In his 2021 book More Than a Game, the economist Mark Gregory lucidly sets out the argument for why reform of our national sport is vital and possible. “Football reflects choices” he states, and the same is true of politics. The free market, low-regulation ideology of Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek that was brought vividly to life in the Thatcher years was a choice. A choice that has led to globalisation and the brilliance of the Premier League but has also left us with unforeseen externalities that are less positive, particularly for the communities that clubs are rooted in.
You only need to have recently asked the people of Bury, Wigan, Derby and Macclesfield to see where the stresses of the system are felt when things go wrong. It is in streets and towns up and down the UK where the sustained damage occurs rather than the temporary bruising that wealthy financiers feel in their balance sheet. Gregory summarises that “reform is required to make sure the balance between the pursuit of money and the interests of the game is restored”.
Therefore 25 October 2022 proved a particularly good day for football. Liz Truss’s exit brought the possibility of an independent regulator back to life alongside the other recommendations from Tracey Crouch’s excellent work in the fan-led review. The review was in part a political response and choice made by Boris Johnson to the attempted smash and grab of international shareholders of “top” clubs in proposing the European Super League. The almost universal uproar and negative fan reaction brought a rare opportunity for political consensus, apart from the minority in power for the catastrophic 49 days of the Truss administration, when the idea of enhanced regulation was as likely as the markets looking positively on her uncosted economic strategy.
It is why we were thrilled that Grimsby Town had a small role to play in Thursday’s historic events. The secretary of state at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Lucy Frazer, came to north-east Lincolnshire to formally announce the government white paper on football at Blundell Park. A paper that sets out the choices the government has made in supporting the appointment of an independent regulator that will look to resolve issues of financial sustainability, improved governance and ultimately a way to bring fans front and centre regarding the running of their clubs. Frazer emphasised that passing the legislation was her “No 1 priority” and said it “is rare that a white paper has pretty much universal approval so it should hopefully pass through parliament quickly”.
Grimsby Town are proud to be one of the original members of the Fair Game initiative, a group of 33 clubs who have been trying to make the arguments for regulatory changes to shore up the football pyramid for generations. There are simple facts that we believe are undeniable: that 53% of clubs in 2020 were technically insolvent, that nearly every club in the Championship spends more on players’ wages than it earns, that the parachute payment given to one relegated Premier League club is more than is given to all the clubs in the next five divisions of the men’s game and the top two tiers of the women’s game put together. Most strikingly, since 2000, more than a third of clubs in the top four divisions have gone into administration.
The Premier League is undoubtedly a product we should be incredibly proud of as a nation but the wealth created has been built on the back of more than 100 years of collective toil by all the clubs up and down the football pyramid, and the health of that pyramid needs to be protected. We had hoped to welcome the Southampton-supporting prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to Grimsby to announce the white paper but after a week of planning unfortunately he had to cancel on the morning of the visit.
On Wednesday we take on his Premier League team in the FA Cup fifth round, a fixture that brings to life the discrepancy in the finances of the game where the winner in this round collects £250,000, which for most League Two teams represents somewhere between 10% and 25% of the annual playing budget. It is an amount that pales into insignificance when you think the average Premier League player picks up that amount in a month. The white paper means the Premier League must renegotiate the flow of funds to the football pyramid and the minister is “hopeful an agreement can be reached in short order” but said the backstop powers are “there to be utilised” if an agreement cannot be reached.
The independent regulator and the financial security that it should provide will allow us to secure these vital assets. There is then an opportunity to centre the rebuilding of our communities around the physical and emotional space that football clubs occupy. That is at the heart of the venture I have been developing with Emily Bolton, an experienced social entrepreneur. We have been working with partners in Grimsby and across the country to create Our Future, which brings together people, a new economic model and a new narrative to create the future the people in the town want.
Our Future is mobilising the power of the football club to harness people’s love of place (whether they are still there or not) and build a better future. We have built a broad coalition of citizens who are driving change in Grimsby, a network of the town’s diaspora and we have supported new community-organising efforts in the town. The next phase is aligning this citizen power with the resources the area really needs. We are working with partners to unlock the right funding for community-owned housing, building the neighbourhoods and communities of the future and seeding the green economy so that it benefits the community. We are bringing the resources and building the evidence around the change that is possible in towns such as Grimsby when citizens are united by a shared love of home and belief in the future. The football club is at the heart of that change spanning our proud history and hope for the future.
We couldn’t be prouder to welcome Lucy Frazer for this momentous announcement. It is a vital first step for football and a positive choice the government has made so that future generations can experience the game in all its life-affirming brilliance. Right now, the future looks bright for the game we love.
Jason Stockwood is the chair of Grimsby Town.
