The Football Governance Bill is being debated in Parliament today and the Everton Fan Advisory Board are seeking improvements to give it ‘more teeth’
The Everton Fan Advisory Board are seeking improvements to the Football Governance Bill to give it ‘more teeth’ ahead of it being debated in Parliament today. The Bill has its second reading in the House of Lords on Wednesday with the FAB having been active last season when the Bill was introduced under the previous Government.
The FAB will now be working with Parliamentarians as the Bill passes through with the intention that it can be strengthened in two areas.
The first one being that fan advisory boards are fully independent, elected by fans and do not have club employees, directors or others appointed by the club; and the second being that the new regulator has the powers to ensure that the Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) process (whatever form it takes) is applied fairly and consistently.
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It would mean that the Premier League still had oversight of PSR, but the regulator would be able to investigate whether due process was followed.
The FAB are seeking to make amendments to the Bill and have been working closely with Andy Burnham and Dame Sue Owen (former Permanent Secretary at DCMS), other fan groups and Parliamentarians.
Everton FAB chair Dave Kelly said: “We welcome the work by Lisa Nandy to improve the Bill from the version presented by the previous government. We’ve supported calls for an Independent Regulator since before the Fan Led Review.
“But we believe it must have the teeth to ensure the sustainability of English football and to serve the interests of football fans and local communities up and down the country.
“That’s why we’re asking for the Bill to be strengthened even further by ensuring that fan interests are represented by fully independent Fan Advisory Boards, free from vested interests and that the regulator has oversight of profit and sustainability in a way that football fans can feel confident that the rules are being applied in a fair, consistent and transparent way.”
Everton were last season docked two separate points deductions for breaching PSR. The first deduction was reduced from 10 to six points on appeal while the second saw the club lose two extra points.
Despite those deductions, the Blues finished 15th and 14 points clear of the relegation places.
