Gary Neville has urged Liz Truss and her cabinet to aim for an "open goal" by pushing through new measures to prevent English football from "sleepwalking" towards disaster.
People crammed into an auditorium at Liverpool's Convention Centre this morning to see the former Manchester United footballer speak at a Labour Party conference fringe event. Neville appeared on a panel alongside EFL chair Rick Parry, Shadow Secretary of State, Lucy Powell MP, and the Football Supporters Association Chief Executive Kevin Miles, to discuss the need for an independent regulator in the English game.
Earlier this year, Boris Johnson's cabinet endorsed radical changes to establish a governing body on the back of a fan-led football review. The desire for an independent regulator gained traction after controversial plans for a European Super League collapsed in April 2021 ,but there have been claims in recent weeks that Liz Truss would prefer to avoid increased legislation, putting the proposed new measures in jeopardy.
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Reacting to rumours the plan for an independent regulator could be scrapped, Neville said: "Let's not be scared of regulation... football needs lanes and boundaries...do you think I'd want this government to interfere with football if I didn't think it was necessary?"
The Sky Sports pundit added: “It's not about Premier League vs EFL and it's not about Labour vs Conservatives or Lib Dem, there is cross-party support for the fan-led review so it's a real easy win for Liz Truss and her cabinet to bring forward and execute what's already been set out in the recommendations.
"The cross has been played into the box, all Liz Truss and her cabinet need to do is head it into the back of the net. The reality is all 70 football league clubs are on board with this, supporters are on board with this, the National League and semi-professional clubs are on board with this, all political parties in the main are on board with this so I don’t know where the debate is on this."
MP Lucy Powell said that if the Tories do not implement the proposed changes, her party will "have no choice but to make it a party political issue".
Neville also spoke about how the financial disparity in the English game is "a mirror of society" and the gap is simply getting "too big". In 1993, the Premier League's turnover was 45m while the EFL's was 34m. However, less than 30 years later, the PL's turnover has gone up 68 times whereas the EFL has increased just five and a half times.
EFL boss Parry outlined how its becoming increasingly difficult for lower league clubs to "hang on to the coattails of the Premier League" and proposed a plan to scrap parachute payments.
Later today, Neville will appear alongside Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, where he is expected to tell party members "this is the time now to get behind Keir 100%". This comes after the United legend savaged Tory plans to hand billions to the most wealthy as "immoral" and "madness".
In an interview with the Mirror, he accused Liz Truss of "taking the absolute Mickey out of us" and declared that Keir Starmer as prime minister would be "a change that cannot come quick enough".
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