already done so, please write to your MP on this important issue. These letters do work, as they show MPs what their voters care about.
We continue to discuss a mechanism for improved supporter engagement at Spurs with the Club, basing our approach on the one we outlined in our submission to the Fan-Led Review. In short, that is to provide democratic, accountable representation for a broad range of supporters through a body that has real power. Those discussions have been detailed and we hope to have something to put in front of our members and then the wider supporter base for approval very soon.
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