The Kings Speech confirmed that the Government are not backing down on their promise to introduce an Independent Football Regulator to the game, so is this good news for football fans across the country ? Here we take a look at what it will mean.

In his speech King Charles said:

"The Football Governance Bill, which will introduce a regulator, will safeguard the future of football clubs for the benefit of communities and fans".

This is expected to include strengthened owners & directors testing as well as measures to prevent clubs going out of business and also more supporter input into the game.

The catalyst for these proposals came in April 2021 when six clubs from the Premier League attempted to rip up more than a century of tradition by creating a European Super League(ESL) along with a several other clubs from across Europe.

There was a big backlash from football supporters across the country, with the biggest outcry surprisingly coming from those who followed the six clubs involved in the ESL.

The protests were led by the The Football Supporters Association who helped the Government shape their fan led review of football and who also supplied much of the policy ideas and collated evidence from over 130 supporters groups.

The Chair of the FSA, Malcolm Clarke has issued the following statement:

“We have argued for many years that an independent regulator was needed to protect our historic football clubs and ensure long term financial stability across the game.

“That now looks set to happen as a regulator will be given powers to intervene at all levels when a bad owner, through incompetence or worse, threatens a club’s very existence.

“There have been far too many clubs in crisis throughout the pyramid and they cannot be allowed to fail – supporters deserve better and this represents a very significant step forward.

“No-one cares more about a club than its supporters, they’ll be there after others are long gone, and supporters should be at the heart of their club’s decision making processes.

“We will continue to work constructively with the Government and football authorities to give supporters a stronger voice and establish an independent regulator with the powers it needs to protect our clubs.”

Photo: Action Images

Bowlercow added 16:53 - Nov 8 As always the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer Will thay be able to prevent mega rich clubs from be done ffp rules? Will they be able to stop a taker by owners who are funded by an undesirable state? Will they be able to set or influence ticket prices? I suspect it will be nothing more than a talking shop
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StEdmund added 18:34 - Nov 8 Agree. Waste of time. When will people realise football is a business. Money talks
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Block8 added 09:35 - Nov 9 I spoke on several occasions to Tracey Crouch during her investigation and found her to be gracious polite and very knowledgeable on the subject she was investigating. However the influence of television on the game was not really part of her remit, which many believe should have been. The FSA have done some wonderful work on behalf of us football fans and continue to work hard on our behalf. It is free to join, there is a link in Nick's article so please help yourselves and join the association. They email a very informative newsletter each month to keep you up to date with whats happening and not just in the PL!

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