EFL chairman Rick Parry is confident the introduction of an independent regulator will ensure the fairer distribution of wealth throughout the pyramid and provide greater safeguards against questionable owners as the Government prepares to publish a White Paper into the future of football governance.
Fifteen months after Tracey Crouch’s Fan-Led Review of Football Governance, commissioned in the wake of the collapse of Bury and the breakaway proposals for the European Super League, this week is expected to see the recommendations further ratified.
It’s been an exhaustive and, at times, fraught process but there is hope that the seriousness of the situation at hand, with clubs in the EFL losing millions every year as they pursue the Premier League dream, as the gap between the top flight and rest grows wider, will lead to genuine reform.
Although unaware of the exact contents of the White Paper, Parry has long been calling for the Premier League to redistribute 25 per cent of its revenue to be redistributed throughout the leagues to ensure the long-term health and survival of the pyramid.
Any independent regulator won’t be able to impose such redistribution on the Premier League, but may be able to act as a “backstop” to impose conditions, should the EFL and top-flight be unable to reach an agreement, as has been the case since the idea was first mooted.
“The fact that we’ve got this far is really good news,” Parry said. “The idea that three years ago the Government would have dreamed of publishing a white paper on football was probably unthinkable. The idea that the Government’s response to Tracey Crouch’s review would highlight vast revenue tiers and the need for redistribution was probably unthinkable.
“I’m not sure the Government looked too far beneath the Premier League, which is a brilliant success story and a great British export. But bear in mind it was Bury who triggered the idea of a fan-led review, that’s how it got into the Conservative party manifesto.
"You have to believe in that sense that the Government recognises this is not just about what happens at the top but the massive contribution all of our clubs make to their communities.
“This is probably going to be the most thoroughly reviewed white paper in history, it’s taken so long. It will have gone through with a fine tooth comb. We know the broad direction of travel through continual dialogue with DCMS (he Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport) and we’ve tried to engage constructively at all times.
“We’ve been pushing for the regulator to have power to redistribute revenue, clearly. That will come as no surprise. We’ve made it very clear that without redistribution this is not going to work. The Government has always been reluctant to get on the front foot and for a regulator to order the leagues what to do.
“We think what the White Paper will say (is) that the regulator has back stop powers in that if the leagues can’t solve redistribution themselves, then there will be a process, some sort of arbitration process, where the regulator has the ability to step in.
“The idea is that it will be a powerful incentive for the leagues to get it sorted rather than rely on the regulator.
“We don’t want to sit back and wait for the regulator to be in post. We want to solve the problem with the Premier League now but it hasn’t been solved in the last 30 years. We haven’t got any negotiating strength, we don’t have anything to sell, and clearly it’s been an enormous challenge making progress to date.
“We think once the white paper is out, once there is clarity and we all know what the shape of the regulator is going to be, that will help to focus minds with the Premier League and to come to a solution. That would certainly be preferable.”
Having been included in the Conservative Party’s manifesto for the 2019 General Election, the White Paper was originally supposed to be published last summer only for political upheaval in the Government to delay it.
The regulator won’t be involved in Financial Fair Play, that specific governance will be left to the respective leagues, but greater checks and balances and the prospect of licenses being awarded for individuals wishing to purchase clubs are expected to be introduced.
Overall, the EFL’s mission throughout has been for greater sustainability and to remove the dependency on owner funding which works until said-owners either lose interest or the ability to continue funding their respective clubs.
The EFL have tried and failed with a hard salary cap, imposed on League One and League Two in the wake of the pandemic, which isn't wanted by the PFA, but there could be controls greater tied with a clubs revenue to limit the possibility of overspending on wages.
“I think what we’ll see is a more unified system from top to bottom, including the Premier League,” Parry added.
“One of the issues over the last few years is that we’ve been obliged to adopt the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules in the Championship and looking at the economics of the Championship it’s quite a quaint name because clubs in the Championship are neither profitable or sustainable by any definition.
“I think we would have much preferred to have something similar to the SCMP (Salary Cost Management Protocol) regulations, which do have a control on salary costs and, at the end of the day, salary cost is the only cost you really need to control. That’s where the money goes out of the door.
“I think we’ll see similar controls from the Premier League right down to the National League in time. It doesn’t mean they will be the same percentage in each division because circumstances differ but I think if we have a single framework that makes an awful lot more sense going forwards."
