by A landmark Football Governance Bill will finally be published on Tuesday after the Premier League failed to deliver its £900 million support system for the game.
Sports telegraph Legislation imposing a statutory regulator on the sport in England will be formally launched by Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer at Leyton Orient Football Club after the Government’s impatience delayed the ‘New Deal for Football’ as it is called
The decision to prioritize Bill lower down the pecking order has put top clubs in danger of being forced against their will to give away more of their vast wealth.
Following the laying down of the legislation which was drafted in part in response to the doomed European Super League there will be an event on Tuesday “to look at the strengths and weaknesses of the Bill”.
Organized by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Football Supporters, the sports minister, Stuart Andrew MP, and shadow sports minister Stephanie Peacock, as well as former sports minister Tracey Crouch MP, who was led the Stay-Guided Review at the event. Football Governance prompted the publication of a White Paper.
The announcement said: “This is a huge, once in a generation opportunity to change football for the better and we would encourage all members of the APPG to attend and help us ensure that the Bill delivers on its promises. The input of Members during the legislative process in parliament could be crucial.”
The event will be held just over a week after a two-hour meeting of Premier League clubs failed to secure support for the New Deal which was first mooted in the summer of 2022, instead prioritizing an overhaul of its own spending rules.
One source with intimate knowledge of the Government’s agitation over the impasse told Telegraph Sport that it was “absolutely shambolic because [the Premier League] They informed the weekend that it would definitely go to a vote, and that they were ‘quietly confident’ that it would go in the last 10 days”.
The insider said the latest expectation is that the Premier League’s new spending rule model could be finalized by June.
Telegraph Sport has been told that it is unlikely that a solidarity agreement will be applied to top-flight teams before then but any further delay would prompt ministers to do so.
A number of clubs in the English Football League were disappointed last week that a broad agreement reached on February 29 to present an agreement by March 11 failed to come to fruition. Executives also said that the Government could be more effective in efforts to overcome the impasse.
Clubs in English football were hopeful that a package was finally available last week, but senior executives refused to make repayments before they set their own spending regime.
The current Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) – which saw Everton and Nottingham Forest charged this season – are being phased out in favor of a system broadly aligned with squad costs.
The Premier League is understood to have indicated PSR reform is a priority as the situation is complicated by a member club – believed to be Manchester City – threatening a separate legal challenge over the tightening of related party transaction rules.
However, the Premier League was under heavy pressure from ministers to settle the New Deal first after the new manager was announced in the King’s Speech.
Their failure to do so has provoked senior figures within the EFL, including EFL board member Preston North End chief executive Peter Ridsdale.
“If we don’t keep it competitive and sustainable, English football is over,” Ridsdale told BBC Radio 5 Live.
The EFL said after a board meeting on Thursday: “The League looks forward to the introduction of the Football Governance Bill as it is now more important than ever that the independent regulator be given the necessary powers for long-term sustainability ensure the pyramid.”
EFL clubs have already warned ministers in recent weeks of growing concerns that the New Deal was at risk. The retention of parachute payments “along with proposed cost control changes that will enable relegated clubs to spend even more” have repeatedly emerged as major points of contention. “It’s pretty devastating,” said one source close to talks with the EFL.
Telegraph Sport detailed in November how the Premier League’s so-called ‘Big Six’ have been a major point of contention with rivals disagreeing over whether the top clubs will contribute enough to the cost of the New Deal.
Smaller clubs suggested a year ago that the richest teams should accept a greater share of the costs, perhaps through a transfer tax.
